I joined the Organice Produce Buying Club of South Florida, and I’m so glad I did. This entry is mostly for Nat and Aron, who wanted to see my haul, but anyone interested in organic vegetables might find it interesting.

There’s a one-time $20 buy-in fee, then each share after that costs $43. New shares are delivered to a pick-up area, usually the home of a “host,” every two weeks. Since I live alone, they matched me up with a partner, so I paid half the fee and half the cost of the share, $31.50. Those were mailed to the club organizer in a check, and I had to pay cash tonight for my next share, $21.50. So that’s one drawback – it’s a decent cash commitment up front. But I’m hoping the money I’ll save in the long run will be worth it.

I’d say 80 percent of the groceries I buy are fresh produce – fruits and veggies of all kinds, whatever is on sale and in season. I’m spending about $30 every two weeks at the grocery store, and that’s not organic stuff.

Here’s what I got, for just a little over 20 bucks:

(Click on the photo to be taken to the flickr version, with notes labeling each product.)

And here’s another, slightly closer angle:

Here’s what I got:

1 bunch of kale
1 bunch of butter lettuce
1 onion
2 carrots (I arrived first and did the splitting – carrots are the only thing that didn’t come out evenly, and I gave her the extra.)
Snap peas
Mushrooms
2 tomatoes
1 zucchini squash
4 potatoes
1 elephant garlic
fava beans
1 bunch of basil – very fragrant
3 bananas (will be given away – do not like bananas)
4 oranges
3 green apples

My only complaint is the oranges – California oranges are so, so much better, but I understand. We’re in Florida, a big part of the organic community is supporting things that are locally grown, and that’s what I got.

As far as my preferences go, this looks like a damn fine share for me. I’m unfamiliar with kale and fava beans, but I love to experiment. It’s a little potato-heavy, but I’ll just sub them in for pasta or rice when I’m planning meals this week. Also, I could eat zucchini ‘till it’s extinct, so that one little squash looks a little skimpy.

And they always have extra stuff, for an extra price. Those items weren’t as much of a bargain, but I could have picked up various nuts, berries, honey, oils, meats and cheese if I’d wanted to – good to know for the future.

Regarding the sytem itself – I thought it worked great. The pick-up area was about 15 minutes away and her house was easy to find. I parked behind a yellow hatchback with a bumper sticker that read “Dick Cheney Is Evil,” and I can’t argue with THAT. (God bless hippies.) There was a cute baby to watch while I did the dividing, and my host was very friendly. Her house was a little small and my partner and I are the first “split-share” she’s had, so she wasn’t set up with a surface for the dividing, but I have no problem sitting myself on the floor and going to town.

And that gets me to the next awesome thing – I signed myself up as a volunteer, to come early and help unload from the truck, divide, and sort for the next pick-up date. It’s about a 2-3 hour job, from what I understand, and it earns me $15 off of my next share.

That’s right – after the first two weeks, I’ll be getting all those organic veggies for $6.50. Not a bad deal, I’d say.

One more thing – does anyone have any information about how long kale and/or fava beans last? I’m trying to work out my meal planning based on the share, and they’re the only two things I’m not sure about. Should I shell the beans now, or wait ‘till I need them? Just leave it in the comments if you know, okay? Thanks.

Gotta go. I’m starving.

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