The Best of Intentions...

     Well, I had planned to fill today's post with tons of beautiful, stunning, and otherwise jaw-dropping photos of my co-op food pick-up.  But it snowed.  Not little graceful lilting flakes of fluff.  Hard, fast, wet camera-damaging flakes of death.  As I write this, it is "snowing" so hard I can hear it.  It's not sleet.  It's not hail.  It's snow.  And I can hear it falling.  What the heck?  So instead of gorgeous photos of volunteers cheerfully instructing newbies how to fill their baskets and smiling visitors dragging back their haul, I have this:

 

 An over-exposed slightly blurry picture of the road I walked to pick up my box and the backside of the nice man who helped me carry my food back to my car.  Isn't it inspiring?

     So what in the world could have bade me drive 20 miles though the slush and the srain (that's right, I invented a word) on a Saturday morning when I should have been home enveloped in a warm blanket of freshly made waffles?

     A Bountiful Basket, my friend.  My neighbor introduced me to Bountiful Baskets about a year ago.  Two weeks worth of fruits and vegetables sitting in a basket waiting for you to pick it up for $15.  You heard me.  There is no up-front cost like many co-ops.  You pay as you have need.  I go once a month or so and I don't go at all during farmer's market season.  They have recently added organic produce as an option in my area.  Tell me what you'd expect to pay for this:

     4 large tomatoes, a bag of potatoes, a large head of lettuce, a bundle of chard, a bundle of mustard greens, a head of cauliflower, three oranges, a grapefruit, a bag of apples, two pints of blue berries, and a bunch of bananas.  All organic.  Brace yourself...  $25.  They also have fresh, chemical-free bread, special offerings like 20 lb boxes of oranges or tomatoes when in season, and depending on where you live, there are additional local foods occasionally.  I got a box of Cara Cara oranges today.  Holy crabnuggets.

     Bountiful Baskets is mostly run by volunteers.  The produce is usually seasonal and as local as possible which you know I like, but it's also inexpensive, which you know I like even more...  Currently, there are co-op delivery locations in 17 states.  If you live anywhere near one, I highly suggest you check them out! 

   As much as it sounds like it, this isn't a paid advertisement.  They don't know me from Adam.  I just think they're awesome!

 The Robot and the Angry Bird are more impressed with srain, however...