We are always trying to find more ways to be healthy and be nice to the environment at the same time. One debate I have been having with myself is "local or organic?" A lot of people believe eating all organic is the best way to go. I have a hard time justifying organic grapes if they come to me all the way from Chile.
For a couple years, we belonged to a C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture). This meant that we paid a certain amount upfront to a local, organic farm each quarter and then we were guaranteed a portion of their crop. This had a few problems. One, I had to drive out to Puyallup every week to pick up our share. Two, this took a lot of time as you had to bag up your own goodies and a lot of the produce was barely cleaned. Three, while I enjoy winter squash and celeriac, they got pretty old week after week after week. So we gave up on the C.S.A., and tried to satisfy ourselves with going to the farmer's market. The problem with that is to actually remember to get to the farmer's market.
Finally, however, I think we may have found a solution: Terra Organics.
This is a farmer owned group that delivers organic produce right to your house every week. They just drop the box off on your doorstep and you leave the empty box for them to pick up. You can pick a small box (that's what we did) or a large box, and they can either be local or not or veggies only or fruit only or a mix plus there are a ton of add-ons.
This first week I just signed up for the normal small box. It's only $25. But this is where my dilemma kicks in: local or organic or both? This week's box included oranges and blueberries and even a mango(!) but they are from Mexico. So I decided to switch and next week's box will have Pacific Northwest grown items only. Maybe we won't get a mango, but our food won't have come from over 1300 miles away!
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