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Guest Post by Kari Patterson

The unspoken rule around here is, If you find a deal, you gotta share the love.  Well, I found a deal. At least I think it is, but I’m a crazy locavore who loves supporting local farms and eating organic produce, raw honey, grass-fed beef, and those awesome brown eggs with dark yellow yokes.

The difficult part of that diet is fairly obvious: It’s expensive to eat that way. But since I’m a frugal-fanatic you better believe I was out there like a hound dog sniffin’ out some ways to make this work.

I found one way:  The Full-Diet CSA through Afton Field Farm.

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a partnership between consumers and farmers that gives farmers steady income and provides consumers with a regular source of ultra-fresh food. For more information, check out Emily’s post, The Truth about CSA’s.

Normal CSAs take place during summer months and usually provide produce. But Afton Field Farm’s Full-Diet CSA is a year-round CSA that provides not only fruit and veggies, but also beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, eggs, honey, and eventually produce and dairy products (they are expanding each year).

Advantages:

• Simple. No more shopping, searching for deals, comparing prices. You pick up your month’s worth of meat, eggs, and honey at a Portland-area drop-point of your choice.
• Healthy. We’ll eat better if we have healthy food—and plenty of it—on hand. We’re much more likely to eat healthy meats, veggies, and farm eggs if we know we’re getting more each month.
• Helpful. Afton Field Farm is a pasture-based, multi-generational family farm in Corvallis, Oregon, owned by Tyler & Alicia Jones. Tyler is a protege of Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm in Virginia. They are “committed to raising food in ways that are respectful to the soil, animals, local community and the natural ecosystems we inhabit in an ongoing effort to be reverent participants in the grace that is our land and lives.” I love that CSA dollars go to support honest, local farmers who are helping make a difference in the food industry.
• Flexible.  I like that I’ll still be able to get my favorite produce from other sources. Nothing beats the organic spinach from Costco, Fuji apples from Azure Standard, and old-fashioned oats from Winco. A “full-diet” CSA provides all our meat, egg, and sweetener needs while still providing us the flexibility in our budget to buy other things. I love that you can adjust how much you need based on your family-size and specific needs.

A few thoughts:

We are a family of 4 on a small budget ($275/month) and don’t eat much meat. So for us, we’re simply buying the CSA for One Adult, knowing that it will be enough for all of us. Each family is different, so here are the pound-amounts to help you decide.

For 26 weeks, a Full-Diet CSA for One Adult includes:

• 40 lbs. of beef
• 30 lbs. of pork
• 40 lbs. of chicken
• 27 dozen eggs
• 2 lbs. of lamb
• 26 pints of honey
• 15 lbs. of turkey

This is actually the perfect amount for our family of two adults and two small children. The cost? Just under $200/month. Since all we’ll have to buy is produce, I believe we can still come in at our $275 budget.

If this makes your eyes glaze over and sounds completely overwhelming, skip it. I know it’s not for everyone. But if you’re into the locavore movement and want a way to simplify your shopping, this might be just the option for you.

Please note: This Full-Diet CSA is only available from now until June 1^st. You can find more information here:

• Afton Field Farm

• Full-Diet CSA

• Portland Drop-Points

Leave a comment: What “deals” have you found for locavores? Any great local farms you love supporting? Please share the love and let us know!
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Kari Patterson is pastor’s wifey, preschool mommy, writer, speaker, reader, blogger and frugal living enthusiast. She writes all about the beautiful mess of life over at KariPatterson.com.

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