Here's way to kill several birds of prey with one tiny stone:
If you don't grow your own food, which many of us urbanites and suburbanites do not, order your food from a CSA instead of going to the grocery store. You will support local agriculture, thus supporting the local economy. You will support your local ecosystem, and make a positive impact--that is a lesser impact--on the environment in general. You will reduce traffic in your area and your own frustrating time in the car. You will avoid long lines. You will improve your own health astronomically. You will be getting food, by and large, that is free from preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, chemicals, and other things we should not really be putting in our bodies unwittingly.
There are also more abstract advantages to ordering from a CSA. When's the last time you bought some greens with real grit on them and had the earthy pleasure of rinsing them clean? When's the last time you bought carrots still capped with the green flowery stem, like the one on Bugs Bunny's carrots? When is the last time you bought honey from the beekeeper, or jam from the woman who made it, or pork from someone who actually cared about the pig's quality of life and death?
Ordering and receiving from a CSA has changed the way I walk into my kitchen. Oh, I still enter through the door, but I go in with a twinkle in my eye, excited about going through the frig and discovering things that actually look and smell and feel like FOOD.
And it is SO DARNED EASY. Go to this link:
Type in your zip code to find a CSA in your area. My CSA--Moore Farms and Friends of Alabama--makes it so easy. I order online. I choose my pick-up location and day. I stop by on my way home from work on that day and my order is boxed up with my name on it.
Try it! For your health, for the environment, for your local economy. For the greater good and plain ol' goodness.
