My CSA re-opened last week, officially kicking off my summer food life. So — what is a CSA, you ask?

In the words of farmer Ron Khosla of Huguenot Street Farms, "Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a relatively new concept in the United States that has really taken off. There are well over 1,000 CSA farms now operating here. It all started with just one, back in 1986.

The idea is simple: Members of the community buy a "share" in a local farm for one season. Shares are paid for in advance, usually by sometime in May, and the members then get access to a portion of the farmers' harvest from June into November.

Great-tasting vegetables at a price well below retail are the most obvious benefits to being a CSA member. Because you are buying directly from the farmer, you can choose vegetable varieties for taste, rather than how they ship, pack and look on store shelves.

Choosing to eat fresh seasonal vegetables contributes to good health and plays an important role in the local rural economy — helping to keep small farms small farms, not small subdivisions.

Your entire food dollar goes directly to the farmer and is not divided between fuel companies, freight lines and large produce distributors. You will see the difference this makes starting with your first distributions!"

I consider myself fortunate to be a member of Huguenot Street Farm CSA, which is no mean feat considering there is a huge waiting list — few members drop out so it's hard for new people to get in. The CSA always starts a little slow (it is only late spring in upstate New York, after all), works itself into a feverish crescendo in July and August, and then slowly tapers off to a winter squash and hearty greens finale in the fall.

Last Friday, after collecting my allotted mustard greens, Russian kale, tender lettuces and gorgeous purple scallions, I trekked out to the pick-your-own area for sugar snap peas. I had forgotten how therapeutic it is be in the Huguenot Farm fields, surrounded by the Shawangunk Mountains; rows of ripening berries and vegetables; weeds; and, later in the summer, zinnias, snapdragons and sunflowers of every hue. My husband and I are usually the only people out there (most members live in the New Paltz area and show up on Thursday evening) and we find it to be an emotionally cleansing ritual from our hectic weekdays in New York City.

Thirty minutes later, my husband was grilling scallops while I cooked the sugar snaps. All that was needed to lure out their vibrancy was to:
· Snap off the stem ends, pulling the fibrous string with them
· Steam for about one minute
· Toss over high heat with some extra-virgin olive oil and coarsely ground salt and pepper

I firmly believe that getting your food from a local farm or farm stand, and especially picking (or growing it!) yourself, teaches you how to taste again. You become aware of every nuance of flavor and texture in foods you might have taken for granted in the past. For example, when was the last time you felt compelled to write about sautèed sugar snap peas?