Sabrina's Crossing -- An athlete's life on the road: Community Supported Agriculture

Showing posts with label Community Supported Agriculture. Show all posts

Monday, March 18, 2013

CSAs: Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture.

On several occasions, I've written about fresh produce, buying organic, and how to make organic food more affordable. We all are aware that fresh fruit and veggies aren't cheap.

On the whole, quality -- 'healthy' -- foods are more expensive than prepackaged, processed foods. That's our food system right now. That's our reality.

If we want to eat well, making a financial commitment is a necessity. You get what you pay for, and investing in our health is a smart one. Though it does seem public opinion, or the consumer, is slowly winning out. Prices are becoming more competitive. Just not as quickly as we'd like.

But there are ways to get more out of our precious dollars. One of those ways is to join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

What Are CSAs?
Joining a CSA is essentially investing in one of your local farms. You buy a 'share' before the growing season begins. And then throughout the season, you'll receive a box of fresh, locally grown, and quite often, organic, produce provided to you on a regular basis.

Since you're getting your fruit and vegetables directly from the farmer, often times you're getting fresher, but cheaper produce. CSAs cut out the middle man.

All CSA programs function a little differently: cost, delivery (method and frequency), crops, length of season, and how many people one share feeds, vary from program to program. But surely there is one that can meet you and your family's needs. No matter where you live, for example even in the heart of New York City, there are CSAs available to join!

Luscher Farms in Lake Oswego provides a CSA in my hometown.

LocalHarvest.org has even more information about CSAs, and can help you locate a program near you.

Expand Your Horizons
Depending on where you live, crops will vary from place to place. For the most part, you'll get the staple foods, produce you're familiar with. But chances are you’ll also get some veggies you haven’t tried before. Week in and week out, your box of produce will be a surprise of sorts. You never know exactly what you're going to get! Don't worry however, as many programs include recipes to help you cook up the harvest.

Some CSAs allow for a more hands-on experience. You can join a CSA that allows volunteers to help at the farm. If you have the time and interest, volunteering allows for a little appreciation and investment of a different kind! And I'm sure you'll learn a little something too.

Potential Draw Backs
Depending on your family's needs, for example, what you like to eat, and how much produce you go through on a weekly basis, you may or may not have to supplement extra produce with trips to the grocery store. I think it's best to expect that you will not get all of your produce needs taken care of with a share at a CSA. But it's not like you don't make frequent trips to the store anyway!

Map of potential CSAs in the US.

The main draw back of a CSA is that you have to purchase your shares upfront (Shares usually cost between $400 and $600. Though some CSAs allow you to purchase 1/2 shares.). So at the time, it may not seem like it's a cost-effective way to get your fresh produce.

(If the price sounds like something you can't do upfront, check with the CSA you're interested in, they may have a solution.)

The money upfront is a necessity for the farm. CSA programs help farmers at the beginning of the season, when it's needed most, and sees them through the rest of the growing season.

Unless you're a master budgeteer, it's difficult to estimate just how much you spend on produce on a weekly or monthly basis. If joining a CSA sounds like a good option for you and your family, check a local program out!

Spring has already snuck up on us way too fast (though who's complaining?), and summer will be here before we know it. The time is now to start exploring seasonal CSAs to join! Have you ever joined a CSA? What was your experience like?

Below you'll find links to CSA tips, and good questions to pose to the CSA you are thinking about joining. Let me know your thoughts and experiences!

LINKS:

Local Harvest: CSAs

Questions Before Selecting Your CSA

CSA Tips

Eat Well Guide: Finding Sustainable Food Near You

Rodale: CSAs

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Making Organic More Affordable

USDA Certified Organic

Since Sabrina's Crossing debuted last September, I have tried to share the information I have come across, and find important, about the state of the American food supply.

Because of the presence of GMOs, pesticides, anti-biotics, hormones, chemicals, and so on, our food supply has come to resemble something of a disaster. In attempt to avoid as many of these harmful things listed above, I buy organic food whenever possible. But you know what -- it's expensive, isn't it?!

(side note: this isn't intended to be a 'why you should eat organic' blog. I've already done those: Do You Know What GMOs Are?, The Effects of GMOs, The Harmful Effects of Soy, What Can We Do About GMOs?)

Money Spent on Food versus Health Care
Here is something to chew on as you think about the importance of the quality of our food: in the 1960s, 18% of our yearly income was spent on food, while only 5% was spent on health care. Today we spend 9% on food, and 17% on health care. Staggering numbers if you ask me.

Why the drastic change? Food today is different than the food our parents, or grandparents, grew up on. We have to change our ways to reflect the changes that have been made in our food supply. 99% of the 80,000 toxic chemicals in circulation didn't exist before 1950.

We cannot compare our diets to those from prior generations. Food in the 1950s didn't have meat and dairy filled with hormones and anti-biotics. Fruits didn't have multiple pesticides on them, and there were no GMOs.

Somewhere along the line, we were conditioned to think that food should be cheap.
The cheaper it is, the better. $1 for a cheeseburger? Awesome, right? Cheap food/fast food is essentially processed garbage.

Let's look at it this way: would you rather pay a few extra dollars for high-quality food now? Or pay even more a little further down the line in the form of visits to the doctor and medication?

As sad as it is, healthier food costs more money in the US. Outside of immediate policy change (such as eliminating government subsidies for genetically modified crops/farms, and replacing them with subsidizing organic farms), healthier food will continue to be more costly at the market (or until the consumer makes the demand). There's no way around it.

High pesticide versus low pesticide produce.

$2 for a pound of organic apples, or 70 cents per pound for non-organic apples? I understand it's a significant amount, and it adds up over time. But all things considered, I think the extra cost is worth it! After all, it's our health we are talking about.

If eating healthier foods is a priority for you, hopefully today's blog will give you a few ideas on how to scrape up a few extra dollars for those all-important groceries!

Prioritize: the Dirty Dozen & the Clean 15
The first thing you can do is prioritize what you buy as organic.

Always avoid the 'dirty dozen' (thin skinned fruits & vegetables: Apples, Celery, Peaches, Strawberries, Domestic blueberries, Nectarines, Sweet bell peppers. Spinach, kale and collard greens, Cherries, Potatoes, Imported grapes, and Lettuce). Those things should ALWAYS be bought organically because of the high amount of pesticides and toxins found on them.

The 'Clean 15' are fruits and vegetables with thick rinds/skins that don't necessarily need to be bought organically (Onions, Avocados, Sweet corn, Pineapples, Mango, Sweet peas, Asparagus, Kiwi fruit, Cabbage, Eggplant, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Grapefruit, Sweet potatoes, and Sweet onions).

Re-think Our Budgets
The second thing we can do is re-prioritize our budgets:
-Stop buying magazines, and read your 'news' online.
-Stop buying $4 lattes three times a week (this one's tough, I know!). Brew your coffee at home!
-Stop buying pop/soda (whatever you call it in your neck of the woods!) and bottled water!
-Cut down the number of times you eat out per week. Restaurants are expensive!
-Buy frozen fruits and veggies (these can actually be more nutritious because the foods aren't oxidizing/aging, and thus losing nutrients).
-You don't need to eat meat every day! Limit the amount of meat you eat, so the meat you do consume is organic.

What other ways can we change our spending habits?

Buy Local
Thirdly, buy fruits and vegetables that are in season (also known as buying local!). It costs a great deal of money to ship foods across the country, and even more from South America, so those shipping costs are passed onto the consumer. By buying local, those shipping costs are taken out of the equation.

CSAs & Gardens
Obviously you can grow your own vegetables. I understand that takes significant effort, but it's an option.

You can also go to your local farmers' market or join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture - which I will be doing a blog on in the future). To locate CSAs and farmer's markets in your area, go to: www.localharvest.org.

Compare
Lastly, compare prices! Don't just go to Whole Foods and buy up all the organic produce you can find.

Compare which stores have the cheapest apples, or the best deals on your favorite foods. Trader Joe's is an awesome option, and lots of times the 'big box' stores (Safeway, etc) have various organics on sale. We just have to be diligent and pay more attention!

For those of you that say that organic food is too expensive, try re-prioritizing your budgets for a while, and see how it works out! As you can see, there are A LOT of things we can do, we just have to make it a priority!