CSA's, anybody ever heard of 'em? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture an idea that was brought to fruition by farmers back in the late eighties. The idea behind the CSA is to cut out the "middleman" a.k.a.-grocery stores, long travel, and pesticide laden foods. The way they work is similar to your local farmers market, except that you dont pick the produce(sounds kind of weird right?). A co-op of local organic farms puts together a box of combined produce from their farms and either delivers it to your door, or brings it to a reasonably convenient drop off point. You pay for it in weekly, monthy, or seasonal increments, depending on your CSA's billing choice.
The beautiful thing about all of this is, it teaches you to cook seasonally, you learn to utilize the produce given to you by becoming creative with what is available. This also supports your community, economically and locally, instead of sending your money (via the grocery store) thousands of miles away. It is educational as well as healthy and supportive of locally sustainable agriculture. It also protects local farms when crops are destroyed by frost, pests etc. These groups share their profits to support eachother and sustain a movement.
Call me a hippie, i dont care, this is a great thing. You can fing these CSA's on line at www.localharvest.org
CSA's shouldn't be a secret |
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professional chef
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Kate: In the Boston area is a company called Boston Organics. They aren't a CSA, but a produce delivery service that sells all organically grown produce, and locally grown as much as possible. They deliver a box (choice of 3 sizes) of whatever is available from the farms that week. It does encourage experimenting with new foods. They even provide some recipes. comment left Sep 09 |
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Pinckney: You know, I would think that CSAs would be ideally suited to restaurants. I know lots of places in NYC get their stuff straight from the farm and I bet that can be nerve racking - sweating out a delivery of something from a local farmer. Doesn't Alice Waters contract directly with a number of her farmer/suppliers? comment left Sep 04 |
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chef4cook: I like the whole CSA thing. I think people should be more in touch with the foods they eat. I would like to have the chance to do that in a restaurant setting. comment left Sep 04 |
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Pinckney:
LocalHarvest Newsletter - Authenticity and Momentum
Through much of the summer, we have been hopeful. It's hard not to be, when being so well fed by the garden and the local farmers. Everywhere we went, people were talking about buying local food. We like that. It felt like the tide was turning. But in the last couple of weeks, it has seemed like The Insanity is gaining ground again. The FDA decided it was a fine idea for iceberg lettuce and spinach to be irradiated. A science advisor to the Bush administration equated seed saving with multi-species gene manipulation. Then a small scale cattle rancher from Texas told us that fuel and feed prices are going to put some of his neighbors out of business this year. A poultry farmer in the Midwest said the same. I don't need radical change right this minute. I'm willing to watch it unfold, if it does so kind of quickly. But when it looks like momentum is gathering in a direction that seems fundamentally wrong, well, it's a little discouraging. I mean, irradiated iceberg lettuce?? That has to be a bad idea in about six different ways. The up side of pondering the news is that it got me thinking about this notion of momentum. Motion, shift, gathering power. Harnessed for the common good, it could be our golden ticket. When we choose to eat a more local diet, we first have to learn about what is raised near us, and when. Our minds are thus engaged on a new level with the land and the seasons. Buying our veggies and meat from the farmers market or a CSA, we strengthen both our social and economic ties to the farming community. We develop a taste for seasonal food, and may find we prefer plums from a neighbor's tree to any corn syrup laden snack in a box. Little by little, the authenticity of real food reveals itself to us. Our eating habits change. Food, not as international commodity, but as deep nourishment, becomes important and interesting to us. We plan meals, we cook, we sit down to eat. Small acts, really, but ones that undermine the dominant food system's ethos of convenience and instant gratification. Slowly, momentum builds. Having experienced real food, we see through the lies of irradiation and genetic manipulation and agricultural consolidation. We are willing to stand up for the real thing. Maybe we march in the streets, as the French are fond of doing. Or write letters, as over 275,000 people did a decade ago when the USDA was shaping the rules that would define 'organic.' Maybe we simply keep putting our money where our mouth is and keep local farmers in business. More motion, more gathering power. It's safe to say that the industrial food system is going to continue to roll out weird technologies and advertising campaigns and laws to ensure its profits and self-preservation. They will do so in the name of safety and satisfaction. No matter. Individuals can still recognize what is real and whole. Making contact with the authentic is truly powerful. When we do it together, in every community, great shifts will happen. comment left Sep 02 |
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Pinckney: CSA outfits are pretty good when you can find them. I am looking for a farmer who wants to become involved in it in SC, but I haven't gotten very far. Some other local people have land and have tried to find a farmer by advertising in Rodale Press Publications and mostly the people who respond are looking for salaried positions as farmers. This is an interesting proposition. There are some successful CSAs in the NY area, but I have stayed mostly with the farmer's markets; some of which are on localharvest.org. NY is a sort of special case with the 'green markets' which handle a great deal of local and organic produce year round and which have helped make restaurants like Union Square Cafe possible. These green market wannabes are seasonal outside of the metropolitan area in that they run only during the warm months and are sorely missed from November through May. comment left Sep 02 |
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