CSA s and More

Soon I will be embarking on my "lifestyle change"(trying not to call it a diet).  I was concerned that this new venture would be difficult, especially in the times that I am running 40 mi a week.  It is hard to balance full time work, exercise and scratch cooking 3x day/7 days of the week.  Although I am not confident in it all yet, I am learning more each day.

In fact I applied (these places are run out of shares) for a Community Supported Agriculture Farm (CSA) in which I pay $500 for 20 weeks of veggies, fruits, herbs and flowers.  I chose Lavender Lane BioDynamic Farm based on the fact that they choose to grow their stuff Biodynamically.

Here is a quick definition for those of you that do not know what that means (from growbetterveggies.com).

Biodynamic agriculture is a method of organic farming that treats farms as unified and individual organisms, with an emphasis toward balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, and animals as a closed, self-nourishing system. Regarded by some proponents as the first modern ecological farming system, biodynamic farming includes organic agriculture's emphasis on manures and composts and exclusion of the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include the use of fermented herbal and mineral preparations as compost additives and field sprays and the use of an astronomical calendar to determine times of planting and harvesting.

Anyway, it is good stuff and I am excited to support local farmers who support  the local environment.  After talking with farmer John (as he is known), this CSA also provides recipes for ideas on how to use stuff like kholrhabi and daikon (for the non-cooker like me).

I will be picking a date soon to start my lifestyle changes; I am looking at the end of January, but I need to write it down so that I stick to it (I am looking at it similar to my training plans).  Until then, I will be fatting myself up.

On another note, I did my longest hike yet since all of this "stuff" started - 7 mi.  Felt good, energy felt good, and it was pretty on the trails (snow, yay!).