Guest Post by Kari Patterson
The unspoken rule around here is, If you find a deal, you gotta share the love. Well, I found a deal. At least I think it is, but I’m a crazy locavore who loves supporting local farms and eating organic produce, raw honey, grass-fed beef, and those awesome brown eggs with dark yellow yokes.
The difficult part of that diet is fairly obvious: It’s expensive to eat that way. But since I’m a frugal-fanatic you better believe I was out there like a hound dog sniffin’ out some ways to make this work.
I found one way: The Full-Diet CSA through Afton Field Farm.
CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a partnership between consumers and farmers that gives farmers steady income and provides consumers with a regular source of ultra-fresh food. For more information, check out Emily’s post, The Truth about CSA’s.
Normal CSAs take place during summer months and usually provide produce. But Afton Field Farm’s Full-Diet CSA is a year-round CSA that provides not only fruit and veggies, but also beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, eggs, honey, and eventually produce and dairy products (they are expanding each year).
Advantages:
- Simple. No more shopping, searching for deals, comparing prices. You pick up your month’s worth of meat, eggs, and honey at a Portland-area drop-point of your choice.
- Healthy. We’ll eat better if we have healthy food—and plenty of it—on hand. We’re much more likely to eat healthy meats, veggies, and farm eggs if we know we’re getting more each month.
- Helpful. Afton Field Farm is a pasture-based, multi-generational family farm in Corvallis, Oregon, owned by Tyler & Alicia Jones. Tyler is a protege of Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm in Virginia. They are “committed to raising food in ways that are respectful to the soil, animals, local community and the natural ecosystems we inhabit in an ongoing effort to be reverent participants in the grace that is our land and lives.” I love that CSA dollars go to support honest, local farmers who are helping make a difference in the food industry.
- Flexible. I like that I’ll still be able to get my favorite produce from other sources. Nothing beats the organic spinach from Costco, Fuji apples from Azure Standard, and old-fashioned oats from Winco. A “full-diet” CSA provides all our meat, egg, and sweetener needs while still providing us the flexibility in our budget to buy other things. I love that you can adjust how much you need based on your family-size and specific needs.
A few thoughts:
We are a family of 4 on a small budget ($275/month) and don’t eat much meat. So for us, we’re simply buying the CSA for One Adult, knowing that it will be enough for all of us. Each family is different, so here are the pound-amounts to help you decide.
For 26 weeks, a Full-Diet CSA for One Adult includes:
- 40 lbs. of beef
- 30 lbs. of pork
- 40 lbs. of chicken
- 27 dozen eggs
- 2 lbs. of lamb
- 26 pints of honey
- 15 lbs. of turkey
This is actually the perfect amount for our family of two adults and two small children. The cost? Just under $200/month. Since all we’ll have to buy is produce, I believe we can still come in at our $275 budget.
If this makes your eyes glaze over and sounds completely overwhelming, skip it. I know it’s not for everyone. But if you’re into the locavore movement and want a way to simplify your shopping, this might be just the option for you.
Please note: This Full-Diet CSA is only available from now until June 1st. You can find more information here:
Leave a comment: What “deals” have you found for locavores? Any great local farms you love supporting? Please share the love and let us know!
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Kari Patterson is pastor’s wifey, preschool mommy, writer, speaker, reader, blogger and frugal living enthusiast. She writes all about the beautiful mess of life over at KariPatterson.com.
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I wish we were in the area so I could order from AFF! I’m lookin for one in the SoCal area now. Thanks for sharing, Kari! This is so educational an SO inspiring!
We don’t eat any meat. And limit our dairy. Try to eat a plant based diet. Although getting fresh brown eggs is appealing. I would like to try just a farm that sells organic produce like this. I know they exist. Does any one know of any in se portland/gresham area? also I can’t imagine eating a pint of honey a week?
When produce is sprayed with pesticides, you have not only covered your food with poison (which can not be completely removed with washing) but you have altered the way that the plant grows. The antioxidants that we want from produce are created by the plants as their own defense against bugs and such- Studies have shown that non-organic produce had less antioxidants than their organic counterparts.
Thanks for sharing Kari! The way your family eats inspires me, I love learning from your resourcefulness!
🙂 I love you beautiful girl!
SO I am embarrassed that I don’t know this BUT…..when I wash my fruit and veggies doesn’t it then become organic? And secondly why is organic more expensive than conventional? It seems logic would dictate if the farmers don’t have to shell out money for pesticides it would be cheaper, no? And while I’m asking dumb questions, how is shelf stable almond and coconut milk different than refrigerated? I’ve looked at the ingredients and they seem to be the same, so why do I have to chill one and not the other? =)
My sister is an agricultural engineer.
1) Use of pesticides/herbicides/fertilizers increases yield per acre (fertilizer increases plant growth; pesticides reduce losses to insects; herbicides limit competition from weeds). Land cost per acre is fixed so growing organic raises the cost per item (apple, ear of corn, whatever) Alternatively, you can hire people to weed, but you have to pay them.
2) Organic pesticides (such as pyrethroids derived from chrysanthemum root) are more expensive than synthetic ones, even synthetic pyrethroids. Most organic produce uses organic pesticides and organic fertilizers rather than fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate. I question the “organicness” of organic produce from China and Mexico, even when labeled. I suspect farmers claim it’s organic and it often isn’t.
3) The organic certification process is expensive. You can google it on the web, but you have to track everything and not have used any synthetic fertilizer/pesticide/herbicide for ~5 years.
That’s the basics, anyway.
TwinMOM,
Thank you!
Washing fruit and veggies only removes the stuff on the exterior of the plant, but the the plants drink up all the pesticides and fertilizers through the soil. It exists in the plant. If you look at EWG’s dirty dozen/clean fifteen you’ll see that all the food was washed and peeled prior to testing and the levels of pesticides found in the food was still off the charts. It’s inside the food, not on it. http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/methodology/
I use Full Circle here in the Seattle area. I buy meat and produce from them. We have saved money doing so. Our grocery budget was huge. I stopped at the store almost everyday to pick up forgotten foods. But now I schedule what we buy once a week. I stop at the store a few times a month for almond milk and butter. We’ve saved a couple hundred a month with Full Circle.
Awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing, Linda. Love hearing real stories of CSA situations that work well for your family. Thank you!
I sent an email yesterday, and if you don’t eat pork, they will work with you. I am waiting on a reply about vacations, and then I am signing up!
We signed up!
Great! So glad this worked out, Shannon!
There’s now a Groupon to try out their produce on the Portland deals.
$29 for Two Weeks Worth of CSA Produce Boxes ($58.33 Value) — They are set weekends though, last week of June and first of July.
I’m guessing it’s full shares, but buyer beware: ” Early in the season the shares usually prove to be smaller due to the fact that there just isn’t that much fruit and produce ripe in our area during those weeks.”
“Early in the season” = mid June
“Their” being a CSA-type arrangement (I’m not very familiar with this). It’s not the same farm as the one posted in here, but a different farm that does the same kind of thing.
Thanks, Sue!
Not sure about a CSA in the Seattle area, but I do know that Full Circle Farm offers a green groocer option which allows you to buy local organic meat packs, and the cuts/weights are clearly listed in the description.
Awesome, thanks Christina!
All it includes is meat and honey? There’s still dairy, condiments, grains, baking essentials (flour ie), beans, nuts, etc. seems like there would still be lots to shop for.
I agree. This sounds like a great program, but I don’t understand how this is affordable. When you say you spend $275 on groceries does that just include food or other household items? I don’t see how you can stick to that budget with $200 going towards meat/eggs/honey.
Hey Rachel! I make my own household cleaners, but yes the $275 includes toilet paper, ziplock bags, etc. We don’t eat much grain/beans and no dairy, and I cook everything from scratch, so it works for our budget. But it certainly would depend on your lifestyle and preferences. Thanks for reading!
Yes, it’s true. The thing with this particular CSA is that they’re offering this buy-in as one way to help them expand their farm so they can include a full-diet of dairy, fruits, and veggies as well. Personally, we eat very limited amounts of grain/beans, and no dairy or sugar, so this works well for us. I enjoy getting produce/almonds at Costco and I make my own household cleaners for pennies. So it works well for us. Whether it works for you would depend on your own budget and dietary preferences.
One more quick thought: I personally find it very easy to find great deals on organic produce but have a way harder time finding great deals on grass-fed/local/organic meat. The other day I cringed as I paid $7 for a pound of grass-fed beef (never again!). So I love having the meat component taken care of, and I can still sniff out my own produce deals.
Does anybody know of a full-diet CSA in the Seattle area? I love this!
Hey Emilie! Try http://www.localharvest.org/ for local CSAs in your area!
I’m curious – since it sounds like you talked to the farm directly – do you get to request specific cuts of meat, or for some to be ground? Is any of it frozen for transport from the Corvallis area? And does anyone know if you can freeze eggs?!?!?! Because that is a crazy amount of eggs. 🙂
The local (Corvallis-area) members will get free-choice (whatever they want!) but remote members are more like preferences. They said that they will offer us a survey which helps them determine the best way to package our box each month. I have never frozen eggs, but I read online that you can! But a dozen a week is just 2 eggs/day, which is what we currently eat. You can contact the farm directly and ask any sort of question about this–they are so helpful…I was bombarding them with questions for weeks. 🙂
Love this, Kari! This is such a wonderful movement from what our society has been. I (heart) Joel Salatin! I am so glad that there is someone (well lots of people now!) that are going back to the roots of where our food should come from and doing it respectively and telling people about it. We have learned from Brian’s grandparents how they used to do things when they first settled… their knowledge is priceless! It is an awesome way of life and I am glad more people are getting on board! There are also wonderful CSA programs in the Silverton area too. Thanks for helping to spread the word:-)
Meliss, you need to share more of all that wisdom with us! Seriously, some gardening and harvesting posts?? 🙂
Also, check out the full diet plan at http://www.cestnaturellefarms.com/ in Oregon City. If you sign up or the full service plan they also deliver directly to your home.
Awesome! Thanks for the link, SP!
So about 5 pounds of meat, a dozen eggs, and a pint of honey per week? For ONE adult? How do they come up with that number?
Assume $4 for a dozen local organic eggs & $8 for a pint of honey (farmer’s market prices), that’s $34/week for meat. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to buy local farm, organic meat at New Seasons or a farmer’s market? Especially because I can’t imagine needing 5 pounds of meat per week.
Is my math off?
Also, where are you getting the pounds per six month figure? I can’t find it on the website.
Hi JW, I got these poundage numbers directly from them. It does seem like way more than one adult would need, hence our decision to just buy one share for our family. IF we only purchased ground beef, it would probably be cheaper just to buy things at New Seasons, but we (my husband especially!) is super stoked to be getting local, organic, grass-fed steaks, pork, and other cuts of meat that we wouldn’t necessarily get. Plus, to us it’s worth a little extra to directly support a local farm. Also, we limit grain/dairy/sugar, so we’re excited to have lots of high-quality meat in various forms. Go with what works for you! Thanks.