Eating Local Without a Car

Saturday was the first official "day off" for Libby and I since we arrived in Boston.  We had a mental list of places to go to see on days of like chatting with MIT professors about solar cookers, or hanging out with some witches in Salem, having some tea at the harbor, or maybe just taking more pictures at Walden Pond to send to our English Major/ Nature Writing friends.  That was my list at least.  Instead, Libby and I took some time to try and stock up on some local food for the winter, since we've been challenged to eat only local food until the end of January, and then live off of SNAP benefits for the following six months.

With the end of September approaching and hints of cold winter nights visiting outside our windows, we began to fear the days far ahead in January when we will miss the abundance of local tomatoes, raspberries, blueberries and peaches of the New England fall harvest.  So after several hours of internet research Libby and I made a plan to visit two farms to check out their farm stands and pick-your-own selections to bring back lots of fruit for making jam, canning, and freezing for the winter.  We had it all planned out on when, where, and what trains and buses to take, and prepared to bring bushel upon bushel of second hand tomatoes, blueberries and raspberries back with us.

However, when I double checked the bus schedule I found that the purple line train to the farm in Lincoln, (near Concord) would be closed for construction every Saturday until Nov. 17.  That put a damper on our trip. So as an alternate plan we left at 12:25 for a pick-your-own raspberry farm only 5 miles away which became an hour and a half bus/train/bus ride plus a 20 minute walk.  Then after picking through the organic berries to separate the ones with the invasive Asian fruit fly larvae and those without, we purchased about a quart and a half of good raspberries.  Then after a bee sting and another 30 minute walk back to the road we caught the bus by the grace of God just in time to get us back to the stop for the next farm with 30 minutes to spare and a 25 minute walk, which became a jog because we feared arriving late.  We made it to the second farm to be their last customers for the day, however the prices were so big we only bought several green peppers, an eggplant and some garlic--much less than we had hoped for. 

On the way out Libby and I walked through the closed and locked gate and sat down to eat a bite of lunch at 5:00 pm.  We reflected on the day.  The farm stands at the farm were not any cheaper than the farmer's market as we thought.  In fact they were much more expensive.  Markets would be more accessible in the city as well and have more selection, but still cost slightly more than we would like, but that's because we are paying closer to what it's worth without any government subsidized pricing.  The local food does have value to it being fresher, closer to the farm, and it comes with the face and story of the farmer.  We also realized how important it would be to have a car for this type of thing, but also how much traveling our food has to do to get to us.  Here's a mental activity for you.  Look at the food you had for your last meal and just think how far and how many different places you'd have to go to in order to get all the ingredients for that meal.  Now go gather those ingredients on your own, and take public transit.  That's how complex the system is that we are working with.  If you didn't stop to thank God, or at least the grocery store for getting it to you, then you should.  Hopefully in our work here we can learn more time-efficient ways to get our own food, and better ways of providing this food to those who have even less than we do right now.