My husband and I just moved from the Seattle area to southern Arizona. After visiting the local grocery stores (hmmm, not so much), I decided to take a new approach to getting fresh, organic produce. I initially thought that I might plant a garden for ourselves but until we get settled, that isn’t realistic. There is just too much to do. So…I found a small local farm using the Local Harvest website and opted to join a local C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture). I plan to use it as an opportunity to try out new recipes and veggies that I’ve, ahem, overlooked before. What’s even nicer is that a volunteer picks up all the shares so only one person travels to the farm for pickup. We all benefit.
Resources:
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Find a CSA Farm - Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (USDA)
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Welcome to Verda Vivo. My name is Daryl Warner Laux.
How much was your buy in? Would it be cost effective?
Our CSA was to be $500 for the 24 week growing period and was about 15 miles away. Since we do not normally spend $20 a week on produce and can walk to the grocery store, we opted for growing our own in containers, sprouting and occassional purchasing organic at grocery.
The CSA we plan to use will cost $19 per week. We spend quite a bit on produce weekly (I make a LOT of stir frys) and have discovered that the organic section at our local grocery is woefully lacking. I still would like to grow some of our own produce. Fortunately, we can try the spring season for 9 weeks to see if the CSA will work for us before we commit to summer and fall seasons.