Cheap Organic Food Delivered. Yes, Really.

CSA, how do I love you? Let me count the ways. I love you for the organic food box that arrived on my doorstep at 4 a.m. this morning and the juicy persimmons that I chopped up for breakfast two hours later.

I love the idea of gardening, but the reality is I tend to kill things. I love that you take the pressure off. And for getting my kids so excited about cherries that they dive for the box.

Oh, and about that box, I love you for filling it to the brim with organic food every week for just $25, which includes delivery to my doorstep. But most of all, I love that you’re now giving Mommy Greenest readers $10 off their first order!

You fill my box with $50 of organic food for a mere $25 and then deliver it to my doorstep. CSA, I love you. I love that you make Friday mornings a surprise: I invariably forget that it’s delivery day, go outside in my pajamas to get the paper and trip over the box, then carry it inside smelling like basil—did I mention how much I love your basil?—and don’t even make it to the table before I rip it open to see what’s inside.

I love that grocery delivery can be sexy.

I love you for alerting me to the fact that purple bell peppers actually do exist and for sending me weird vegetables that I have to look up online to identify. I love that your newsletter shares weird cocktail party factoids such as this: Celery has “negative calories,” meaning your body burns more calories eating it than the plant actually contains. Love! Too bad you don’t deliver peanut butter.

I love that you are creating a community around organic food and sustainable agriculture. I love that I’ve been getting your boxes off and on for years, and I still can’t remember whether CSA means “community sourced agriculture” or “community supported agriculture.”

I just looked it up, it’s actually Community Supported Agriculture and means, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture: “A community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or ‘share-holders’ of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer’s salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.”

So I guess $100 per month makes me a shareholder. Love that.

Need some love? Log on to Farm Fresh To You to find CSA delivery in your area. Use the code 6164 and tell them Mommy Greenest referred to get $10 off your first box. And yes, you can share the love, too!