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In A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf said:
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
Note to readers: I didn't just find this quote on the Internet. It's on the wall of my kitchen. Thank you.
Additional note to readers: The quote is on my kitchen wall, not because I found the quote on the Internet, but because I legitimately found it when I actually read A Room of One's Own. Thank you for understanding that it's important to me that you know that.
One of the most frequent questions our family gets asked is how we get our food. We've discussed our annual shopping trips in Anchorage and buying whatever the local store happens to have in stock, but this is the story of how we get fresh fruits and vegetables.
We get a box of produce every other week (we could get weekly deliveries if we wanted to, but budgetary restraints limit the TAT household to biweekly deliveries) . This is all made possible by Full Circle Farm.
Note to Readers: This post is in no way sponsored by Full Circle, although it probably should be. 🙂 All I am to Full Circle is a loyal customer. Thank you.
The week before our box comes, I get an e-mail telling me it's time to customize my order. I login to fullcircle.com and see what's coming in the box. I can trade out items I don't want (chard, anyone?) and add extra items.
The boxes arrive on an afternoon Bering Air flight, and the airline agent brings them to our door.
As soon as this particular box arrived, Kaitlyn got excited and asked, "Is there fruit in there?" Lucky for her, the answer was yes.
This is how the box is packed. Produce is just kind of shoved in there, but it's usually in pretty good condition. If anything is crushed or rotten, I just e-mail Full Circle, and they credit our account for the value of the damaged item.
This is Kaitlyn's reaction to grapes.
Getting boxes of produce was especially important once we had kids. I wanted to expose them to as many foods as possible, and it warms my heart to see my daughter so excited about broccoli and red butter lettuce.
Her reaction to pluots was pretty good too.
Here Levi participates in his favorite past-time: copying his big sister.
Note to readers: bananas are the fastest-disappearing item in our Full Circle boxes.
Full Circle offers four different-sized boxes. We get the largest box.
Here's what was inside:
- three potatoes
- one cabbage
- one onion
- three ears of corn
- three oranges
- broccoli
- six nectarines
- 1.25 lb of pluots
- one pound grapes
- five bananas
- one head of red butter lettuce
- one bunch of cilantro
- .25 lb jalapenos
The entire box, including shipping, was about $80. Shipping prices vary based on where you live (they deliver to Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and California). You get a 5% discount if you pay for ten deliveries at a time.
It's more expensive than if I bought a bunch of produce at Costco, but how can you put a price on expressions like these:
(Her expression with the nectarines cracks me up. It's like she literally loves them.)
The variety at Full Circle is seasonal, and we've gotten everything from watermelon to kiwi berries (google them!) to baby bok choy to sunchokes.
I am infinitely more motivated to cook when I have fresh ingredients to inspire the meals, and the kids love having fruit to snack on. Seems like we're on our way to think, love, and sleep well.