Green Food (Literally and Figuratively)

There are few places in the U.S. where as many things are imported as in Hawaii. We get nearly everything we have from the mainland and that means nearly everything gets in a boat or a plane and travels the 2400+ miles from the mainland states (western coastal states, mind you) to get to our supermarkets, big box stores or gas stations. Thus, our carbon footprint is astronomical. As gas continues to go up, so do the prices for nearly everything else. Don't get me wrong, I know it's happening everywhere else too...it's just that we're already paying $6.99 for our eggs and $6.49 for our half-gallons of milk and living off the same salaries we would have if we lived anywhere else, so we're feeling the pinch. I'm not complaining (anymore) and I've come to terms with how much things cost here, but if you think of the miles our food is traveling and the amount of gas, pollution and carbon we're wracking up, as people who care about the environment, we've got our work cut out for us.

Hawaii is a relatively small chain of islands - so small, in fact, that it cannot support a commercial industry for things like chicken (neither organic nor conventional). While we do have "Island Fresh" eggs that are locally produced and commercially distributed, there isn't enough land to support enough chickens to make enough money for a farmer to survive on selling poultry alone. That said, we're lucky that we live on Oahu and actually have a grass-fed beef company here, the North Shore Cattle Company, as well as many other local food suppliers for things like pig (nobody calls it pork here, and nearly 85% of it is still imported), tofu, tropical fruits, many international and ethnic foods (Thai watermelon, Okinawan sweet potatoes and saimin noodles to name a few), and there are even specialty items like figs (yay! picking up my first basket this weekend!), flavored salt and ginger syrup.

Worse than the food supply (maybe), very few things can be recycled most of the year. We can only recycle white and colored paper (no glossies, including magazines), newspaper, aluminum cans, glass bottles and corrogated cardboard. Only #1 and #2 plastics can be recycled, which cuts out just about everything from yogurt containers to most of the packaging materials that food comes in here. This was a big change from Eugene where nearly everything was recycled - and we composted (which we're not sure how to do here yet because of the massive cockroach problem, but we're working on figuring that out) - leaving us with only 1 bag of trash between 3 people, every 2 weeks. Amazing, really.

LB and I now generate nearly 3 - 4 bags of garbage per week, while recycling as much as possible. It actually hurts to throw away so many things, and I hope we never become immune to that. That said, the communities are trying to bring in curbside recycling this Fall and it will be great to see if it will be possible to add a bit more to the recyclable list. Unfortunately, no matter what gets recycled, most of it has to make the trek back to the mainland to be recycled there. Again, upping the stakes and leaving me wondering how much good it does in the long run. Well, we try.

To do our part to support the local economy and reduce our carbon footprint, we've been buying as much local food as possible, including shopping primarily at the various farmer's markets, picking out "Island Fresh" logos from the supermarkets (and Costco!) and joining the one and only Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group here on Oahu. The CSA is called "Just Add Water" and it's run by Kimberly Clark, who has been running it for nearly 15 years. Better still, it's organic, which is a huge bonus here. We pay $25 a week for the mid-sized box, which is just about right for two as long as you like to cook and cook mostly vegetarian.

Everything we get from Kimberly is beautiful, healthy and crisp - so long as I can get over to the pick up site before 5 pm to pick it up (it gets delivered at 2 in Kaneohe, which makes it rough if you've got a 9-5 job). Trust me, that's a huge bonus as much of the supermarket produce is extremely sad-looking and limp. And you can't beat the price around here, as we would be paying at least twice that for the amount of organic produce we're getting. So, just what do we get? The picture below shows the standard fare, and by that, I mean standard. We get essentially the same produce every single week, and we have now been members for almost 3 months. But that's okay with me - I love everything we get and it forces me to get creative. LB, on the other hand is not such a big fan of cooking greens and we get a big (at least 2 meals worth, cooked down) bag of chard, kale and collards every week. I'm determined to show him the light with greens and have found a few recipes that he'll eat, but I'll write more about that later ;)

While the beautiful nasturtiums are gone now (maybe they were only in our welcome box!), we always get: a head of romaine lettuce, a bag of mixed greens (which includes some great herbs like dill and some very interesting leaves I have yet to identify that smell like basil but don't look or taste like it), apple-bananas (we now have a full-on love affair with apple-bananas), a BIG bag of cooking greens (mixed chard, kale and collard greens), sunflower sprouts, daikon sprouts, sweet basil, and one or two beautifully buttery avocados. Then, we get one or two of the following, depending on the week: a small bag of green beans, cabbage (napa or purple), a lemon or lime or meyer lemon, a papaya, or a small eggplant. Most of it is green, so I supplement colored fruits and veggies from the farmer's market to make sure we're getting all the vitamins we need (eat the rainbow, right?).

The only downfall is that everything comes in a plastic bag, so I re-use them for anything I have that doesn't come in one and so far, I haven't felt the need to ask her to not put things in them (though I have debated it). Curiously, nearly everything at the farmer's market comes in bags too, prepackaged into 2 or 3 pieces and sold by the bag for a set price. It doesn't make for the prettiest pictures, which is one reason why I haven't taken any there. I guess maybe it's easier than weighing it at the market? Some things come on styrofoam platters and wrapped in plastic. I try and stay away from those. It's the same way at the supermarkets too. Why? I have no idea. We are an island after all, you'd think they'd want less trash accumulating around here - although much of it gets shipped to the mainland too. The same goes for the "plate lunch" - a Hawaiian institution consisting of one meat item, 2 scoops of white rice and a big scoop of very mayonnaise-laden macaroni salad - which for whatever reason has gone from paper plates to styrofoam boxes, regardless of whether you're eating in or eating out.

Overall, I'm a very happy CSA member and am thrilled to support Kimberly and all she's doing. I tell everyone I meet about it (which isn't too many people yet, but hopefully that will change soon!), and I've already gotten her two new members - yay! If you're living on Oahu and haven't checked her out, please do! Not only are you supporting our island economy, but helping her out financially as an individual and as an organic farmer too, something that is difficult in its own right.

And if you are here, or if you're visiting, here's a tip: these don't come in the CSA box, but she sometimes swaps with friends on other islands that have organic farms, and her Raposa mangoes are to die for. They're the best-tasting mangoes we've found here, and you can get them at her booth at either the KCC Farmer's Market or the Thursday night Kailua Farmer's Market. Just look for the organic produce vendors (there are only 3 at the KCC Market and she's the only one at the Thursday market, though one of the other vendors occasionally has organic produce). I wish I could send them to all of my friends and family, but then that wouldn't be reducing the food footprint would it...and that also means that there is more for me!

Resources:
Kimberly Clark
Just Add Water (CSA)
http://www.just-add-water.biz/index.html

Oahu Farmer's Market Information