22 posts tagged “green”
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.
The Sustainable Table is a great resource for eating locally. Visit this link for a chart of what is in season & when by state. This is a really great resource for knowing when certain produce is plentiful and therefore ... cheaper? Hopefully? Hopefully it means the produce is coming from more local sources, but depending on where you shop, even if apples are in season in Illinois, Jewel is probably still carrying them from Washington...
Quicklink: Illinois Chart
Wisconsin Chart
Im still collecting CSA stories
... Ive
been very lucky to have such wonderful people tell me about their
experience ... I think Jen's is particularly inspiring because she has forged a relationship with the farm and the land which provides her food. Please to enjoy...
***Q: How did you hear about CSAs/when did you become familiar with the idea?***
I first heard of CSAs 2 or 3 years ago on a blog post at treehugger.com
- they did a piece on the environment impact of imported organic
produce and why it's important to eat local. The post referred me to
localharvest.org and from there I learned about this whole "CSA" thing.
A friend at work had been a member of a CSA and filled me in on the
details.
***Q: What motivated you to sign up for one? Would you like to share anything about the thought process you went thru?***
I really liked the idea of being handed a bag of organically grown
vegetables each week. At the time I was also becoming more aware of
corporate agribusiness and how small farms get shafted by the system. I
really liked the idea of directly supporting a farmer, rather than a
grocery store, 8 middle-men and the farmer.
***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)***
My entire outlook on food has changed. I used to be "organic or
nothing" and now I am "local or nothing." The first epiphany was
locally grown heirloom tomatoes - that changed everything. Now, I won't
even bother to buy fresh tomatoes if they're not local and out of
season - there's just no point. I've become more intune with the
seasons, and eating what's fresh and now I look forward to different
months for their produce. Peas in June, summer squash in July, heirloom
tomatoes in August... Last winter I had a winter CSA which provided
mostly greens. They were *amazing* - the sweet crunch of lettuce grown
in the mid-30s temperature is unbelieavble. I was never passionate
about lettuce, now I live for it!
***Q: What has been the biggest surprise of the experience?***
When I first signed up, I was like "Organic food. Cool." What supprised me is how CSAs have completely changed my attitude about buying local. This isn't limited to produce - when I need to buy something that isn't produced locally, I make an effort to buy it from a small local business and actively choose to not shop at large chains. When I need to go to the grocery store, I now shop at Hannaford which is a New England-based business, as opposed to Shaw's or Stop & Shop which are larger chains.
I've also become the poster child for eating local and supporting area farms. This summer I've dedicated my time to helping the local farmers. Making posters, spreading the word, volunteering. I've taken lots of photos of local farms, markets, etc and posted them to my Flickr account. They're all Creative Commons licensed (free to use), and I've gotten lots of postive feedback from the farmers that my photos have been helping them. Anything I can do to help the local farms, I do.
***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?***
Currently I have a CSA with Leeks and Bounds in North Hampton, NH. Through-out the summer I've been helping out at the farm 1 or 2 days a week - harvesting, weeding, that sort of thing. I'm also the "official" photographer and have been photodocumenting the farm this season. I also help them with "marketing" - I made them a sign to go by the road, and have been putting together t-shirts, tote bags, etc for them to sell to raise money to buy a new high-tunnel.
The farm is about 30 minutes from my house and pick-ups are at the farm. It's a bit far, but I pick up shares for 2 other people who are near me. I also deliver milk from the dairy to the CSA farm too.
This farm is CSA-only, and currently has about 90 full shares. The farm
is run by 2 people - Jay and Melissa. They are recent grads from the
University of New Hampshire with complimentary degrees in environmental
conservation and horticulture. Everything they do has the environment,
sustainability and health of the soil in mind. Being CSA-only has a
different mindset - they are very community focused. Other farms around
here do farmer's markets and some CSA shares; as such, they are more
market-focused and see the CSA as doing another market. There's nothing
wrong with that, it's just different. Working on the farm and meeting
all the area farmers this summer has been a wonderful education.
***Any other thoughts...***
In my area of the country (the north east), we don't have a huge local food supply. Most of our food travels thousands of miles from California or central and south America. With oil prices increasing, and farmable land quickly being swooped up to drop vinyl-sided condos on, I think in the next decade we are going to start seeing a food crisis: costs will escalate because of high oil prices (production and transporation prices will increase), and farmable land will be scarce - once you build houses, you can't easily reclaim the land for farming. I am doing everything I can to support local farmers to help insulate against this future risk.
I'm also trying to turn my black thumb green: while I can't keep a
house plant alive, this year I have planted a small vegetable garden
because I think learning how to grow your own food will be a valuable
skill in the future. I'm growing beans for drying, acorn squash and
sweet potatoes. I've focused mainly on storage crops that will help
feed me during the winter so when the farmer's markets are sleeping I
can buy less at the megamart.
***ABOUT THE FARM/CSA***
Full shares are $500, and $575 with access to the "Pick Your Own" patch which has herbs, flowers, beans, cherry tomatoes and a few other goodies. The growing season is about 20 weeks.
Farm's Website: www.leeksandbounds.org/
Farm's Flickr Site: www.flickr.com/photos/leeksandbounds/ (includes weekly share photos)
Thank you so much to Jen for her participation in my little Q/A! She provided so much information and shows a true passion for the local farm experience. Hopefully it has been inspirational / informational to all who read.
CREDITS: Jen Dickert would be delighted if you'd visit her Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/jdickert/
*****
Id love to hear about anyone else's experience. I know this year was the first year for a lot of people and I think next year will be the first year for a lot more. If you want to share, please send me a message! Id especially love if I can get some photos as well!
***************************
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)
Some fun linkage to brighten your day... and add some life to the blog. I wont make excuses.
- Great blog article about Local food popularity rising in Chicago by Jeff @ sustainablog (probably my #1 favorite green blog).
- Ok, so LED's are the new CFL? Everything you Ever Wanted to Know About LED's from EcoStreet Blog. Ahhh! Beautiful!!! Modern Solar Powered LED Lights also seen at Jetson Green (an awesome green building blog). And get ready for it because there is a Bill in Congress "that would require phasing out regular incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact fluorescents and other, more efficient lighting technologies" as seen at Grist.
- AASHE Campus Sustainability Leadership Award Winners Announced 09/07/07 !!!
- Check out the "Best in Show" Off-grid building concept @ Cascadia Region Green Building Council’s Living Building Challenge which "features greenhouses, rooftop gardens, a chicken farm, and fields for growing vegetables and grains." as seen at Jetson Green.
- Oooh, Sustainable, hypoallergenic, sound-absorbing resistant to mold and mildew: CORK FLOORS! or BAMBOO FLOORING, if you'd rather. source: Greenthinkers.
yum! tastes so green!
Freecycle is such an awesome concept.
You join a local group... post stuff you want to give away or find stuff someone else is giving away... The stuff gets picked up for free... It's awesome! Everybody wins!*
"The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,110 groups with 3,843,000
members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit
movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in
their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of
landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's
good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by
entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups”
above the search box. Have fun!"
Go to www.freecycle.org to check it out and find a local group!
*Except when people don't show up. That has been happening to me more often than not lately. Its very frustrating.
A bit late to the party, and especially nerdy for being excited about it, but I finally bought my first CFL. Click <.<here>.> for a really great sort of FAQ about CFLs. I think the most key thing to mention is that with proper disposal/recycling, the mercury issue you may have heard about is not a problem.
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.
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