For Your Consideration: Join a CSA

It's hard to believe, but while snow still lies on the ground of our Northern East Coast towns, nearby farmers have already begun planting their seeds for this year's crops. As part of this planting process, many of these farmers are now taking deposits for this summer's CSAs, or crop share associations.

When a friend first suggested I try a CSA I cringed at the thought. I mean who wants a huge box full of cabbage ... or worse, Kale, each week? That's how I thought it worked. When cabbage is in season, you get a box of cabbage. And you need to drive maybe thirty minutes to pick up a box full of produce that you don't even want to eat! Right?

Not quite.

Crop share boxes provide a wide range of fruits and vegetables that are in season. So while you may get Kale for three weeks in a row, you might also get fresh melon, strawberries and blueberries. I was wrong about the size, too. You don't have to buy a HUGE box, you can buy a half share, which offers plenty of vegetables for two adults and two kids. Many farms offer convenient urban pick-up locations once a week, and some are even beginning to deliver.

The idea behind a CSA is simple. You give the farm cash - in advance - for crops and this money supplements the farmer between planting and harvest. In exchange, you receive a share of the bounty.

I've never crunched the numbers on cost efficiency, but if you eat all the produce, it's probably pretty comparable. I believe that a CSA membership is about more than the bottom line, though. My family is getting to know our local farmers. We talk about our role in the farm's success and in the benefits of eating fresh. We find ourselves trying new foods and recipes. We never knew, for example, that radishes are fabulous roasted or that you can make tasty chips out of Kale.

Joining a crop share is about more than just fresh produce. It's about teaching your kids reverence for the earth and an understanding that we are all connected to this planet. If we treat our soil well, it will repay us with goods. It's also about the community you forge with your local farmers. Our first year the rain was so bad that entire tomato crops were demolished around the state. Our CSA members rallied around our farmer. In the past, I might have griped about the steep price of tomatoes at the grocery store, but now I was concerned about my farmer friends.

There are many different kinds of CSAs, too: organic, conscientious and conventional, and all will have varying prices. In our city you can join CSAs that provide eggs, meat, fish, flowers and produce. Some offer mixtures of all of the above.

So consider poking around the web to see if you can find more information about your local crop share options. It isn't always perfect, but that's the reality of farming. And when I have a week where the thought of one more bag of greens turns my stomach, I chop and freeze 'em for a lasagna or soup later on and remind myself that next week's box brings with it the promise of new eating adventures.

My Cantaloupe Garden

If you visit my garden this summer, you might see cantaloupes growing everywhere. It's not that I plan on growing fruit, it's that over the past three weeks, I've thrown into my compost not one, not two, but three whole cantaloupes. I figure with the number of seeds in there now, we're sure to have at least one plant spring up somewhere in our flower bed.

I know what you're thinking, "What kind of a wasteful person buys three cantaloupes in a row when it is completely clear that she was unable to cut and serve the first... and the second?" The kind of person who does such a thing is the same person who bought two cantaloupes on sale for the price of one earlier this week. (For the record, I cut up and served both of those immediately.)

It's not that I wanted to be wasteful, it's that those three weeks were incredibly busy with a deadline looming for a first pass at my novel revisions. There was no time to cook, never mind do laundry or clean. So we had scrambled eggs and mac n' cheese for dinner, and we pretty much ran out of underwear and socks.

I wanted to shake things up. Add some variety to our diet, but I just couldn't find time to cut the melons.

My kids are tired of the now soft apples I've been buying at the grocery store every week since our farmer's market ended. Apple slices come home from school every day — barely eaten, and yes, get tossed into the compost. I can't say I blame the kids because there's nothing worse than a mealy apple — even if it is organic and US-grown. As it turns out, my girls don't care much for oranges, tangerines or clementines either. (Citrus is the only other US-grown fruit we can find in the winter.) I threw half a dozen of those in our compost and gave the rest away to our piano teacher. (He also received a full head of greens, three green peppers, and a handful of onions.)

Mid-way through this crazy period, I relented and purchased pre-cut melon and pineapple hoping I could make sure I wasn't totally neglecting nutrition.

When I went to the basement to dump those plastic containers into our recycling bin, I was wracked with guilt. My husband had forgotten to take the recycling out the week earlier and there was a small mountain in my basement. I was horrified at how much stuff we had accumulated in just two busy weeks — cereal boxes, jars from tomato sauce, macaroni and cheese boxes, milk cartons, old art projects, and homework we did not need. We'd been so busy that we'd regressed to our old wasteful ways: tossing, tossing and tossing away. Instead of cooking bulk dried beans, I bought cans (BPA-free, of course). I bought packaged chicken nuggets, waffles, and popsicles perhaps in an effort to somehow make up for feeling neglectful during such a busy time. It was easy to slip backwards.

Being good to the planet is so more than just recycling. Imagine how much energy it's going to take to repurpose all that stuff. It doesn't matter that soda bottles turn into carpets and milk jugs into cutting board. Just because it doesn't end up in land fill, doesn't mean there won't be an eco-cost.

The biggest challenge I need to work on is reducing my waste altogether — and that's hard when I'm burning the candle at both ends. That's hard for any fast-paced family. The bad news is, there are more busy times ahead, and reducing requires a great deal of planning, careful shopping and cooking. Until my novel is sold, I'm daunted by that prospect.

So I'll just appease my guilt with the knowledge that tossing a cantaloupe ... or three ... into the compost, along with some rotten root vegetables and uneaten lettuce, will not be my worst offense this winter. At least I will have rich soil, and if we're really lucky (like, magically lucky), that soil could be home to some melon plants.

Eco Friendly Lunches: The Final Three

1) Say gooodbye to bags and hello to reusable lunch bags: Lunch boxes and bags are available virtually everywhere, and there are many different sizes and designs. If you choose an insulated bag, make sure it is lead-free. Many insulated bags can only be wiped down making them difficult to clean if nasty smells or stains appear. This year I ditched insulated bags for machine washable ones, like Mimi the Sardine. These provide greater longevity, but require ice packs to keep foods cool. For older kids, consider brands like Fluff or Rebel Green, which make fashion statements in addition to being eco-friendly. Personally, I steer clear of neoprene products because neoprene is made from a slew of chemicals, but Greensmart makes a large neogreene lunchbag that is healthier and machine washable.

2) Consider Cloth: What's old is new again. Search through your home looking for old cloth napkins or invest in affordable new ones. This is a great way to cut down on wasting paper, and napkins can be washed and used over and over again. You may love your napkins so much, you'll start using them at the dinner table.

3) Bring your own silverware: You can pick up reusable silverware at just about any big box store, like Target or Walmart. Generally speaking, you'll find stainless, plastic and bamboo options. Stainless is best if you just want to toss them into your dishwasher. Plastic and bamboo are lighter, but won't fare as well in a dishwasher. You don't need to spend a lot of money on silverware, and you might even have some left over from when your kids were smaller.

Eco Friendly Lunches Take 2

Continuing on with my series on trying to lessen lunch waste, here is:

Tip #2: Reusable Containers

For wet snacks: consider small stainless steel or plastic storage containers. Again, if you're going with plastic, make sure your products are BPA-free and have the numbers 2, 4 or 5 on the bottom. My two favorite brands are Sistema and Decor which are available at The Container Store. They seem to be easy enough for my kids to open and close on their own. Some other brands to consider: Tupperware, Rubbermaid, Fit and Fresh, Inate, and Kid Konserve. Fit and Fresh is especially nice because some of their containers come with thin, ice packs that snap right into the lids and are not bulky. Kid Konserve costs more and is heavier, but being stainless steel, alleviates leaching plastic concerns.

For hot lunches, nothing beats an old-fashioned Thermos. The Funtainer line comes in various patterns and designs.

For dry snacks and sandwiches: consider snack bags and snack wraps, which can easily replace plastic wrap, aluminum foil, and Ziplocs.

Available in various sizes, designs and fabrics, they are often lined with a more hearty fabric, like nylon, to keep food from leaking and staining.

I particularly like Moja Creations at Etsy.com because of their wide range of sizes and fabric designs. Etsy has many other snack bag designers, but we've had mixed luck with durability. I like throwing these in the laundry, and if they can't hold up to washing and drying, they aren't a good investment.

We also like Snack Taxis and Reusies available at Reusit.com. Both of these have held up well to washing and wear.

Candidly speaking, I'm not quite as sold on lunch wraps. While I love that they provide a clean place mat for your child to eat on, the sandwiches don't stay quite as fresh as they do in plastic wrap or foil. (I am cringing even as I admit this.) For a while, I switched back to aluminum foil, but now I'm putting sandwiches in storage containers with covers, and that seems to do the trick!

Eco-Friendly Lunches Take 1

It's Climate Action Week in our town, and as part of our school's Green Team, I put together a document to help families make the switch over to eco-friendly lunches.
The best way to lessen our trash is to create less. You can do this by swapping out disposable lunch elements and replacing them with reusables.

TIP #1: Trade bottled water and juice boxes for reusable bottles.

Plastic bottles tend be lighter, but seem to break down faster, and some experts worry about the chemical ingredients in plastic itself. Your safest bet is to look for BPA-free products as well as plastics with the numbers 2, 4 and 5 on the bottom. These numbers don't leach.

My favorite plastic bottles are the Literless Juiceboxes and the Sip Bottles by Rubbermaid. These #5 bottles are safe on the top rack of your dishwasher, are fairly inexpensive, and if sealed properly do not leak. My biggest issue with them is that I don't know what the interior straws are made from. They seem like generic restaurant straws cut in half, and as my first batch broke down, I was sure my kids were eating straw parts. I've since wised up, and I discovered that you can replace your straws through Rubbermaid.

Metal cups last longer, but tend to be heavier. We have experimented with different kinds and found that many leak if they get knocked over (ruining entire lunches and soaking handbags), and the fancy color designs tend to eventually scratch off.

I have three favorite brands:

1. Kleen Kanteen: These meet my simplicity rule. The bottles are made from stainless steel with safe plastic tops. If you buy the same mouth size, all the tops are interchangeable, and while you're not supposed to put them in the dishwasher, I do, and have never had a problem. These bottles, however, have been known to leak. The sports caps are a little tricky for little hands to push all the way down, and my second grader sometimes has trouble unscrewing the 'closed' top. The colored-styles will scratch showing their wear much faster than the plain ones. Still, this is my cup of choice when I'm out and about.
   
   
2. Camelbak Stainless Steel: These cute stainless steel straw cups are great for road trips. They don't weigh too much, and the pop-straw tops are very easy to open and close. They do leak a bit, however, if they aren't sealed perfectly, and if the straws aren't perfectly pushed together. We've had some lunch damage with these. That said, in the car, on the go, they are perfect for little hands. As with the Rubbermaids, I worry a bit about the materials for the plastic straws, but straws are a concession I've had to make.
   
   
3. Thermos Funtainer: Funtainers are my favorite for school lunches. There is a pop-straw top and a cover, making these virtually leak-proof. (So long as you close them.) Available in a wide-range of kid-friendly and adult-friendly designs and sizes, they are insulated keeping drinks cold. We have found that ice cubes in a Funtainer can replace an ice pack. This is probably a good thing because Funtainers are the heaviest of the three options! I have the same straw concerns as with the Camelbak and Rubbermaid, but what can you do? This is the ONLY bottle that has not ever made a leaky mess.
   

A lot of people ask about the lighterweight aluminum bottles. Personally, I'm not a fan because they break my simplicity rule. Most are lined with some protective coating to keep the aluminum from leaching. A few years ago SIGG was slammed for using BPA in their inner lining and not disclosing it to the public. Folks were shocked - but not me. The more complicated a product, the more likely it is to be less healthy.

Stay tuned for Tip #2: Reusable Snack Containers

Conserving in the Kitchen

One reader requested some eco-friendly tips in the kitchen, so I thought I'd comply.

The kitchen is probably the most challenging, but also the most important room to tackle. So much of our daily existence revolves around food prep, eating and then cleaning up so we can start all over again just a little while later. (Oh joy!)

When you have little mouths to feed (generally mouths that have become irritable and crabby right around 4:00 P.M.), it is so tempting to find all the ways to cut corners: disposable foil pans, frozen prepared foods, foil lined sheets - I've done them all.

Every year I try to figure out more efficient and less flustered ways to cope. The kitchen alone could make for ten blog posts, but I'll start with some food prep tips.

1) Plan your meals for the week on the weekend and make one shopping trip. This cuts down grocery store trips (saving gas and time), and you'll buy what you actually need and not extras (cutting down on wasted food - especially produce).

2) Don't be afraid to use the entire fruit or vegetable. I'm not suggesting that you serve your kids melon skin or orange peel, but in our attempt to cut down on waste, we discovered that our kids preferred broccoli stems to broccoli heads. You can peel off the outer layer of the stem and slice the stalks into sticks.

3) Keep a compost bin in your kitchen. I will post about composting in more detail at a later time, but composting food scraps enabled us to cut down to just one trash bag for an entire week.

4) Freeze, cook or compost produce that's going bad. I'll admit, I don't LOVE the taste of frozen vegetables - they definitely lose their crispness - but you don't have to eat them straight. Add frozen vegetables to all sorts of fresh dishes, like soups, lasagnas, spaghetti sauce and more. Frozen fruit is perfect for smoothies.

5) Find recipes that use as few pans as possible, cutting down on washing time (a win-win for you).

6) Consider double batch cooking. This definitely feels like more work up front, but can be a life-saver at the end of a hard day. Soups, stews, sauces, quiches, beans, and casseroles are all foods that taste just as good second time 'round. And, you will barely need to wash cooking gear afterwards.

7) Instead of using disposable pans, consider biodegradable parchment paper for baking. I hate scrubbing pans more than anything, so I recently began experimenting with natural parchment paper in baking. The paper goes right into my compost where it breaks down naturally, and the pans require almost no washing.

8) If you soak vegetables (like greens) in water, use that water for your plants rather than spilling it out. One mom I know keeps a pitcher by her sink for any left over drinking water and uses that for her plants.

9) Consider cloth napkins for school lunches and at home. We're using 30-year-old hand me down napkins that were my husband's grandmother's. My kids love the vintage prints and actually enjoy setting a "pretty" table!

10) Soak and then wash. Soaked dishes, pots and pans clean much faster and require less elbow grease. I'm still a little squeamish and insist on rinsing the grimy sink water off my pots and pans, but not everyone is. A sink full of water is far less wasteful than a running tap.

Have more ideas? Let me know!

Wrapping Up The Holidays

For my kids, the holiday season was like one big non-stop toy-fest. We started with Hannukah in our home, then traveled to celebrate Christmas with my in-laws, and then onto my folks' place where we celebrated Hannukah again.

I found myself thinking about the times I used to refuse my grandmother's famous chopped liver. To me it resembled brown muck, but to others it was pure delicacy. She would slather it all over a Tam Tam cracker and wave it in front of me. I would make a nasty face and shake my head, no.

"There are children starving in Africa," she'd remind me. And I'd feel guilt at not wanting to eat her food ... but not enough guilt to actually eat it.

I always hear her over the holidays and at birthdays, too. Literally, I look at my kids with their new toys, and think, "There are children starving in Africa, and India, and America. There are garbage dumps overflowing with plastic toys that will sit there, not degrading for all eternity." I feel guilty, but not guilty enough to change our experience.

Between my old work as a toy-tester and generous relatives, we have a ton of kids' stuff crammed into not a lot of space. Ironically, for the most part, my kids play their same favorite games over and over again, leaving 3/4 of their collection untouched. This past year, I tried to donate a slew of gently used toys to charity, but no one wanted them! They all claimed the toys had to be new and unopened, which I sort of understood from a health perspective, I guess, but isn't that what Lysol is for?

Then there is the gift wrapping. My kids think I am the worst gift-giving mother because I cringe at the thought of wasting all that paper. I contemplated buying reusable gift bags this year, but I couldn't figure out the logic. Do you give it and take it back? Or do you spend an extra ten dollars on a present and consider it a contribution to future gift receivers? And what's the guarantee that gift bag even makes it out to the next person and doesn't just end up in the trash anyhow?

We haven't even talked about holiday prep! My husband was working 70-hour weeks, and I barely had time to breath between my mommy duties, my writing duties, my class-parent duties, my cooking for my in-laws duties, and the therapy I needed to get through all the ways I'd over-extended myself. (Just kidding ... sort of).

I drove around for hours back and forth across the city looking for the perfect gift.

I ordered take-out three times in two weeks, and brought home dinner from Whole Foods twice. More than once, I threw away a mound of styrofoam containers. More than once I winced at my wastefulness and my inability to figure out a better way to deal with take-out.

"If I were truly green," I told myself, "I'd have supplied my own take-out containers .... Of course, If I'd had time to bring my containers to the restaurant, I wouldn't have needed take-out in the first place!"

Angst, angst, angst.

Guilt, guilt, guilt.

And in the middle of my fifth wave of neurosis, stressing about why my parents wouldn't go out of their way to get organic produce and insisted on serving conventional beef, I received an email from an old friend of mine who had recently checked out my blog.

She wrote:

"We have to go easy on ourselves sometimes and give in to the not-so-green life in order to survive, but how to fairly balance is a struggle of morals and reason!"

Beautifully put. (Thanks T!)

Balance. Morals. Reason. Sanity.

So, we ate a dinner of conventional meatballs, with a side of local potatoes and greens I'd brought from home. Gluten-free homemade brownies with Guatemalan melon on the side for desert. And we bought a goat and honeybees through Heifer, and hopefully did a little good for some struggling families elsewhere in the world.

Balance.

Now, if I could only keep my balance taking all these gift boxes to the recycling bin tomorrow.