CSA's...from Mexico?

One of the first ways I decided to try and live more sustainably was to join a CSA last December. CSA stand for Community Supported Agriculture, if you've somehow not heard of this term. Local Harvest has a listing of all the CSA's in Washington state with links to the farm's websites. I chose Full Circle Farm because they were close (down in Duvall) and did a drop off about two miles from my house. They are fully organic and have a great program that not only allows me to pick the box size but allows me to do my pick up every other week.

The weekend before my box comes in, I get an email that allows me to go in to the member section of the website and change out any box contents that I don't want. Oh, there is also a way to have up to five permanent exemptions from the box which in my household meant yams and sweet potatoes of any variety. (I love them, but my husband has bad, bad memories of them).

The first box came right before the holidays and it was beautiful. There were items that I had not cooked before (kale) and a lovely mixture of root vegetables, onions, spinach, apples and pears. I remember thinking what a wonderful treat this was and felt somewhat smug when I went down to Whole Foods and didn't need to buy any produce.

Prior to my second box arriving, I was busy and scanned the list of box contents with an eye more towards what I - or my family - would not eat at all. It was a quick peek and then off I went for a weekend without access to a computer. When the box arrived I opened it, wondering what was coming this time (naturally I had forgotten) and felt a small moment of shock. Mangoes? Avocados? Tomatoes? I looked at the label on the tomatoes - grown in Mexico? The green onions were from California and the mango was from somewhere even farther south. THIS was supporting my local CSA???

I felt somewhat betrayed, frankly and went back onto Full Circle's website to see where they claim their produce is grown. Well, they do mention small organic farms in California. I didn't see any mention of Mexico or Central America. Sitting back, I wondered about those little organic tomatoes grown in Mexico - and then I went and tasted them.

There are two issues that I am well aware of - having grown many of my own vegetables over the years -that haunt the business of agriculture: taste and transportation. Those tomatoes were tasteless. They could have been made of cardboard. And yet, they were red and firm; looking like a breath of summer pleasure. A tomato can be grown organic but if the variety that is grown is produced because it has a longer shelf life - guess what suffers? These are the hybridized, genetically modified plants that line the supermarket shelves. Okay, they haven't been sprayed with pesticides or chemical fertilizers but there is a reason why we in the northwest don't grow tomatoes in the winter: we can't. The other issue is the fossil fuel used to transport all these little organic goodies up the coast - 1500+ miles - to Full Circle Farm and then to my drop off point. This hardly feels like I'm supporting a small farm in Snoqualimie Valley - I'm supporting those big refrigerated trucks on I-5. Me, the woman who drives a hybrid and burns biodiesal.

Once again, I get to make a choice. I can choose just how far I want to take my desire to live more sustainably. Do I want to eat avocados and tomatoes in the winter? Actually, I want to hedge that question and say yes to the tomatoes - but in sauces and grown in pacific northwest hot houses. Maybe this coming summer will find me canning tomato sauce in the kitchen. (Anyone want to help? ) And so, this week, when my box contents got to be chosen, I specifically traded out any item that I knew was not grown in the northwest. No kiwis for me. And if I'm not sure about an item, I am going to query the CSA and find out exactly where the item came from. I am also going to finish out my 10 box plan with Full Circle just in time for the Farmer's Markets to begin picking up in April and May.