With all of the horrible stuff happening in the world, I wanted to share something positive. This is our first year with a CSA, and I could not be happier. When we first signed up, they required us to come visit their farm. Our farmers are just a couple and their kids. They grow the majority of their own food, and also feed the local community. The food we get is the tastiest, freshest produce we could ever find (other than growing stuff ourselves). I saw someone posted a fruit cup the other day, and it said something along the lines of being produced on one side of the planet, then shipped half way across the globe to be packaged, then back to be sold in US. Then I thought about our farmers. Our food travels 30 minutes to the farmers’ market. That’s it. How many emissions would that save if everyone did that? In case any of you are interested, and are in US, you can find your local CSA here: https://www.localharvest.org/csa/
I manage a produce section at a smaller grocery store in a city of 100k, and the summer months (albeit chaotic when it comes to ordering and storage space) are kind of satisfying due to all the local growers I get to buy from directly. At minimum I source carrots, green beans, peas, corn, potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes all locally from greenhouses or hutterite colonies, and a the majority of my berries, stonefruit, and apples are trucked in weekly from BC. There’s a tremendous amount of wiggle room on the prices, and if our warehouse is running a better deal, the local guys are always eager to match it. It tastes so much better too. Especially the corn and beans. I’d pay more for it, honestly.