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Imagine letting someone else pick out your groceries for you. Allowing them to select dirty vegetables based on their needs, not yours. Delivering muddy produce to you in an old cardboard box with the odd bug crawling about.

In my house this happens once a week, all summer long, and we couldn't be happier

My family is part of a rapidly growing movement known as community supported agriculture, or CSA. We've been regulars at our local farmers' market for years but have taken it a step further by joining a local organic farm's field-box program.

Every week we receive a share of the harvest - a wide variety of fruits and vegetables - but we never know exactly what's coming. We do know that we are supporting a local farmer, cutting out the middlemen and staying in touch with the true rhythms of nature. We also know that it's flavourful and fun.

Our neighbour Becky Townsend grew up a farmer's daughter, and it was no surprise when she decided to stay on the farm. What was surprising was that she decided to follow in her grandfather's footsteps, not her dad's.

Her father is an award-winning farmer, a good steward of the land who knows how to make money and is a great role model for many in our community - but he's a conventional farmer.

Ms. Townsend's mission is to be a leading-edge organic farmer. To farm the way everyone did before the advent of industrial-scale agriculture, before massive chemical inputs and market forces spiralled out of farmers' control. And my family and many others in our community are happy to support her.

Our Fortune Organics field box represents one of the fastest-growing trends in North America, a return to local. Consumers everywhere are looking for ways to keep their food dollars in their own communities, to make better, sustainable choices and to help the environment. Supporting a local farmer is one of the best ways to do so.

You may even get to help a neighbour. Even if you have to root through a box of beautiful, organic, seasonally fresh, brightly flavoured local vegetables just so you can make dinner

Coconut Squash Soup

Our field box always includes a recipe or two. These days the squash are tasting particularly good, so our most recent box included my wife Rachel's recipe for this soup. It's one of our family favourites.

WHAT YOU NEED

2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil

2 large onions

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 butternut squash or 2 acorn squash, peeled and cubed

2 cans coconut milk

4 cups chicken broth or vegetable stock

2 tablespoons grated ginger (frozen ginger works best)

sprinkled Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 cup pumpkin seeds

WHAT YOU DO

Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté a few minutes until they turn golden brown. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute or two longer, just to heat it through. Add the squash, coconut milk and broth and bring to a simmer.

Lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer until the squash is tender and easily breaks up, about twenty minutes or so. Add the ginger and salt.

Puree with a handheld immersion blender, countertop blender, food processor or through a food mill. Return the soup to the pot and reheat. Taste and adjust the seasonings if you like. Garnish each bowl with a generous sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and serve.

Serves 6 to 8 with leftovers.

Chef Smith is the award-winning host of the Food Network's Chef at Home, Chef at Large and The Inn Chef.

*****

Beppi's wine matches

The thick texture of this soup demands a rich-textured wine. And soups almost always go better with white wine. Think chardonnay, particularly rich, oak-aged versions. And since the theme here is all about local ingredients, consider a Canadian choice like Henry of Pelham Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, $19.95 in Ontario. The ginger and garlic tones also would play nicely with aromatic whites such as viognier or gewurztraminer, two whites with rich flavours and exotic aromas. One good choice from British Columbia: Tinhorn Creek Gewurztraminer, $15.49 in B.C.

Beppi Crosariol