Save the World with Your Fork

I've seen a number of stories in recent days that have reminded me that what we eat has a big impact on the environment.  First, there was a great story about a Raleigh church joining a CSA farm - that's 'community supported agriculture' for the uninitiated.  The News and Observer has the details:

For $400 up front, each family would get a box of produce for 28 weeks from April through November.

"They had 15 people sign up that night," Lynda Dawson recalls.

The farmers soon met their goal of 25 members and set about planning what they would plant and how they would deliver the goods. A church member agreed to let the CSA members pick up their produce each Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m.

The first week's box in April contained a bunch of green garlic, a bunch of radishes, a bag of arugula, a bag of lettuce mix and a bag of mixed greens.

"Our favorite way to prepare the greens is to braise them lightly with a little olive oil and some chopped green garlic," Cooks [the farm owner] wrote in a letter that came with the box of produce.

Check out the 44 CSA farms in North Carolina here.

Second, the Asheville Citizen-Times has a great piece on picking your own apples in the mountains.  They also pointed me toward the website www.pickyourown.org - a fantastic resource of farms across the country and all over North Carolina where you can pick your food locally, instead of getting it trucked across the country or flown across the world.

Finally, I've been hearing a lot about the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association's new Eastern Triangle Farm Tour coming up next weekend.  If you live near the Triangle, check out these local farms (and then let me know how it was!).