Benefits
Not sure if Community Supported Agriculture is for you?

CSA is about more than the food. Even though the food you get from local farmers is fresher, better tasting, more nutritious and better for the environment than that which you find in a grocery store, there are many other benefits to participating in a CSA.

The Local Environment
The Local Choice Food Box connects people who live in Seattle with an environmentally and socially responsible means for obtaining their food.

Local farmers are paid a living wage to produce food in a manner that protects the land and waterways in our community. When you purchase food from a local grower, you not only greatly reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses produced via transportation of food to your table (Did you know the average meal travels 1200-1500 miles to reach your belly?), but you protect the remaining open space surrounding Seattle from development.

The South 47, as well as our Alm Hill Gardens site, are both certified Salmon Safe. And because we farm utilizing sustainable practices including growing food organically, using cover crops to enhance the health of the soil and prevent runoff, and utilizing only natural fertilizers, the land we farm continues to provide healthy habitat for wildlife. Deer, coyotes, eagles, herons, and Canadian geese all frequent the site despite the fact that we are sitting between Woodinville and Redmond.

The Local Choice Food Box provides your family with local, organically grown food. Local food is better for the environment because it significantly reduces the amounts of fuel used and greenhouse gases produced in its trip from farm to table. Think of the difference buying strawberries from Woodinville versus strawberries from California or even Central America makes in the health of our environment.

Buying fresh, local food also dramatically reduces solid wastes in the form of packaging for processed food or even shipped fresh foods. Our CSA members return their cardboard boxes each week to the pick-up sites. Growing Washington re-uses and recycles these boxes allowing our members to feel great about their overall reduction in consumption of cardboard packaging and grocery bags.

Your Health
Local food is healthier for your family, too. Freshly harvested food that has not been stored has been shown to contain significantly higher levels of vitamins, minerals and natural sugars making local food better tasting and better for your body. Members also find they eat healthier when they are participating in a CSA. There are always fresh, healthy, natural foods on hand for both meals and snacks, so you are less tempted to pick up processed foods at the grocery store. Because our food is grown with natural fertilizers and our foods contain no chemicals such as pesticides, they are better for you and the people you love.

Community
Local Choice Food Box member also have the opportunity to get connected to a local farm. Our farm is really your farm. You are welcome to come and walk around whenever you like. Bring the kids out to see the chickens and goats, pick them a sugar snap pea. Or come for a quiet walk yourself.

We also love to have volunteers come out to help with the work that goes into producing your food. Spend an hour or spend a day. We are even planning a couple of work days for our members to meet each other, meet the folks that are growing their food and get a piece of the enjoyment that is farming.

Give the Local Choice Food Box a try. There is so much to gain--your choice of fresh, local, organically grown food; increased nutrition from a healthier diet; a role in actively protecting the environment from development, waste production and greenhouse gas emissions and the preservation of open space. Is there any one thing you can think of that can do more for you, your family and your community?

Click here for information about how to Sign Up!