A Creative Solution

Kim Sollien's new blog on the Anchorage Daily News website had record numbers of comments when she raised the issue of Full Circle Farm.

Full Circle is a new breed of CSA. Perhaps "Concentric Circles Farm" would be a better name for it. Subscribers receive produce first from Full Circle's farm in Carnation, WA, then from farms in the Pacific NW, then the West Coast of the US, then farther afield. All of it is organic, fair trade, etc. As the circles get wider, of course, there's less control over how organic, how fair, but that's a leap of faith you choose to make if you subscribe.

Business is booming for Full Circle Farm here in AK. It amazes me that they're delivering to places like Dillingham, Kotzebue and Bethel.

Kim's blog raises the question of whether the success of FCF in Alaska takes business away from local farmers. The discussion was thoughtful--and sometimes hot!

For me, I like the flexibility and diversity of FCF. I am cautiously in awe of their marketing success. And I want to keep going with FCF through the summer.

But I also want to return to Arctic Organics. I believe very strongly in supporting our local Alaskan farmers. And FCF's produce just can't match the freshness of local veggies.

Solution? Four small families, including mine, will share two subscriptions from Arctic Organics. Two of us will continue with FCF, while the other two are complete CSA rookies. We plan to meet each week on my spacious front deck to divide up the bounty.

Who knows? Perhaps even more interesting community-building will come from it. Maybe we'll even decide to preserve the harvest together.