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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Seasonal?
Seasonal refers to what the land produces at any given time of year according to the local environment and the availability of water, sunshine, and soil nutrients. Typically, the farm season begins with asparagus and ends with pumpkins. Each vegetable or fruit is produced in profusions but for a relatively short period of time. Eating seasonally entails eating what is available when it is available locally, and canning or freezing what we can't eat fresh for the upcoming winter months.What is local?
The locavore movement promotes eating only foods grown or harvested within a 100 mile radius. It is based on the belief that the choices we make about what foods we eat have importance in the spheres of politics, the environment, the economy, and health. Grocery store food travels an average of 1,500 miles before we get it. Not only is the long-distance journey costly, but food that travels and sits, is distributed and sits in a store, loses a great deal of its freshness, nutritional value, and (importantly!) taste. Eating local foods benefits your local economy, is more nutritious and better tasting, helps protect genetic diversity, preserves open space, and maintains a clean environment.What is sustainable?
Sustainable agriculture is a method of farming that produces food indefinitely and without damaging the ecosystem of the land. Two important pieces to sustainability are the physical aspect (soil and productivity) and the socio-economic (farm income and labor). Sustainability also has to do with environmental stewardship, the profitability of small farms, and farming communities.What is a foodshed?
Similar in concept to a watershed, a foodshed is a region of land, people, and businesses that provides a local community with food.What is organic?
At its most basic, "organic" means food grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Organic meat, eggs, and dairy products are not treated with antiobiotics or growth hormones.How do I know if something is organic?
USDA offers three categories: 100% organic; Organic (made with at least 95% organic ingredients); and "Made with Organic Ingredients" (made with a minimum of 70% organic ingredients with restrictions on the remaining 30%). Only some of Fresh & Wylds farms have Organic certification, but all of the farms use organic growing standards and practice sustainability.Why is organic more expensive?
It isn't always: coffee, cereal, bread and even hamburger are often competitive. And as the demand for organic grows, prices will come down. But sometimes organic food is more expensive. Here's why: (1) organic farmers don't receive the federal subsidies that conventional farmers do; (2) organic farming is more labor intensive; for example, if you don't use pesticides to kill bugs you have to either pick them off by hand or plant enough produce for the bugs as well as your customers; (3) organic farms tend to be small and diverse, which is good for the soil and the earth, but doesn't allow for the economy of scale that monoculture farms achieve.What is "Organic but not certified"?
Many farmers have chosen not to become certified because of cost or disagreement with new less-strict allowances in certification. There is no guarantee that an uncertified farmer is using methods defined by the National Organic Program, but it's always wise to know your farmer anyway (or your farmer's broker): ask why a farmer has chosen not to be certified.Supporting Agriculture in Developing Countries
Transporting food from other countries does not benefit poor farmers in developing countries. Rather, what they grow is often dictated by large U.S. agribusinesses and in some cases, land that used to grow enough food for a family now provides a single crop (for example sugar cane)that cannot sustain the same family in money or food. To learn more, visit:What is "Transitional Organic"?
To be certified organic, farmers must employ organic production methods for three years. ÒTransitionalÓ means that the farm is in this transition period, moving toward organic certification.What is conventional (or commercial) farming?
Organic farming was "conventional" until the advent of chemical fertilizers to increase crop yields, chemical pesticides to protect crops, and antibiotics and hormones to increase the productive efficiency of livestock. Today, conventional agriculture in the U.S. uses over 800 million pounds of pesticides a year and globally over 160 million tons of conventional fertilizer each year. Another aspect of modern conventional farming is mono-cropping: large farms devoted to a single or just a few cash crops, which are grown season after season requiring the use of soil stimulants to boost production. Even chemical fertilizers, however, cannot restore the soil after several years of mono-growing. Organic farms rotate crops and use compost to keep the soil healthy.What is free range?
Free range indicates that animals are permitted to roam freely rather than being caged or contained. Ideally, free range animals live naturally, using their instinctual behaviors whether or not they are eventually killed for meat. An example of a symbiotic advantage of free-range animals on a farm is the insect control provided by free range chickens. Because there are few regulations imposed on what can be called free range, the term may not insure that animals are raised humanely. It's best to know your farmer.What is grass fed and grass finished beef?
Cattle naturally eat grass, not corn. Most cattle in this country are grass pastured for awhile, but are "finished" on feed lots where they are force fed corn or grain. If you've ever driven on back roads through Kansas, you'll have seen the bleak, grassless feedlots where cows are fattened before being slaughtered. In addition to being an inhumane way to end the life of an animal we've come to depend upon, the meat itself is inferior. Grass fed-and-finished beef is lower in fat, higher in CLA (a fatty acid that may reduce the risk of cancer), and high in Omega 3's (essential for human growth and development).What is fair trade?
If we only ate locally, we wouldn't have to worry about Fair Trade. But we wouldn"t be drinking coffee or eating chocolate either. If you do imbibe, the Fair Trade label ensures that the farmers who grow your beans are getting a fair shake. Importers of Fair Trade coffee and chocolates (and a host of other foreign-made items) agree to pay a fair price for the goods (a price that covers sustainable production and quality of life for the producer). Producers agree to form democratically controlled cooperatives.What is shade grown coffee?
Traditionally, all coffee was shade grown under canopies of nitrogen fixing shade trees that provided habitats for migratory birds. In 1972, new coffee hybrids were developed to increase productionÑbeans were smaller, easier to harvest, and tolerant of direct sunshine. The result was land stripped of trees (60% of the 6 million acres of coffee lands have been stripped of shade trees). "Sun" coffee is dependent on high doses of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The same problems that plague mono-culture farms have followed the hybridized coffee beans: soil erosion, water runoff, soil depletion, and a decline (20%) in migratory bird populations due to habitat loss. Buying shade-grown coffee supports those small farmers who still grow by traditional methods.What's a CSA?
SA stands for "Community Supported Agriculture." CSA is a grass-roots revolution! After WWII, farmers were told by the Department of Agriculture to "get big or get out." The result was huge mono-crop farms (that degrade the soil and water) and the attendant use of chemicals to produce tasteless food that travels long distances across the country (and around the globe). Organic farms are mostly small and cleave to more traditional methods of farming that provide a diversity of products, stewardship of soil and water and air, and high-quality, good tasting and nutritious food. Unfortunately, the food industry supports commercial farming, not organic. CSA is turning the tables. CSA supports small farmers who don't receive government subsidies or have contracts with huge food companies. CSA's are partnerships between consumers and farmers. Most CSA's work on the model of financiersÑcustomers pay "seed money" up front for a share of what the farm produces. They also share the risks, eating what the farmers grow and accepting the vagaries of weather and insects and other unknowns. Fresh & Wyld acts as a sort of CSA-broker, bringing cash to the farmers by providing a market for their produce and collecting the "seed money" from clients to whom we deliver.What is a Farmer's Market?
A Farmer's Market is a regular and recurring public market at which farmers (and often other vendors) sell farm products directly to consumers. A Farm Stand is run by a single farmer usually on the farm and usually selling only that farm's products.Why buy from Fresh & Wyld instead of from farmers at a Farmer's Market?
Given that you all are committed to supporting local farmers, eating seasonal, organic, sustainably grown food, you could also drive to a local farmers' market and get these products there. So why buy from Fresh & Wyld?If we go back to our core values - our belief that food should be local, seasonal, and sustainably grown - we come out equal on the first two: you'll only find local and seasonal products at any Farmers' Market worthy of its name. But in the arena of sustainability, Fresh & Wyld is a competitor. The farmers that Fresh & Wyld supports are small farms, most of which can't afford to be a presence at Farmers' Markets (whose fees can be prohibitive). Very small farms are often run by just a farming couple and perhaps an intern or two. A day spent at the market is a day off the farm when no work is being done there, and farms are demanding - unforgiving of a slight in attention.
And there is the fossil fuel cost. Fresh & Wyld serves 120 customers, three restaurants, and one store, all of whom receive farm produce once a week (some customers also buy other products such as eggs, jams, meat, flowers, and skin care products, which might require several shopping excursions). The products are delivered in a van that gets 14 mpg. The van leaves the packout barn in Paonia absolutely full (sometimes we worry we won't fit it all in). The F&W van drives 200 miles on Tuesday and 150 miles on Fridays to deliver the products, that's a total of 350 miles at 14 mpg, which equals 25 gallons of gasoline per week. With each gallon of gasoline releasing 8.9 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the air, Fresh & Wyld emits 222.5 kg of carbon to bring you your produce.
Now, say F&W customers instead drove to a local Farmers' Market once a week. Assuming F&W family members own cars that average 20 mpg and travel 15 miles on a round-trip to the Farmers' Market, we're looking at only .75 gallons of gas per trip. But add all those F&W customers together and you've got .75 * 120, which is 90. Again, calculating the carbon released at 8.9 kg per gallon, all 120 of you would contribute 801 kg of carbon to the atmosphere by driving your own cars to a Farmers' Market. It's sort of like carpooling. You're doing the earth a favor by using Fresh & Wyld to get local, seasonal, and sustainably grown produce.
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