Environmental Champions Growing in Our Backyard

After listening to politicians and want-to-be politicians toot their own horns about how they are Redondo Beach environmental champions, I went out into the field to track down the truth. It wasn't hard to find.

All I had to do was drive to Neighborhood Grinds on Artesia Boulevard on Thursday afternoon.

I went there to check out the real "green" in the form of locally grown organic produce from Tanaka Farms in Irvine and to find out what boxes of fruits and vegetables were doing inside a hip coffeehouse in North Redondo.

I was following a lead I got from Grace Peng, who runs the Tanaka Farms-- Madison PTA CSA program. It was Peng who tipped me off to this community treasure that has been helping to cut global warming since 2009 while also making Redondo Beach elementary school students and their families healthier and wiser.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it's a concept that has been growing in the U.S. for more than 20 years. Here's how it works: A group of people in the community agree to "subscribe" to a weekly box of produce and fruits from a local farm. The local farmer receives a steady and consistent community customer base he or she can count on and spends less time having to market and sell, and more time growing.

The community subscribers eat exceptionally fresh just-picked fruits and vegetables at their maximum flavor and vitamin benefits. They also become exposed to new foods and new ways of preparing them, with the farmer and other subscribers sharing recipes and cooking tips. But it goes much deeper than that. 

Subscribers are encouraged to develop a relationship with the farmer and learn how food is grown. Visiting the farm, getting to know the farmers and actually seeing the food you eat growing in the ground is a big part of the experience.

One result is that kids develop an allegiance to "their" farm--and become more willing to try fruits and veggies. Imagine that. 

And in the case of the Tanaka Farms Community Supported Agriculture program, the schools that participate, Madison Elementary and Lincoln Elementary, get supported too with $5 of every $30 box price going back to the school's PTA. I just can't think of a better relationship for all involved.  As much as I love and use our local Farmers Market, this mutually supportive relationship between the farm and elementary schools is just about perfect in every way.

A small box costs $20 a week (with $2 going back to the school's PTA) and the large box is $30. Subscribers never know ahead of time what's coming in the box, but the season gives you a pretty good idea of what fruits and vegetables will be inside.

All the produce is grown using organic methods at Tanaka and other farms in the area. To be precise, the food is not actually "certified" organic because like many small farms, Tanaka doesn't go through the expensive certification process, but I don't think you'll quibble with the organic methods it uses.

If you're wondering how eating locally grown food is connected with reducing global warming, it's because of all the needless fossil fuel burning that's done when food is transported over long distances. That pollution is eliminated when you buy local. As we've learned from Rich Pirog of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the average fresh food item on our dinner table travels 1,500 miles to get there, a ridiculous distance to go for those of us living here in Southern California.

And if you've tasted the tomatoes and other fruit and produce that travels that far to get to us, you know that they taste like they've been on a long, cross-country road trip and lost most of their flavor along the way.

You don't have to be a member of Madison's or Lincoln's PTA or even have a kid in those schools to participate in this great program. For more information or to involve your school, check the Tanaka Farm CSA blog.

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