Community Supported Agriculture

My husband and I have talked a number of times about subscribing to a CSA for produce and fruit. CSA stands for community supported agriculture and involves buying boxes usually monthly but receiving goods weekly that are grown on farms in your area. To find a farm we first googled: CSA, Santa Rosa and were led to this page: http://find.mapmuse.com/re1/map_brand_mm2.php?brandID=CSA&init=38.4377708487303,-122.712411778317,11&tlist=CSA,
This gave us choices for CSA-participating farms, where they were located and links to more information.
We signed up for one small box per week from Valley End Farm here in Santa Rosa. Baby girl and I went and picked up our first box on Tuesday. There was quite a bounty inside: eggplant, zukes, roma and cherry tomatoes, chard, purple bell peppers, crane melon, wax beans, radishes, sage..I think that was it. I was making a beef stew and added quite a few things right from the box. As the seasons change we will have what's growing in sonoma county which is cool for several reasons:
1) It will help me be more of a creative cook, using produce that I have tried before and some that are totally new to me.
2) I will be buying from a completely organic and sustainable farm and only have to make one short car trip to get a whole box of food there.
3) Our daughter will be able to see where our food comes from as she gets older.
4) Lots of veggies are GREAT for a healthy diet.
I am really looking forward to next week's box.
*The free-range,frisky resident chickens and roosters were pretty entertaining, too.