Think spring (or summer)--join a CSA!

No, a CSA is not someone who will prepare your taxes, nor is it a string of genetic code or an acronym for a top-secret government agency, although it is an acronym. CSA stands for community supported agriculture, and is defined by the USDA as “a new idea in farming, one that has been gaining momentum since its introduction to the United States … where consumers interested in safe food and farmers seeking stable markets for their crops joined together in economic partnerships.” While I don’t think the idea is necessarily new—people were buying from local farmers long before mega-supermarkets came into existence—I do believe that many people are not aware that CSAs exist in their communities or of the benefits that participating in a CSA brings to everyone involved. For an average cost of $350 - $550 (usually paid in the winter), consumers receive a share of a farm or cooperative's crops, most often in the form of weekly farm boxes, from late spring until early fall. The farmers benefit by receiving funds to start their crops when they need it (late winter and early spring), and consumers benefit by receiving fresh, locally grown produce, eggs, meat, and other products throughout the warmer months, usually for a lesser price than they would pay at the grocery store for inferior foods. Many CSAs also offer volunteer opportunities and "farm experiences", both of which are great for families. Moreover, CSAs foster strong community ties by bringing together local people and local businesses.

Not sure where to find a CSA near you? A good place to start is Local Harvest, a website dedicated to bringing together communities and farmers all over the US. If you live in Massachusetts, be sure to check out NOFA's site for a list of CSAs in our state. This was how I located my CSA at Colchester Neighborhood Farm in Plympton. For more information about CSAs, visit the CSA section of the USDA website. And don't despair if you live in the city--many CSAs deliver farm boxes to predetermined locations in cities across the country.

One last note--if you want to participate in a CSA this year, the time to join is now: many farms sell out of shares well before the first signs of spring. For me, one of the best parts of belonging to a CSA is the knowledge that I will be spending this summer eating fresh, nutritious, locally grown produce, eggs, and meat and supporting local farmers while others who didn't do their homework will be forced to be content with what they find on the supermarket shelves. I already feel sorry for them.

Kate
The Ordinary Organic

Think your kids won't eat organic? Think again.

Believe it or not, there are ways to get kids to eat healthier foods besides hiding broccoli puree in their pancakes. With so many organic products available in grocery stores today, the chances are good that many of your kids’ favorite conventional snacks can be replaced with organic (or, at least, all-natural) products. It goes without saying that every child needs to eat a balanced diet of vegetables, fruits, dairy, grains, and meats. But equally as important is reducing the number of artificial colors and sweetners, refined sugars, partially hydrogenated oils, preservatives, and GMO’s that kids are ingesting on a daily basis. And it’s easier than you think.

Here are a few of my (and my kids’) favorite organic and all-natural foods:

Stonyfield Farm yogurt – my family loves them all: the six ounce low- or nonfat yougurt cups (Chocolate or Caramel Underground and Key Lime Pie are a couple of our favorites), the yogurt smoothies, and especially the YoKids Squeezers—portable yogurt tubes that can be frozen for an extra-cool treat. Their website also has fun facts and activities that will simultaneously entertain and eductate your kids.

Newman’s Own Organics – I admit it: I am addicted to Newman O’s, Paul Newman’s organic version of the Oreo (have I mentioned that before?) And there are so many more Newman’s Own Organic products to love: lemonade, salsa, microwave popcorn, chocolate bars, coffee (which, I am quite happy to say, comes in K-cups for you fellow Keurig brewer owners). And they’re all available at your local grocery store at prices that won’t drain your debit card.

Nature’s Path—What kid doesn’t like Pop Tarts? But most kids don’t know that some of the ingredients in Kellogg’s Pop Tarts—such as artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated cottonseed oil—aren’t good for them; they just know they taste good. What moms and dads need to know is that there’s an organic alternative to Pop Tarts that taste just as good—some might even say better. Nature’s Path Organic Toaster Pastries are available in 12 frosted and unfrosted flavors from the traditional (Chocolate, Brown Sugar Maple Cinnamon, Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, and Apple Cinnamon) to the not-so-traditional (Wildberry Acai and Cherry Pomegran). Nature’s Path also makes crackers, cookies, cereal (Gorilla Munch is a big hit in our house—think organic Kix) and granola bars.

Trader Joe’s “Midnight Moo” organic chocolate syrup – to say my son is a huge fan of chocolate milk would be quite an understatement, so I was thrilled to find this organic version of Hershey’s Syrup. Not just for chocolate milk, this syrup is equally good in ice cream sundaes.

If your kids are the type that are interested in where food comes from and will not immediately be turned off by the “healthy” aspect of organic foods (my kids, especially my six-year old daughter, actually think eating organic things is cool), be sure to include them when choosing snacks and other food items. On the other hand, if your kids equate “healthy” with “yuck” and won’t even look at it, you could always try the Jessica Seinfeld approach and put your Newman O’s in a cookie jar, disposing of the packaging so that they won’t know the difference. Or, being the parents and the ones who know what’s best for your children (so we say—our kids might not necessarily agree), you may elect to simply buy the organic foods instead of the conventional ones and tell your family, “These are better for you. If you want (insert food here), then this is what you may have.” Of course, I’m being mostly facetious here, but the point is to get your family eating healthier food. How you arrive at that point is up to you.

Kate
The Ordinary Organic

Give your cooking a makeover!

I was talking with my husband one day while browsing Amazon for titles of organic baking cookbooks. I commented on what I found to be a surprising lack of books on the topic, adding that maybe this was a niche that needed filling (perhaps by me?) "The reason there aren't any organic baking books is because there's no need for them," my husband explained patiently. "You don't need a recipe to make organic food--you just need organic ingredients. Any recipe can be organic." I sulked for a moment, not wanting to give up so soon on my newly discovered road to authorship, but I knew what he said made perfect sense. I had been preparing my favorite recipes organically (mostly) for a few months now, without the aid of any special cookbooks. There is virtually no recipe that can't be made "organic" simply by substituting organic ingredients for the conventional ones. Okay, I suppose that the recipes found in The Twinkies Cookbook: an Inventive and Unexpected Recipe Collection from Hostess can not be made organic no matter how hard one tries (I do not even want to know what is in a "Twinkie Burrito"), but any other recipe calling for normal ingredients can be converted easily. In fact, recipes for baked goods--cookies, bread, brownies, cakes--are great candidates for organic makeovers because organic butter, flour, sugar, eggs, chocolate, oats, dried fruit, and other common baking ingredients are readily available. For example, I recently made the infamous Neiman-Marcus cookies using organic ingredients with the exception of the vanilla and the pecans (a word of caution here: if you make these cookies, you probably only want to make half of the recipe, unless you are not like me and you have the will power not to eat all of the 144 cookies the full recipe makes. As it was, I got 90 cookies out of the half recipe and yes, I ate most of them). Substituting organic ingredients for their conventional counterparts guarantees a healthier dish; not so much from a fat-and-calorie standpoint, although there is some debate about whether the fats in organic foods are better for you than those in non-organic foods, but more from a what-I'm-eating-will-not-harm-my-body standpoint. And as I've mentioned before, they usually taste better, especially when it comes to organic produce.

Eating organic does not have to be difficult; in fact, it can be as easy as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or your grandmother's macaroni and cheese. Give your favorite recipe an organic makeover, and I'm sure your family (and your body) will thank you.

GO PATS! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself--we're all a little Patriots-crazed here in New England these days.)

Kate
The Ordinary Organic