Friday, July 9, 2010

CSAs and Farmer's Markets, oh my!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to hit the Natick Farmers Market; I haven't been in 3 weeks, so it'll be a nice change! Thankfully, I also have a Every Other Week Share from Tangierini's Spring Street Farm, and besides veggies, I can get my eggs, fish, and meat there also! It's one stop shopping! The fish deal is pretty cool. I'm considering signing up for their CSF--Community Supported Fish-next year, but I was wary because I didn't know if we could eat all of the fish fast enough for Evan's taste. But they also have a fishmonger who comes twice a week with his wares, so I can get whatever I need for dinner. I did however sign up for their Winter Share, mostly root vegetables and whatever they grow in their greenhouse.

It's nice having a steady supply of vegetables already taken care of, and I appreciate that they are both local and organic. There's this supposed debate about local vs. organic, and every time see something about it, I keep thinking, why not both? I appreciate that food nutrition deteriorates over time, so the closer the better, but I'd still rather not have weird chemical sprays on my food, thank you very much.

But between my two sources, my food comes from closer by, the quality is far better, and I think my food expenses overall are lower. That may have to be a project, though, to track my food expenses and see how it compares to my usual shopping trip to Whole Foods/Trader Joe's. Hmmm, a subject for another post...

and if you're wondering how to find a CSA near you, check out www.localharvest.org

3 comments:

  1. While I agree with you that buying foods that are both local and organic is best, I tend to come down on the side of local over organic when I have to make a choice.

    I've been able to talk with some of the nearby farmers where we get our some of our produce, and even for the ones that can't label their food as organic, they tend to avoid spraying unless their is a major infestation. The farm down the road from me has never sprayed their blueberry bushes in the 4 years they've been offering blueberries. Another farm we go to has not sprayed in years. One of the employees remembered one summer when dealing with a Japanese beetle infestation. She said that everyone was out in the bushes, picking the bugs off by hand and dunking them in tubs of soapy water. Neither of these places are certified organic, but they are smaller farms that use traditional farming practices that are more responsible than those of big ag.

    On the flip side, I am not always convinced of the ethics and wholesomeness of some large scale organic food producers. They may be certifed organic, but I've read things that make me question the value of that label.

    Ideally, we should be able to know both where our food comes from, and how it was produced.

    Hopefully I can join a CSA again some time. I tried a few years ago, but my closes option was a half hour drive away, with a difficult pick-up schedule. (How is it that I live out in the country, but have to go so far to find local produce?)

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  2. Hmm...my comment seems to be as long as your post! Sorry about that...

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  3. Heh, that's okay. I guess what I should have been more clear about my preferences. I don't necessarily care if the farmer is certfied organic or not because I know it is a huge expense to do that. And I won't buy from some of those huge organic producers that you allude to because I don't agree with some of their practices. But I do want to know their procedures, and I'd rather go with the ones that are traditional/organic, even if they are not certifiably soon.

    Thank you for making me clarify:)

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