fresh vegetables

Well-known farmer and author Joel Salatin once said, "Don't you find it odd that people put more work into choosing a mechanic or contractor than into choosing the person who grows their food?"

Let's change that.

There are many ways to create connections with local farmers, from shopping at co-ops to frequenting farmers markets that feature locally grown produce. But to really get to know the people who grow your food from seed to harvest, consider a community supported agriculture (CSA) share. (For a quick primer on CSAs, zip over to this article for a CSA 101 description.)

Sure, August is the hottest month, but the temperature's got nothing to do with it. For most backyard gardeners, these 31 days are the culmination of 11 months of waiting and wondering and breathlessly anticipating the climax of the entire year. The month of May is but a flirtatious glance, a mere glimpse of possibility, a hint of a romance that may or may not come to fruition. But in August, we experience the panting, sweating, throbbing, uninhibited consummation of a relationship that began a few months back when we pressed a few vegetable seeds or seedlings -- firmly, gently, probingly -- into the fertile earth.