Yuppies Playing Farm

Our CSA had a harvest festival last weekend. The weather was perfect, we listened to live bluegrass, played soccer and frisbee, watched kids and dogs run around, shared a potluck lunch, learned more about the farm, talked biodiesel, walked through fields, bid on auction items and, as always, went home with a gorgeous array of fresh vegetables. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

There is part of me that feels a little fake, like we're yuppies playing farm and it's nice and fun and we feel good but there aren't any benefits to hanging out for on the farm for the day. But there is. We get to know the people growing the vegetables and learn about their other efforts to minimize their environmental impact. We meet like-minded people and here about other ways to eat locally and organically. We walk around the fields and become more connected and concerned about the drought and encroaching McMansion subdivisions leading to more and more deer and other animals being pushed onto the farm (this year it meant no sweet potatoes and no pumpkins and other failed or diminished crops).

Before joining the farm, I wasn't nearly as aware of fluctuating food prices based on weather and other conditions, except for the occasional note posted at a grocery store about early frost ruining orange groves in Florida or something like that. It also means from May to November most of our vegetables, a large part of our diet, aren't trucked in from across the country or flown in from halfway around the world which saves energy. It also means we get the freshest produce possible and it doesn't have to be grown from genetically altered seeds so the vegetables can withstand longer times between picking and eating, or that they have to be picked unripe and treated with chemicals, or anything else unnatural.

If you're interested in joining a CSA or buying more local food, you can find out more about it here. I highly recommend it.