Csa box

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

So this is the first of my veggie boxes from my CSA, which is Abundant Harvest Organics. For slightly less than $20 a week, Gabriel and I get the small size box of veggies. It is all 100% organic, seasonal, local produce. We pick it up on Saturday mornings about 2 miles from our house. So far, the small box has more than we can eat! This CSA is just for California, but there are many CSA's around the world.

I supplement the box from the pantry and items purchased at the farmer's market. Things like chicken, eggs, beef, cheeses, etc. don't come automatically, but you can have them added on to your CSA purchases each week. I just grab those at the market.

This is an exercise in changing how we eat. By purchasing organic, we're helping our health and the environment. By purchasing locally, we're reducing our food's dependence on foreign oil, and bolstering our local economies. By buying farmer direct, we know who grew the food, whose kids we're sending to college, and paying money to the actual farmer instead of agribusiness megacorps. By getting grass-fed, pastured, organic, healthy meats and eggs, we're getting lower-fat, higher nutrient foods. We're spending less on packaging because the CSA brings the veggies in reused crates - we return the one last week to be refilled next week. We bring our own bags to the farmer's market. There's less waste in the landfills. The best part: our food tastes much better AND we're saving money. Yes, I said SAVING money.

We're buying organic, and spending less than if we went out to a cheap restaurant twice a week. Our entire food purchases are coming in less than 2 meals cost previously. WOW. And we even know every single ingredient for the meal. How nice!

The federal government allots $298/month in food stamps for a family of 2 on government support. We're able to spend about that, maybe just a few dollars more. Buying organic. What a fabulous deal! :D

I'll try to post sometimes as we get new boxes of food, and what I do with it. Should be fun!