Slow but Steady Revolution- Slowvolution
Well, I feel like I’ve shared a lot with you and yet I feel like I’ve only shaved a little off the top. There is so much regarding food, health, nutrition and politics that can be discussed. But today I wanted to share with you my excitement.
I FINALLY joined a CSA! YAY!
What is a CSA? Well, I attached a video for you to take a look at but in a nutshell, CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture. In essence, I’ve bought a share of a farm and in exchange, I get fresh-from-the-farm food in a box every two weeks.
For me, this is monumental. Unless the farmers are lying (which I doubt they are but I acknowledge the possibility), my produce will have never seen a pesticide in its life. This means it is true organic, organic by MY definition. The only thing it’s seen is soil, rain, sun and maybe a blustery breeze or two. It’s as if I went out into the woods or the fields and picked it myself. It’s not genetically modified or doused with chemicals. Allow me a moment to breathe my sigh of relief. Whew.
This is merely a part of my year-long project to unplug as much as possible. First meat, then produce. Soon, I’ll be at a grocery store for my very basic of staples like my great-great grandmother used to do. They’d go to the grocery for sugar and flour. And that was it. My hope is to get to that point by the end of the year. And I plan on doing it all as a city girl. Full time job, wife, mother, yoga, happy hours and bread from scratch.
This is why I didn’t include produce in the Cost Analysis. If you buy organic produce from a grocery store, the price is going to be astronomical ($6.59 for one avocado? Really?). Admittedly, I have not been eating organic produce. I have been washing the conventional produce better and praying over it. But now I’ll be able to eat fully organic produce for around $20 a week. Yes, that’s right. The family size box of produce I’ll be receiving from Full Circle Farm in Washington is costing me $20 a week. If meat is about $20 a week and produce is about $20 a week, my $50 a week goal for groceries looks more feasible now doesn’t it? (And you people laughed at me for daring to think I could feed a family of three on $50 a week! HA!)
Now with the CSA you are limited in what you can have to items that can be grown locally in your climate and items that are in season (amen for living in the PNW where the winters are mild and stuff still grows). This creates a fun (or painful) challenge where I have to find recipes to match the ingredients I’ll be getting. It also brings about the possibility that I won’t eat everything in time before it begins to spoil so guess who’ll be reading up on canning and freezing in the next few weeks?
In the meantime, I’m beginning my list of what I will be planting in my own garden this year. It will be my largest gardening project ever (I usually do herbs each year) and I’ll be adding greens and veggies which is a first for me. I’m also looking into a greenhouse and thinking about a class on urban chicken farming (which will be news to the hubby!). I do have to figure out what to do about these raccoons though… (suddenly it doesn’t sound like I really live in a city, does it?)
Wish me luck and I’ll keep you posted on the how the CSA is working for me and my family. In the meantime, I hope you’re still doing your own digging and you’re setting your own goals on how to unplug.
citygirlslowdier
A City Girl's Slowvolution 