So You Want to Know What I Think About a Farm Share?

Well, I'll tell you anyway.

I joined a farm share last year for the summer season. It sounded a bit pricy - 330 dollars for veggies every other week for 12 weeks, but some simple math told me it works out to only about 55 bucks a box. The farm share I chose (out of a few options) also did half-boxes for 198 dollars, so I only ended up paying 33 per farm box. They even had a delivery option for 7 dollars extra each week - so 40 bucks total - for fresh veggies on my door step every other week all summer long! Many farm shares also require you to pitch in somehow, but this one did not, and cost just a bit more than the others, which seemed reasonable.

They deliver, no time-expendature required, and they will give you half of the standard delivery - it sounded perfect for a couple who commute to the city! We signed up, waited patiently, and one Wednesday we came home to a big green box on our porch.

So many vegetables! Many new and unfamiliar, requiring time to learn how to keep, and how to prep. Recipes featuring veggies are not easy to throw together on a Wednesday night when you get home at 7:45, and have to be up at 6am the next day - least of all when you need to spend half an hour trying to figure out what do they call this bulbous leafy homunculus of a vegetable. Do you roast it? do you sauté the leaves? Shit, did you really miss jeopardy again?!

Most of our bountiful crop, hand picked and lovingly nestled on our door step, simply rotted. The tragic waste of it all! We used what we could easily prepare without turning on the oven or doing a research project. We usually didn't trust the eggs, which sat in the sun for 8 hours waiting for us to come home. Mostly it just made us feel guilty, "Order a pizza!? But we have turnip greens and a rutabaga about to rot in the fridge!"

I should clarify, I don't have a problem with our farm share. I think they offer a great service to their community, and they even try to meet busy commuters half way. But half way is far and after a full day's work and a commute I'm lazy, and I think justifiably so. If you accept my laziness, then my experience might highlight for you how difficult it is to get fresh vegetable home and prepared and in your mouth when you commute to a job in the city - as many do. In this sense, it is a luxury, like shopping organic at whole foods or eating at farm-to-table restaurants. I don't mean that it is a luxury in the sense that it's folly; it is very important to find food that is real, and not processed to hell and GMOd into flavorless, nutritionless, and possibly dangerous (the jury is still out) pretend-food. But it is simply not accessible to everyone.

We did however find an alternative that suited us well - our local farmer's market. Perhaps even that is a luxury, only available in more affluent neighborhoods; but we found that ours--in Montclair NJ-- had a broader selection, many organic choices, and we spent less than if we were shopping at Whole Foods. We enjoyed going, and could choose what we wanted, and how much we wanted, and it would be all fresh that weekend, when we had time to prepare it.

I'm having trouble extracting a moral. I'm not sure I need to. I suppose it's just this: do what you can to find real food, but do what works for you. If you have the time or flexibility to participate in a farm share, you should! Even better would be to participate in one that lets you join in the harvest and get your hands dirty - if you have time. If you don't, do a bit of research to find something nearby that meets your budget and schedule. If you acknowledge your constraints you can save yourself the guilt of ordering general tso's chicken while your kohlrabi softens in a dark corner of your crisper.

Guest Blog written by Justin Moynihan

Have questions for Justin about farm shares? Write them in the Comments, or send an email to tastelifelivefood@gmail.com