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Our movement aims for the gut. There are only a few things a person truly needs to live on this planet; two of them are nutritious food and a sense of belonging. For thousands of years, local food-production and social bonds among local people were inextricably linked with the seasonal harvest cycle. Today we find ourselves lost and disconnected from the seasonal cycles, from awareness of what crops grow where and when, and worst of all, lost from each other. What's the solution?

We aim to heal disconnected neighborhoods through shared investment in local food production. We started when we walked out our front door and down the street, going door-to-door, meeting our
neighbors – for the first time! – and introducing them to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) – where once a week, a local farmer delivers to our front porch a pile of boxes, each full of seasonal organic fruits and veggies that came out of the Earth yesterday. Three magic words opened up the doors and the smiles: "We're your neighbors." This is the key and the ultimate goal of the movement, beyond revitalizing sustainable local food systems: to reconnect neighborhood-networks with shared, seasonal food.

At an environmental level, there are many reasons to support small, organic, local farms. Conventional large-scale agriculture is associated with a number of negative environmental impacts, including heavy pesticide, fertilizer and water use, decreasing genetic diversity of crops, and high fuel costs for transportation. In contrast, small organic farming uses no chemical inputs, and in many cases is associated with increased soil quality. Delivering food directly from local farmers also dramatically reduces transportation and refrigeration energy costs. Many small farms are having a difficult time competing with large scale agriculture because our current government policies favor large scale farmers. CSA's ease the burden in a number of ways. Besides eliminating the middle man (the grocery store, which often takes a large portion of the profits), CSA subscriptions reduce the need to market produce throughout the season and provide needed cash flow early in the season when input costs are intense (especially in the pay- for-the-whole-season-up-front models).

At a community level, our movement will build relationships between neighbors that could have a powerful impact on our ability to move towards an ecologically sustainable relationship with our planet. Local resilience is going to be an essential part of a sustainable future. Strong communities are more likely to engage in the political process, more likely to share resources, and more likely to be able to adapt to changes like increasing fuel (and food) prices.  Our movement will appeal to a broad range of values, including but not limited to: neighborliness, healthy eating, gourmet cooking, reduced costs (no middle man means lower produce prices), supporting the little guy (the small farmer) and many kinds of environmental concern. Food is a universal need - our movement aspires to leverage that commonality to heighten quality of living and environmental responsibility in an expansive way.

For the individual, purchasing fresh organic produce with a group of neighbors is an action that may empower a number of further positive behavior changes. Having a box of freshly harvested, organic produce in the house can significantly bend a person's cooking and eating behaviors towards healthier, more fruit and vegetable-rich diets. In addition, it may cause them to consider the environmental impact and quality of their other food choices. Making these small changes with neighbors may also empower further environmental actions and shift attitudes changes towards the organic movement, and/or the environmental movement as a whole.