Our grocery bill has increased in the last few weeks as our CSA has ended for the year. If you're unfamiliar with a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture it is (from Wikipedia) a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box scheme, sometimes including dairy products and meat.
This was our second year buying a CSA share from Young Earth Farm. http://www.youngearthfarm.com/
We went with Young Earth as our CSA provider because they deliver their produce boxes to the co-op grocery store a block from our house. Typically Farms will offer a full share and half share option. Some farms deliver produce boxes every week and some farms have a twice-a-month option. Mike and I have gone with the half-share which delivers every other Thursday from the end of May to the beginning of October.
Joining a CSA, is a great way to help local farmers, feed your family fresh organic produce, save money and try new foods! Most of the local CSAs in Dane County range from $300 for a half share to $700 for a full share. This may seem like a lot of money but I've determined that the amount of money I would spend if I bought all this produce locally and organically would far exceed my investment in the CSA. For example, in the middle of August we are usually surprised with two large bags of tomatoes in our CSA box. It would cost me probably over $75 to purchase the equivalent in organic tomatoes from the grocery store!
Also, a lot of health insurance companies will reimburse you a portion of your expense! Mike and I get reimbursed a total of $200 through our separate insurance companies, so we're left only paying $100 out of pocket for boxes and boxes of fresh, organic produce!!!
I must admit that on occasion, we were left scratching our heads looking at some of the items we receive in our CSA. I am not a fan of beets or brussel sprouts and even when reading the recipes provided by our farm, I still don't want to prepare and eat them. Luckily, most of the foods we receive are standards that we would purchase in the store anyway and the odd things we try to give away to family and friends.
It makes so much sense to try and purchase local vegetables when possible, not only from an environmental perspective but also a nutritional perspective! Research continues to prove that the more fresh a vegetable is, the more nutrients it contains. Some research shows that as soon as you pick a vegetable or fruit it begins to lose it's nutritional value and other research shows that as soon as you cut a fruit or vegetable it begins to further lose it's nutritional value.
To me it just makes sense that if we don't have the space, time or ability to grow our own vegetables...we should be getting our vegetables from our neighbors!
Now that the growing season has come to an end, we are left with rummaging through the grocery store aisles, reading labels to ensure that our vegetables are organic and if possible from a country closer than Syria.
Next year if you're in or around Dane County and interested in finding a farm to support, check out MACSAC, Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition.
http://www.macsac.org/index.html
Here you can look up farms, prices, and drop-off sites. They also host an open house every spring where people can come out and meet the farmers, ask questions and sign up for their CSA.
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