If you are under the age of thirty, you probably grew up watching the High School Musical franchise. You know who you are if you started singing “We’re All in this Together” and can come up with a corresponding dance move or two. There’s something sweet about a group coming together for a common cause, like supporting local agriculture. I’m always surprised by how unknown CSAs are! A CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The idea is that a consumer buys into a local farm and receive products in return. In essence, you join a CSA to pledge support and say, “we’re all in this together,” even if the farm experiences a natural disaster.
So, a CSA is basically a membership or a subscription. A farm offers a certain number of shares to be paid in advance of their crop, which helps with cash flow. In return, members receive quality produce that’s in season. It’s a wonderful system, and there are so many reasons to join a CSA that contribute to a sustainable lifestyle!
1. Support Local Economy
There’s been a loud outcry in the last decade or so to “Shop local!” But why? What’s so important about supporting local economy? Researchers find that for approximately every $100 spent at a local business, $68 dollars stays in the local economy. However, for every $100 spent at a national chain, only about $43 remains in the community. These local businesses include farms. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that you should stop supporting big chains all together. I definitely still shop at Target, though Target is a Minnesota-based corporation, so that’s arguable. At the end of the day, the idea is that we all want our individual communities to flourish. I certainly want to encourage my neighbors!
And that’s just it! Supporting the local economy is about community. Most of us are more likely to trust a product if someone we know recommends or sells it. When you join a CSA, it provides the opportunity to know exactly where your food is coming from. It takes the mystery out of the produce aisle and gives ownership. As a CSA member, I get to know the farm, the owners, and the process from start to finish.
2. A Healthier Option
If I know and trust where my food is coming from, I am also much more likely to be informed on how it’s raised and treated. Truthfully, I find the concept of organic difficult to understand, and product labelling can be quite confusing. Is a store-bought radish really that different from a farm-raised radish? And why are CSA farm eggs all different colors?
When it comes to fruits and vegetables, pesticide use is a concern. Chances are that a radish’s nutritional value probably won’t change depending on how it’s raised. However, organic farm-raised produce greatly reduces our exposure to pesticides and other chemicals. While the Environmental Protection Agency certifies that controlled pesticide use is not harmful to humans, it is a controversial topic. In addition, it is true that heavy pesticide use can contaminate the environment by creeping into our water, soil, and air.
It’s No “Yoke!”
For meat and dairy products, there can be a quality and nutritional difference with organic farming. For example, eggs raised on true green pasture have been shown to have more vitamins and healthier fats. And even the “100% grass-fed beef” label you find in stores can be misleading. You see, the USDA standard for grass-fed is full of loopholes, allowing companies to use fruit and vegetable waste, candy waste, and even sawdust for feed.
While store-bought grass-fed beef may be just that, there is no way to guarantee its quality based on a label. A CSA Farm, however, must be more transparent about its practices. So, when you join a CSA, you choose a healthier option for you and your family.
3. Ethical Treatment of Animals
But it’s not just about how animals are fed, though proper feeding is crucial. Ethical treatment of animals overall is a hot button topic! And CSA organic farms are passionate about proper treatment of animals. In the United States alone, nearly 10 billion animals are killed by the food industry yearly. And of those animals, roughly 99% are raised on factory farms. The problem is that Factory Farming is not about the animal, but about the consumer and business income. Animals are squeezed into tiny spaces, pumped with antibiotics to promote unnatural growth, and separated from their families.
The Factory Farming Industry creates immense problems for the environment, as well. We’re talking overuse of our natural resources: land, water, fossil fuels. It’s a leading contributor to climate change, with massive greenhouse gas emissions.
Join a CSA and be the 1%
Join a CSA. Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of the 1%? Treating our animals well is not just about the animal, but about respect for the environment and your own body. The scary truth is that when you ingest factory farmed meat, you put yourself at increased risk for chronic disease and obesity.
CSA Farms believe in being different. They emphasize that humane treatment of animals is also respect for our soil, air, and human bodies. While it is true that CSA produce and meat is often more expensive, I fully stand behind paying for quality and a respectable life for an animal. We made the decision to join a meat CSA through T.C. Farm, and I am so grateful for their emphasis on ethical treatment of animals and sustainability. Their animals are fully raised on green pasture when it’s available and quality hay in the winter. In addition, they don’t even raise chickens in the winter because of their standards.
4. Eating in Season
And that’s just it, it’s important to eat what’s in season. While modern technology provides access to most food products year-round, I have become so much more careful about seasonal eating. I don’t think my desire to eat chicken in the winter is worth a poor quality of life for an animal, and therefore, a worse product. To be fair, our CSA does plan ahead and offers frozen chicken during the winter, but the quantity is more limited.
There are health benefits to eating in season, such as diversifying your diet based on what is available. Look at all that is available to us straight from the earth! And this is exactly what a CSA offers. It’s fun to discover vegetables throughout the course of a season, from early season greens to kohlrabi, cucumbers, and sweet corn. We all know there is a huge difference between an orchard apple in the autumn and a store-bought apple out of season. When you join a CSA, you get to experience all your produce in its prime.
A quick note on global seasonality. Different things are in season throughout the world at any given time. Even though we may have access to those items, it can still be taxing on the earth when demand increases too much.
Seasonal Savings
If you’re on a budget, eating in season can have financial benefits too! The relative abundance of a crop when in season lowers the cost. We were a part of Fresh Earth Farm’s CSA for a season and found the cost to be really manageable when you evaluate the month-to-month cost. We often received more produce than we knew what to do with!
5. Avoid Food Waste
What I love most about being part of a CSA is the meal planning. With the vegetable CSA, I knew what was in season, and the farm would let us know weekly what to expect in our CSA box. I didn’t have to decide what produce to get at the store; instead, I would plan weekly meals off of the produce. It’s a great system for avoiding food waste and meal planning. With the amount of food insecurity in the world, treating our resources wisely is so important.
When you first try a vegetable CSA, the amount of produce can seem overwhelming. This is where the meal prepping tricks outlined in this blog post can come in handy. Make sure you chop and store right away!
Since joining the meat CSA, we haven’t gotten meat from the grocery store. We only use the meat we receive monthly, which really forces us to be more mindful of when we eat meat. Each frozen package of fresh meat is just the right amount, so we aren’t throwing out old containers of taco meat either!
Don’t Stick to the Status Quo
As humans, we like sticking with what is comfortable. Whether staying with our cliques (like in High School Musical), or eating what we’re used to, it can be difficult to embrace change. When you join a CSA, you are certainly breaking from the American diet stereotype.
While I’m not advocating for only eating from a CSA, I am suggesting an increased mindfulness of our consumption patterns. So, join me in kicking the status quo to the curb! Anyone else tried out a CSA? I’d love to hear your experiences and recommendations!
Be Well. With Love.
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