Think Local

By Chris Hoffman

(Sherburne, NY – Jan. 2012) I stopped at Price Chopper on New Year’s Day, not to shop, but because I was on a mission. I wanted to know how much it would cost to buy a quantity of produce that typically comprises a week’s share of vegetables from a local CSA.

Here’s the list I made:

2 cucumbers – $4

3 green peppers – $3

1 red pepper – $2

1 bunch radishes (about 7) – $1.49

1 bunch parsley – $1.49

1 bunch white chard and 1 bunch red chard (about 2 lbs.) – $5.98

1 lb. broccoli – $2.49

1 lb. sugar snap peas $4.99

1 lb. eggplant (2 small ones) – $3.99

1 lb. zucchini (2 small ones) – $1.99

1 head cauliflower – $3.99

2 lb. bag carrots – $1.99

1 pkg. tomatoes (8 small ones) – $2

1 bunch lettuce – $2.99

1 head of garlic – $.66

1 Vidalia onion – $1.49

2 lb. bag yellow onions – $2.49

1 lb. Brussels sprouts – $2.99

5 lb. bag red potatoes – $4.99

Depending on the size of your family, you could easily consume most of this produce within a week, and your total cost would be $55.

However, if you purchased a membership in a local CSA farm, your cost per week would range from $21 to $27 per week, depending on the kind of share you bought.  I split a three-quarter share with a friend, so my cost per week is about $11, and I always have more than enough produce for the week.  The season typically runs from the beginning of June through mid-November, a total of about 24 weeks.

Buying your produce from a local CSA means no pesticides, no herbicides, no genetically-modified seed, no soil depletion, higher nutrition, better flavor, less fossil fuels consumed between farm and consumer, no packaging to dispose of, and your dollars support the local farmers so that they can make a living and keep producing food for us.

When you buy produce at the grocery store, most of your money leaves the local economy, and almost all of the produce you’re buying comes from thousands of miles away.  You have no idea whether it was grown with GMO seed, and virtually everything is grown with pesticides.  The growing methods used by megafarms owned by corporations deplete the soil, pollute the environment, and contribute to the continuing demise of honeybees.  Store produce has little flavor and little nutritional value compared to field- and vine-ripened produce grown locally and harvested at the proper time.

A better idea for 2012:  join a CSA.  Alambria Springs Farm still has shares available.  To join, go to http://alambriafarm.com/.  Pickup days on the farm in Lebanon are on Tuesdays 2-7 p.m. and Saturdays 10-3 p.m., and they also deliver to pickup points in Cazenovia, Morrisville, and Norwich.  You can also buy a work share that reimburses you at the end of the season in exchange for hours of work during the entire season. Work is varied, depending on your skills and abilities.

It’s not overwhelming, and it’s lots of fun!  So far, only four people have signed up for Alambria work shares this year, despite dozens of people indicating that they would do so over the summer.  If a full share is too much for your family, invite a friend or neighbor to split a share with you and share the responsibility of going to the farm to pick up the week’s produce.  There’s so much produce in a weekly share that you could easily split a share three ways and still have more than enough for each of you.

I’ve read recently that Iran is threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz in order to block oil shipments to the West.  Believe what you will about the viability of this threat, but sooner or later something like this is bound to occur.  What do you think will happen to the price of food once gasoline that keeps the trucks running cross country doubles or triples in price?

If we invest now in our local farms and CSAs, we won’t have to worry about paying $8 for a head of lettuce, or, worse, encountering empty shelves because the trucks have quit running.  If we think now about what kind of future we want for CNY, we will choose to support all things local, especially our food supplies.  By making these decisions now, everyone wins – the environment, our farmers, and all of us who live here.  Food, and how we choose to feed ourselves, requires that we think about these issues. Seriously.

Chris Hoffman lives in the village of Sherburne in her 150+ year-old house where she caters to the demands of her four cats, attempts to grow heirloom tomatoes and herbs and reads voraciously. She passionately pursues various avenues with like-minded friends to preserve and protect a sustainable rural lifestyle for everyone in Central New York.