Local food and gardening

One of the things that I've discovered from my trip to France was the accessibility to fresh and local ingredients at morning markets. Within 20 minutes of any town, one can buy fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood, bread, cheese, anything (!) at prices either cheaper or comparable to those at a super market. The experience really mad me appreciate the flavor of the food. When the ingredients are fresh, you don't really need to add that much more flavors to it. The more simply you prepare the dish, the more natural flavor you will taste.
Yes, farmers markets are all over DC and its suburbs, but you have to admit, these places attract only a certain crowd. And more often than not, the prices aren't exactly cheap, especially for someone on a budget (ahem, like me!) However, if you pick and choose your way, it can still be affordable. I'm only buying for one after all.
I've decided to make it a goal ths spring, summer, and fall season to use as much locally grown food as I can. That means I will have to forgo the yummy blackberries I see at Trader Joe's that are imported from South America, and the red and orange bell peppers that come from Israel.
How will I do this? First I've signed up for a Community Supported Agriculture program, also known as CSA from a local far market. The program works like this: you pay a certain amount of money up front (for mine, it's $120 of a half share, which is for about 2 people, for 8 weeks). It averages out to be $15 a week fruits, vegetables, and legumes, which isn't too bad.
I also have a garden plot at my apartment complex in which I've planted, bell peppers, banana peppers, okra, tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, and red cabbage. I also have my herbs indoors including basil, cilantro, rosemary and parsley. And those herbs just kicks everything up a big notch!
Lastly, of course there is the farmer's market, where I'll need to go to buy various meat, dairy, eggs, etc. There are 2 that are easily accessible to me: Silver Spring on Saturdays, and Takoma Park on Sundays.

Some fun and exciting stuff that I've made recently with local ingredients in season are nettle soup. Nettle is this prickly planet that has a nice and flagrant flavor to it. You simply boil it and all of the prickly stuff comes off. Cut off the stems and make sure you really trim off the stuff that's going to be rough. Brown some onions and potatoes for about 15 minutes. Add stock and the boiled nettles to the mix and let it cook for another half an hour. Puree it and voila you have nettle soup!!