What if your next three meals were prepared using ingredients that only came from within one hundred miles of Tucson? How would you do it?
If you were a member of the Tucson Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) it would be easy. During winter months an example of your share might be butternut squash, dill, navel oranges, purple turnips, spinach and head lettuce. Your prepaid order of whole chicken, lamb and bacon would be ready for pick up as well.
All of the food would have been produced within one hundred miles of your home. All of it would have been raised using practices that encourage sustainability. And it would be produced organically by a farmer whom, if you like, you could meet.
How often nowadays do you get that? Our penchant for food that has been produced far away and shipped hundreds, if not thousands, of miles is guided by perceptions of cost and convenience. In our world of shrinking time and shrinking budgets it seems the large corporations have the edge. Pop into some generic super store and you cannot only buy all your groceries for the week, but all of your dry goods, your wardrobe, some furniture and a stereo system.
However, there are a growing number of people whose conscious awareness supports a simpler lifestyle, one that allows for diversity and the experience of eating food that follows a more direct path to their larder. This food is inherently better for a number of reasons - not only for the people who consume it but for the community in which they live.
It is fresher and therefore retains more of the nourishment that sustains our bodies. It supports farmers in our community in a business that benefits all whom consume the product. Farming without oil based fertilizers and pesticides has obvious benefits to not only the individual, but also the entire nation and the planet.
The harvest follows our growing season in a natural fashion - for example, lots of fresh greens in the winter months but no watermelons. In this way, an individual is more connected with the land that sustains them.
From its humble beginning on the porch of a house to the current location in the courtyard of the Historic YMCA, 300 E. University Blvd. near 4th Avenue, this five hundred strong collective is providing those lucky enough to be members with food they know from whence it came and under what conditions it was produced.
The cost for a produce share is $19 per week and is less than one would pay at any market in Tucson considering the variety and number of items in a share. The produce shares are sold for $248 for thirteen weeks. Pick up days are Tuesdays and Fridays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
For more information, go to www.TucsonCSA.org.
