Tag Archives: CSA

Meat Prices: The Bill Comes Due

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You’ve likely noticed that food costs continue to rise, including the cost of meat, especially beef. 

It happens that I come from a long line of butchers. My paternal great-great-grandfather arrived in New York along with a huge pile of sons, including my own great-grandfather, and they quickly set up shop on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. It was the family business, and I imagine it had been that way in Podhajce, Poland, for many generations prior. It skipped a generation because my grandfather declined to participate, but only one, because my father, his son, then decided that he wanted to raise steer on a small farm in northwest New Jersey, which is exactly what he did for the next forty-four years.  Continue reading →

All Hail the 2021 Growing Season!

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The first time I joined a community-supported agriculture (CSA) years ago, its kickoff late on a Thursday afternoon sent me racing out of the office at the end of the day. The first week’s bounty included lettuce greens, herbs, onions, kohlrabi, radishes. Adults chatted and children hopped around like bunnies as we waited for the strawberries to arrive. Continue reading →

Real Food and the End of the Pandemic

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For all the years I’ve written this blog I’ve talked a lot about real food, the kind our great-grandparents ate. Food that comes from the ground (or air or water). Unadulterated food, as opposed to “manufactured calories,” or “food-style products.” I’ve heard this idea expressed in different ways, like:
“Eat close to the garden.”
“Eat food that’s been through as few machines as possible.”
“Eat nothing that contains more than four ingredients.”
“Don’t eat anything your great-grandparents wouldn’t have recognized as food.”
“Be wary of foods that never go bad; if the bugs won’t eat it, it’s not food.”

I didn’t actually eat any differently this year, but talking about it on the blog felt like preaching. It’s not that the message was no longer relevant, but that it just didn’t feel nearly as important as usual. The most important message this year was to be kind to yourself, to do whatever it takes to get through the day. The worst part of all was that we didn’t know how long it would going to be that way. But this week I am feeling hopeful. Continue reading →