At work my girls and I are notorious for talking about food. Talking about, sharing celebrating and eating food is our lunch time treasure. One of them once told me that I would have an organic baby– I taunt and flaunt the importance of eating organic all the time. And yes, if and when I do have a child they will definitely be given organic foods. But it’s not just because organic is good for their health. Its imperative for their future.
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Not just their future, for the future of all of our species on this earth, of course. If I had a baby I would want my child to know that we reap what we sow. When we treat our motherland with love and care and pesticide free farming practices she gives us many incredible years of ever richer and healthier soils. Better air for us to breathe. Lush beautiful water for us to drink. When we treat her with pesticide and toxic laden farming practices she inevitably dies and her soils become toxic. The run off from the water used to farm pesticides runs into main water ways and damages our precious marine life, too. All of the little fish, animals, plants and the like that my child would learn about in school will always be at jeopardy when the types of ruthless farming practices we have now continue with all their might.
Organic is almost always tooted as something that you can buy that goes directly towards your health. It comes in the form of food that you ingest or a cream that you spread on your skin. But organic is so much more then just the item that you purchase. It is showing an investment in more sustainable farming practices, it protects workers from harmful pesticides, it helps to keep our air and water ways clean. Not just for us as individuals, but for everyone.
So for my future children and all future children of this world, I would like to make an investment for all of us. Something that supports local small scale farmers while emitting less toxicity into our earth. And one thing I know for sure that I do every single day is eat food. So with my hard earned dollars I have an opportunity to buy good food that is good for me and the future of this world. Hence why I joined a CSA: Community Shared Agriculture.
CSA’s are small business that operate around major urban areas to link local and global organic farmers to city dwellers. They gather produce from all of their farming partners to provide customers with food boxes either delivered to a community hub or direct to your door! These exist throughout the United States and Canada. I am super happy to report that almost every major city in Southern Ontario has them. Toronto, even, has many! By contributing to their system you are directly supporting local organic farmers (and international farmers) who work hard to change a very demanding food system. Their produce is lovely and some even offer local meats, eggs and baked goods to add to your order.
I personally have an account with Mama Earth Organics here in Toronto and I don’t have enough good things to say about them! They deliver a box of fresh, non GMO organic fruits and veggies to my door every week. When I want to skip a week, I just go to my account and cancel the order at least 24 hours prior to delivery. The staff are super friendly and accommodating. I have the option of choosing what fruits and veggies I like and never sending fruits and veggies I don’t like into my share at no cost. What I usually get is a variety of produce switches from week to week depending on availability. I buy whatever I still need at my local farmers market or grocery store. And if some of my produce goes bad before I eat it, I don’t mind, because I know that it was made with love the same way that it will biodegrade into the earth and produce amazing soil.
But really, buying organic is so much more than just choosing not to place pesticides into our mouths and onto our skin. It’s investing into the health of our only home.
Stay Present,
xo Sara Lou
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