We throw around a lot of terms around on this site. In case you are unfamiliar with some of them, here is a glossary for your convenience.
Buying Club
A buying club is a group of people that pool their resources and order collectively from a farm (or a group of farms) that delivers the orders each week to a designated drop-off location (usually someone volunteers his home.) This is great for those who live a distance from the farm and are willing to pay extra for this service.
CSA
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and a farmer offers a certain number of shares to the public. A share is usually a box of seasonal produce, but sometimes meat and dairy are included as well. Usually you pay up front at the beginning of the season, and then you can pick up local seasonal produce all summer long. Prices vary, and sometimes you can work off a portion of your share by volunteering your time working on the farm. You generally pick up your shares at the farm on a designated day each week.
Farmers’ Markets
In a farmers’ market, a group of farmers sell their products once or twice a week at a designated public place like a park or parking lot. These outdoor markets are fun to peruse, and it’s a great way to get much of your local groceries in one place and to establish a relationship with your food provider.
Farm Stores
Farm stores are stores located on or near the farm that supplies them. They range in size from a humble garage attached to the farmhouse to a spacious retail establishment located on the farmer’s property. Their food is supplied primarily from the farm on which they are located, and they usually have regular hours a few days a week.
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It’s also helpful to understand the terms related to the food that you are buying. There are so many labels — pastured, free-range, grass-fed, organic, cage-free… The list goes on. Here’s a quick cheat sheet for you.
Pastured
Pastured is a label usually applied to chickens, but sheep and pigs may also be described as pastured. Pastured means that the animal has spent most of its life outside roaming the countryside as nature intended, eating grass and bugs and grubs and worms. Ideally they are moved daily to fresh ground.
Pastured chickens and their eggs are more nutritious than those raised on vegetarian feed, or worse, grains and animal byproducts.
NOTE: If you see “vegetarian fed” on the box of eggs, you can assume the chicken never saw the light of day because they would almost have to ingest a bug or two if they were outside at all.
Free Range
Free-range, as defined by the USDA, requires that “producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.” It’s also important to note that “USDA considers five minutes of open-air access each day to be adequate for it to approve use of the free-range claim on a poultry product.”
Do not assume that your free-range chickens spent their days freely roaming the countryside. Often “free-range” birds are confined in crowded buildings with a small door that is open for as little as 5 minutes a day. If you are buying from a local farm that labels their birds as free-range, you will want to ask questions to find out exactly how they are raised. Some small farmers may use the term free-range to describe a pastured bird, but in the grocery store, eggs in cartons labeled free-range are probably not from pastured chickens.
Cage-Free
Cage-free is another nebulous term that does not guarantee that the birds ever see the light of day. Cage-free only means that they are not confined to cages. However, they may live in such cramped conditions that they cannot even move.
Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished
Grass-fed is a label usually applied to beef. Most factory farms feed their cows corn and other grains. However, cows are ruminants are intended to eat grass. Grain-fed cows get sick because they cannot digest grains, which is why most factory farms feed their animals antibiotics on a regular basis as a matter of course.
Grass-fed beef generally means cattle have eaten only grass or forage throughout their lives, however, some producers call their beef grass-fed but then finish the animals on grain for the last 90 to 160 days before slaughter. So know what your farmer means when he uses the term “grass-fed.”
Grass-finished beef means that cows have been fattened on grass until the day that they are processed. Grass-finished beef is the ideal.
Certified Organic
Certified Organic means that crops receive no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides and no GMO or irradiation. Livestock are allowed outdoor access (note: the animals may not actually GO outdoors, see Free-Range, below) and do not receive antibiotics or hormones. They must be fed 100% organic feed.
NOTE: Just because food does not have the Certified Organic seal does not mean that it does not meet the criteria. Some farms actually disdain the organic label because they don’t believe that it is strict enough. It’s also expensive to get certified so smaller farms find it cost prohibitive. This is why it is so important to know the farmer who provides your food so you know exactly what you are getting.
Beyond Organic
Many small family farms refer to themselves as beyond organic. By that they mean that they actually go above and beyond the Certified Organic requirements and strive to raise their animals on species-appropriate diets and operate their farms in a way that is sustainable and beneficial to the environment. Here is an informative article at life begins @ 30 describing the Beyond Organic movement.
For more information, see the article on feed at sustainabletable.org.
Got Questions? Feel free to leave them in the comments.
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