Thanks to Tuv Ha’Aretz Houston member, Nancy Pryzant Picus, for this truly inspiring article!

My husband and I grew up in non-kosher homes, so when we each began to explore kashrut in college, we were swimming in uncharted waters. Our individual journeys towards kashrut began with separating meat and dairy products only at home. When we married, we both had complete sets of dairy and meat dishes, and had long brought only kosher meat into our homes. Before our children were old enough question us, we re-examined our practices, which resulted in the decision to stop eating meat in non-kosher restaurants; soon we began to buy only certified, hechshered foods.

When people ask why I keep kosher, I can give several reasons. One obvious one is that kashrut makes eating a Jewish action. When I choose kosher food, I am making a Jewish choice. However, a more compelling reason for kashrut is implicit in the blessing that accompanies the food I am eating. God has blessed me with the food I am preparing to eat, and with the ability to savor its flavors and appreciate the earth’s bounty—and the labor involved in drawing it forth (hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz).

Being a member of a CSA has emphasized that lesson even more. On a rainy Sunday afternoon this summer, my husband and I visited Home Sweet Farm, which supplies the Tuv Ha’Aretz in Houston. We visited heritage tomatoes, winter squash, and Chinese long beans. Our farmer, Brad, lamented the recent rains (not knowing that the ones to come would drown several of his crops completely). He explained how he uses groundcover to enrich the soil, how he rotates crops, and how he allows land to lie fallow. Farmer Brad shared his dream for expanding his farm—while cognizant that he is responsible for providing vegetables for the eighty families in the two CSA’s he supplies.

My family is one of those eighty families. My husband and I left the farm awed by Farmer Brad’s devotion to sustainable agriculture and his closeness to his land. I have—and will continue to—expressed my gratitude to Brad in tangible ways: by remaining a CSA member (which will grant him a modicum of financial stability), by attending his market and purchasing additional items from him, by championing his cause. However, knowing how hard he works to provide my family with my favorite arugula—how could we not recite a blessing, thanking God for the gifts this farmer brings to our table each week? This, then, is my true understanding of kashrut: before my food is “acceptable” (the basic meaning of the word kasher), I must acknowledge that the earth belongs to God; therefore, we must be grateful to our Creator, not only for the earth’s bounty, but also for its stewards.

Nancy Pryzant Picus is the Director of Jewish Learning at The Shlenker School, a Reform Day School in Houston, TX.

The painting above “Earth’s Bounty,” is by Joyce Watkins King. See more of her work here.