CSA choices

[elainegrey]

Our clerk plus the Unity with Nature committee is encouraging us to join a CSA as part of ethical eating this month. I started looking around at CSAs and it all seemed so challenging. Pickups that aren't in my usual path. The unpredictability.

So, to commit to eating locally, i'm going to splurge and go with Planet Organics and their delivery service. That puts some onus on me as they do source Mexican organic farms and Washington and Oregon. But i can select from what's local, and if i really don't need the flat fee worth of (pricy) veggies, i can replace with gluten free pastas and a variety of other things. It's probably like having Whole Foods deliver.

I'll write a note to myself to still consider joining the Hidden Villa CSA. They are very local, and it's a seasonal CSA.

But the overwhelm: some other changes in house keeping i'd like to make seem like additional pressures. So, delivery for local veggies is manageable and not overwhelming.

Comments

[weofodthignen]

My housemate tried a CSA but found it impossible to efficiently use what was in the box each week. It was too much, and she kept having to miss a week because there wasn't enough she felt like having. That's why we initially started going to the farmers' market, and I can't help thinking that is just as good, or even better if you are likely to have the same problem of not being able to come up with meals to efficiently use what's in the box. Or if you cycle there and back rather than taking the car as we do. The stuff there is almost all local (it's all local by the farmers' definition) and the interaction with the farmers is nice in itself. I understand the Mountain View farmers' market is one of the biggest in the state and has one of the highest percentages of actual produce as opposed to crafts and prepared foods (Sunnyvale has more prepared foods). It is on Sundays though, and I think you said before that that was your difficulty getting there, but since I don't know the times of Meeting and committee activities, I wonder if there's a way to do it or whether that's why a CSA is being urged instead.

M

[elainegrey]

We split a CSA with another family in the late '90s. We were thankful during arugula season that they had a guinea pig pet. One of the nice things about a CSA is learning to adapt to the seasonal bounty: tucking things into the freezer or sharing with others. But it is a burden, too. It was definitely improved by sharing the share with a friend, so we could create the accommodations needed for travel and what not. It seems clear that the CSA concept has adapted somewhat, offering half shares by default, but the (every other) weekly ritual of getting to the right place at the right time seems the most challenging thing to me now. As you can see, i remain mixed.

Mountain View's farmer's market is not at a convenient time for me at all. It is perhaps that annoyance that makes the weekly CSA pickup concept just as annoying. The delivery from Planet Organics helps simplify this problem.