Community Support Agriculture (CSA) Programs in San Francisco

Living in San Francisco is hard on the pocketbook and hard on the environment. But you shouldn't have to give up wanting to be environmentally friendly just because you live in a big city. In fact, San Francisco has a lot of resources that you can take advantage of which will allow you to stay green!

1) Sign up for a CSA Program (Community Supported Agriculture)

Community Support Agriculture links local farms straight to you, the consumer. There are no in-betweens, no "Safeway", no industrial tomatoes. Signing up for a CSA is a fantastic way of getting incredibly fresh, healthy, local, green and usually organic produce delivered straight to your doorstep. CSA's offer a variety of programs, including home delivery and office delivery. You can select your service (mixed, mostly fruit, mostly vegetables, snack packs, etc.) and delivery frequency (every week, every other week, every month, etc.). They are extremely flexible and you will be exposed to different varieties of fruits and vegetables that you may not buy at the grocery store. I recently discovered a love for rainbow chard- a dark green, leafy vegetable packed full of vitamins and fiber! Most CSAs will allow you to "exclude" certain items from your delivery- I chose beets, radishes, and fennel!

CSAs are perfect for city dwellers from San Francisco to New York who are tired of purchasing old-looking vegetables and highly pesticide-ridden fruits covered in wax at the corner grocery store, or "liquor store". Forget about surviving off of over-large bananas and mushy apples throughout the winter-your CSA will deliver amazing fruits like pears, tangerines, apple-pears, grapefruit, persimmons, pomegranates, etc. CSAs are wonderful for those of you trying to support green living, or sustainable agriculture, in your local communities.

Here are a few CSAs that run in the San Francisco Bay Area:

Farm Fresh to You: http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/index.php

This is the CSA that I use, and I love it. The farm is located in Capay Valley, 90 miles from San Francisco. I get one box delivered to my doorstep every other week, which is perfect! The food is so fresh and unadulterated. Deliveries can be suspended easily if you go on a trip or just don't feel like cooking. This seems to be the most flexible CSA I have found in my research.

Terra Firma Farms: http://www.terrafirmafarm.com/

Located in Putah Creek, at the edge of the Sacramento Valley, around 100 miles from San Francisco. Terra Firma offers organic and green produce at a great cost. You can sign up monthly, quarterly, or yearly to get a small, medium, or large box. Then your food box will be delivered weekly, with a range of great vegetables and fruits. You choose a location nearby to your house and you can pick up the box there-locations are all around the city in very convenient locations.

Eatwell Farm: http://www.eatwell.com/community/index.html

Eatwell is an organic farm in Sacramento Valley, around 100 miles from San Francisco. I recommend signing up for the 4-week trial for $108-deliveries can be weekly or every other week, depending on your preference. Deliveries work similarly to Terra Firma-you will choose a convenient location and pick your box up at that location on a certain day of the week.

2) Start up a Vermicomposting Bin, or Worm Bin

Vermicomposting is a great way of promoting a green lifestyle- instead of throwing your food scraps down the garbage disposal or in the trashcan, you can assist them in being transformed to rich compost which can be added to plants as fertilizer. This amazing cycle of life keeps landfills from filling up, keeps methane gas from being released from rotting food, and keeps you feeling great about your relationship with the environment. You will see that green living, even in the San Francisco or others cities, is not difficult!

Worm bins are really easy to setup and maintain, once you've put the initial work into it. Counties across California over subsidized worm bins that you can easily set up on apartment deck or fire escape, as I have done. Or you can buy a small worm bin to store under the sink in your kitchen or in the closet. Properly run worm bins will NOT smell badly! See my other article on everything you will need to know when setting up, operating, and harvesting a worm bin.

3) Container-ize your lifestyle!

Tupperware is essential for city dwellers who want to live a green, environmentally-friendly lifestyle. At the Container Store, or similar stores, you can buy Tupperware to store your leftovers in, bring your lunch to work, or carry stacks around. Forget using Styrofoam (which has been banned in SF). Forget carrying your snacks to work in plastic baggies and throwing them away afterward. You can buy snack-sized containers which pack away very easily. While you're at it, buy a nice reusable water bottle to store your water in (no more expensive and disposable plastic water bottles!) and reusable lunch bag (forget those wasteful brown paper bags!). Get a nice cloth bag for grocery shopping and forget plastic grocery bags! Think Green!

4) Take advantage of Farmers Markets

The number and popularity of farmers markets has grown exponentially in the past few years. Every day of the week you could feasibly attend a farmers market in San Francisco-and many cities of the US! Buying food at farmers markets is a great way of supporting local farms and getting local produce. "Local" at Farmers Markets usually means "grown within 500 miles"-which is not quite as local as we might like, we are at least guaranteed that our food is not being grown in Chile and shipped across countries to us.

To find a farmers market close in your city, see the link below. Supporting green living, you will see, is easy and fun. Farmers markets are a great way to spend Saturday or Sunday mornings.

5) Don't dry clean, WET CLEAN!

"Wet cleaning" is the new green, environmentally friendly alternative to dry cleaning. 85% of dry cleaners use PERC, or perchloroethylene, which has been criticized as causing spontaneous abortions, menstrual problems, dizziness, unconsciousness, and sometimes death in those who come into close contact with it. It is also is a huge soil contaminate which requires cleanup similar to that of oil spills. In a nut shell, dry cleaners that utilize PERC are NOT dry cleaners we want to support, when given the option. Luckily, a few cleaners that use "wet cleaning", a safe and very green way of cleaning garments, are cropping up in San Francisco. While you may end up paying more, consumers need to support wet cleaning cleaners to encourage more to discontinue the use of PERC.

Here are a few wet "green" cleaners in San Francisco:

The Wash Quarters- 985 Valencia Street, San Francisco. (415) 826-7634

California Oak Cleaner- 4723 Geary Blvd, San Francisco. (415) 386-6766

SF Green Clean- 2525 Jones St, San Francisco. (415) 567-2100

Pacific Heights Cleaners- 2437 Fillmore St, San Francisco. (415) 567-5999