Local CSAs:                       Taste the "terroir"...

These vegetables incorporate the very soil they are grown in and they are local.

Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) -- the name for your local organic farmer's place of business where he or she grows a lot of amazing seasonal local produce and you pick it up once a week, usually in a box. Standing out in the sunshine, you survey the fields growing around you. You get whatever is in season and your farmer chooses to grow. Lettuces, spinach and peas in early spring. Strawberries a little later. Sometimes flowers, sometimes stonefruit, depending on what your chosen CSA chooses to grow. Eggplant, bok choy, unusual varieties of beans that you don't usually see at the store. Kale, squash and don't forget tomatoes when they come in season. Eggplant, hot peppers, melons.

Ulster County has more farmers this year than it did last and the numbers are growing. Many of these organic farmers also sell in farmer's markets in the metro NYC area. For local organic lifestyle, CSAs can't be beat. Kids love to go pick out their vegetables and they can literally see that their food comes from the earth.

This is by no means an all-inclusive list but should get you started: Second Wind CSA in Gardiner on Marabac Road, Taliaferro Farms on Plains Road in New Paltz, Phillie's Bridge Farm Project on Phillie's Bridge Road in Gardiner, Evolutionary Organics on Springtown Road in New Paltz and Huguenot Farm on Huguenot Street in New Paltz. For nutrition and just-plain deliciousness, what could be better than produce that is literally hours out of the ground? Don't put off joining a CSA -- membership can fill up fast this time of year.