Eating from my CSA box

This year I read this book called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver.

I loved this book. Synopsis from the book's web page: "Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

"This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew . . . and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air."

After reading this book, I decided to try my best to eat as close to home as I could. In doing my research I found a local CSA Group(Community Supported Agriculture) - the Inland Empire CSA (www.inlandempirecsa.com). I signed up for a year's "subscription" at about $30 a week. For this I get an entire box of fresh, local, yummy, organic produce!

I picked up my first box on Saturday morning at the Temecula Farmer's Market. I took it home and my mouth started watering!!!! Here's what was in it:

Sage honey, Figs, Apples, oranges, Peaches, Plums, Jujubes, Tomatillos, Onions, Garlic, Eggplant, Anaheim Chiles, Armenian Cucumbers, Mixed Greens, Summer Squash, Winter Squash, Arugula, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Avocados, Oregano, Mint and Basil.

The figs are all gone; so are the jujubes - YUM! The tomatillos and chiles are now fresh salsa, along with one of the onions and some of the tomatoes. The eggplants are going to be Eggplant creole as of tonight.

And it is LOCAL, meaning I did not pay for the fuel or contribute to the global warming problem in order for this stuff to be trucked here from The Central Valley, or flown here from Argentina!!!!! It grows right here in Riverside County!, at Sage Mountain Farm in Aguanga and De Luz Farms and Nursery in
Temecula! You need to check this out if you live in Riverside County! You owe it to yourself and your family to eat where you live! They have pick-up spots all over the place - Idyllwild, Palm Springs, Riverside, Anza, Hemet, and more!