Where do you get your food? Common answers are probably Giant Eagle, Shop ‘n Save and Trader Joe’s, but some Mt. Lebanon residents get their produce straight from the source.

Morgan Sulik, Sleepy Hollow Road, uses community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs. “It’s a way to support the local economy, support local farmers and get the freshest, most nutritious produce available,” said Sulik.

CSA programs typically consist of family farms selling bundles of food during their growing season, and these bundles are purchased as shares by consumers in advance. The following CSAs have pickup locations in Mt. Lebanon: Clarion River Organics, Tiny Seed Farm, 412 Food Rescue, Christoff Flowers and CSA, Who Cooks for You Farm and Dillner Family Farms.

Sulik purchased shares from both Dillner Family Farms and 412 Food Rescue, and she raved about her experience with both of them. Sulik is sustainability-minded, as an active member of LeboGreen, the organization responsible for Earth Day and various other environmental events in Mt. Lebanon.

Growing up, Sulik always had a big garden and a deep appreciation for farm-grown food. As an adult, it’s often hard to access these kinds of food.

“I travel on weekends, so I couldn’t make it to the Mt. Lebanon Farmers Market but still wanted the local produce, so I learned more about CSAs,” she said, adding, “CSAs have pickups after work on the weekdays, which was a lot more accessible for me.”

Produce in CSA boxes come in a wide variety, and Sulik found it was fun to learn how to use some non-traditional foods. “You definitely eat a lot more veggies during the summer, because they give you a lot and you have to be creative with what they give you,” she said.

One share from Dillner Family Farms included garlic scapes, and she discovered that she really loved garlic scape pesto. CSAs can also contain flowers, coffee, honey and more.

Beyond having fun with the food, Sulik described a few more benefits of purchasing a CSA share. “It’s healthier for you and healthier for the planet to eat a more plant-based, farm-fresh diet,” she said, since much of our grocery store food is “grown with focus on transportation and not on taste or quality.”

Last CSA summer season, Sulik tried 412 Food Rescue, which has a pickup location in Uptown Mt. Lebanon. This Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization operates primarily in Allegheny County and, with a staff of 40, relies heavily on volunteer power.

Greg Austin is the director of distribution initiatives at 412 Food Rescue. Austin coordinates logistics for food that would have gone to waste. “We transport the food throughout our network of nonprofits that can then be distributed directly into the community,” he said.

412 Food Rescue does this work because “40 percent of food goes to waste and one in five people are struggling with food excess, so we made ourselves the bridge of that gap is some ways,” explained Austin.

Much of their programs involve saving food from restaurants or grocery stores, and they’ve scaled up to working directly with distributors. The FarmShare CSA program varies in that it works with Isidore Foods, a company that contacts local farms to organize the contents of the CSA shares.

Austin said 412 Food Rescue was looking for “a program that could inject money back into local agriculture.” That’s why the FarmShare program began.

FarmShare CSA uses family farms within 150 miles of Pittsburgh to increase access to more nutritious farm foods. 412 Food Rescue realized, “We can create a secondary market for this produce that maybe isn’t perfect looking for the farmers,” said Austin. This way, farmers can increase their profit and decrease their food waste.

Austin noticed that many of the FarmShare participants were volunteers or simply fans of the organization, so he wanted to expand its reach into the communities that 412 Food Rescue served in other capacities.

FarmShare offers a Sponsored Shares program, in which people can sponsor another person’s share to make fresh, healthy food more affordable. FarmShare CSA’s slogan is “Buy a share, give a share,” in alignment with that mission.

Sulik found that 412 Food Rescue and Dillner Family Farms fit her needs, and there are plenty of other CSAs in the area that may fit yours. CSA sign-up season is typically in March for a summer share, but farms have been expanding into offering spring and fall seasons as well.

For more information about the participant farms and organizations, you can go to localharvest.org or contact farms directly.