A better way
This summer, Arielle and I, along with our friends Jon and Meredith, became CSA members of a local farm, Harvest Valley Farms. Run by the King family, it’s a small (by conventional standards) operation about 20 miles north of the city. Every week, from June to November, we receive a large bundle of fresh fruits and vegetables that we split; it’s generally enough to keep us from having to buy produce at the grocery store for the entire week.
I’m writing this because we were invited out to the farm today to tour the facilities, and I came back a refreshed man.
In short, it’s something I’m extremely proud to be a member of. Our conventional agricultural model is a mess, and is determined by economies of scale that benefit from our access to cheap supplies of energy and our willingness to sell out the long-term health of the land for a quick buck. To paraphrase my favorite curmudgeon, how else would it be feasible to harvest a head of lettuce in California, ship it across the country in a refrigerated rail car or tractor-trailer, and sell it in a supermarket in Pittsburgh? Even Whole Foods, the supermarket “good guy” gets it wrong sometimes. Exotic fruit from South America? No thanks. The amount of energy required to get that piece of fruit up here dwarfs what my body is going to get from eating it. “Organic” doesn’t always equal “sustainable.”
But the CSA model, as exemplified by the King farm, is something different. On just 132 acres, they manage to grow over 60 different kinds of produce. Weed control consists of a homemade Roundup-spraying device attached to a tractor, plastic-lined rows, and straw-lined aisles between the rows. Innovative natural methods are used to control pests, and plantings are done in carefully-laid rows complete with drip irrigation, just in case the rainfall isn’t enough. So far, it hasn’t been used much.
Their market, according to David King, is largely contained within a 25 mile radius of the farm. Our weekly shipment, for example, is delivered to a volunteer’s house in the neighborhood; I, along with about 25 others, stop by and pick it up from their front porch after work. Everything we get was still on the plant the day before, and it shows. It looks, smells, and tastes fresh; supermarket produce, in comparison, looks artificial and its tendency to rapidly deteriorate once we bring it home serves as a fine reminder that we’re eating stuff that’s at least a week old.
Being closer to your food has been a hot topic as of late. I was glad to see the fields where my meals come from, but I was even more glad to see the people who make it possible. It heartens me to see someone who understands the big picture and is willing to work within the constraints imposed upon them by the forces of sustainability. We need more people like this.
I was able to make our monthly payment in person today. As I handed over the check, I felt like I had a better understanding than ever before of where my money was going. And I couldn’t be happier to see it go.
