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Organic co-op

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

I’m pretty excited about this organic co-op I’ve joined.

I first read about it in Radiant Magazine. An organic co-op is a group of local farms that join together. Consumers pay for a crate of fresh vegetables every week during the growing season. You commit for a month at a time, and pre-pay for each month.

Each week costs only about $25. Considering how expensive everything is here in California, that’s about how much I spend on vegetables and fruit every week at Safeway or Trader Joe’s.

You don’t get to choose which fruits and vegetables in each week’s crate, but you do get whatever’s fresh and ripe for that week, and the variety is pretty impressive. Since it’s a local organic co-op, it ensures the produce is fresh and not picked early before being shipped across country. All the produce is also organic and not genetically modified.

There are various pick up points in the Bay Area, and the closest one to me is only a few minutes’ drive away. They also send out a weekly newsletter to let you know what will be available that week, and some recipes.

I’m totally excited about this. I’m hoping this will also help me eat healthier and lose a little weight, since I’ll be forced to finish the vegetables each week to make room for next week’s crate. More veggies in my diet is always good, right?

The only thing I don’t know how to cook is the rutabaga.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I believe I would cook the rutabaga by placing it in my garbage can!
I've done that before, kind of. A friend would let me pick up her basket when she went out of town. Absolutely delicious and fun to make dinner to fit the food instead of buying the food to fit the dinner. I'm not saying this is the healthiest way to eat veggies, but our family loves throwing diced red peppers, zuchinni, yellow squash, and onions in the microwave until tender. Drain and sprinkle with Italian seasonings and mozarella cheese. ;-)
Kathleen said…
A surprise crate of vegetables would be would fun to receive each week! And knowing that they are all fresh is even better! And what a bargain...I definitley spend more than that each week on vegetables. I would share with my friends any vegetables that I don't think are that appealing :)
Does anyone know how to cook a rutabaga? I'm with Sally--la garbage. But I think that's great, especially considering the cost of fresh fruits and veggies. I'm sad to say we don't get a huge variety because the babies won't touch new stuff. Although I did find the cutest bananas last week, they were the size of fingers. Needless to say, I didn't buy them because they were a little freaky.
C.L. Dyck said…
Way to go! That's my other hobby - being the grower, that is. I envy your length of season down there. We usually get about ten weeks here on the Canadian prairies, but I haven't even been able to start deliveries yet this year, the weather's been so miserable.

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