Hello! I’m Amy, the new Deputy Editor (you may remember seeing a little bit about me a few weeks ago). I’ve just relocated from Harlem to Des Moines and am already enjoying my new city—particularly how everyone I meet raves and raves about the downtown farmers market. We had lots of fantastic green markets in NYC, but they were pretty far from my neighborhood (the famous Union Square market was over 100 blocks away!). But now, I’m just a short Saturday morning walk away from an enormous one. On my first trip to the market last weekend I scored asparagus, heirloom tomatoes, bags of mixed baby lettuces and spinach, beautiful eggs and mint syrup from Blue Gate Farm, fresh chevre, a dense loaf of whole grain bread and a whoopie pie. Amazing! All of this good food has gotten me seriously thinking about joining a CSA as soon as I can (spots at the local farms are all filled for this season, though I have heard there might be some options with Blue Gate for the fall!).

For those of you new to the concept, Community Supported Agriculture is an arrangement where folks sign up for a share of a farmers yield ahead of the growing season. They pay up front (or sign up for a work share and commit to spending a few hours a week in the fields), which gives the grower cash to pay for seeds, plants and materials needed to get their land ready for the season. In exchange, each share holder gets a portion of the farms yield, usually on a weekly basis for 20 weeks from late spring through early fall.

If you ask me, there is no better way to ensure that you will get the best local produce at its peak, which means top notch flavor and an easy way to support your nearby growers. I’m not the only one who feels this way (particularly here in DSM where thousands hit the market each weekend) and because of all of this interest, the CSA concept is spreading. There are now Community Supported Bakeries—check out the Backdoor Bakery in Huntington, Vermont and Scratch in Durham, North Carolina (look at the rustic tarts below!)—where you can pay up front for a steady stream of baked goods from bread to pie and tarts.

There’s a Community Supported Forage program in San Francisco, Forage SF, where people sign up for shares of wild mushrooms, nettles, greens and edible roots like radishes from nearby woods. Even a Community Supported Fishery through Port Clyde Fresh Catch in Rockland, Maine.

And my personal favorite, the awesome Community Supported Preserves and Bakery program out of Madison, Wisconsin. Last fall, Pamplemousse Preserves owner Lee Davenport partnered with two other producer-friends, the owners of Honey Bee Bakery and Kindly Kraut, to combine their efforts to offer a CSP&B. Shareholders get preserves, organic whole-grain breads, tarts and fermented goodies like kimchee and dill sauerkraut twice a month made from local produce, dairy and grains.

Products vary from box to box, reflecting what’s in season and the creative whims of the producers. A sample box includes one 9-oz jar of tomato jam and one 4-oz jar of raspberry lemon verbena jam; one pint of dill sauerkraut and one pint of radish kimchi; one 1-1/2 lb. wheat berry bread, one 6-in. butter cake with Italian plums, and two chocolate hazelnut tartlets.

The assortment sounds pretty fantastic and I’m looking forward to seeing where this trend goes next…Community Supported Wine & Beer, perhaps?

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