Since E posted an update that included our lovely Springdell Farm where our CSA share (veggies, fruit and meat) comes from this year I thought I’d tell our story about buying into a CSA and sneak in some flower garden shots :)Awhile back in an effort to return to our earlier days of waste not, want not, E and I made a commitment to cut way back on eating out (and drinking...sorry Dunks & SB) and to adjust our lives to be more food frugal as we rode the economic roller coaster.
By ‘food frugal’ we’re not just talking coupons... I’ve ranted before and I’ll rant again... yes you can save a TON with coupons....however coupons still buy you the item for the lowest possible price the corporation printing the coupon is willing to go on the item and you have to WORK to get it at that price (print this one, clip this one, wait to POUNCE on that grocery flyer to get the exact week to buy them on sale... quite a bit of time spent and time is money... at least according to my salary). So sure, no problem here stacking coupons for cleaning goods or some other item I’m unlikely to create at home (though every so often I do get tempted to make dish and laundry cleansers)... but for a bag of Anytizers or Pizza Rolls??? Come on.
Unless you’re currently living under a rock you know that in addition to the convenience of that burrito you’re eating a metric ton of chemicals and fat, overpaying for that portion of food, quality is a joke... not to mention the absolute sheer torture the animal (cow or chicken) went through before it became the mystery meat in the mix. I’m not a complete bleeding heart but agribusiness is DISGUSTING. Any of you into horses know what a barn is like before cleaning... now imagine it NOT cleaned for months... horses crammed into paddocks so tight they can’t really walk around... in manure up to their fetlocks... gross right? So now picture cattle or pigs and there you go... that is where your meat comes from. Yum.
Produce... not a bit better... you know how they say don’t drink the water in Mexico... well what do you think your lettuce was doing prior to jumping on that airplane and onto your plate? Oh that’s right... don’t worry... the 20 odd chemicals sprayed on it, plus the irradiation it has been treated with probably make just drinking the water a safer option.
Here Arden... be healthy... eat this salad... don’t worry Mama is working to make a drug that will help that cancer caused by the chemicals on that salad stay away. Heaven help us. Anyhow.
Keeping Arden healthy is one of those parental type jobs that comes with the title of Mama... and thanks to that shiny college education I have seen worse than you get to enjoy on movies like Food, Inc.... Since you’re talking to a Mama that didn’t give Arden a drop of formula or jarred baby food...lets just say I HATE that organic options and Whole Foods type places were frankly too expensive and just as bad sometimes for environmental awareness. I have no excuse. I KNOW better.....Suffice it to say I needed to find a method to get better quality food but try to be ‘food frugal’.Enter Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).
There are about 100 different types of CSAs... point systems, choice systems, box systems, cooperative systems, single farm systems, etc etc. All of them have the same goal... to allow the local farmer(s) to connect directly with local consumers without the middleman. In theory it’s a win-win...but in a society who likes veggies in a ‘Stem Fresh’ bag with psudo cheese sauce that can be nuked in 3 minutes there is a bit of adjustment in what to do with that giant bunch of chard :)
I had friends who were part of CSAs... loved the concept... but I saw plenty of Facebook posts of “What do you do with kale!?” I’m a big fan of not just changing or jumping on a bandwagon of what “everyone else says is good”....Sure the produce and philosophy was pretty... but could I figure out how to use all of it....would it be a sensible change that we could maintain?
For the record: I define sustainable change as change that is made that benefits my family, my community and environment but can be done within the confines of my busy, 2 working parent life in such a way that we can maintain the change into the future. Only if you can maintain something does it truly make a difference.
All of this doesn’t mean we’re any different than your average consumer.....Even more to the point: We still eat out, we still buy packaged foods and I don’t hate the grocery store. There are ideals and there is reality.
Those that know me know my ideal is 100 acres someplace in the middle of nowhere and my reality is an urban lot... nuff said ;-)
But I did want to improve what I was purchasing, support keeping the gas consumption out of my food, plus... my biggest rant (another day another time)... try to keep one more farm alive and not plowed under matchstick McMansions.
I honestly don’t get the logic of putting houses where it is good to grow food. If we need more housing...honestly NEED it.... find a better way to meet the needs of a growing population rather than building on the land needed to feed the growing population and assuming that you’ll always be able to fly in enough food from Chile. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Where is the logic in that mess?
Back to the CSA.One big step was to get back to basics. I’d learned a lot from my grandmothers while living briefly with both in my early to mid 20s. I don’t even think they were being ‘food frugal’ in the sense I am trying to be... for both of them is was just the way it was......so following the Spirit of Grandma we try not to throw away any food. By buying and using whole ingredients waste is honestly minimal as we just roll items into different meals.... if we wanted chicken I’d roast a whole chicken and use it completely up so only the boiled bones went in the trash after soup... softer fruit became a smoothie or baked good.....older veggies became parts of soups, cooked leftover veggies, casseroles or hash.
In trying to reduce waste I found an unexpected benefit.
Part of the joy of an ansci background is knowing exactly what that animal went through before it was your dinner...I was always aware it was not just wasteful but sinful to toss out any part that could be another meal. For me it is just logical that if something had to die to feed me, than I can at least honor the sacrifice by trying not to waste any part... so in becoming ‘food frugal’ I was starting to feel a little better about consumption.
In just one year we’d reduced food costs substantially without trying all that hard and we were eating well and with much more variety. Heck we’d even started playing around with fun foods we used to eat as take out, like Pad Thai and Pork Fried Rice. Last year I added seasonal awareness in and found that an easy change to make that was actually enjoyable as our menu shifted naturally with the seasons.
Wasted time on cutting coupons was way down... you know... since there isn’t a corporate coupon for 10 pounds of potatoes like there is for 12 oz of frozen french fries. But don’t worry... after you spend 3 hours stacking coupons to get those fries nearly free I’ve already been out to my pantry to grab some spuds and made oven fries for less;-) But have fun okay?
This is all to say this year I felt we were ready to invest in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share.
To recap,
- I made sure we could use whole ingredients while working full time in most of our meals in ways that wouldn’t take away from our down time.
- I tried to stay in season with what would be available at a local farm stand and stored bulk winter veggies in our pantry and basement
- I learned to love our freezer as a way to preserve extra food, leftover foods and meals on the go.
The CSA is not ‘cheap’ when compared to the grocery store prices but I firmly believe that if we use the food frugal principals along with our practice run last year of seasonal eating then I could likely stay within range of last years food budget for higher quality, fresher (read nutrient dense) produce and meat. So far we actually have a decrease of about $217.00 from June last year but its way to early to start thinking we're actually going to save. I actually expect to spend more... the question is how much more?
I LOVE MY WILD BELL FLOWERS :-)
