When produce is this fresh, the simplest recipes are sublime, says grower Amy Hicks.

She and her husband, George Ferguson, do not need to spend much time cooking after spending 14-hour days tending their 70-acre USDA-certified organic farm in Charles City, Va.

"We only grow tasty varieties," Hicks says. "We cook simply and fast, and it's super delicious."

Amy's Garden is one of 10 American small farms featured in a new book by Janet Fletcher, Eating Local: The Cookbook Inspired by America's Farmers. Fletcher was a chef at Alice Waters' restaurant Chez Panisse, which embarked on the fresh food movement in 1971 in Berkeley, Calif., putting the emphasis on flavor for customers and sustainable farming practices for the environment.

The "local" movement buying and eating food produced locally rather than shipped from thousands of miles away has been gaining steam with the steady growth of farmers markets and a phenomenon called community-supported agriculture. CSA members purchase shares of a farmer's crop for the season. The government doesn't track the numbers, but Local Harvest, a nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets and other local food sources, estimates that tens of thousands of American families belong to CSAs, and supply trails demand. The number registered with Local Harvest alone indicates how quickly CSAs have multiplied over the past decade: The directory's listing has increased from 374 farms in 2000 to 3,660 today.