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Contributed by guest blogger Katherine Hunt

It hit 90 degrees here in Boston last week, so we fired up our grills and indulged in some carnivory to celebrate the real beginning of summer. The choicest hamburgers in town came from Chestnut Farms, in Hardwick, Massachusetts.

Green-conscious urbanites can sample fresh, hormone-free meat straight from the country by participating in Chestnut Farms’ Meat CSA (Community Supported Agriculture): pay a monthly fee to help keep the farm’s animals happy and healthy, and pick up a cooler full of the month’s meat selections at one of eight drop-off locations around the state.

You can even meet the animals you’ll later consume – if you’re into that sort of thing – at one of the Farm’s open houses, or at an info session in the Boston area. Brian Rose, who proffered his Meat CSA bounty to this writer, attended a session at MIT before he signed on. “I got to hold a baby pig,” he recalls.

Brian and Julia, his wife, have a small vegetable garden in their front yard, where they grow tomatoes, lettuce, mint, and other vegetables and herbs. They’re the kind of people, in other words, who want to have a connection with the food they eat. They’d also prefer to buy their meat from a local operation that cares about the well-being of its animals, and, by extension, about the well-being of its customers.

Chestnut Farms feeds its cows grass and organic hay, and lets its chickens wander around the pastures, where they can peck at grubs and aerate the soil. The pigs eat grain, not garbage, and even get toys to play with while they’re pent up inside during Hardwick’s icy winters. As a result of this caretaking, the meat that Chestnut’s customers receive has less fat and more nutrients than meat produced by giant industrial farming operations.

And, just as importantly, the meat tastes better than anything you can buy at a grocery store. Before cooking, our hamburgers looked juicier and denser than their store-bought counterparts. After they had been grilled, they tasted like, well, beef – a flavor that mingled with, and wasn’t overpowered by, the spicy mustard and cheddar cheese that garnished our burgers. The robust meatiness seemed more likely to be found in an unembellished steak, but the buttery texture was characteristic of the best ground beef. These tasty burgers, in the company of spinach salad and cantaloupe sprinkled with mint from the garden, made for a perfect summer meal.

Visit www.chestnutfarms.org for more on their Meat CSA.

Boston-based freelance writer and editor Katherine Hunt may be reached at huntkr@gmail.com.

You don’t need to hire a green consultant or spend hours researching green options, just to have a healthier kitchen. Here are five easy steps that you can take right now with minimal effort and huge benefits.

1. Upgrade your cleaning products - Today it’s extremely easy to replace toxic cleansers with non-toxic options that are readily available in most grocery stores. Just look for non-toxic cleaners that lack a laundry list of warnings on the label.

2. Purify your water - Being green means not only doing what’s good for the environment, but also what’s good for us. As a result of land condition, municipal cleaning methods, and various influences along the path from source to kitchen faucet, water is full of impurities and contaminants. Opt for full home systems, under sink installations, or a simple filtered water pitcher to remove most, if not all, undesirables for the best drinking, cooking and cleaning water available.

3. Buy in bulk - In general, try to downsize shopping for foods wrapped in excessive packaging. Shop the in-store bulk bins – dried fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, cereal, and snacks. Try to minimize buying pre-packaged concoctions.

4. Check your cookware - Forget non-stick finishes as they contain harmful PFCs (perfluorochemicals) that end up in your food at some point. Opt for stainless steel, clay, ceramic, or choose cast-iron cookware for an extra boost of iron in your diet.

5. Reformat your food storage system - Go for glass, ceramic, or even metal containers and try using empty paper milk cartons for freezing liquids. Though popular and economic, plastic containers can leach contaminants into your food when filled with hot food or microwaved.