As the semester begins to pick up steam and the clouds recede, hinting at a future of warmer days, the routine of classes, work and life seems to be setting in for all of us. Amongst all of this, it has never seemed easy to be “green” or “sustainable” while trying to subsist off of what can be retrieved at the S.U.B. between classes. For those of us lucky enough to have the time (or energy) to fend for ourselves and schlep to the grocery store, the bounds of our meager collegiate bank accounts are almost equally stifling.
So what can be done to make our eating habits more sustainable and still stay within the confines of poor, exhausted college students? Each day, every person in America generates 4.6 lbs of material waste per day, most of which is burned or buried somewhere around the country. Of all that garbage, almost 14% is just from food. Each person in Washington state produces 7.5 lbs of waste per day, generating almost three pounds more garbage then the national average. Add this to the environmental costs of trucking in produce from other countries and the waste of unconsumed food, and it is clear that our eating habits paint a bleak picture.
Thankfully for our community, there are alternatives. To solve the problem of our eating habits as undergrads, we need our food to be easy to consume, reasonably priced and filling in order for us to sustain our physical selves over the course of our hectic lives. In addition to the already thriving Farmer’s Markets in the Proctor district and on 6th Avenue, there exists another sustainable choice for the campus community. The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program connects members with local farmers to provide fresh produce on a weekly basis throughout the growing season. It also offers additional programs providing meat, dairy and grains.
Since 2009, many local groups, including the Pierce County Health Department, Cascade Land Conservancy and the Tacoma Farmer’s Markets, have been involved in the ongoing initiative to increase Tacoma’s environmental efforts and prevent childhood obesity by supporting locally grown food. Four farms are currently involved in the CSA program. Terra Organics, Terry’s Berries and Zestful Gardens grow their fresh produce in Tacoma, while the fourth farm, Take Root Farms, is just a half hour away in Buckley.
By prepaying for a share of what each local farmer grows, each shareholder helps sustain local agriculture. With weekly deliveries of fresh produce, the investment is returned without having to take time away from our crowded schedules to get to the grocery store or local farmer’s market.
Some farms like Terra Organics allow customers to customize what produce they wish to receive on the farm’s website, with options including “clean” alternative varieties of produce that is most frequently vitcim to excessive pesticide use, like apples, tomatoes and carrots.
Other weekly box deliveries from Terra Organics contain only produce native to the Pacific Northwest. All the fruits and vegetables provided by the company are grown on their farm in Orting, WA, twenty miles away from Tacoma. While the selection of produce you receive with Terra’s CSA share program is highly customizable and includes delivery to your house, the entry level costs are roughly $26 a week for enough fruits and vegetables to feed one to two people.
Like Terra Organics, Terry’s Berries CSA single shares are meant to feed only one or two people every week and cost about $18 for each delivery, but by investing, each customer helps support small, family farms for a season. The twenty-acre, organically farm run by Terry and Dick Carkner provides produce to the CSA as well as being supplemented by other surrounded family farms. The family welcomes visitors to their farm, offering guests the opportunity to pick their own herbs and flowers. They also have an on-site farm stand with the farms produce for sale.
The third Tacoma-based farm, Zestful Gardens, is run by Holly Foster and her mother Valerie and is the only Tacoma CSA share provider that sells only what is grown on their 35 acre farm. Each season requires $550 for twenty weeks of produce, which is roughly $27/week.
A crop share, says Foster, is perfect for those who lead a healthy lifestyle and like to cook. For those who base their diet mostly on produce, grains and dairy, a share can provide enough food comfortably for one active individual or a whole family, and it saves money in the long run.
Zestful Gardens, which has been growing and selling their produce for the last ten years, provides produce to roughtly 100 members through the CSA program, many of whom have stayed with the farm for the last decade. Through that customer investment, the farm is able to sustain itself while still utilizing on site fertilization and “work hard to reduce any waste.” As part of that ethic, any food that is left over after pick-up each week at Zestful Gardens is donated to local food banks for distribution.
By purchasing produce from these local farms, the distance food travels from the ground to our table is tremendously diminished, and harmful pesticides and chemicals are no longer put into the ground or our food. Best of all for busy college students, the family-run farm provides recipes made from the weekly deliveries on their website.
All things considered, the subscription-based healthy alternative that CSA provides is perfect for our busy college lives, allowing us to support local farmers, reduce waste and feel a little better about what we are putting in our bodies. Like most things, investing in the Community Shared Agriculture program is a somewhat scary adult commitment. Then again, if we are able to maintain subscriptions to Netflix and the New Yorker, why can’t we do the same with locally grown food?