local farms

You've seen the trucks: Sysco, Reinhart, U.S. Foodservice and others, transporting food to restaurants across the country. And, yes, it's true. Even here in the Midwest, your food travels on average from 1,200 to 1,500 miles to get to your plate, depending on which survey you wish to believe. Those 1,500 miles are often traveled from central California.

What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)? At their most fundamental level, CSA farms provide a weekly delivery of organically grown produce to consumers during the growing season (approximately June to October in Minnesota). Those consumers, in turn, pay a subscription fee. But CSA consumers don't so much ''buy" food from particular farms as become ''members" of those farms.