Community Supported Agriculture Season Kicks off With Two Pick-Up Points

Not heard about the CSAs at these synagogues? Well, the CSA at Shearith Israel in Atlanta is about five years old, and with growth and support for the food movement, founder of the Jewish Food Alliance Naomi Friedman Rabkin has been able to set up a CSA through Temple Sinai in Sandy Springs.

Maybe still not sure what a CSA is? It looks like this to the consumer: It’s a 15 week growing season that begins on May 25. You can buy a split share or full. A full share, which is 7-9 items (1-2 lbs. each), is $390 for a 15 week season. If you choose to split a box with a friend (or they can help pair you with someone to split with) the cost is $202.50 for the 15 week season.

If you are totally new to the CSA programs, here’s the concept, courtesy of the Jewish Food Alliance.

“A CSA offers the opportunity to challenge the common practice of buying food by purchasing and eating food that was grown by a locally based farmer, with minimal packaging, and grown in ways that support the health of the planet. To join a CSA, individuals or families commit in advance to buy (mostly organic) produce from a local farm over a season. The members’ advance payment helps to support the farmer’s season start up costs, which are usually significant. In return, produce is delivered once a week to a central pick-up location, where members rotate as volunteers to set it out for pickup.”

This year’s produce will come from Riverview Farms at the base of the mountains of Northwest Georgia. Not a far distance at all. The fuel prices for shipment are cheaper, and the farmers are nearby.While some people wonder about where their apples or greens come from, others don’t. But in times of steep gas prices that don’t seem to be letting up, many people have noticed the rising prices of groceries – namely fresh produce.

In essence Rabkin said, “The shorter the shelf life and travel time from farm to your table, the more nutritional and taste benefits you and your family will enjoy!”

Healthy food and eating, Jewish values and social justice are the main reasons Rabkin is active setting up CSAs in Atlanta’s Jewish community. She hopes to set up more through other synagogues, but said it was her own yearning for a sense of Jewish belonging that helped her merge her passions into a CSA reality.

“Moving to Atlanta in 2005 after living around the world in much more progressive Jewish communities (Israel, Washington, D.C., California and New York) was challenging in many ways. For the first time I really understood from a very personal place the need to create my own sense of Jewish community and connections,” she said.   “As I was starting my own family, and not finding a sense of Jewish “home” within established Jewish organizations, I began to create and become involved with several micro-communities that have grown and flourished. In 2006, I launched Atlanta’s first Hazon CSA and have led a team of committed volunteers to create a CSA that brings Jews of all ages and backgrounds together to develop community around healthy and sustainable lifestyles. This experience inspired me to connect even more Jews with Atlanta’s local food system and expand our reach through the Jewish Food Alliance (JFA), a coalition of Jewish and secular organizations committed to building awareness, skills, knowledge and community around food. JFA develops community around food, strengthens identity and advances social justice with programs strongly rooted in Jewish thought, values and tradition.  JFA promotes and support organizations in building relationships through community supported agriculture programs (CSAs), incorporate experiential learning through school and community gardens, and integrate Jewish values through curricular integration and large scale community outreach programs.”

To Rabkin, the CSAs are also helping establish a greater sense of Jewish identity in those who participate. To her, food is not only a Jewish issue, but simultaneously an environmental and health issue as well. She said, “…it’s a great way to foster new vision in the Jewish community – a vision that’s Jewishly-rooted, engaged in the world around us, and committed to healthy living in the broadest sense. The questions of kashrut in a traditional sense, but also the complexities of how food is grown, where it comes from, and how it is packaged, amongst other issues.”

This is a program that comes with a bit of built-in support as well. “In addition to gathering to pick up produce at a Jewish venue, there will be opportunities throughout the season to share ideas through a weekly newsletter, Twitter and Facebook, as well as events and programs bringing the community together around cooking and Jewish holidays,” said Rabkin.

In addition to nutritional benefits and community building, the CSA also has a positive effect on the farmers who do all the hard work. While only $15 of the produce fee goes to administrative support for the program, the rest of the money each participant pays goes directly to the farmer.

“Farmers benefit because they are able to market their food early in the year and pre-sell a portion of their produce (which gives them more time to attend to their crops, farmland and families). They also have an opportunity to get to know people who eat the food they grow and get input/feedback from that community,” said Rabkin. “Perhaps most importantly, they receive payment upfront and earlier in the season, which helps the farm’s financial sustainability and cash flow.”   Also she said there’s an excitement of discovering new crops and learning more about what is grown locally, eating seasonally and introducing your family to new foods.  “CSA members are more likely to cook, eat healthfully and get their children to eat more vegetables – so it’s a win-win,” said the busy mother of two.

Also, if there is food left over, the CSAs donate any leftover produce to emergency food providers including Temple Sinai’s Second Helpings.

This piece was orignally published at Atlanta Jewish News http://www.atlantajewishnews.com