Boston Organics
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island 
on 06.16.05
Boston Organics founder Jeff Barry is addicted to fresh, organic produce. He got the idea living in San Francisco and upon moving back east decided to start a company on his own that offered organic fruits and veggies that were available all the time. Here’s how it works: for a weekly or biweekly fee ($25 or $35), Boston Organics delivers to your home a fresh box a fruits and vegetables that are USDA certified organic. You can check online to see what’s in the box for the week and it always depends on the season. Also included in each box is a newsletter with recipes, information and storage tips. Now one thing we have to note...
is that not all products are grown in Massachusetts, unfortunately, and as much as Jeff wants to support the local farmers, the climate in New England is definitely a factor since this is a year-round business. He notes that in the winter many of the fresh produce comes from Florida and California, but not to worry, it’s still organic. We wish this company delivered somewhere other than Boston…c’mon, maybe just a little further south? Thanks for the tip, Peter Y.! ::Boston Organics
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To preface these comments, I think Boston Organics sounds like a great company and I think we need more and more companies like that to encourage the consumptions of fresh produce and to help transform our food system into something more sustainable. Keep up the good work Jeff. I just wanted to give light encouragement to all shoppers and food business owners alike to attempt that extra effort to buy local (even during the heart of winter in the north). Buying local is one of the best things you can do for a long list of reasons not the least of which is your health. Now in the winter, you will likely have to be more flexible (or encourage your customers to be more flexible) but there is a increasing number of small farmers offering winter salad greens, spinach and other cold hardy crops. For examples that use hoophouses to have winter harvests in Michigan, Maine, and Pennsylvania check out msuorganicfarm.com, Four Season Farm, and newfarm.org articles. A quick search on localharvest.org turned up some small farms in Massachusetts offering winter products. Happy eating!
Just wanted to drop a line that this program is live in other cities. Notice that Boston Organics was inspired by a San Francisco company. Most likely, that SF company is Organic Express:
http://www.organicexpress.com/
They deliver in SF and LA.
A previous treehugger article mentioned local harvest:
http://www.localharvest.org/
Which has listings for other organic food home delivery services as well as local fresh produce co-ops.
There is also Seattle-based Pioneer Organics:
http://www.pioneerorganics.com
I use a similar service in San Diego from Be Wise Ranch: http://www.bewiseranch.com/csa.htm
Other links on Community Supported Agriculture:
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa/
http://www.organicconsumers.org/csa.htm
http://www.urbanorganic.com/ has been around for years in NY and Portland...
Hey,
Just for the record, Boston Organics was inspired by Planet Organics in San Francisco. Jeff was one of our customers! He's coming out to talk organic business with me next week!
Larry Bearg, CEO
Planet Organics