CSAs

Today I researched CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).  One of my friends had recently signed up for the first time and was raving about how it was a great alternative to getting fresh veggies if you do not have a green thumb.  That definitely sounded like me as the only thing I've ever successfully grown is tomatoes and green beans.  So, I researched on http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ to figure out if a CSA would be right for me. Living in the Twin Cities I have access to many different CSAs so dug through about twenty websites.  Some were strictly vegetables, some had fruits, some sold meat (grain fed cows, chickens, turkeys, and even lamb) and one had desserts and breads.  The price for a typical share of a CSA was about $40 per week (about $500 total for 12 weeks) and included a grocery bag full of food.  You could also purchase half a share, and those were about $25 per week (about $300 total).  There was a great variety and most were organic farms.  Some even allowed you to work on the farm in exchange for the weeks food.  Although I thought CSAs were a fabulous idea, I decided to pass.  The reason being is that you are not able to pick what you get (there is a huge variety), and although it would be nice to try some new things that we may not know we like, I did not want to waste food if we did not like it.  Instead I think I'm going to try and commit to going to the farmers market at least biweekly in the spring/summer/fall months to buy fruits and vegetables from these same farmers.  If my family continues to expand (we currently are a family of four), I may look at a CSA in the future as there is typically less waste in larger families.

A follow up on my facebook adventures, I've logged in considerably less time as I don't feel pressured to "buy, buy, buy" anymore!  It's quite liberating!  However, every time I've logged in I see some shops posting to my wall.  I had so many that apparently some were hidden from view yesterday...so the temptation continues, but it's less strong than before and I've continued to hide and unlike those that pop up.

Overall, I've found greater freedom just by day two - more time with my family, more time in the Bible, less time on facebook, and more financial freedom as well.  It's a good day!