According to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Penguin, 2006), the average item of food travels 1,500 miles before it reaches an American's plate. Strawberries are shipped from California, potatoes from Idaho, tomatoes from single-crop farms in Texas and Florida. But in an age of gas and oil crises, and with our increased awareness of the perils of pesticides and overfertilization, the twentieth-century model of industrial agriculture no longer makes sense, if it ever did.

The most ideal solution may be to plant a backyard garden, reducing the need for shipping and extended cold storage. If you also keep a few chickens, you will have all the fertilizer you need. But this isn't practical for everyone. Not everyone has the touch to turn soil and seeds into edible abundance—and not everyone wants to share their yard with chickens. Personally, I'm not ready to carve up a chunk of my landscaped property and build a fence to deter the deer.

Another alternative is community supported agriculture (CSA), a movement that began in the United States in the 1980s and strives to provide a direct link between consumers and farmers; offer an alternative to massive, single-crop farms; support local economies (from generating jobs to purchasing goods); increase nutritional value; and create sustainable food sources.

The system is simple. Before the growing season begins, a consumer purchases a share in the farm. With the money, the farmer buys seeds and seedlings and the necessary equipment. As the growing season progresses, the farmer tends to his or her crops and harvests produce as it matures. Each week, from June to November, members pick up their share of just-picked vegetables. The farmer acts as retailer and members are their own distributors, thus reestablishing the direct link between farmer and consumer that has been eliminated by industrial agriculture.

Some CSAs ask members to work a certain number of volunteer hours per month. Chores vary from planting seedlings to sorting harvested produce on distribution days. While I personally chose a CSA for the very reason that it didn't require labor, some people prefer it. Nancy Furstinger of Elizaville is a first-time member at the Hearty Roots Community Farm in Tivoli. She attended this year's onion planting party to help with the transplanting of 17,000 onion and leek seedlings. When asked if she minded the work, she dragged a hand covered in soil across her forehead. "I wanted to get dirty. That's half the fun," she said.

"We are all very different," says Jody Bolluyt of Roxbury Farm in Kinderhook, one of the largest CSAs in the country (serving 1,000 families from 225 acres). Members are asked to volunteer three to four hours a season, usually on distribution day. Produce from Roxbury Farm is distributed in Columbia County, Westchester, the Capital Region, and in Manhattan. Food is delivered to people's garages, churches, and schools, and members help themselves from a list printed with the week's items. "Our members like being able to pick out their own vegetables. It creates a sense of community at the site," says Bolluyt.

The organic produce is less expensive than it would be if it were purchased in a retail store but, as Bolluyt says, members sacrifice choice. Risk is shared and there's no way to predict if one year will produce an abundance of tomatoes or an abundance of broccoli. In general, members can expect about 10-20 pounds of 7-12 different vegetables each week. (Spring leaf vegetables weigh less than winter root crops, for example.) The quantity is said to be enough produce to cover the vegetable requirements of a family of four.