Yep, you read that right.  I’m of the era (and I can’t find the post on Facebook that spells it out though I’ve shared it on my own timeline) that talks about being thrown out of the house in the morning to play until I got hungry enough to come back for lunch, and then again in the afternoon until the streetlights came on, at which general time it was getting dark and time for dinner.

[Updated January 10, 2013: I found it on FB yesterday – this is the graphic I was thinking about:

Yay!]

Part of growing up in that era is that as kids we ended up eating a little dirt.  Our moms didn’t hover to the point that anything dropped on the ground was scooped up and washed with soap or alcohol before being given back.  We picked it up again, put it in our mouths, and consequently ended up eating some dirt.

Well, I’m Back to eating some dirt and it’s a good thing.

For years I’ve been seeing these organic produce delivery services generally in Southern California.  Unfortunately, I live enough on the edge of town (but still actually In town, mind you) that nobody has yet been willing to deliver to my house.  Hopeful click by hopeful click to each new website promising to bring organic family farm veggies to my door, and nada . . . until Abundant Harvest Organics.

Found them a couple of weeks ago.  Turns out they have a Saturday distribution center at a local community college, and Even Better, some enterprising lady has decided to make few extra bucks ($5 per week) picking up at the distribution center and delivering to local homes – including mine!  🙂

So, for $22.xx (plus $5) delivery per week, every Saturday morning a small box (supposed to be enough for 2 people for a week) shows up on my porch.  I’ve been very impressed and wanted to share.

Both of the photos above were what I got last Saturday –

Top Pic:
– oranges
– bartlett pears
– potatos
– carrots
– sweet potatoes
– butternut squash
– beet

Bottom Pic:
– thyme
– lettuce
– green onions
– collard greens

Each delivery also comes with a single, double-sided flyer talking about the items in the box, which farmer grew what, and offering up recipes to make with them.  This post is not meant to be an advertisement necessarily, but if you’re interested and live in CA, hit up their website and see if they deliver near/to you.

Looks great, right?  First thing I did was have a slightly gritty salad.  I took half of one of those heads of lettuce, carefully washed and dried it (I can see I’m gonna need a salad spinner and soon!), cut it up, added some other stuff and chowed down.  I swear I washed it carefully and still had a couple gritty bites and I don’t care.

I really love that this food Looks like it was in the ground where it was grown probably no more than a couple days before it landed on my porch.

I’m glad to be back eating some dirt.

As time goes on, if I’m so moved, I’ll share some of the dishes I make with my beautiful, organic, local-family-farm-grown produce.