The first time I ate a cucumber, I was 16 years old. A short six months later my new favorite vegetable was Bok choy. Some of you may have been surprised to learn that your own vegetable farmer did not grow up eating vegetables. It wasn’t because I didn’t like them, it was because I wasn’t exposed to many of them. My love for eating vegetables started when I volunteered on a farm and grew fascinated with how vegetables grew, that I learned to enjoy them or even what they were!

As a CSA member, you already made a huge step towards connecting more closely with your food. Amid these busy lives we lead, it is important to remember the labor, the land, and the time that goes into growing each bite we feed ourselves. The Pick-Your-Own element of our CSA is an invitation to slow down. When we slow down, we notice that our tomatoes grow from flowers, that little beetles love beans, or the sunflower that was 6 inches tall a few weeks ago is now towering over our heads. Understanding how plants grow can help us measure time and appreciate every bite of food. Here are a few more benefits to the Pick-Your-Own:

• Get outside, rain or shine, for some quality time with loved ones or yourself.
• Less waste—We pick what we can eat, and we are less likely to throw food away that we invested our own time in.
• Learn how plants grow.
• Experience nature, from the pests that eat our crops to the herons that live in the neighboring fields.
• Learn harvest skills and growing practices that you can translate to your own home gardens.

Excited to Pick-Your-Own? Check out these two videos to learn proper harvest techniques and best practices in the Pick-Your-Own fields.