We got our first box of fresh, semi-local produce today. We signed up to receive a box every two weeks. The one we chose is a little different from most CSAs (Consumer Supported Agriculture) because the food isn't all local. Some comes from the Pacific Northwest.
When I went to pick up the box yesterday about 4:30pm at the
CH2MHill Building (we could go through a lot of possible interpretations about what it means that a CSA distributes its food at the company that took over from VECO, but I'll leave that for readers to do) I couldn't find anything. It turned out that the distribution was in the cafe, but it was locked up and no one seemed to have a key. I was told they closed at 3pm but the pickup was supposed to be from noon to five.
I looked through the glass and saw a little white sign about
Full Circle Farm , and I could even see two boxes under the counter. But I couldn't get in. Phone calls later confirmed we could get it this morning.
J went and it's a little worse for having sat all night in the box, but looks ok. Our partner in this is coming over soon and we'll divide the food up. Here's the list of what we got.
J and our partner did most of the arrangements here, so I'm still figuring this out. I don't know if it's all organic or not, I'll have to check it out. And also figure out how much the equivalent food might have cost at the market. This comes to $41 every two weeks. I know it's a lot more than I would get for that at Rainbow Foods in Juneau, but what about Sagaya here.
Just posting this as a news item, I don't know enough yet to make any judgments.
Wait... here's a
Yelp review. The other two are similar.
Penny A.
Girdwood, AK1/21/2009
I have priced out the cost of purchasing the same amount of organic produce at the grocery store and have definitely found these boxes to be an excellent deal IF you use all of the ingredients! Sometimes stuff included is really wilted in which case FCF is good about making corrections by adding extra to the next box or issuing a credit.
Sometimes it was a delightful treat to get our box and others it felt like a burden on my shoulders: all of this food that I had to cook and prepare!
Hmmm. Seems pretty pricy! I had considered doing FCF. but I'm not crazy about the fact that it's really not local. Instead, I've perfected my gardening skills, getting really local, really fresh produce out of my own backyard. For items I don't grow I bike to New Sagaya (avocados and some fruit). It feels darned good to use very little gas and to use so much out of my garden (two raised beds and lots of rhubarb!). I"ve been following your blog for awhile ... fun.
ReplyDeleteJessica
I used FCF in Juneau for almost 2 years, until my brother retired and started traveling more, but only in the winter because I grow my own salad veggies in the summer. Sometimes the choices offered were weird or something I would never buy like jicama, but they let you opt out of 5 veggies you don't like. You can do every other week if you want.
ReplyDeleteI now have a job that doesn't give me as much time to cook, and I don't have anyone with which to share a box, so I have opted out. But they do provide a lot of organic produce priced very reasonably compared to other sources, including Fred Meyer and Safeway's limited organic selections and Rainbow Foods.
I still prevail on my next door neighbors that provide a pickup point in their garage to add a big bag of organic basil to their order for me every comple of months so I can make a batch of pesto --- FCT organic basil is very cheap and very good!