Program kicks off 2nd semester of healthy food choices

The return of a first-time Arizona State University West campus program offered last semester to the Valley community is once again designed to leave a good taste – and a healthy taste – in its members’ collective mouth.

CSA – Community Supported Agriculture – returns to the University Center Building (UCB) at the West campus, beginning Feb. 16 and running weekly, on Wednesdays, through May 11. The program provides a direct connection between a local farmer, Crooked Sky Farms, and the community, while featuring a variety of fresh, “Certified Naturally Grown” produce.

Last September, the CSA program was introduced by ASU’s New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences in partnership with the West campus Sustainability Team as part of a 2010-2011 academic year focus on food. Included in the focus is a freshman reading project, the ThinK (Thursdays in Kiva) Film and Speaker Series, and the creation of a new and innovative general education curriculum that ties together different disciplines through the subject of food.

“This CSA program is open to all, not only our ASU community of students, faculty and staff, but to the community at large,” says Elizabeth Langland, ASU vice president and dean of New College. “We hope that our campus neighbors will join us in this opportunity to become part of a new movement of sustainable food options.”

Directed by the West campus Sustainability Team, CSA memberships are available for $240 for the spring semester 12-week program. Multi-partner memberships are priced, like individual memberships, at $240 for the semester. Payments are due Feb. 11 and can be split into two payments of $120 each, with the second payment due March 25. Mid-semester pro-rated payments are also available and will be determined at the time of subscription. Payments can be made to Gloria Chavez in UCB 260. Checks should be made payable to Crooked Sky Farms.

Each week, subscribers receive a bundle of eight different seasonally harvested fruits and vegetables that would provide most of the salad and vegetable needs for a couple or small family for one week. As “Certified Naturally Grown,” Crooked Sky Farms produce is free of synthetic chemical insecticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertilizers. Additionally, crop rotations, cover and protective buffer crops, and ecologically sustainable farming practices ensure soil, water and air-quality protections.

“This program provides a direct connection with a local farmer and reinforces the importance and benefits of a fresh, sustainable and healthy lifestyle,” says Langland. “Also, it instills a higher level of consciousness about the food we eat. As a society, we have become disconnected from the source of our foods, and are thus unaware of how it impacts our environment, our economy, our health. The CSA gives us the opportunity to re-establish that connection.”

Crooked Sky Farms in Phoenix is owned by farmer Frank Martin, who got his start farming in his backyard and sold his food at the Prescott (Ariz.) Farmers Market in 2002. Crooked Sky now grows and supplies produce for a number of farmers markets and CSA programs across Arizona.

The CSA program is a part of ASU’s university-wide sustainability vision, and is being offered at the Downtown Phoenix and Tempe campuses in addition to the West campus.

About Campus Sustainability and University Sustainability Practices ASU recognizes that promoting sustainability begins internally with its own business practices, university policy and culture. ASU’s sustainability initiatives, coordinated by the Global Institute of Sustainability, are advanced by the efforts of people and departments from across the university; leading sustainable practices are addressed and implemented in the areas of energy, water, buildings and grounds, carbon neutrality, food services, transportation, waste and recycling, and purchasing and policies.  For more information, visit http://sustainability.asu.edu/campus/.

For additional information on the West campus CSA program, contact Chavez at 602-543-7720 or via email at gloria.chavez@asu.edu.