I have long wanted to try Miami’s local CSA (community supported agriculture), and this month, I’ve finally got my chance. CSA’s are a way to receive local produce and support local farmers. Subscribers pay upfront for a season of veggies, and the farmers use that money to get seeds, supplies and everything else they need for the season. As a member you will receive a box of fresh, locally grown, and usually organic vegetables each week. The catch is that you don’t know what you’ll receive until you open that box. CSA’s typically also function as a "shared-risk" agreement…if there is a drought, a hurricane, or an insect infestation that affects the crops, as a member, you are sharing that risk with the farmers.

Miami’s CSA is called Redland Organics. It is a network of farms, mostly in the Redlands, that have joined together to provide this service to the community. I did not sign up for the entire season, which runs from November through April, but decided to give the one month (January only) trial membership a shot. Since trial memberships are only offered in a full share (read: a LOT of food), Tere was kind enough to share it with me. And let me tell you, it’s still a lot of food!

Eating locally is one of the biggest "green" things that you can do. We’ve talked about this before: most items on your plate have traveled 1500 miles to get there.

So, how goes the experience so far? Interesting, very interesting. I read a novel when I was younger about a couple who got married very young and poor. Their friends gave them a huge bag full of canned food, except that they took the labels off all of them. So, whenever the couple wanted to eat, they weren’t sure what they were eating until they opened the can. That’s kind of how I’m feeling on Saturday mornings. Not sure what we’re having for dinner this week until we open the box.

What we’ve received so far (Every week we receive a newsletter with an itemized list of what you’ve got, a couple of recipes, and some notes from the farm.):

Week 1: heirloom chard mix, broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, kale, turnips, lettuce, avocado, parsley, and oranges. Bonus: green beans

Week 2: asian mix, beans, braising mix, eggplant, beets, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, carrots, carambolas.

I’m not used to cooking many of these items, so it was off to AllRecipes.com for me! A turnip/potato mash was awesome. My rice & shiitakes not so much. The parsley was great in a chick pea salad, and I’m still finishing off that gigantic avocado. I’ve read several books on CSA’s, and one of the main reasons that people leave is that it’s too much food. I’d have to agree that it is a lot of food. Or actually, let me correct that: a lot of food that I’m not used to. I could probably eat more lettuce and tomatoes than the farm could provide me, but some of these other veggies require some serious cooking. I’ve only got a household of 2 people, and one of them isn’t very experimental or much of a veggie lover, really. I think that a full season 1/2 share will have to wait until I’ve got a couple more people in this house.

And like my honeymoon which was in this incredible place, but was in the middle of a natural preserve so there were insects and animals everywhere, this food also needs a warning to the faint of heart. You will receive your food with quite a bit of farm dirt still on it, so it all requires a good wash. Plus, so far I’ve found a spider, a little worm, and a snail that came along with the food. (I can’t believe that they survived in the fridge several days, but they did.) And I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that you won’t occasionally find things. The thing is…these are creatures that live outside, with our food. We’ve become so detached from where our food comes from that we aren’t used to it.

I’ll continue to update the site over the next two weeks as our veggies continue to come in. Please read Tere’s first account on her blog. Any other CSA-ers out there? We’d love to hear what you think!

By the way, the tomatoes were to DIE for! Incredible what real tomatoes taste like. Yum.

Related Reading:

We’ve talked about public fruit trees in the past. When planting trees in public places, why not make them fruit trees…where anyone can walk by and pick a piece?

As I was reading the most recent edition of UF Today, the University of Florida’s Alumni Magazine (GO GATORS!), I found a related tidbit:

Apples to Oranges: In a move reminiscent of UF’s old honors apples, the university has planted several citrus trees in heavily traveled areas of campus. Hungry students are invited to pick the fruit - including grapefruit, tangerines, navel oranges, and mandarin oranges - for a snack between classes.

Good going UF! Let’s see how this works out. The location of the trees seems to be appropriate…they won’t go to waste. Though I think the grapefruit will be a tougher sell than the rest…

Related Reading:

I’m posting this very late, but MDC Kendall Campus is starting it’s Organic Gardening class this weekend. I imagine you can register online now and just show up on Sunday, or just show up on Sunday if you can’t get a hold of anyone.

Here are the details:

Organic Gardening with Andres Mejides - $65

This course covers all facets of organic gardening: composting, starting seeds, setting up a raised bed, fertilizing, pests and diseases and more. The instructor is the zone 10 grower/researcher for Rodale’s Organic Gardening Magazine.

Sundays 10/29 - 12/10, 10 am - 12 pm. Room 5102 of the Kendall Campus.

Here is the instructor’s website: Organic Gardening Magazine, Florida

Related Reading:

The Miami New Times Blog, Riptide, just discussed "The Grove Guy’s" proposal for planting public fruit trees in Coconut Grove.

The big debate here seems to be maintenance. And I can imagine. If fruit trees are planted and later are not picked…you’re going to have a rotting mess on your hands. But…what if it actually is a very successful project? Did you know there is actually a public fruit tree mapping project in LA? It is called Fallen Fruit, and it maps out every known public fruit tree in the area. They’ve now made public fruit their mission, "Our goal is to get people thinking about the life and vitality of our neighborhoods and to consider how we can change the dynamic of our cities and common values."

As far as the environment is concerned, eating locally is about the highest eco-impact you can achieve. And public fruit certainly is local.

What do you think about planting fruit trees in public places?

Related Reading:

The time is now to become part of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The basic set up of a CSA means that you pay up front for a season’s worth of produce, grown locally and usually organically. CSA’s allow you to know where your food is coming from. The money that you pay upfront for your share of the harvest helps the farmer cover the necessary costs. As a member of a CSA, you are sharing the risk with the farmer…you share the harvest, however if something damages the crops (disease, weather), you are agreeing to take the loss with the farmer.

Redland Organics is our local CSA. They are currently accepting applications for this coming season. The food is grown in Homestead, but they have various pick-up points in Miami-Dade & Broward counties. There are 20 pick-up dates in a season, usually on Saturday.

A full-share is $580 ($29/week) for the season, a half-share is $350 ($17.50/week). A 4-week January trial full-share is $150. You may also add an egg full-share (dozen/week) for $95 or half-share (1/2 dozen/week) for $53 (local eggs!!).

Find out much more: CSA Brochure, FAQs, Member Comments, Application

Located in SW Florida? You have a CSA, too! Worden Farm.

Update: Avocados are ready now! Order yours today.

Related Reading:

The song Big Yellow Taxi, most recently heard from the Counting Crows, has inspired this post. Originally written and performed by Joni Mitchell in 1970, this song has as much significance today as it did over 35 years ago.

Let’s go through some portions of the lyrics:

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin’ hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

This sounds like Miami, especially with the pink hotel, boutique and hot spot! You’ll read about it in the papers, hear about it at commission meetings, and see it every day on your way to work: The developers vs. the environment. We’ve got no where to grow with the ocean on one side and the Everglades on the other. I do believe that we can grow the city in a smarter way. I know people are working on it. But I also believe that if even more people realized, "that you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone," we’d be on a better road to the future.

More lyrics:

They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them

I visited Fairchild for the first time recently, on the last day of the Chihuly exhibit. Fairchild has the world’s largest and most diverse palm collection. If that’s not a tree museum, I don’t know what is. And I paid a lot more than a dollar and a half to get in. But that’s not Fairchild’s fault. They are part of the solution. As stated in last week’s Miami Today interview with Michael Maunder, Director of the gardens, "We have some of the rarest plants in the world here in our collection - rarer than pandas and more difficult to breed, some of them." Some plants that supported a specific species of butterflies, for example, were all destroyed in the wild…so then what happens to the butterflies?

Lyrics:

Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT
I don’t care about spots on my apples,
Leave me the birds and the bees
Please

DDT, a pesticide now banned, is just one example. This section is really talking about organic. Now, up to even a year or so ago, I didn’t really care about organic. Here’s the thing. Pesticides are on our food. They also are in our farm land, which affects our water. They are extremely toxic to the people administering the chemicals. They also kill everything…and then we won’t know what we’ve got til it’s gone. When you buy organic, your veggies aren’t going to be flawless. That doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with them. In fact, flawless food should make you wonder what it took to get the food so perfect. Do you remember how good tomatoes used to taste? And how they taste now? Leave me the birds and the bees.

Related Reading:

Looking for something to do on Saturday morning? Need to fill some community service hours? Help TREEmendous Miami plant some trees!

This information is provided directly from the TREEmendous website:

When: Saturday, May 20, 2006

Where: Area east of South Miami (zip code 33143)

Time: 8:30 a.m. till about Noon

Meet: Jean Willis Park 7220 SW 61 Court, South Miami, FL (the park is just west of South Miami City Hall and Library) Look for the white vans.

TREEmendous Miami, an Adopt-a-Tree partner, is looking for volunteers to help plant trees for our elderly and disabled residents. This is a great opportunity to restore the canopy in our community and educate residents about the multiple benefits of trees.

Don’t worry, you will be taught how to properly plant and care for the trees! Volunteers will meet at 8:30 a.m. for an orientation session. We then divide into teams, each lead by an experienced TREEmendous Miami volunteer tree planter.

Our tasks are usually finished about noon and we gather back at the same pre-determined location to turn in paperwork and tools, issue Community Service Certificates, and share a few laughs about our morning labors. Bring sun screen, lots of water and a shovel/rake/gloves (if you don’t have any of these tools, we can provide them).

Recommended attire: closed-toe shoes, light weight long pants, long sleeved shirt, and a shade hat.

For more details and/or questions: call or e-mail Amy, Program Coordinator at 305-378-1863 or treemendousmiami [at] mail. [dot] com.

We need your help. Come on out and have a TREEmendous day in every way!

Related Reading:

Today kicks of International Compost Awareness Week, by the US Compost Council.

Manola asked a while ago about composting in hot and sticky Florida. Well, it turns out there is a site to talk you through it. Florida’s Online Composting Center.

It seems that the City of Miami gives out free mulch and compost during the week to residents. Virginia Key location 3851 Rickenbacker Causeway.

(Incidentally, tons of people arrive to my site looking for "free mulch in Miami." Weird.)

Additionally, UF IFAS has an online publication: Construction of Home Compost Units. The town of Surfside also recommends composting, as does Miami-Dade County.

Related Reading:

Every once in a while I write a post and I mention how important local food is to me. And then I never say another word. Well, here we go, starting the conversation. This has been a tough one for me to start writing about, because for me it is so big and complex, I didn’t know where to start.

So today I’ll start with the thing that inspired me to do more and more research on the topic, the 100 Mile Diet. This diet, started by two crazy Canadians last year, is based on the following:

When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically traveled at least 1,500 miles from farm to plate. That’s a total disconnection from where our food is coming from. What would it be like to eat locally for one year? We drew a 100-mile circle around our home in Vancouver, Canada. The 100-Mile Diet was born.

These two people, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, started a blog to share their experiences, which became referenced all over the web. Still not convinced? They’ve got 13 Reasons to Eat Locally.

So, could one person, or a group of people, successfully eat on the 100 mile diet from Miami? That would get you to about Naples on the east coast, Stuart to the north, almost to Key West in the south, and touching the edge of Grand Bahama. Plus a whole lot of swamp and ocean.

I’d love to start a list soon of all of the food that you can buy or grow locally, seasons available, etc., in order to really find a way to make this feasible. Additionally, I’d like to add restaurants that utilize locally grown food in their menus. If anyone has information or resources, please let me know.

My gut tells me: Easier: local fish, fruit, veggies (depending on season), herbs. Harder: milk, chicken, eggs, meat, sugar. Much harder: flour, rice.

We live in an area without a winter, which means we should be better off…although from what I understand from reading about farming, we seem to have a short growing season, with crops from January-April. Farmers markets are many times full of products that come in from all over the country and the world, which doesn’t make any sense at all to me.

In the future I want to use this as a stepping stone to talk about Community Supported Agriculture in Miami, Florida and also Community Gardens.

Could you do the 100-mile diet for a month, a week, a day? Could I? I hope someday, but I need to figure out where to start, first.

Related Reading:

A nice Friday feature, I’ve saved up all of the TreehuggerTV Farm to Table series so that you can view them one after another. Again, as always, these are bite sized videos (around 3 minutes each), incredibly produced by my friends over at m_ss_ng p_eces.

Local organic farming, being part of the growing process of the food that you eat, eating within season…these are all huge subjects for me that I really haven’t gotten into yet because I want to spend a good amount of time on them. Check out the series (you can play the video directly from this post.)

Related Reading: