SeeingGreen ™

Every week from May to December, I will be receiving a box of fresh vegetables harvested less than 20 miles away from my urban home. Said box will be delivered to my place of employment, where I will divide the fresh bounty with a coworker. The price for such a convenient delight: $450 or less than $60 a month (that’s for half the box).

Want to get in on the action? It’s easy, just join a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture.

The concept of the CSA is simple. You purchase a share of the harvest from a local farm and in return, you get to feast on the delights of the harvest as if you’d toiled the soil and grown the vegetables yourself. The only risk to your pre-investment is if terrible weather or a locust plague descends on the farm, then you don’t get the affected crop or crops. Despite the small risk, the benefits of such an arrangement are many. The farmer gets a secure income and is able to plan ahead for the season based on the amount of shares sold. You get locally grown produce that hasn’t traveled across the Himalayas to your table. [Most of the food on our American plates travels at least 1500 miles, if not thousands more. Read more here.] You’ll also learn what vegetables grow well in this region (i.e. no avocados in the box) which will force all but seasoned chefs to get more creative in the kitchen. Finally, joining a CSA helps our farmers avoid the temptation of selling fertile land to real estate developers. Now, what to do with all those brussell sprouts?

Click here for an alphabetical list of Portland’s CSA farms