Organic food on my doorstep!

Left on my doorstep

Just about every day, as part of my job at Homemakers magazine, I’m researching information about health and nutrition. While there may be some grey area in the healthfulness of coffee or the most effective way to meet our calcium requirements, one thing’s for sure: eating a variety of fruits and vegetables as a significant part of our diet is key to being healthy.

With that in mind, I recently subscribed to an organic food delivery service. I received my first box yesterday evening, and I was thrilled to peel back the lid and see the lush organic pears, parsley, mushrooms, Boston lettuce, grapefruit several other foods inside. Here’s a picture of what it included. The is the “basic box” from Front Door Organics; it costs $35, and I can decide if I want it delivered weekly or every two weeks. Knowing that I’ll be unable to resist the temptations of farmers’ markets this summer, I think I’ll upgrade to their custom box, at $40, and have it delivered every two weeks. That way I can get more of my favourite things and steer clear of the stuff I’ll get at the market (I’m thinking of super-ripe raspberries. Can’t wait!).

Front Door Organics is about organic food first, but they do promise to offer local food whenever it’s available, and a note in my box showed which foods are from Ontario (the mushrooms, the radishes, the potatoes and the Boston lettuce). They can also add other grocery items to the box if I add them to my order, such as coffee, milk and eggs, perfect for those really busy times (or when I’m home with a cold). The note also included some of the company’s principles, notably that they will not purchase food that’s delivered by air travel. Air travel “…accounts for 4-9% of the total climate change impact of human activity.” As I’ve realized recently, it’s all about the greenhouse gasses.

Do you have trouble finding organic food in your area? Is it important to you to eat organic? Do you consider what you grow at home to be organic?