The Localvore Experiment

Lately I've been reading a couple of books about the localvore phenomenon. A localvore is a person that eats locally grown food. They eat food in season and they are interested in where their food comes from. There are varying levels of commitment within the movement. For instance, The authors of Plenty: One Man, One Woman and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally ate nothing that did not come within 100 miles of their Canadian home. What grew within 100 miles of their home? Apparently, lots of root vegetables. Barbara Kingsolver’s family, in Animal, Vegetable and Miracle, allowed themselves one “cheat” item per family member….Chocolate would be my cheat of choice. Others may choose to eat one local item per meal, one local meal per day, etc.

I think it would be much easier to enjoy the local harvest if you have an abundance of choices, like you do here in Northern California. One easy way to do it here is with an organic CSA box. When you get a CSA box subscription, you get fresh, in season produce delivered to your home by the local farmer. A community supported agriculture box is a win-win situation. The money the consumer spends for a CSA box helps the farmer by providing him with a regular income. Supporting local farms also means the farms can survive and your area will tend to be less congested. The consumer benefits in other ways: they get to try new, unique kinds of produce (the CSA box usually includes recipes), they get to eat healthier, organic foods, and it really does taste better! Another important reason is to cut down on the fuel usage that comes from bringing foods in from thousands of miles away.

I had forgotten how good fresh from the garden produce tastes until a recent experience. My grandpa was a farmer and he grew a huge variety of fruits and veggies. Recently, a friend with a garden offered me some grapes. The taste immediately took me back to my grandpa’s farm. These grapes tasted nothing like the ones I’d purchased recently at Costco. I thought the Costco ones were tasty because I’d adapted. Sad.
Anyway, I’ve been talking to friends and family about this movement lately and I’ve had two of them subscribe to CSA boxes after our discussions. They’ve both reported that they love the boxes and can taste the difference. They’re having fun cooking with new things and they’re enjoying the variety. So, why haven’t I done it yet? I’m a little concerned about our ability to eat it all and it getting wasted. But I’ve decided to give it a try and see if we can rise to the challenge. The nice thing about this area is that it seems to be the CSA capital. We know several farmers that supply CSA boxes, so now the task is to decide which one. There are many different farms to choose from and some let you customize your box (fruits only, veggies only, a combo). Some also let you tell them the foods you don’t want in your box each time, which would be important for us. The nice thing is that you can look on their websites and see what will be coming to your home and you can plan your menus. I also like the idea of receiving recipes. I tried a CSA made apple/pear cobbler last night and it was yummy!