New Community Supported Agriculture Coming to Mercer Island

Mercer Islanders seeking to become 'locavores' and eat only food that is produced locally, within 100 miles of where they live, now have a new option to achieve that goal.

Local Choice Food Box is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm that is taking orders for boxes of produce through midnight on June 1.

CSA has been around for around for about 20 years, but has grown in popularity with the "green"  and "sustainability" movements which seek to curb the effects of global warming by having communities support local businesses instead of buying goods that are shipped from other states or overseas, leading to greater use of fuels that leak emissions into the atmosphere.

"It used to be that people would purchase shares of a farmer's crops, and they'd get whatever seasonal food the farmer was growing," said Erik Gibson-Snyder, CEO and Farm Manager for  Local Choice. "The problem was, people would take on the risk of crop failure, too."

Gibson-Snyder noted that his CSA doesn't ask their customers to take on that risk by partnering with a couple of other local farms who can deliver fresh produce when Seattle's growing season is delayed by wet and chilly weather. "If my crops fail, it doesn't help me in my mission to help people eat locally," said Gibson-Snyder. "So we make it easier for consumers by having them visit our website each week so they can see the food that we're growing on our farm and what is growing on our partner farms in Bellingham and Wenachee in Eastern Washington, where their climate is warmer, longer. So they can select items from either place, and they won't have to wait for our tomatoes, for example, which won't be ready until August because it's been a cold spring."

Why did the three-year-old company choose Mercer Island as their newest location? "Our end goal is to reach as many people as possible and get them to eat locally so we'll all impact the environment in a positive way," said Gibson-Snyder. "Since we're trying to cover as much of this area as possible, it was a natural step to come to Mercer Island. We also respond when people come to us and say they want us in their community."

Over 60 percent of Local Choice customers are corporations, such as Boeing, Google, Expedia and the Woodland Park Zoo who have employees sign up to have their produce delivered to their workplace each week. "A lot of people want to skip that trip to the grocery store at night and take home a box of produce from work," said Gibson-Snyder.

Local Choice Food Box has a variety of sizes of boxes to choose from, starting at $144 for 18 weeks of fresh flowers, and going to a large produce box with 16 items for $864 per season. There are weekly payment plans and discounts for hosting box pick up at your home. Current Mercer Island delivery locations are:
6905 SE 34th St
7785 Westwood Lane
8871 SE 72nd Pl
Two of the three locations will be weekday drop offs and one will be a weekend drop site. For more information, or to sign up for a season of local produce, visit Local Choice Foodbox's website, at http://www.growingwashington.org/foodbox/index.phpIsland.

Please note that though registration ends at midnight on Wednesday, June 1, there will be a waiting list. "If people sign up later, we'll try to work them in," said Gibson-Snyder. "It's always nice to have more people from the community wanting to eat loccally and spread the idea (of sustainability)."