Eating local

I know I mentioned a couple weeks ago the importance of eating sustainably and conscientiously. I said I would look into doing even more to make certain as much of what I eat is local and organic, and would report back on the ability to do so on a grad student's budget.

So here is what I found:

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the answer. These are local farms that grow food and sell directly to the community. You can have a box of produce delivered to your front door, or a pick up within a mile of your house, for $20-35 (feeds 1-2 people for a week), or $35-50 (feeds a family of 4-5 for a week).

There are vast varieties within this category too. There are CSAs that are truly local, and typically only run a 20 week season. There are CSAs that run year round and use a mix of local and partners in warmer states such as California. Some programs will let you buy a single box of food, some require a three month commitment. Most will allow you to request items to be placed in your box, and allow you to make lists of vegetables you never want to see in your house (like mushrooms in my case), so they can exclude them from all your boxes. Many will let you order dairy or bread products in your box as well. Most combine fruits and veggies, but some allow you just to get fruit, just to get veggies, etc.

To find these awesome programs- google. Put in your city and CSA, and shop around a little. Here is the 2011 Farmer's Market guide, which also includes CSA advertisements and u-pick farms- http://pugetsoundfresh.org/farm-guide-news.asp. Yum. I can't wait for the weather to get better so I can start partaking of some really excellent food. The Lake City Farmer's Market starts up next month.

Anyways, there is my solution to local, affordable, organic produce (delivered to you, who can beat that?). There are many other ways to do this, including growing your own veggies and shopping farmer's markets. I just think this is a nice way to support the local economy, sustainability, and it's a little like getting a weekly or biweekly present. Happy cooking to everyone, I hope this information helped a little.