Our Community Supported Organic Farm (For Blog Action Day/World Food Day)

On every Blog Action Day since the first one in 2007, bloggers around the world have come together to focus on one subject. This year we are talking about food. Please click on the B.A.D. badge to visit some of the bloggers from over 80 countries who are taking part in this year's project. 

We always wondered about getting food from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, but didn't really do anything about it until we saw an article in our local paper. It was all about a new farm right here in the Mesilla Valley that was offering weekly, year-round harvest boxes of fresh, organically grown fruits and vegetables. 

We took a ride down to Mesilla and met Charlie and Emily, the farmers at Los Poblanos Organics--and the rest is history. Because our particular CSA allows but does not require a subscription, each week for almost a year now we have ordered our box online.  A few days later we pick up a box full of some of the best food we've ever eaten. There are always optional choices to pick out at the farm--for instance, do we want extra tomatoes or eggplant? Do we prefer cantaloupe or watermelon? We can also order organic meats and other locally produced foods like honey, jam, bread, and eggs from nearby partner farms.

Some of the contents of a harvest box

Why support a local farm? 

1. We get the freshest fruits and vegetables available. They are delicious, and grown without chemicals. Sometimes we learn about foods that are new to us, like pluots, kohlrabi, and kale. There are plenty of recipes available online, although we find that we like most of our fruits as is, and our vegetables fairly plain--steamed and with a minimum of added ingredients. 

2. We get to meet the farmers and see the food that they are growing. Charlie and Emily are a big part of our week now. We get to check out their chickens, look at what's coming up in the fields, and ask  questions about crops and recipes. We also get to see the progress of a flower garden at the farm that is being grown by some nearby home schooled kids.

3. We are feeling pretty darned healthy. With more fruits and vegetables on hand than we have ever had in our lives, we are meeting and exceeding all the daily standards for minimum daily requirements. We are bursting with vitamins and minerals, and have less room for unhealthy foods. We are losing weight, and we find that we crave carrots more than cake. I have no idea how that came about, but it's a good thing!

4. We are helping make a difference to the earth. By supporting both local and organic farming, we are helping prevent pollution through unnecessary transportation of goods from state to state. We reduce our dependence on fossil fuels because our food comes from the place just down the road. By purchasing food grown through non-chemical agricultural practices, we have a small part in improving the soils and protecting the groundwaters in our area.

I hope that you will check out Community Supported Agriculture in your area. You can get started by reading about the movement and locating a nearby farm on the Local Harvest web site. 

Yet Another Plug for the Clovis Farmers Market…and other local food sources

I’ve been reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver, her husband Steven Hopp, and daughters Camille and Lily, moved from Tucson to the family’s farm in southwest Virginia. Their aim was to eat only food that they grew themselves or that was produced locally for a whole year.

We have gotten used to eating food out of season—food that is transported all over the world. There is a movement, variously referred to as Slow Food, or eating locally (those who do are called “locavores”), that challenges us to eat a more healthy diet and to help the environment and the local economy by not buying food that has been transported for more than 100 miles (“oily food” according to Steven Hopp). In doing so, we eat fresher, more wholesome food and support sustainable agriculture and our local farmers.

Here are some examples of “oily food” from my own kitchen here in Clovis, New Mexico. I have a package of Cape Cod dried cranberries which was purchased in Manchester, New Hampshire before we moved here. Cape Cod, where the cranberries grew, is 120 miles from the store where I bought them--a little over the 100 mile limit I’m trying for. However, the label tells me that the cranberries from Massachusetts were packaged in Kingsburg, California! That’s 3142 miles from Cape Cod, so my cranberries traveled from Cape Cod to Kingsburg to Manchester (and we know that there were probably grocery distribution centers involved along the way that would increase the mileage) for a total of 6,265 miles, plus the 16 mile round trip I made to and from the supermarket. I’m shocked, are you?

I don’t even want to try to compute the miles traveled and the gas and oil used to produce the grape juice I bought recently here in Clovis. The label tells me that it contains concentrates from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. I could have bought fresh apple cider from right down the road.

When you eat locally, you can buy directly from the producer, often at farmers markets, or directly from the farm. Much of this food is produced organically, because it is grown on a small scale. The meat comes from animals who have lived a good life and have finished it up in grassy pastures, not in the crowded horror we see at feedlots.

We buy more and more of our weekly food from the Clovis Farmers Market. I have spent some time looking at sources for grass-fed beef and other meats, then checking maps to find which are closest to home—preferably under the 100 mile limit. Local Harvest is a good online resource for the best organic food that is grown closest to you. Check the distance from your door to the food producer’s door on Google Maps. The Animal, Vegetable, Miracle website has a good list of resources to help you start eating locally.

**************************
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle web site: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

FarmersMarket.com: Listing of markets by states: http://farmersmarket.com/

Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Local Harvest; Real Food, Real Farmers, Real Community: http://www.localharvest.org/

Slow Food USA: http://www.slowfoodusa.org/

A source for grass fed beef that is only 53 miles from Clovis: http://www.milnesandgrassfedbeef.com/

Sustainable Agriculture: http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm