Yes, I've been away for a while. And I'll be away again. My life is quite crazy with my trying to launch a technology business while still keeping the company that owns my mortgage company afloat.
But I recently received the seasonal invitation to buy a harvest share from my CSA and there were a number of surprises therein that brings me to write another of these little diaries. Details on the flip.
The big surprise was one that should surprise almost anyone who has been to a gas station or a grocery store over the las six months.
Last year, a half share in my CSA's harvest cost $275. That was more than enough food to feed my wife and myself for 6 months. And this year probably longer as we have now bought everything we need to freeze, pickle, and can our harvest for the winter.
But here's the shock: This year a half share in my CSA's harvest costs... drum roll, please... $275.
Not one more cent, sheckel, or drachma this year than last.
But everyone knows that food prices are through the roof! Aren't they?
For those who haven't heard about them before (or read diaries about them by people like OrangeClouds or your present humble diarist), "CSA" stands for Community Supported Agriculture. These are farms that sell harvest shares directly to consumers who usually come out periodically and pick up their share of the harvest directly from the farm. At some CSAs, members do labor, some just pay, some do both. It works out well for the farmer who gets a predictable income and a guaranteed return. It works out for the consumer (usually) who gets superior food at much lower cost. Of course, the consumer takes on the risk for a crop failure. But last year I was barely able to make use of all I got, and it was a drought year here in Minnesota!
My CSA uses hardly any power tools to grow or harvest their food. They use natural fertilizer (compost mostly). They use hand tools to till. They do weed and pest control by hand. It is fairly unbelievable how hard they work. And I have benefited.
Now, unlike many socially conscious eaters, I still remain carnivorous. But last year I started buying 1/4 of beef from an organic, grass-fed cattle ranch. A local one. I paid about $5.50/lb. for my share. That's a lot all at once, but my trusty high efficiency deep freeze has kept me in meaty comestibles all winter. I don't know what my price will be this year, but because he doesn't feed corn, his costs should be approximately the same, and since he is less than 60 miles from me and he is less than 10 miles from the butcher, even the spectacular rise in gas prices should be a minimal effect.
Green, you see, makes green, or rather, saves green.
Now I had planned to pen this diary based just one my personal anecdotal experience, but I just happened to wander over to my friends at another blog, The Oil Drum where I saw a terrific macroeconomic view of what my anecdote represents.
Folks, we approach several moments of decision. This is Kos's political blog. It is (and should) be about electing Democrats. But I have become convinced that peak oil is here. Oil so thoroughly dominates our energy inputs that I greatly fear the consequences, but fear shuts down the mind and the will. We need, dare I say, the audacity of hope. And to me that means we need to start making the small changes ourselves and pushing together for the big changes that we can only accomplish at the social level.
And here's the cool part that should please economists: Doing the right thing when it comes to how to feed yourself can be purely financially selfish!