Want to feed your kids delicious food that is good for their health and so much more? Eat local!

Last week, Maggie began her story to incorporating Local Food into her families everyday life.

A CSA is a direct partnership between a farmer and the people his farm is feeding. We agreed to buy one-fourth bushel of produce weekly from each harvest, April through October. Each week, my son and I would walk down the street to a local church and chat with our neighbors while we waited for our box of fresh picked fruits and vegetables to emerge from the farm truck.

My son would help me unpack the box and together we would discover what had been harvested that week. We enjoyed local, seasonal produce such as heirloom tomatoes, cantaloupe, okra, corn-on-the-cob, peanuts, cucumbers, and pumpkins. Each week was a little bit different and almost always introduced us to something we hadn't bought before. It forced us to experience new tastes, get creative with recipes, and invite friends over for dinner when we had more summer squash than we could possibly eat on our own.

While the consistency and convenience of a CSA was a great way to ensure we were eating plenty of fresh produce each week, middle Tennessee has a lot of options if you want to eat local. You can shop our fabulous Farmer's Market seven days a week, take the kids directly to a farm, or even purchase local produce, fruit, meat and eggs from local grocery stores.

Not only is local food fresh, healthy and delicious, it is also a great way to support your community. The money you spend on food goes directly back into your local economy and provides an economic reason for those with open farmland and pastures to keep the space open. Eating local also has less of an environmental impact because less transportation means better air quality (this is why some choose local food over organic food from far away).

As a mom trying desperately to teach her son to enjoy healthy food (or, any food for that matter), I have to say my favorite reason for buying local is that you get a story behind your food. I love that you can actually shake hands with the farmer who planted and harvested your produce or take your child to a farm and watch them run up and down the rows of apple trees and meet the chickens who laid eggs for breakfast.

My hope is that someday this enthusiasm will give my child an appreciation that food comes from the earth, not the microwave. In the meantime, I'll continue to introduce fresh, healthy choices and be happy that while my son's hasn't started eating snap peas or strawberries straight from the bushel yet, at least his milk and graham crackers are organic.

What we've already written about Local Food
CSA: What is CSA?
CSA: How to Decide?
CSA: Why Participate?

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