Will my CSA box stress me out?

I just signed up for a CSA box. CSA stands for community-supported agriculture, which consists of a group of individuals who support a local farm, sharing in its risks and benefits, by purchasing shares of its produced crop. Each week or every 2 weeks, the individual will receive a box of various seasonal vegetables and fruit. The benefits are immense for both the farmer and the buyer (more here).

My friend Judy and her fiance are CSA supporters, and she, along with my coworker Graciela, got me interested in this neat concept. Here's what else drove me to this:

* Watching the Oscar-nominated documentary Food Inc (which my friend's wife had produced- go Elise!) got me thinking a lot about food-- not just what exactly is going through my body, but also how it's produced, who's producing it, and the business of food.

* Graciela's recommendation of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, who was featured in the documentary and who is a proponent of eating REAL FOOD.

* A piece on Alice Waters in the LA Times, the famed Oakland chef who was the first to pioneer farm-to-table cooking in her restaurant, Chez Panisse. She's very orthodox about her commitment to local and sustainable food.

* Michael Pollan's Food Rules: An Eater's Manual. This is essentially a guidebook about what to eat and what not to eat for those who want to follow the rule of REAL FOOD. I like it because it's easy to read with bite-size (no pun intended) information.

* A phone call with my friend Sharon, who described her struggles with feeding her kids healthy and sustainable fare.

After that phone call, I decided it was time to sign up for the CSA box pronto!

Graciela clued me into the local CSA she uses, South Central Farmers Cooperative. My box comes every 2 weeks (that's the option for Long Beach residents)...first box will hit on April 25. I'm excited!

Although I am excited, I have some minor trepidations. Judy and R receive their box weekly, and she says they have trouble consuming all the produce in a timely fashion. She once had a poker party where she tried to stuff us with carrots and lots of other veggies (not what you'd normally find at a poker game!). I'm hoping that a biweekly box won't be as stressful. In any case, I'm sure it will make my cooking more creative and our bodies more regular (ha).

To find the CSA nearest you, visit LocalHarvest.