YOU MAY HAVE heard of "locavores," a word coined recently to describe people who eat locally grown foods when-ever possible. Eating foods grown close to home has become a movement: It's thrifty, healthy and eco-friendly.

One way to eat more locally grown foods is to shop at a nearby farmers market. Another way is to join a CSA, or community-supported agriculture. This time of year, early spring, is the time to subscribe to a CSA if you're interested.

My family joined one recently. We paid a local farmer upfront, and from mid-May to late October, she'll deliver weekly bags of fresh veggies and fruits to our neighborhood. Some farms also have options for meat, eggs, milk and even flowers. And most CSAs are small, family farms that use organic or eco-friendly farming methods.

Our farm's basket will have everything from asparagus to zucchini, depending on the season. We'll also get free newsletters with recipes and invitations to events on the farm, such as potlucks and pick-your-own strawberries, snap peas and pumpkins.

If you haven't heard of them before, CSAs have been around in the U.S. since the mid-1980s, a good idea imported from Europe. Now, there are probably more than a thousand CSAs in the states, including one in the Fredericksburg area.

SMART SHOPPING

Prices vary by farm. Most farms allow you to buy a full share, which is a weekly market basket of produce large enough for a family of four, or a half-share, suitable for singles or couples. Prices depend on the foods included and the length of the harvest.

This year, my husband and I chose a CSA half-share that cost $378 for 26 weeks; it also includes you-pick strawberries and sugar snap peas. It works out to about $14.50 a week, or about $1 a day per person for chemical-free produce. And when you add in the organic strawberries, it's an even more budget-friendly deal.

WHERE THE MONEY GOES

We're not the only people who benefit from buying locally--it helps our neighbors, too. Money spent on local businesses tends to help the local economy, while profits earned by national chains tend to be spent out-of-state on corporate executives and the like.