Chances are you've heard of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) before. In case you haven't, it is where you buy "shares" in a farm in return for a getting a portion of what that farm grows. Sometimes this is all done upfront, which gets money to farmers when they need it most -- before the growing season starts. Sometimes it is done on a weekly or monthly basis. Sometimes you go to the farm to pick your share up, and sometimes it is delivered to your door. There are many versions of this model, but what they all have in common is that they give farmers some reasonable idea of how much of their crop they will be able to sell, and let customers know they will be getting local, fresh produce all year round (or at least for as long as they bought shares for).Sounds pretty awesome right? Well it is (I personally get a CSA from Planet Organics every week) but there is a new version making headway in the SF Area which really piqued my interest. Let me introduce the CSF, or Community Supported Foraging.
Basically, Community Supported Foraging combines the principles of a CSA with the reality of urban foraging. So instead of getting organic corn and fresh pink lady apples in your basket, you may find your box filled with mushrooms collected in a local forest along with some nettles or sea beans. When it comes to fruit, the foraging takes place in local backyards whose owners have agreed to let the foragers in to pick their crop in return for getting to keep a portion of it. This portion then gets passed along to everyone who bought into the CSF. It doesn't get more local than that.
And no, foraging is not the same thing as freeganism.
Image provided by ScottDMoose
