Truman Capote once wrote, “The difference between the very rich and regular people is that the rich serve such marvelous vegetables.”

Obvious snobbery aside, was Truman making an observation on the socio-economics and agro-economics of setting a table? After all, to invest more resources in order to enhance the quality of a low-calorie food suggests that one’s resources are not terribly constrained. To prioritize the pleasure of a ‘marvelous vegetable’ over the utility of a higher-calorie comestible does seem luxurious… until you do the math on a farm-share or CSA membership.

I imagine that you probably think that farmshare folks sit around in homespun hemp gnawing on raw vegetables with ascetic delight. And that may be true for some folks, but I prefer a bit of indulgence to balance out the veggie virtue.

The late comedian, Mitch Hedburg, once declared that he believed that eating a good food with a bad food cancelled out the negative affects of the bad food. Eating a carrot, along with some fries, gave the fries a ‘free pass’ into his gullet, and I must admit, I adhere strongly to the same principles.

After a weekend of decadent wedding food and, horror of all horrors, two pit stops at McD’s, I came home craving, yearning for my the fresh veggies from my latest farm share.

Not long after arriving at home, a pile of peppers, bunches of carrots, and one large, firm, brilliant head of cabbage found themselves on the chopping block, awaiting shredding by my lethally powerful Cuisinart.

A bit of mayonnaise, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and mustard later, and I was delving into a crunchy, tangy, refreshing, and so-satisfying bowl of tangy mustard cole slaw.

I signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share this year with my friend, BCG, and let me tell you, I am absolutely in love.

We are only into our second week, but already the abundance and variety of herbs, vegetables, and fruits has me seeking out and trying recipes that surely would have sadly and indefinitely remained on my ‘to-do’ list if it weren’t for the half bushel of raw ingredients sitting in my fridge.

For those unacquainted, a CSA share is a share in a farm’s seasonal bounty, delivered to a pre-determined location each week with a half-to-one bushel worth of that week’s harvest. Each week’s share evolves with the growing season, starting with herbs, greens, and berries in the Spring, moving on to peaches, tomatoes, corn throughout the Summer, and pumpkins, apples, potatoes, and root vegetables in the Fall.