West Coat Mamas: Are you joining a CSA this year?

[SayOm]

Typically I get all of my fruit/veggies through a CSA that I pick up at the farmers market. However this year with the nuclear disaster in Japan and radiation fall out I  am pondering not joining one. What alternatives are you gal's doing to avoid contaminaited produce this year?

TIA

[happyhippie]

Not joining one? Where will you get your produce?

I would suggest doing more research on ways to combat radioactive fallout first if this concerns you. 

[jeanine123]

Buying produce at the local farmer's market. 

[Magelet]

I won't join a CSA, because we never have, but I will buy local produce. In terms of the many many enviromental poisons and contaminents in our daily lives, radiation fallout on local small farm produce here in California is so incredibly far down my list of concerns it really isn't a concern.  Radiation in my air? a bit. but in my food? not worth worrying about. What would I do? ship it from china? It's all california, mexico, china and chile here.  Small local farms would be my best bet anyways, even if I were worried.

[mommy212]

I am not worrying about this one bit, and am joining a CSA

[TiredX2]

I'm not joining a CSA because the amounts/portions never work out for us, but radioactivity will not stop me from buying local (we're in the Seattle area).

[moss]

the effects of radioactive contamination are cumulative. i urge everyone to read the criirad report. babies and young children are reaching their yearly allowable intake of radioactive particles in mere weeks. take heed.

we are not eating fresh local greens grown outdoors. the risk outweighs the benefit as far as i am concerned. my kiddo has always had problems with toxins. he is the proverbial canary. his health comes first and im not willing to gamble with it. i would rather err on the side of caution. it just feels better.

im having difficulty finding imported fresh foods from outside the fallout areas that i feel good about sooo....

we are growing sprouts and microgreens. it doesnt get any more local and fresh than growing food in my own kitchen.

[Magelet]

We got a report from our milk farmer about testing radioactivity and it seems like there is definitely some radiation (iodine and cesium) in the milk, not enough for the milk to be a problem, but if it's on the grass the cows are eating it's on the everything else, and the cumulative effect of it in ALL our food could be a problem.  But whatcha gonna do? Iodine-131 degrades to tiny levels in weeks, but one of the cesium isotypes (that was admitedly in small amounts) has a half of life 30 years. If it's in the soil, it ain't going anywhere.    I don't really feel like there are better options though.  Buy food with decreased nutrients and taste covered in pesticides, flown in from somewhere else.... from where? Almost everything in the stores is from the west coast of north america here. china? that can't be better. I don't trust chinese produce at all.  So yeah, it may be a problem, but it's not one I feel up to worrying about right now. Right now, I'm more focused on affording the food on the table, since DP's unemployed.

[cristeen]

I got that same email from the milk farmer this morning. And while its something to be aware of, the fact is that unless you have enough food stored to get you through the fallout period (which nobody can predict), everything grown in the Northern hemisphere and the pacific rim is going to be affected. That means all animals slaughtered after this point, all dairy products, all vegetation. Because even if its grown in a greenhouse, the soil and the water are contaminated, as are the people handling the produce, the boxes, the warehouses, etc.

Its not as simple as not joining a CSA and avoid contamination.

And yes, im part of a produce CSA, a meat CSA and a milk CSA.

[Chamomile Girl]

Milk is the main thing that has me skeeved right now (I think because of the Chernobyl connection). It sucks because my kid practically lives off of yogurt...and I'm almost out of the last "safe" batch. I've been watching the Berkeley website but I suck at math so I'm not entirely sure how to interpret the numbers. I dunno...I'm waffling.

[moss]

to the mamas on the milk csa: could you please give the numbers regarding the amt of radiation in your milk. also do you know how/where it's being tested?

thanks

[cristeen]

Its tested at UC Berkeley

All units are in Becquerels/liter.

I-131: 2.92 +/- 0.29
I-132: N/D
Te-132: N/D
Cs-134: 0.40 +/- 0.04
Cs-137: 0.41 +/- 0.04

Here are the dose equivalents. We have been using standard conversion factors
to express the dose in terms of an approximate standard dose of 5 millirem from
a cross-country round-trip airplane flight. We express the dose in terms of
the number of liters you would need to drink in order to receive the same dose
as the flight.

I-131: 925
I-132: N/D
Te-132: N/D
Cs-134: 6,000
Cs-137: 6,500

[Chamomile Girl]

Here is the Berkeley link.

[mommytolittlelilly]

I was thinking about buying milk and cheese and freezing it for at least a couple of months before using it.  Wouldn't the radioactive iodine be gone by then, at least?  I figure at this point (hopefully) that radioactive iodine is the one to worry about being in dairy.