Love the farmers market — but never wake up early enough on the weekend to take advantage of it? In Los Angeles, you can get the farmers market delivered to your doorstep instead. For $50, Farm Box LA will bring a week’s worth of the freshest organic picks from the Hollywood Farmers Market to you.

I got to try out the service for a week — and loved the variety, freshness, and tastiness of all the pickings. I actually go to the Hollywood Farmers Market about once a month, but Farm Box LA is obviously a lot better at picking out the cream of the crop than I am. The Tahoe gold tangerines were the sweetest morsels of citrus I tasted this season — and the cute little savoy cabbage was perfect for making the Cabbage Hemp Salad for my Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse!

$50 for about a week’s worth of produce can seem a bit steep, but what Farm Box LA delivers along with the yummies is service and knowledge. For one, Farm Box LA’s blog posts the produce items you’ll get in your weekly box even before it’s delivered — so you can start your menu planning early. Plus, each item’s listed along with the name of the farm where it was grown — in case you’re a picky locavore who’d like to investigate exactly where your food came from.

Then throughout the week, FarmBoxLA posts healthy, seasonal recipes you can make using the week’s delivery. After all, FarmBoxLA is the brainchild of Reisha Fryzer, who happens to hold a chef certificate from the Epicurean Culinary School in West Hollywood. I was tempted by recipes for Baked Polenta with Rainbow Chard and Cheese and Gluten Free Broccoli and Parsley Pie — before making green juice with the farm fresh greens.

Do large boxes of veggies intimidate you? If you start off each week with the best intentions to finish your veggies — but always have a few items left over at the end — FarmBoxLA has a solution for this problem too. Simply put them back in the box for Reisha to pick up, and she’ll turn them into tasty locally-made pickled veggies for just $10 a jar. I got her quick pickled vegetables recipe for KCET’s The Public Kitchen, if you’d like to try your own hand at pickling.

I actually went through the whole box of veggies in about 5 days, even with some Whole Foods produce already in the fridge — because I juice, blend, and eat a lot of produce. For veggie monsters like me, Farm Box LA offers “Super” and “Grand” sizes for $75 or $100, respectively.

Farm Box LA deliveries are made in a big reusable box, which requires a refundable $50 deposit. But if you want to just try out the service once without plunking down the deposit, you can get your delivery in a paper bag. Eat fresh this spring –

Earlier:
>> Locavoring in a box: Organic CSAs in Los Angeles
>> Home Grow Micro Farm: Mini gardens delivered to lazy locavores
>> Vital Zuman Organic Farm: A Locavore’s paradise in Malibu

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