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Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs about growing a local food system in Oklahoma
Is this system fully developed and in place?
No, this publication and website represent our first efforts. We believe there are a lot of resources out there, and many consumers who are interested in this, but the bringing of these two groups together is still a work in progress and "under construction."
How is buying your food via a local food system different from buying from the agribizness supermarket corporations?
Typically, Oklahoman's go to grocery stores several times a week. Many people do not plan meals more than a few days in advance, and everybody is increasingly hooked on quick fix meals, a/k/a "supermarket fast food." Just dump the bag in boiling water or put the tray in the microwave and voila, instant gratification dinner. Most people have no idea how much food they buy and eat in a year.
Growing a local food system requires some changes in this thoughtless way of thinking and doing food. Putting taste, nutrition, and food safety issues aside for a moment, and concentrating on the basic way a local food system works, the basic difference from the consumer's point of view is that more attention is paid to buying supplies of basic foods which are then processed for future eating or cooked at home for tasty and nutritious meals.
Why do subscription farms and meat producers require a deposit and regular payments?
The sad fact about the American agricultural economy is that banks and government programs which offer production loans to farmers generally fund only conventional agriculture. Working capital for organic growers is thus in short supply. Pigs and chickens don't gain weight by breathing air, they need feed. By putting down a deposit and making payments along the way, the customer helps provide working capital. All deposits and weekly payments, of course, apply towards the final purchase price (with animals), or the total subscription cost (with organic vegetables).
Paying some of the price in advance is also a demonstration of solidarity, which is one of the most important social virtues. It also connects you in a very tangible way with the work of planting, nurturing and harvesting. If you have paid for a share of a vegetable crop, you pay closer attention to the weather. You have a vested interest in good growing weather.
Is there delivery? Are there regional drop-off points, or must we drive directly to the suppliers?
This varies depending on the situation. At farmers markets, the growers bring in their produce. With a "U Pick" farm, people must go there because they will be the ones doing the picking. With subscription farms, sometimes there is delivery, sometimes boxes must be picked up at the farm. Most aspects of local food purchases are negotiable, some are "made up as we go along."
How can we pay--cash, check, credit card?
Most local producers take cash or checks. Credit card payments are not often found outside of stores. In some states, there are programs that enable rural producers to take food stamps and WIC vouchers, but unfortunately Oklahoma is not one of them at this time. This would be a good issue to mention to your state legislators.
Is the food organic? If they say it is, how can we be sure?
The grower will specify how organic or natural his or her cultivation methods are. As to how this can be verified, some farms are certified organic by various government agencies. In the absence of this, we suggest a visit to the farm so consumers can see for themselves what's up.
Can we get information about labor practices of the suppliers?
We encourage people to question farmers about their labor practices. Most of the folks we are dealing with are owner operators, with no employees, just the family.
Are there minimum amounts we must buy, or is any amt ok?
This depends on the type of direct sales that the grower is using. With subscription farms, you buy a share and you get a box of mixed vegetables each week for the season. With U pick, farmers markets, or roadside stands, usually any amount from one apple on up is negotiable.
Are there "pick your own" suppliers on your list?
We presently don't have any pick your own operations, but we hope to find some.
What kinds of food are available? If eggs, are hens fed animal products, or all grain feeds?
This will vary from farm to farm. It's one more reason to know the people you are buying from, and ask lots of questions.
How can I calculate how much food I buy, and what I buy, in a year?
The easiest way is to start saving ALL of your grocery store receipts. At the end of the month, add everything up and make a master grocery purchase list for the month. This will tell you how many pounds of meat, chicken, fish, pork you eat, what quantity of vegetables and fruits you consume, the basic ingredients and extras you buy, and the amount of juice, soda, milk, cheese, beer, wine, etc., that you typically use. Multiply one month's purchases by 12 and that will tell you about how much food you need to buy each year.
OK, now I've made my list for a month, what happens now?
Now you make a plant to satisfy your family's annual needs of say, 365 pounds of beef, 160 pounds of pork, 180 pounds of chicken, 180 dozen eggs, 45 gallons of juice and 700 pounds of vegetables.
Most people are not going to make the jump from eating out of the grocery store to buying most of their food from farmers overnight, but determining how much food you need in a year suggests ways move in that direction. If you need 160 pounds of pork in a year, that is about one pig. 365 pounds of beef is about one whole beef, depending on how big it was to start with.
How much you can buy at once depends on your storage abilities. If you have two chest freezers, you could buy a whole pig and a whole beef all at once. If you don't, either buy a quarter or half beef from a grower who can do this (like Skelton's Natural Beef) or find one or more families to split a beef with you. If you don't have a freezer, think about making that investment.
Plan how you will preserve summer's fresh food for winter eating. If you buy a share of a subscription farm, you will have boxes of food arriving in the summer and fall, but probably not in December. So think about December's meals in July, and do your own home processing. Most people think this is terribly complicated, but it isn't. Two methods, freezing and dehydrating, are as simple as can be. You can make vegetable mixes for dehydrated soup and casserolles. You can do canning. You can make enough spaghetti sauce in one afternoon to provide two pasta meals a week for your family for months. Freeze it in reusable containers. Take one out to thaw, heat, cook some pasta, and in 15 minutes dinner is done. (Call this "fast slow food".)
You don't have to learn how to do everything at once, you can take things one step at a time. Pretty soon a learning curve kicks in and what at first seemed complicated now seems ordinary.
As time passes, you will go to the supermarket less often. This alone will save you money, as every time you go to the grocery store for just one thing, you end up with a dozen.
What is this "eat with the season" stuff?
Salad is for the summer, when fresh green vegetables are abundantly available. Winter is a time for long simmered sauces, and foods preserved from the previous harvest.
We Americans are used to seeing piles of fresh produce in our supermarkets, even when there is snow on the ground outside. We don't think about the hidden costs of such produce, we have a feeling of entitlement that we think trumps all other considerations.
The fact is, fresh summer vegetables sold during the winter outside of the areas they can naturally grow, come to your table with a heavy environmental cost. Huge amounts of fossil fuels are expended in their production, processing, and distribution. The figure typically quoted is 12 calories of fossil fuel to produce one calorie of veggies.
These vegetables are not grown by small farmers. They are often raised by large agribizness corporations, using large quantities of chemicals and pesticides in their cultivation practices. The hand labor is often done by exploited workers, who work long hours for low pay. This is not hyperbole, the average migrant farmworker family household income is less than $8,000.
Whether you like it or not, buying those vegetables means that you are financing that exploitation and your dinner comes to you thanks to the ability of these giant corporations to take advantage of these people by "grinding the face of the poor into the dust."
Some of the winter fresh produce on sale in snowy cities is imported for third world countries. It is grown on land expropriated from small peasant farmers, who have lived in traditional ways on those lands for millenia. Their own governments steal their land, driving them away, sometimes with the use of deadly force, at the best of transnational agribizness corporations like Bird's Eye and Chiquita. Water is diverted from peasant agriculture to grow export crops for North American tables. The fresh green salad that graces your Thanksgiving table may indeed have been stolen from the mouths of hungry children in poor countries.
There are of course exceptions, but what is described here is the rule, not the exception. It pays to ask your grocer about where he's getting their winter produce. And remember, as long as you pay for these tragedies, they will continue.
This is a great website, but I live far away from Oklahoma. How can I do what you are doing in my own area?
When I began compiling these resources, I started by doing web searches. I found several pages that had information about local growers, and then I proceeded to call people on the telephone. Environmental organizations also sometimes maintain lists of local organic growers and producers. If there is a state agency that certifies organic growers, you can contact them for a list. To find meat producers, contact local custom butchers (look for a list of them on the internet, search for something like "Oklahoma custom butchers", filling in the name of your own state.)
Ask many questions and keep good notes
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