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Community Supported Agriculture

I was reading Vigor, a health related newsletter from my health insurance provider (http://www.bcbs.vt.com). The article was "Five Reasons to Join a CSA Program."
The arguments were pretty straight forward:
  1. It will change the way you eat--meaning that you learn to appreciate food in its season. We have great strawberries locally, for a very short time in spring. Local tomatoes and fresh green beans cannot be beat in the summer. Apples and pumpkins and squash are yummy in the fall. So that makes sense.
  2. It's green--no long distance shipping mean fresher produce and no big carbon footprint from transportation across long distances. Green is good, all the rage.
  3. It will change the way you cook--meaning that with all the fresh veggies in the fridge you're less likely to turn to processed foods. Sounds like a good enough idea. We all are aware that processed foods are not good for us and eating more vegetables and fruits is always in nutritional advise.
  4. It will help a local farmer--and no problem with that.
  5. It's easy--just sign up and pay your money. Then pick up your food as it's ready.

So why don't we sign up? Well, if you knew my husband and you read the whole of #3, "It will change the way you cook," you'd instantly see the deal breaker. Here it is (with emphasis mine):

There's nothing like a refrigerator full of vegetables to make you pass up
processed foods when you shop (which is pretty infrequently for me
now). I use web resources and the CSA's recipes and tips to find
unique ways to use the foods in my share. Maybe I''ll find a recipe
on EatingWell.com for a big batch of potato leek soup that will last all week. When company's coming, I'll recreate a restaurant dish by wrapping beets, carrots and the share's local goat cheese in filo dough and serve it on a bed of parsnip
puree. While it's not essential to get really creative when using
your farm share, it's certainly easy and definitely fun.

I shouldn't blame our lack of support for local farmers entirely on my husband who never eats soup, never eats anything in the onion family, never eats beets, eats carrots only raw, and, I am quite sure, doesn't know what a parsnip even is. Goat cheese and parsnips are deal breakers for me too.

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