It may have been 80-degrees today, but it’s still April, and usually, that means the only local vegetables available to Vermonters are baby spinach, sprouts and perhaps some tiny mesclun greens. But not if you have a Pete’s Greens CSA share. This week we got:

Baby “salad turnips” and their greens
A nice big head of Napa cabbage
Overwintered parsnips
Potatoes
A mixture of green and purple choi
A bag of mixed braising greens
Organic oats
Mixed, cracked grains
Buttermilk
A baguette
Smoked cheddar from VT. Milk Company

Tonight my dinner was 100% local: Polenta with braising greens, shiitake mushrooms and smoked cheddar with pork chops from Jericho Settlers’ Farm (cooked in local sunflower oil, no less). Mmm.

This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2008.

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Former contributor Suzanne Podhaizer is an award-winning food writer (and the first Seven Days food editor) as well as a chef, farmer, and food-systems consultant. She has given talks at the Stone Barns Center for Agriculture's "Poultry School" and its...