Buy Fresh, Buy Local
Sep 30th, 2007 at 8:04 pm by Susie
For reasons both political and practical, I try to purchase locally grown food. Mostly, I look for seasonal farmer’s markets, but next year I think I’m going to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm. It’s a kind of farming co-op - you pay a fee that gives you a certain share of the produce grown on the farm.
As you probably know, food has recently become quite expensive. With the raising cost of oil, that’s not going to get any better. We’re going to see incredible cost increases and fewer options, due to the cost of transporting food across the country.
These local CSA farms are mostly organic, which also means they’re not dependent on petroleum-based fertilizers. So connect with your local food sources. It just might get you through the hard times.
Here’s a good resource to find what’s available near you.
Here is another link. I have a local farmer who delivers.
I have kicked around the idea of starting a small co-op operation. I moved out to the country last April, too late for any planting after I got settled in, but I have about 3 acres that I could grow fresh produce on. I plan to do a garden next spring the only question is the size I want to make it.
And I second Melanie’s suggestion of LocalHarvest. I get an e-mail alert whenever one of the locals has something to offer. I also live near a hydroponic operation which offers tomatoes, strawberries, squash and I forget what else. I found them late this year, but it is a very interesting operation and the yield seems to be pretty amazing.
We also have a really good small farmers market, but even there the prices have gone up quite a bit in the past 2 or 3 years. I live in North Alabama and I have heard that the Mennonite communities of southern Tennessee are great places to buy fresh produce.