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The Community Supported Agriculture movement is growing, one box of veggies at a time.Last fall, there was an empty spot on the grocery shelves where the spinach used to be due to an e coli outbreak. But while the rest of the country shrank in fear from Popeye's favorite veggie, I was enjoying the sweetest, most beautiful spinach I'd ever seen, thanks to the share I'd bought in the Spring Hill Community Farm CSA.

Eating food grown locally by people you know is an old-fashioned concept, but Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is one of today's hottest food trends. Although Americans now have the luxury of buying virtually any food item, any time of the year, producing crops in foreign lands and shipping them around the globe leads to perfect-looking, but perfectly flavorless food — and it takes a harsh toll on the environment. More people are looking to CSAs to connect them with a more sustainable, and more delicious, way of eating.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms work by selling shares to people who are willing to take on the risk, as well as the rewards, of small-scale farming. In exchange for a yearly fee, members receive a weekly bag or box full of fresh organic produce, fruit or even meat from their farm. Some farms ask members to spend a day helping with chores at the farm, but not all require your labor and your funds.

John Costello, a Seattle-based cooking enthusiast who contributes to the food blog Ethicurian.com, is a member of two CSAs — one that provides fruit and vegetables and another that provides meat. "Having the CSAs has expanded my cooking skills," he says. "The veggies and fruit form the basis of our meals for an entire week. Everything is fresh, picked the day before or the morning of delivery, and more flavorful than anything we can find in a grocery store."

His weekly share includes basics like peppers, squash and beans, as well as more unusual commodities, like tomatillos, fennel and lavender, which push him to expand his creativity in the kitchen. He estimates that his weekly box of produce costs $18-20 per week, a good per-pound value for fresh, organic produce.

His meat CSA delivers a monthly assortment of beef, poultry and pork cuts, plus eggs, and Costello admits it's more expensive than buying meat at the grocery store. "But we are getting pasture-raised beef that is raised ethically and sustain-ably, and that is not shipped hundreds of mile to slaughter and back," he says. Additionally, "We have gotten cuts of meat, such as center cuts of beef filet that butchers tend not to sell because they are expensive and rarely requested."

Halloween marked the end of my CSA's season, but through freezing and drying, I was able to extend the bounty well into winter. The day I used the last item (a clove of garlic, seeded from a strain unique to Spring Hill) marked the day my cooking began to go downhill. The grocery stores do have spinach again, but I'm going to wait for the first CSA delivery now — I've been spoiled by freshness.

At ReZoom, one of the ways we want to help build a better world is by being kinder to the earth. Check in for regular tips and ideas on making your life and home more environmentally friendly.