I am looking forward to picking up the first of four winter CSA shares tonight, so to celebrate the box full of greens, squash, turnips, and beets that will be taking up residence in my kitchen, I wanted to share a related something from Homegrown.org.

What's Homegrown you ask?

And it's the community side of Farm Aid, an organization that we love. Our friend Cornelia did a whole CSA cookoff series on her blog on the site, where she shares awesome recipes alongside snapshots of what she had in her weekly share.

While it's true that the bounty of late summer and early fall is coming to a close (at least in many areas of the country), many winter shares are just starting up, so it's time to investigate that option near you (check localharvest.org to find one in your neck of the woods). And, since there's still a bit of time before the holiday spending spree, it's a good time to see if you want to commit to supporting your local farmers this way next growing season. Usually, you pay your fee ahead of the growing season so that the farmer has capital to fund planting and harvesting, so setting that money aside now might not be a bad idea.

Not to mention it's a great time to get feedback from current CSA members—the season is still fresh in their minds, so learning what they liked and didn't like now could be much more telling than when buckets of tomatoes are a frozen memory in February.

OK, and now back to Cornelia's food. She has a few recipes that are perfect for right now, including this Gnocchi with Brown Sage Butter and Two Bean Salad with Pumpkin Seeds.

I'm dying to try her Butternut Squash Apple Soup with Parsnip Chips so fingers crossed I get have some parsnips in my future. Click here to see the entire CSA Cookoff Series and here to learn more about Homegrown.

And as always, if you'd like to see one of your recipes featured here (or in the magazine!) send it to us at articles@readymademag.com.

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