Going organic (for vegetables, at least) has been on my list of things that I’d like to do for a long time. It’s always been a bit too difficult, or expensive (especially at the big supermarket chains), or I just didn’t know how to find them.
But then a friend of my mums told me about community supported agriculture (CSA), and food co-ops! And I’ve known about food co-ops for a while (and been envious of friends who were part of them), but never really considered joining one before. I don’t know why. Sometimes a good idea takes a long time to take seed in your mind, I suppose. Anyway, our household has recently joined Food Connect, a CSA group for brisbaneites, where fruit and veges and some extras are sourced from organic or transitioning farms within a five hour radius of brisbane
It’s not quite a 100 mile diet, but it’s definitely better than the food shipped enormous distances (and thus having a huge carbon footprint) offered at the chain stores. Cutting down on the carbon footprint of food! (Though the best way of doing this is cutting down on meat or switching to kangaroo… hint hint)
And I am all for making things easier on myself- if behaviour change is going to be maintained, it has to fit with my lifestyle. It has to be sustainable.
And all that this change takes is picking up a box of veges once a week, from a designated ‘city cousin’ who has kindly volunteered to be the pick up point for the boxes driven in. Luckily, ours is a 5 minute walk from the house, so I can do this on my walk home from uni.
And I am in love! Have you ever eaten organic pears? They are AMAZING. My mouth is watering at the thought of them. Seriously. And everything else has been lovely too. Getting through the box has meant we are doing more cooking (and saving money through bringing lunch to work), and also means I am now probably getting the recommended 5 serves of veges and 2 of fruit per day. Yay for healthiness.
I’m also hoping to supplement this with some home grown veges- I go through a lot of tomatoes. Photos of my greenhouse coming soon! It's more of a fortress to protect from possums and scrub turkeys, really.
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