This post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade.

The economy is very much in the news, and our personal economies are probably on the forefront of our thinking. The first question I am asked when I talk about belonging to a Community Supported Agriculture program is unvaryingly, “Wow, isn’t that expensive?”

Let’s break it down.

My vegetable CSA full share provides me a half bushel of in-season organically grown vegetables once a week for 24 consecutive weeks. I pay the farmer $700 in April.

The farm from which my veggies come is certified organic and always has been. They have healthy farm practices like crop rotation and use of beneficial insects. I enjoy talking to the farmer and his assistants when I pick up my share. He cheerfully answers my questions about his farming practices, varieties he grows and pending legislation. My family visits his farm twice a year for a picnic in the spring and a barbeque in the autumn. I get the satisfaction of knowing I am helping this farmer stay in business even when it’s difficult. If a late frost destroys the strawberry crop, he and I both go without (yes, I count that a benefit.) I feel like a part of the farm community. The farmer shares interesting recipes and ideas for using his crops. I very often find a treat in my share, like a gigantic sunflower to decorate my dining table. The biggest benefit: The vegetables in my share were harvested the day I received them. The same day. The tomatoes aren’t picked green and “gassed,” they are still warm from the sunshine.

I find the total I pay for these veggies is approximately equivalent to what I would pay in a major grocery store for organic produce. The overriding benefits of freshness, knowing the farmer personally and being a part of my food’s history outweigh the negatives of limited variety (if you call strawberries, broccoli, green onions, kale, collard greens, turnip greens, radishes, lettuces, blueberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, a variety of hot peppers, squash, zucchini, eggplant, melons, Irish potatoes, turnips, beets, sweet potatoes and cabbage, limited variety.) If I ever have a major resurgence of health combined with a move out of the city, I would possibly grow more of my own food and not rely so heavily on my CSA farmer. Otherwise, it would be a hard investment to forgo.

My dairy CSA full share provides me one gallon of fresh, raw milk every two weeks for 3 months. I pay the farmer $60 for each full share every three months.

I know the farmer who produces the milk my children drink. I have spoken to the cows themselves, looked into their shining eyes and seen their healthy coats. They roam pastures of green grass in yellow sunshine. I can ask the farmer about rotational grazing, “activator X” and silage and she actually knows what I’m talking about. I can ask her to bring me a kombucha mushroom with my next order or sample eggs gathered that day from her flock. I know my milk isn’t being “fortified” with dry milk powder, melamine or imported milk protein concentrates.

Fresh, raw milk is not available in any grocery store in my state. I can buy pasteurized, homogenized, fortified, weeks-old milk for about half the price of fresh, raw from my farmer. But, after doing research into what milk is and what happens to it in those “improving processes,” as long as I have an option, I’ll never go back.

My meat CSA full share provides me 20-22 pounds of grass-fed and finished beef, lamb, goat and chickens once a week for 24 consecutive weeks. I pay the farmer $650 in May.

Again, I know these animals. I know the names given them by the farmer’s children. I’ve seen their healthy eyes and coats, their beaks and feathers and learned about the lives they lead. I’ve seen their pasture and been introduced to their vet. My single regret is that when butchering time comes, they are not butchered according to Kosher law, a vastly superior method to what is deemed acceptable by American law. But, this is a small concession to the “Feds” who oversee that part of the operation. I am comfortable with the less-than-ideal butchering practice because I know my food is coming from healthy cattle, grazed on grass and bathed in sunshine instead of genetically altered, ill, captive animals fed foods their bodies can’t digest until they are large enough to slaughter.

While $4 a pound might seem expensive for meat, this price is comparable to the “organic” meat in my grocer’s dairy case. And “organic” does not mean grassfed. There are organic CAFOs just like there are conventional CAFOs. This is by far the best value for my dollar.

Expensive? Perhaps, but in the words of Joel Salatin, “If you think organic food is expensive, have you priced cancer lately?”

To find a CSA near you, please visit Local Harvest.