Buy some stock in your own personal health by investing in community supported agriculture.

In his 2008 In Defense of Food (Penguin Press), a manifesto to eat "real" food for better health, investigative journalist Michael Pollan urges readers to "shake the hand that feeds you." In other words, buy food from local, family farms instead of the agriculture behemoths that truck it across the continent.

Not only is eating locally a more sustainable and environmentally conscious choice, but it's a healthier one, too.

Produce that is transported long distances was often picked early, before much of its nutritional value developed. As often, supermarket fruits and vegetables are stored so long the nutrients they once contained have lost a lot of their worth. When just-picked from local farms, however, produce is at its peak nutritional value and peak flavor.

Before you make a beeline for the farmers market, however, consider this: None of Denver's farmers markets have a growers-only code of ethics. Essentially, it is possible for anyone to sell anything. Last summer, one faux farmer at the Cherry Creek Market forgot to remove the grown-in-Mexico stickers from "her" tomatoes. Be sure to seek out the grower-vendors at your farmers market. Better yet, join a CSA.

CSA stands for "community supported agriculture." For a flat rate paid in the spring, participants purchase a share in a local farm. Their dollars go toward the seasonal start-up costs of seeds, equipment, and labor, and they share the risks and rewards of nature's return, picking up a bag or box of produce at a specified time once a week throughout the growing season.

A weekly allotment of produce from a CSA can include the familiar "” beets, spinach, and cantaloupe "” or the unusual "” garlic scapes, lemon cucumbers, and tat soi. "We try to introduce new veggies without freaking people out," says Debbie Dalrymple, co-founder of Sense of Colorado, which offers Denver-grown CSA shares. Through blogs, newsletters, or emails, many CSAs provide recipes and cooking tips when, say, kohlrabi is in season.

To cater to smaller households, some farmers offer half or partial shares and single or independent shares. Others offer working shares, a reduced rate in exchange for a predetermined number of hours spent helping on the farm. Still others extend the season for local produce through the winter solstice by providing keeper shares of winter greens and squash, stored root vegetables, and dried beans.

Most Front Range farms team up with Western Slope orchards to offer an add-on fruit share; others offer beef, bison, coffee, mushrooms, even raw milk shares through their Colorado partners. Some CSA farmers raise chickens for eggs or keep bees for honey; Longmont's Abbondanza, for example, even cultivates seeds.

The momentum behind the importance of eating local foods is so powerful that many Front Range CSAs now have waiting lists for membership. According to Chloe Diegel, a farmer at Cure in Boulder, the farm's available shares sold out in two hours this year. "The letters CSA actually mean something now," says Diegel. "People are becoming aware."

Patience isn't the only thing that joining a CSA takes; grocery shopping this way costs time and money. But what could be more worthy of the effort and expense than our health and that of our food system?

Four CSAs where you can shake the hand that feeds you

Cresset Community Farm
The Farm: Thanks to a driving co-op, shares from this biodynamic farm near Loveland are available for pickup at two Denver locations. Cresset offers a keeper share of carefully stored vegetables through mid-March, an unusually long season for a CSA. The Deets: Full vegetable shares: $375; working, keeper, fruit, and raw milk shares also offered. Denver pick-up locations: S. Emerson St. at E. Evans Ave. and Yates St. at W. Colfax Ave.; 970.278.0499; cressetcommunityfarm.com.

DeLaney Community Farm
The Farm: A project of Denver Urban Gardens, DeLaney has an impressive educational component, requiring members to work on the historic farm in Aurora once a month and granting them free admission to training seminars on topics such as pickling and beekeeping. The Deets: Full vegetable shares: $550; half, working, fruit, honey, poultry and egg, and raw milk shares also offered. 170 S. Chambers Rd., Aurora; 303.292.9900; dug.org.

Grant Family Farms
The Farm: This certified organic farm in Wellington offers one of the longest seasons on the Front Range, giving regular shareholders fresh, local produce through early December. Grant is also one of the most convenient with pickups on a couple different days of the week. The Deets: Full vegetable shares: $754; small, single, working, fruit, egg, and cut flower shares also offered. Pickup locations throughout Denver; 970.568.7654; grantfarms.com.

Monroe Organic Farms
The Farm: This family farm was one of the first in Colorado to offer a CSA. It's certified organic and biodynamic, meaning shareholders have access to farm-raised beef, pork, lamb, and eggs. The Deets: Full vegetable shares: $620; half, single, working, keeper, and fruit shares also offered. Pickup locations throughout Denver; 970.284.7941; monroefarm.com.

Neighborhood-Supported Agriculture
The popularity of CSAs has recently inspired the ultimate in local produce: organized urban gardening. Known as Neighborhood Supported Agriculture to Kipp Nash, the Boulder-based founder of Community Roots (communityrootsboulder.com), neighbors volunteer their yards in exchange for a portion of the produce. A team of gardeners use SPIN (small-plot intensive) farming or square-foot gardening techniques to turn the yards into petite but productive vegetable gardens, and the harvest is sold to restaurants, CSA-style members, and at farmers markets. From five shares to 25 shares, a handful of Denver outfits are following Nash's lead this summer. To offer your yard or inquire about a member share, contact the following:

• Granata Farms 303.321.2735 (no Website)
• Heirloom Gardens eatwhereulive.com
• Produce Denver producedenver.com
• Sense of Colorado senseofcolorado.com