Seven Days to CSA sign up day

One week from today Roxbury Farm, our CSA farm, is going to open up enrollment for new members. February 1st is CSA sign up day!

I thought I would count down the seven days to CSA sign up with thoughts, tidbits, and trivia about eating locally. I think it is good to remind myself why I love my CSA so much and hopefully give others some good reasons to join a CSA. Enrollment forms will be available on the website on Feb. 1.

Here is the website…
http://www.roxburyfarm.com/

Another popular CSA around here is Eight Mile Creek. Here is their website…
http://eightmilecreekfarm.com/

Need help finding a CSA in your area. Try Local Harvest…
http://www.localharvest.org/

When I first sought out a CSA my main goal was to eat local food. I wanted to cut down on the energy it took for my food to reach me. Roxbury Farm is about 45 miles from our home. I looked this up because I was reading an interesting compilation by John Hendrickson called Thinking Outside the Shopping Cart in “From Asparagus to Zucchini”.
He says, “In the conventional food system, food travels 1,500 or more miles on average from farm to table. Food travels 45 miles on average for CSA farms serving Madison, Wisconsin”. “From Asparagus to Zucchini” is a CSA cookbook put together by the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition.

What is the definition of local food? A little looking around and I found two ways of thinking about it that make sense to me. One, the food is within a day’s trip to your home. Two, the food is within 100 – 150 miles from your home. There is no set in stone definition of local food, the idea is to cut down on the energy being used to transport food.