Digging deeper into growing your own food

Did you know that the average distance food travels from the farm to your plate is about 1,500 miles? How fresh can it be when it embarks on such an excursion, handled by processors, distributors and store clerks? While our system of food distribution is rather remarkable, it’s also costing us plenty in chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, transportation costs, and even lost nutrients and flavor in the food itself.

In a previous blog, I mentioned Community Supported Agriculture, also known as CSAs. They’re essentially partnerships between farms and groups of shareholders. The farm produces a harvest each week, and shareholders receive their – you guessed it – share, often half a bushel or more of vegetables, herbs, nuts and even fruit.

Johnson’s Backyard Garden, located on the east side of Austin, Texas, is one example of a thriving CSA. In a given week, they harvest around 15 varieties of vegetables and herbs and even pecans.

JBG delivers its harvest to a large area; there are 17 neighborhood locations throughout Austin where shareholders can pick up the week’s offerings. The box of farm fresh pickings usually feed a family of 2-4 for a week. You can find out a lot more about Johnson’s Backyard Garden at their incredibly thorough website, http://jbgorganic.com/ (Tip: See their “10 Reasons to Buy Local” here: http://jbgorganic.com/localfood.php).

Natural Springs Garden, a CSA that is near and dear to my heart, is located on the west side of Austin and only a few miles from where I live. Karla and Al Garcia use organic methods to grow over 80 varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs throughout the year. Although they started selling their produce to CSA shareholders just one year ago, Karla says that their membership is now 40 shares and she has an ever growing waiting list. Through an alliance with a local spice company they will soon be selling their own line of dried herbs. Now that’s stretching your harvest!

You can find a CSA near you at http://www.localharvest.org/csa/. Of course, if you have the time and the green thumb (never hurts to try, as long as you’re careful with the gardening tools!) you can also till a little soil in your own backyard garden and plant seeds from a local store.

Whether you’re tilling on a farm or tending to your own garden, you’ll be amazed by how much you learn about your food and how much you appreciate it when you’ve grown it yourself. Some people feel they’re so busy that they may not have time to join a CSA or plan and grow their own little garden. The desire is there but the time to do it is not. To help with this, I’ve found that some clients prefer that I manage their CSA membership for them or help them with their backyard vegetable garden. There’s fun in the planning, the excitement of getting food fresh from the garden and turning the ingredients into delicious, nourishing meals for the week. It’s something a personal chef like me can help with as clients purposefully progress to better, local and healthier eating.

The famous French phrase “il faut cultiver notre jardin,” popularized by Voltaire’s Candide, calls upon us to tend to our own gardens. While this is meant to be a larger statement about life, it certainly applies to how we should eat: locally with an eye toward whole, unprocessed foods, preferably from a garden in which we have a hand in growing. It’s one of the keystones for healthy – and tasty – living.


Picture credits:
http://www.jbgorganic.com/