This is an interesting article from TreeHugger, but what I found really interesting were the graphs near the bottom about Community-Supported Agriculture.
Here’s another story: in January I paid $325 for vegetables that I won’t see until June, and I’m tickled pink over this great deal. That chunk o‚ money bought a 25-week prepaid subscription to Siena Farms‚ produce for the entire season. Siena Farms are in Sudbury, the next town over (in the other direction). By paying up front in the winter months, the time when farms most need the investment income to support the next growing season, I’ll helping ensure there’s a viable organic farm in my community. Farm-fresh vegetable subscriptions are called community-supported agriculture, or CSA. Currently there are more than 2200 CSAs in the USA, and a bunch are still taking subscription sign-ups. For $13/week, I get half a farm box of locally-grown-and-picked-that-day, organic, heirloom vegetables will feed my household through Thanksgiving (the other half is shared with two of my Earthwatch colleagues).
I’d never even considered such a thing. A subscription for fresh, organic produce. What an awesome idea. I looked at the CSA website and found two local growers. One was already sold out (180 subscriptions). The other has not yet sold out and I’ve sent them an email to find out more of the details. Specifically, I’m not sure if you really have a choice of what your subscription basket contains. I realize they can only supply what they’ve already grown (i.e. what’s in season) but I wonder if I can load up on stuff I like and drop the stuff I don’t or if they fill a basket and I get what I get. I’m curious to learn more.
Mrs. Wiggy has been doing it for awhile now. “Local Food” is another name for it. It’s a regular movement. May I recommend:
Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front, by Sharon Astyk
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements, by Sandor Katz.
If we can ever get the house sold in NC, there’s a huge CSE movement here in SE Michigan. Everybody’s getting involved. Local Farmer’s Markets are becoming mercentile exchanges, people are buying shares in a cow or fresh produce, amazing stuff.
Our CSA gives you no choice in what you get, and you get set portions of each thing. Ours has all the produce laid out on a table with instructions like take 1 bunch beets, take 6 red potatoes, 4 grapefruit, etc. What’s available changes over the seasons. Sometimes I would trade something I didn’t like for more collard greens (or whatever) if I heard someone else picking up alongside me say they hated collard greens. We got a lot of odd Asian greens I’d never eaten or used before, but it was fun to find new recipes. They’d hand out a 1 page newsletter each week with recipes, too. For things I know I don’t like (daikon radishes) I’d just leave it there. They’d take anything left over after everyone picked up over to the food bank.
We get weekly deliveries from a place called Urban Organic in Brooklyn! And if you can farm here, you can do it anywhere
Oh, and The Ting Tings? http://www.myspace.com/thetingtings
They are teh awesum. Think power-pop White Stripes…
Well, I see everyone’s already ahead of me. Where have I been? I’m not sure if I’m going to take the plunge or not. I *do* plan on hitting more farmer’s markets, which is making me want to hold off on a subscription, especially if I can’t choose what’s in it. Something about having the food picked for me rubs me the wrong way, even though it would be a fun challenge to use up the vegetables in various recipes during the week. Still thinking, but I’m leaning more toward the market route.