Next Saturday, November 10, at 6:30pm, my church will host a "Community Harvest Dinner," a meal prepared from ingredients collected from local farms. It's a great idea both for promoting community and stimulating discussion about some of the great resources we have locally. There is more info on the First Church website.

The vegetables will come from Powisset farm in Dover, which recently started a community supported agriculture (CSA) program. CSA farms sell "shares" in the farm to the public. Then, each week during the growing season, shareholders can go pick up a basket of produce. It's a great way to get fresh locally grown food.

I first became interested in locally-grown food after reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Back in April, I blogged about my concerns about the industrialization of our food supply and sought to learn more. I have found a ton of resources. Please, if you know of more, especially those local to the Dedham/Westwood/Boston area, comment on this blog with your additions...

• Local Harvest is a nationwide database of farmers' markets and CSAs. It is a good starting point, but at the time I searched, I only found a smattering of farmers markets, typically at inconvenient times (when I am at work.) Now, I find the site has been updated to include many more resources.
• the (Town of) Newton Conservators has a page listing Boston suburban CSA farms
• New England Grown is a "webzine" devoted to farming and supporting farming in New England with links to many resources on finding locally grown food.
• the Eat Local Challenge is a blogsite combining the efforts of many writers and activists who talk about the advantages of eating local and tips for finding more resources.
• The 100 Mile Diet began with one Vancouver, BC couple's experiment to see if and how they could only eat food that was grown within 100 miles of their home--and turned into a movement for similar projects like the Upper Valley Localvores in Vermont.
• Boston Organics will deliver a basket of organic, often locally grown produce weekly. It's not as local as joining a CSA, but it does provide a way to schedule a steady stream of quality food that is delivered right to your door.

There is a distinction between organic and local...one of the points in Pollan's book was that organic has become such a fashionable trend these days that there is big money to be made in slapping that label on food. (Whole Foods disputes his perspective here.) Essentially, organic food is simply food that is grown without pesticides. Beyond that, it can be nothing but marketing hype to get us to pay more money for food that is being shipped from halfway around the world. I predict, within the next 5 years, we will see a McDonald's campaign, not unlike the "supersize me" campaign, called "Go organic!" "Would you like your Big Mac with organic cheese on a whole wheat bun? It's only $1 more." No thanks. When I want a Big Mac, I'll eat a Big Mac, with no illusions that it is healthy for me.

I think the Community Supported Agriculture movement is potentially a great antidote to the at-times mindless elitism that fuels a new breed of excess...people believing they have to spend $4 for a healthy loaf of bread at Whole Foods. We go into grocery stores these days and read the labels like never before...as one nutrition villain is replaced by another: trans fat? 0 grams. OK...but the second ingredient is still "partially hydrogenated soybean oil"...wheat bread? is it "whole" wheat? Is it 100% whole wheat? What's the second ingredient that makes it not taste like cardboard? High Fructose Corn Syrup of course! Argh!

Local food is about knowing where your food came from. It can be about developing a closer relationship to the producers of that food. Or it can just be better tasting. We have many food options and this is a fascinating one to explore.

Finally, I could not resist posting a video about the 47th Avenue Farm, a CSA in Portland, Oregon. I grew up with farmers in rural Virginia and it is bit odd to hear someone talk about trying out farming without quitting her day job...but apparently, she has found something that works for her and her community, so check it out:

And, if you are still reading after watching that video, here's a video slideshow/podcast from Texas A&M that describes the whole idea behind CSAs: