excellent ways to benefit our health, environment and local economies. But there can be downsides. For example, a co-op can take years to form and is typically volunteer run, which involves a significant learning curve; it also often requires members to put up several hundred dollars long before the doors open. Belonging to a CSA includes collective risk, so if it’s a bad crop year, member shares are affected. At a farm- ers’ market, occasionally a vendor will pass off conventional produce shipped in from afar as local or organic. As someone who buys eggs from a farmers’ market, grass-fed meat from a local farm, dry goods from a co-op, nuts from a natural food buying club, and has a garden that dwarfs her own house, Barnett puts it this way: Ask questions first. Then make a plan. “Everyone is going to concoct their own way of meeting their needs by balancing their relationships with local people and their beliefs about organic,” she says. “It is very complex. But at least people are talking about it.”


Connect with the writer at LisaMarshall 08@gmail.com.


Key Food Websites


eatLocalchallenge.com encourag- es us to eat what is produced within 100 to 250 miles from home.


foodcoopinitiative.coop helps communities start their own non- profit co-op.


Localharvest.org connects con- sumers to CSAs, co-ops and farm- ers’ markets in their area.


ota.com offers info about what organic is and is not.


truefoodnow.org operates a grassroots action network by The Center for Food Safety.


urbanfarm.org gives advice on how to start an urban farm.


natural awakenings March 2011 17


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