Whenever I go grocery shopping, if it’s available I buy from local farms. I like supporting them, and it always seems to me to be a little more fresh and clean. The summer is always great because farmer markets are all around–fresh produce. I was talking to my girlfriend Katie recently, and she just started a food cooperative in her little Montana town and it’s had a huge, successful response. A food cooperative is a way for members to create a relationship with a local farm and receive weekly baskets of fresh produce. I recently checked out Local Harvest and found a huge number of farms near me that participate in a food coop program. What I liked was that the season lasted much longer than farmer’s market, you get your bag of food the same day its contents were harvested and the cost is pretty reasonable.
{via Cottage Living}
Katie co-oping, sounds like Montana! I love to visit my parents up there and we stop at the Boseman coop everytime we drive through for a variety of yummy produce. I participate in one here in Reno as well. Love it, they bring me a big box of fresh veggies and some fruits every week from early spring to late fall.
This is a GREAT idea!
I noticed when I worked in Bozman for a week that there were a lot of co-ops there and that was over 5 years ago. Imagine how many more have sprung up. There is a new one that just started up in Pocatello. It’s so much healthier for you and better for the planet. My friend Loren brings me the best apricots from the co-op in Park Slope. Next time I come up to CT I’ll bring some.
-heidi
That sounds awesome! I absolutely LOVE fresh produce…right from the farm.
I love farm fresh foods. It seems like these days a lot of grocery stores foods have growth hormones, and I don’t like that idea. I love to buy eggs and Milk from Costco, they are organic and they don’t use growth hormones.
I like to support local people too if I can — and of course, I love the fresh stuff you can get that way.
You should join one. That sounds like some really fresh produce. I just go to mom’s and clip and pull out what I want from her garden. What a sweet mom we have.
I do a co-op here in Arizona, best thing I ever joined, we always have fresh produce and I get some of the coolest things I wouldn’t normally buy in the stores because they are too expensive. You should seriously join!
I loved the article about this in Cottage Living. You should do it if you can! I’ve already looked into what CSA’s are available in the places we might move to in a few years.
ooh, that’s a cool deal. we’ve been trying to go more organic in our produce. i guess local organic is the next step…
let me know if you find one available in our area. I just got on a 1 to 2 year waiting list!
Darleen, there are a few co-ops throughout Fairfield County. One that we checked out is run by UCONN and has a branch in Bethel.