Community Supported Agriculture

My recent ventures into the world of buying locally-grown food has enlightened me to the concept of Community Supported Agriculture, also known as CSA. Defined as “a partnership of mutual commitment between a farm and a community of supporters in which those supporters cover a portion of a farm’s operating budget by purchasing a share of the season’s harvest”, CSA’s are a popular way for consumers to support local farms throughout their growing seasons by committing to purchase a portion of their harvest.

For a flat fee at the beginning of each season, customers receive a weekly delivery of fresh produce from their local farm. Many farms offer a variety of share sizes, providing flexibility to their customers.  For example, a farm in Virginia offers 3 share sizes, termed robust, regular and mini, with prices ranging from $250 – $600 for their 16 week summer season. In addition to produce, some farms offer additional share options for things like eggs, fresh flowers and bread.

The per-week cost of this service is extremely reasonable, and the convenience of home delivery or local pick-up locations makes CSA’s an attractive alternative to purchasing produce from big box grocery stores.

The main trade-off involved with CSA’s is the necessary commitment to cooking with ingredients that are currently in season in your region, as opposed to ingredients in season across the country or world that happened to end up in your neighborhood grocery store. In order to help their CSA subscribers plan meals ahead of time and avoid what I’ve heard termed as ‘vegetable roulette’, many farms provide a list of upcoming deliveries one week in advance, in addition to recipe suggestions.

Below is an example list of vegetables in a CSA delivery for the month of July (in the Northeast region of the US):
•    2-3 lbs yellow squash
•    1 huge walla walla onion
•    1 fresh bulb garlic
•    1 bunch basil
•    2-3 cucumbers
•    1 bunch swiss chard
•    1-2 lbs new potatoes
•    1 bag salad mix

To join a CSA in your area, plan to subscribe and submit payment around early March. Each CSA is different, so researching them online at www.localharvest.org or by asking around at your local farmer’s market will help you decide which CSA is best for you. Once you’ve decided, mark your calendar for the date they accept applications because many CSA’s fill up quickly, sometimes within 24-48 hours.

If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll be amazed by the CSA options available in your area. Good luck!

Container Gardening for Tomatoes

I’ve become really committed to the idea of supporting local farmers and now purchase the majority of my produce from the farmers market in town each Saturday. I am amazed by the variety offered at the market, as well as the quality of what is sold.

Inspired by the vendors at the market, and in an effort to test my hand at growing food (what a novel concept!), I’ve started a container garden for both beefsteak and cherry tomatoes. Container gardening is the perfect solution for those of us living in apartments and condos, without the luxury of a yard, or the time to tend a full garden. All you need are containers (1 per plant), potting soil, and the tomato plants (I purchased mine at the farmers market for $2.50 ea).

From what I’ve read, tomatoes work well when raised in containers, provided they have soil deep enough for their roots to grow, ample sunlight and a daily infusion of water.  Weekly feeding is beneficial as well – I’ve been using Miracle Grow’s All-Purpose Plant Food.

So far, my cherry tomato plant is thriving, with at least 18-20 little green guys just starting to show a reddish tint. The beefsteak plants each have 3 ample tomatoes on the way, with the potential to produce many more.

I hope to share the results of this experiment as the summer progresses. In the meantime, if you want your own container garden, now is the time to start!

Becoming a Locavore

Have you received your $600 from Uncle Sam yet? I haven’t, but expect it to show up any day now. Marketers in my area are expecting that check too, as evidenced by a recent surge of advertising, encouraging consumers to spend – even cash – their tax rebate checks at one store or another.

Whatever you plan to do with that $600, it may be worth considering the benefits of using a portion to support the farmers and small businesses in your town or city. There are many reasons for doing so, but in my opinion, it boils down to the fact that we Americans have forgotten the value of local business and the vibrance it adds to our communities.

Our current economic situation can be attributed to several factors – the war in Iraq, the rising cost of oil and subsequent rising cost of food, energy and clothing, the home mortgage crisis due to irresponsible lending, the downfall of corporations like Enron and Bear Stearns – the list, overwhelmingly, goes on.

In the face of these mammoth and escalating crises, I think it would do everyone a bit of good to slow down and realize that each of us has had a part in dragging the economy to where it is today. We trusted mortgage lenders to give sound advice, and we trusted big, established corporations to operate with integrity. We, as a people, have realized that it is no longer an option to sit back and wait for someone else to notice wrongdoings and red flags, or to fix problems. We must each claim responsibility for the decisions we make, as Americans, workers, taxpayers and consumers.

One easy way each of us can take an active role in improving our world is to invest in our local communities by supporting the farmers and small businesses within them. In her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver lets us know that “if every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week”. Kingsolver defines the term ‘local’ as anywhere within 150 miles of your home.

This statistic is impressive but may mean little to those of us who have grown up in a world where big box retailers dot the suburban landscape, and a Whole Foods Market in Maryland looks like and carries the exact same items as one in Arizona, regardless of season or the crops native to each region. We consumers have become comfortable with indulging in the luxury of this consistency and abundance without stopping to consider that much of the things we buy from miles and miles away are already available at our back door.

Most communities in America have local farm markets and produce stands, many of which can be found at www.localharvest.org. Becoming acquainted with your community’s farm market is a good way to learn about the growing seasons in your region, and to meet the farmers, cheese makers, bakers, butchers, wine makers and gardeners in your area.  Purchasing even a small portion of your week’s groceries locally will do its part in helping the environment and supporting your community. In addition, you can be proud of the fact that you’ve made a conscious and informed decision to know where your food is from, how it was grown, and what your money is supporting with your purchase.

Becoming vegetarian was my way of committing to eat the plants and produce that grow abundantly from the earth, rather than consuming factory farmed animals, many of whom live lives full of suffering and disease. Learning to be a locavore is my effort to ensure that the things I eat are healthy for myself, my community and the environment. So, will I line up to cash my check at WalMart and proceed to stock up on bulk goods? No…I have my eyes set on some homemade spinach ravioli, a jar of vodka sauce, and a head of butter lettuce, all to be found at my local farm market.