Community supported agriculture, the way to go.

[nebulius]

Just wanted to share some photos of some beautifully, organically grown local produce that I get weekly from a farm co-op I joined. Its a great way to support local family farms and feed your family the healthiest and highest quality foods available.
When you eat good, you feel good. Here's to your health. God bless;)

Got any photos of your organic fruits and veggies from your Co-Op or gardeno_O ? Please post them.:)






A brief history about Community supported agriculture.......

Community supported agriculture (CSA) originated in Japan in the1960s. CSAs then began in Europe in the 1970s and in the United States in the 1980s. When they began in the U. S., CSAs were a major or sole source of organic produce in their localities. But with the advent of the national organic program (nop), the relationship between local and organic has become more and more tenuous. Large agribusiness operations in a few states now supply much of the available organic food to the rest of the country.

This "movement" provides a direct link between consumers and farmers. The goal of the CSA is to provide solutions to the problems of small farm survival, food quality, nutrition, community building, sustainability, and quality of life.

This direct marketing method benefits both the farmer and the consumer. Today your typical grocery store food travels an average of 1500 miles from the farm to the table. Your food is shipped, inventoried, possibly fresh processed and bagged or packaged in some way, consolidated, shipped again, inventoried again, distributed, inventoried again, restacked, displayed, and finally sold to you. It is no wonder that ship-ability is more important than taste to the food industry.

After all of this effort the price is driven up to the point that the farmer may only make 25% on every food dollar and is compelled to produce large mono-crops to increase volume to make ends meet, all the while increasing financial risk.

 

[nebulius]

Here's some more info about it.

Farm fresh organic produce delivered direct from the farmer!
(CSA= Community Supported Agriculture)

"CSA is a partnership of mutual commitment between a farm and a community of supporters, which provides a direct link between the production and consumption of food. Supporters cover a farm's yearly operating budget by purchasing a share of the season's harvest.

CSA members make a commitment to support the farm throughout the season, and assume the costs, risks and bounty of growing food along with the farmer or grower. This mutually supportive relationship between local farmers, growers and community members helps create an economically stable farm operation in which members are assured the highest quality produce, often at below retail prices. In return, farmers and growers are guaranteed a reliable market for a diverse selection of crops."

The way it works is the farmer is using your money for their operating costs so they ask you to pay upfront for a few months. Mine is $60 to start. Then each week they deduct the amount of your share. For mine the costs are:

A Half share is $15 per week and Full is $20. We offer two different Fruit boxes: Half is $8 per week and a Full is $16 per week. Half shares of fruit are between 3 and 5 pounds of fruit and a Full share of fruit is between 6-10 pounds of fruit. Finally we offer egg memberships as well; Half and Full dozen. A Half dozen eggs is $3.50 per week and a Full dozen is $6.25 per week.

The picture shows a half share $15, with half fruit $8, and artisan bread $4 loaf. So weekly cost for what you see is $27. After my $60 goes to $0, they automatically take out $60 from my bank account. You can deposit more with them if you like, they actually reward people for paying larger sums upfront.

They have drop off locations where you pick up your box of produce each week. In my city they have 3 drop off locations, and for me it's closer than going to the grocery store.

They give you a good variety of stuff, some more exotic things too that I don't typically eat like beats, swiss chard, leaks, fava beans. But it forces me to eat things I normally wouldn't, which is good. The farm also put out a newsletter with recipes for the veggies so when I get something odd like fava beans, I know how to prepare it and know to serve it with a nice Chianti. :p

If there's stuff left over right before my next pickup, or if produce is becoming too ripe, I just juice it. Love juicing!:D

Ok, my lungs are running out of air........:p hope this encourages some folks to eat better. Stay healthy farmers, and support other local farmers!:cool:

Website maybe useful in helping find local CSA
http://www.localharvest.org/food-coops/

 

[Chobble]

Big ups for this post Neb, more people need to be educated about CSA's and supporting local agriculture :D

Chobble

 

[Seamaiden]

That's a beautiful produce box you got there, nebulius. More impetus for me to join our local CSA, both as a consumer and a producer.

 

[fishwhistle]

Neb,thanks bro im all over this,found a csa near me and ive already talked to them.Im checking it out at their next drop.

 

[dirk d]

Excellent job nebulius! and a juicer as well! wow...you are a role model for today's ideal diet. +rep bro!

 

[nebulius]

Big ups for this post Neb, more people need to be educated about CSA's and supporting local agriculture :D
Chobble

Thanks Chobble! I've always tried to eat healthily and occasionally went to the farmers markets but I never fully took advantage of the all the fresh produce grown locally until recently. I thought to myself, I live in an area that grows all this healthy food that people in other countries pay big money for, so why am I eating processed junk?

That's a beautiful produce box you got there, nebulius. More impetus for me to join our local CSA, both as a consumer and a producer.

The colors are just amazing aren't they! I've got a lot of respect for farmer's that produce the healthy food's we eat.
That's great to hear you're thinking of becoming apart of your local CSA Seamaiden, we need more small family farms. It really gives you a pieces of mind knowing the farmers and farm where your food is grown, and the inputs going in the ground.

Neb,thanks bro im all over this,found a csa near me and ive already talked to them.Im checking it out at their next drop.

Awesome Fishwhistle! Maybe you can post some pics if you join the CSA. I would love to see what produce your local CSA's provide.

Excellent job nebulius! and a juicer as well! wow...you are a role model for today's ideal diet. +rep bro!

Thanks Dirk d, rediscovered juicing again! I've always been health conscious and have consistently taken different herbs and vitamins but out of everything I've tried, juicing makes me feel the best and gives me the best results.

 

[Chobble]

Thanks Chobble! I've always tried to eat healthily and occasionally went to the farmers markets but I never fully took advantage of the all the fresh produce grown locally until recently. I thought to myself, I live in an area that grows all this healthy food that people in other countries pay big money for, so why am I eating processed junk?

Exactly! I also advise looking for smaller CSA's in your area. Santa Cruz has 90+ CSA's and you can get a year of weekly food for 900$.

Chobble