Hey!
So, the spectacular SuperForester Christine emailed me her thoughts regarding my post about Organic vs. Local food with 2 enthusiastic thumbs up to supporting our farmers and to “always go local if you can!”
Ok…so if it seems too hard to get to your local green market every week, here are 3 ways to get locally grown produce (and even local organic produce) into your kitchen, if you live in New York City:
1. Urban Organic.
They are a home delivery service of strictly Organic produce that is 80% local.
Here is how they work:
“We bulk-buy our produce, groceries and dairy goods from organic farmers’ cooperatives, distributors and individual farmers. Eighty percent of our products are from the local farmers market; we try to give our local farmers as much of our business as possible. All of our supplies are certified organic by the USDA, whose stringent standards ensure that no chemicals have been used in the production process. All of our produce is Certified Organic!”
They offer 3 size boxes (ranging in price from $24.99-$44.99) so you can get a small amount if you live alone or enough to feed a family.
2. CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
A CSA is a partnership between a city group and a local farmer. During the winter and spring months, the farmer sells shares of their upcoming harvest to families, groups or institutions in the area. The money goes towards the farmers costs for growing and delivering the upcoming seasons produce to the CSA members. There is then, typically, a neighborhood drop off/pickup location where you go to pick up your fruits and vegetables, once a week (Although some CSA groups offer delivery service).
There are a lot of CSA’s all over the city. Here is a map to find your local CSA:
CSA’s aren’t necessarily organic, but some are. Check your local area and find out the farming practices of the farm they work with, if that is important to you. For example, Roxbury Farm is a CSA that drops off in Harlem that practices biodynamic farming.
3. Good Ol’ Fresh Direct: Fresh Direct, another food delivery service has a section dedicated to local produce, meat, fish, cheese and wine. They also have a strictly organic section. If your next question is what about all the gas they are using to deliver this local produce to your home, doesn’t that kinda go against the idea of buying local? Well, they are on their way to dealing with that issue:
“FreshDirect has partnered with Tri-State Biodiesel, a NYC-based company dedicated to providing the region with clean, renewable biodiesel sources. Tri-State uses cooking oil donated from our kitchen for use in non-toxic diesel fuel.
We’re now fueling half our fleet with a 5% biodiesel blend, and in the next year, we plan to fuel 100% of our delivery fleet with biodiesel. This action will both reduce our emissions and cut back our use of fossil fuel products. “
I love that they use the oil from their own kitchen. How very SuperForest.
So, there are some options for that Localvore inside of you that don’t necessitate running upstate to get that scrumptious apple.
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