Food ValueWe use only sustainable and organic farming practices such as cover cropping and insectories, companion planting, and only OMRI pesticides when needed. Chickens and goats nourish our soils as well as help us keep weeds down. Ninety-five per cent of our crops are heirloom vegetables, which have a much richer flavor than hybrids.
Organic vs ConventionalMaking fresh organic produce financially accessible is important to us. Traditionally, prices for organic produce have been higher than conventionally grown supermarket produce and this has made eating organic a seeming "luxury." It has troubled us that food grown without poisons, with care and attention to the natural order of things should become an exclusive item. The low produce prices we have been accustomed to are a manifestation of an agriculture that looks at the earth as a high-productivity machine rather than a living thing, and government policy that encourages this view. This attitude actually exacts a higher price on the soil, water, our health, and the quality of the food. The nature of growing things right, with care for the earth, her fruits and ourselves necessarily involves sacrificing the economics of scale. The efficiency of mechanization and the artificial surplus afforded by industrial fertilizers and poisons continue to take a toll on our environment.
After examining the real cost, we should be eager to financially support organic agriculture. But can I afford it? In the experience of other CSA farms, the five or ten pounds weekly harvest has been calculated to be far less in cost than organic produce and only slightly above supermarket prices. We hope to provide not only a financially viable alternative to commercial organic produce, but a level of taste, quality, and customer service that far exceeds what any supermarket can offer.
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