Yesterday during our walk, we stopped at Barnes and Noble where I sat down and read quite a bit of Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally. It’s a book about two Canadians who decide to spend an entire year eating food that originated within 100 miles of their home in Vancouver. While there were some stipulations (eating out with friends/work and vacations and how that would change the radius) they stuck with it. What caught my eye were the discussions about how to live w/o bread because the grain was coming from over 1,000 miles away and what they did to get around those restrictions.

A couple of months ago, Andy had turned me onto Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and based on my recent diet consisting mostly of what amounts to rabbit food, I have seriously considered getting involved with a local farm and their CSA offerings. Harmony Valley Farm has a flexible plan which is a minimum of 17 boxes ($30/box) which helps if you vacation and don’t want to have to give up any of your boxes during the summer. I have been spending a good bit of money at Cub (and Pahl’s) this summer and eating almost all of it. If we were to get involved with a CSA I’d have to learn to can for the winter.

Growing up with family who owned various farms we had a ready supply of farm fresh veggies (and beef) and I have memories of my mother canning veggies and fruit in the basement alongside the huge freezer full of meat.

I ordered “Plenty” (used) today on Amazon along with another book for the Educational Research class I’m taking and would have enjoyed taking Amazon up on their offer to bundle in a book suggested by Andy which is related to “Plenty” (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life) but the total bill was a bit too much for my liking ;)

If you’re interested in doing something good for the environment and your health, looking into a share from CSA might be a good place to start.

Related posts:

1. Montgomery Inn Ribs and Graeter’s Ice Cream
2. First Harmony Valley Farm CSA Box of 2008
3. Goal for 2008: Read a Book a Week (average)
4. Advocates for Human Rights Awards Dinner: Minneapolis, MN
5. Santa Came Early