14 posts tagged “environment”
I came upon this article today in the NY Times entitled "Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler" and I felt sort of reminded why I don't eat much meat and why I was more actively NOT eating meat before... the deplorable conditions of the poor animals, the huge amount of waste produced, etc...
Thanks to the New York Times & Mark Bittman for the reminder.
Im still collecting CSA stories ... my camera is still broken AND we are in the middle of a move... Ive been very lucky to have such wonderful people tell me about their experience ... Reading about Mikaela's experiences have made me feel warm and fuzzy and hungry and I had the most difficult time picking from her photos because they are all so scrumptious... Q: How did you hear about CSAs/when did you become familiar with the idea? Mikaela: I heard about them a few years ago, though I don't recall exactly how. I'm sure it was online somewhere. After learning about them, I went to LocalHarvest.org to find one near me. There were two, but each was just far enough away to be too energy-consuming to be worth the membership. I found about Blooming Glen shortly after they opened through a friend, and joined right away. This is their second season, and we've been members for both.Q: What motivated you to sign up for one? Would you like to share anything about the thought process you went thru? Mikaela: My overall mission to live a gentle life is what lead me to learning about Community Supported Agriculture. Sustainable living has been an interest and journey of mine since adolescence, though there are so many different and valuable reasons to join a CSA. Some of the members of Blooming Glen are there because the price-per-pound of produce can't be beat, and some, because local food is more nutritionally beneficial. Others want to support the agricultural tradition of our area because they're tired of seeing the land being gobbled up by too-large, high-priced homes. And in this uncertain time of terrorism, it's not surprising to learn that a lot of people feel safer knowing where their food came from. Joining a CSA not only supports the local economy, it also supports the durability of our planet. There's no need to ship food from another corner of the world, so imagine the effect eating locally has on fuel consumption and air quality - there's no packaging, processing or trucking involved. Generally, I think people just want to make a connection between themselves and their food; so much has become processed and preserved and packaged and flavored and convenience-d and added-to and altered and chemical-ed. As a society, we seem to have forgotten that "natural," "organic" and "real" actually have meaning and value. Besides, local food just tastes better! It was super-easy to join my CSA. Just a phone call and dropping off a check.
Other sort of ripple-effect changes have been too many to count, as well. For instance, I've also had the opportunity to try my hand at preserving food. I've canned tomatoes, which was a lot of fun. Very hot, but fun. I've been freezing a lot this year - even produce not from the CSA. A local market (DelVal Market in Doylestown, PA) had a great deal on their own-grown organic blueberries. I bought six pints and froze them. Again, something that I just wouldn't have thought of doing before I joined a CSA. Q: Have you ever been to the farm? How far is it from your house, how far do you go to pick it up, how long is the growing season? Mikaela: I go to the farm, which is five miles from my house, once a week to pick up our share and I almost always see both Tricia and Tom ("my" farmers). The season typically goes from mid-May through late-October.
Mikaela: I could go on and on and on about CSA stuff. Or have I already done that? ;) 98 Moyer Road, Perkasie, PA Thank you, Mikaela for answering all my questions and letting me show off your lovely photos. Mikaela has a blog if youd like to follow <<this link>> |
For this week, I decided to take a break from posting about my CSA. Since I know there are a few people who have been inspired to sign up for a CSA from reading my blog, I thought it would be a good idea to show and talk about some other people's experiences with a more traditional CSA. My first guest is Yoko !
One of my friends had subscribed to a CSA a few years ago. I had never heard of the term before then, and I was intrigued by her description.
Q: What motivated you to sign up for one? Would you like to share anything about the thought process you went thru?
I liked the idea of supporting a local farm and having a closer connection to a place that grew my food. Fresh and seasonal produce makes for a markedly vibrant, full taste. I knew, from years of going to the grocery store and buying vegetables grown on a big farm, out of season, from another part of the country, that more often than not, I got insipid-tasting produce. My mom, having grown up on an orchard in Japan, has always made me aware that certain fruits and vegetables taste better when they are in season.
I did some research online, and found a couple of sites: localharvest.org and www.farmtocity.org.
I did some asking around, and decided to sign up for the Red Earth
Farm's CSA. They have a system where you can choose from a list of
vegetables available at a given time. I did the math, and figured that
for
a half-share, I was paying maybe $12 a week for vegetables that
would cost me at least twice that at my grocery store. It was the right
thing to do.
Q: How far is the farm from your house?
It's about a 2.5 hour drive from where I live, in a different county.
Q: How far do you go to pick [CSA shares] up?
The CSA has drop-off locations in various parts of the area. Mine is actually a block away from where I work.
Q: How long is the growing season?
This year, the growing season is from June to November.
Q: What have been some of your favorite new food experiences since you started receiving your shares? (Feelings about food, ways of shopping/preparation, etc)
I try to choose vegetables that I've never tried before, just to see what they're like. I had garlic scapes for the first time this past week, for instance. I sauteed them in oil, with salt and pepper-- they feel like green beans, but the garlic flavor is fabulous. Unfortunately, I smelled like garlic for a couple days straight!
In my meal planning, I usually decide to what to make based on a recipe, and then go out and buy the ingredients. With the CSA, my vegetables arrive, and then I think, "what can I make with these?" My process is completely reversed, but I like the challenge of coming up with a dish from things that I have on hand.
Q: What has been the biggest surprise of the experience?
The biggest surprise is really how delicious the CSA produce is. I've been eating a lot of zucchini right now, and they're sweet and lovely-- not a bitter one among them.
My husband and I drove out to the farm last weekend for their open house. The farmer and his crew were really friendly-- I was happy to be supporting people who honestly cared about their work.
Q: Any other thoughts...
I think that in this day and age, supporting local farms is especially important. Buying food from a farmer's market, or from a CSA, makes a lot of sense financially and environmentally.
Yoko
***************************************************************************************************************************************
Thank you so much to Yoko for taking time out to answer my questions and letting me show off her lovely pictures. You can see more of Yoko's pictures here. I hope to bring more guest CSAs to the blog in the near future.
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a ... model of food production, sales and distribution aimed at both increasing the quality of food and the quality of care given the land, plants and animals – while substantially reducing potential food losses and financial risks for the producers. It is also a method for small-scale commercial farmers and gardeners to have a successful, small-scale closed market. CSA’s focus is usually on a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables, sometimes also flowers, fruits, herbs and even milk or meat products in some cases. (source: wikipedia)
* Please visit localharvest.org to do a simple search by zip code to find CSAs in your area.
* Thank you to King's Hill Farms for providing me with year-round delicious organic fruits and vegetables in an unconventional, flexible, delicious share each week!
* Thank you to True Nature Foods in Chicago for hosting a pickup spot and being an all around great place!
King's Hill Farms located in Wisconsin, operates a non-traditional CSA. They go year round by getting fruit and vegetables from organic farms all over the world when they are not in their growing season. Im guessing that they probably supplement even during their growing season when necessary. I realize this defeats the localist ideal of a CSA but in the midwest with such a short growing season, we would be importing fruit and vegetables from elsewhere anyway, I reason. Sure I could make different choices as far as how FAR these fruits and vegetables would be travelling to get to me, but I prefer to go this route with the farm.
I dont have a complete picture this week, but this is a photo of some of the beautiful produce we got in our box. They must be getting some of their crop in because the potatoes and carrots are teeny and adorable.
**************************************************************************************************************
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a ... model of food production, sales and distribution aimed at both increasing the quality of food and the quality of care given the land, plants and animals – while substantially reducing potential food losses and financial risks for the producers. It is also a method for small-scale commercial farmers and gardeners to have a successful, small-scale closed market. CSA’s focus is usually on a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables, sometimes also flowers, fruits, herbs and even milk or meat products in some cases. (source: wikipedia)
- Please visit localharvest.org to do a simple search by zip code to find CSAs in your area.
- Thank you to King's Hill Farms for providing me with year-round delicious organic fruits and vegetables in an unconventional, flexible, delicious share each week!
- Thank you to True Nature Foods in Chicago for hosting a pickup spot and being an all around great place!
thank you for the bike grandpa. i know grandma was right that you would have wanted me to have it. i wish we could ride together though. i miss you, i love you.
I baked a big bunch of potato "fries" last night after reading about them for hours... mmmmmm.
Its Wednesday, what is left?
an avocado- one sweet potato
- one potato
collardsfrozen- garlic
not much spinach- half an onion
half a cucumber- one orange
- one gala apple
two beautiful pears (ripe for eating!)- six minneolas (im not ignoring you!)
I expect most of the veggies to be gone tonight in a delicious pile of salad and attempts to consume the food before its too late. I might freeze the collards and beet greens. The fruit is doing fine and Im not doing fruit surprise next week so Im not worried. My life is overrun with scheduling attempts to eat all my produce but Im ok with that.
 clipped from sustainablog.blogspot.com
|
 |
My Groups
-
Creative People Updated: 1 hour ago
-
Social Justice Updated: 1 hour ago
-
le vintage shoppe Updated: 2 hours ago
