Eco-Stepping with Community Supported Agriculture

"Hello, yeah, it's been a while.  Not much, how about you?" 

Okay, so now that you're in a '70's kind of mood, let's talk about Community Supported Agriculture or CSAs.  Community Supported What?

According to Wikipedia, community-supported agriculture (in Canada Community Shared Agriculture) (CSA) is a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farming operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit, in a vegetable box scheme, and sometimes includes dairy products and meat.

Still feeling the 70's or even the 60's?  Maybe even a little hippie-ish?  Let's press on with a little history. 
Community-supported agriculture began in the early 1960s in Germany, Switzerland and Japan as a response to concerns about food safety and the urbanization of agricultural land.  That may sound like long, long ago and far, far away, but recent news has indicated otherwise. 

Food Matters. Perhaps the Most Important Eco-Step of All

Those of you who have been following my blog know that I am quite passionate about a few things--especially when it comes to our health, well-being and taking steps to do better, feel better, be healthier, etc.   I recently came across this video and I think that most of the latest books about food and how we eat are really making the point that "Food Matters."  What we eat matters.  It matters to animals, to the air we breathe, to the soil our food is grown in, and ultimately to our own health and the survival of our species.  Throw in a bunch of cliches or sayings like "You are what you eat," or "Let thy food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food," and you get the point.  Take 3 minutes and check out this trailer.  I hope it gets you thinking.



There needs to be a great turning in our society-- a turning away from drugs and "magic pills" that artificially "fix" our health woes.  We need to be turning toward the root cause-- how we got to this point of sickness and disease in the first place, and start taking steps to reverse it.   We need to stop just accepting the poisons and toxins that come in brightly colored boxes on our supermarket shelves and start taking action to get better! 

For more information, you can find many resources here.

On that note, I will be exploring this topic further--perhaps in a new blog (still deciding on that).  And to reiterate one of my most favorite sayings:

“Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”-- Margaret Mead

Chew on This: 10 Simple Things...

Catching up on my movie viewing, I recently had the opportunity to watch Food, Inc.  And wow, did it dig into the very core of what's wrong with our food supply!  This is something that I could go on and on about, but instead, I'm going to let you read up on it for yourselves and draw your own conclusions.  After all, what we eat is a personal choice.  But... if we all start choosing differently and better, what a difference we could make and be healthier as a society!  So, in the spirit of eco-steps, here are ten simple things you can do (borrowed directly from the website, links and all):

Hey! Did Ya Know?

Interesting Factoids for a Tuesday:
 
The average American meal travels 2500 miles before it hits your table!
Try selecting locally grown food whenever possible.  

 
The average American throws out 4.5 lbs of garbage every day!
Reuse, Reuse, Reuse.  Then Recycle, Recycle, Recycle.

Americans consume more than 2.5 million bottles of water every hour, and only around 10% are recycled.
Tap water costs about $0.0015 per gallon vs. $2 for a 16-oz bottle at the convenience store!  ($16 per gallon!!)  Save yourself some money and do the planet some good by buying a good reusable and refillable drink container.
 
The average American is exposed to about 3000 advertising messages a day.
Think about that for a moment... (you just missed out on 2-5 ads while doing that...)

Children ages 8-12 see the most food ads on TV — an average of 21 a day, or 7,600 a year.
Many of those ads are not for healthy, nutritious foods.  Why are our kids unhealthier than ever?  Hmmm.....