Early spring CSA bounty

Originally uploaded by kerner

I have never been so excited about a vegetable in my life. Seriously, I squealed when I saw those tiny carrots in the bottom of my CSA bag this week. (Under a boatload of greens, I might add! If my little greens-killer recipe works out, I’ll fill you in on that later this week.)

If you’ve ever tasted a home grown tomato right off the vine, then you know why eating fresh local produce is a good thing. Throw in the added nutritional benefits and reduced energy costs to bring the food from farm to plate, and eating local starts to sound like a really smart (and tasty) idea.

But (and there’s always a but, isn’t there) unless you live in California, eating local year-round gets a little dicey in the colder months, especial late winter/early spring when winter storage crops like squash, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are dwindling and/or shriveling up. Luckily our CSA farmers have a greenhouse, so we’ve pretty much had salad greens all winter long. But it was ridiculously exciting to get that first little bunch of carrots this week.

(I had a similar experience at the grocery store today too – blood oranges! Lovely… they remind me of Spain.)