Voting for Change – One Bite at a Time
July 30th, 2009
Don’t you love those unexpected moments when life seems so good and so simple that it fills you with great joy? I had just that feeling after spending the afternoon volunteering at the produce distribution at my local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). It was another great week as we received a beautiful selection of produce including three varieties of eggplant, beautiful green tomatoes, carrots, four varieties of squash, fennel, fava beans, 2 1/2 pounds of peaches, 4 pounds of plums, maple yogurt, eggs and non-homogenized milk — all for under $30. (I am including such detail to help sway those of you who are only thinking about joining a CSA to take action!)
It was wonderful to meet fellow CSA members and to see the diversity of people all driven by one desire – access to amazing, affordable, healthy food. But beyond the self-serving aspect of participating in a CSA, I also witnessed a true community driving change in this great city. People cared about one another in a way that seems rare nowadays. As volunteers, it was an unspoken commitment to take great care when bagging this week’s fruit allotment to not bruise a single peach or break the skin of a single plum. It’s a generosity of spirit I can’t say I’ve seen at my beloved Fairway market (and trust me, Fairway shoppers really care about their food as well). In the wonderful fulfillment I experienced volunteering for such a profound community movement in the way we receive our food, I couldn’t help to still be saddened by some of the incredible injustices currently taking place across the United States with regard to our food system. Read the rest of this entry »