Farms shares or CSAs are popular.  The idea is you commit to buy into a farmer’s crop and he distributes it to you regularly (usually weekly) throughout the season.  Often there is a central drop-off point where you need to go to to pick up your share.  The trade off for all the fresh food is that you need to pay up front and you don’t have a lot of control over what you get.  If you’re not a fan of kale, you could be figuring out what to do with it or have it go to waste.

This is the main reason why I don’t belong to a CSA already.  My husband wants to eat what he wants to eat. He doesn’t want to be “forced” into foods he dislikes.  I roll my eyes when he says this and call him a wuss, but actually I kinda agree with him; I don’t like kale either. It also doesn’t seem very eco-friendly to wind up with veggies that will just go to waste.

Enter Lauren Friel, founder of Greenologist, a delivery-on-demand service.  She and her cohorts shop the Farmers’ Markets for you, get exactly what you want (if the farmers have it on hand), and deliver it to your doorstep.

The idea came to Lauren when she was sick of always arriving late at her local market after a long day at work only to have them closing up for the day, all the good produce gone. “I was really frustrated that because of time constraints I couldn’t support these farmers.  I thought there have to be more people out there that want to support farmers but they just can’t do it.”

Here’s how it works.  For a $75 per month charge, you are able to submit your order via their web site 24 hours in advance of your weekly delivery date.  Lauren and her pickers then go to the market for you, select only what you want, then bundle your order and deliver it to your door the same day, as fresh as if you’d gone to the market yourself.  And you’re not just limited to fruits and veggies but to anything the markets supply: bread, meats, flowers, jams, honeys, herbs; whatever is available, Greenologist can get for you. There is no markup on the farmer’s prices.  The only extra money is for the monthly delivery fee.

Currently part of that monthly fee goes to purchasing Terra Passes to offset carbon emissions. Lauren is saving a percentage every month towards the purchase of a Volt delivery van, an all electric vehicle.

If you live in the Boston area, Lauren’s goal is to have 200 families signed up by mid-summer with the goal to eventually serve their full capacity of 350 families.  This is their first year in business and she’s still learning the ropes.

We wish you well Lauren and hope this turns into a new green business model for other areas to try.

What do you think?  Would you try this service?  I’m planning on doing it.

Lisa

Popularity: 2% [?]