Meet CSA Member Amelia
Member since 2022
Let me introduce you to Amelia! After coming to Oregon for school 18 years ago, they fell in love with the place and decided to stay.
As a long-term middle school educator, Amelia’s current role has them wearing many different hats which includes providing professional development for teachers, as well as working in restorative justice with youth. Amelia enjoys the challenge of the many different roles, as well as having the privilege of building strong relationships by teaching whole families of siblings throughout the years.
Amelia and their partner, Luis, are both committed to being environmentally conscious as well as active in social issues impacting PDX.
CSA Share Pick-Up Location
Portland
Type of Membership
10# share with lamb add-on
CSA Aha Moment
Before joining the Double F Ranch Meat CSA, Amelia had already been involved locally with a vegetable CSA for 15 years. They admit that at the time, the thought of a meat CSA didn’t come up. Then they were in New York visiting their partner’s family.
On a trip to visit some friends with a farm, a light went off.
“We started eating their farm fresh eggs. We were like, “Oh my God, this is life changing.” They taste so different.
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The experience opened up a new thought - how can we get this at home? Some other friends shared their experience with a meat CSA and Amelia immediately started looking online.
Finding A Meat CSA That Checked All The Boxes
When Amelia began searching, there were several very important qualities that the “ideal” CSA needed to have:
“We were thinking about being conscious about what we were eating. We wanted to be selective and invest in meat that has a sustainable impact.
We didn’t want to go to the grocery store and get whatever. We felt we could have a relationship with the farmers.
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They were looking for farmers who were environmentally conscious and had a focus on being good stewards of the land and caring for the animals. This is in large part due to concerns about the environmental footprint and impact of climate within industrial meat farming.
Another box to check was supporting farmers that upheld their values.
“For us, it was how do we support folks that are out there that align with our values.
We knew they were out there doing really good work.”
Some may remember the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. Amelia and a friend had previously purchased meat from a rancher who they later discovered was involved with the occupation.
For Amelia, this complicated the picture of buying local food. By supporting local farms, they could indirectly find themselves supporting causes contrary to their values.
As a nonbinary educator, Amelia has supported a lot of kids dealing with some gritty stuff throughout the years. It mattered that the farm they chose was not in direct opposition to who they are, the youth they support, and the places they love.
Sure, it would be easy to find a farm with an aligned vision in the Portland Metro area but the high desert of Oregon feels like parts of West Texas where they grew up. Amelia has seen firsthand how strapped for resources these rural communities can be.
Amelia recalled a conversation with locals in rural Mitchell, Oregon who discussed the challenges of tourists going hiking in the mountains, getting lost, and requiring helicopter rescue. The community pays for these helicopter extractions out of their own budget and it hinders their ability to invest in school and medical facilities for the people that actually live there.
As a middle school teacher in a significantly under-resourced school, that really hit home for Amelia. “We all make choices that impact the places around us. For us, it’s how do we support folks that are out there that align with our values because we know they are out there doing really good work”. Supporting businesses outside the urban area is a conscious choice to direct resources to these rural communities.
When Amelia found the inclusive community of Double F Ranch Meat CSA, from rural Antelope, Oregon (population 38) they knew it would be a good match.
Impact Of The CSA On Daily Life
Amelia outlined some amazing ways the CSA impacts daily life. They include:
The ability to not have to shop around for meat. They get it all in one place.
No need to spend time figuring out what meat is local and antibiotic-free. The quality is built in.
All of the variety and options allow them to eat what they want, when they want.
The high quality of the CSA meat allows Amelia to modify meals to fit their health needs.
Picking up all the meat at one time helps make meal planning easier.
The ability to share the CSA community with their community.
“I like being able to share [the CSA] with other people, so they see it as an option.
It’s nice to be able to get people thinking about options outside of just going to the grocery store. ”
Advice For New Members
Amelia highly recommends weekly intentional meal planning.
My partner and I sit down every Sunday, have brunch and then we talk about what the week looks like and what meals we're going to cook and on what days. I feel like that has changed our eating habits. We are making much better use of the CSA and integrating it into everything. Then you're also not wasting so much food.
Spend time connecting with others around food.
A big part of my family was food sharing when I was growing up. I lived in collective houses for years. We cooked for everyone. Everybody cooked one night a week and there were like five of us.
That piece of sitting down and really thinking intentionally can be a really powerful connector for family, friends, and community.
Final Thoughts
“I really love the winter market! We got soaps for the family and I found fingerless gloves that I wear literally every single day on recess duty.
It is really cool that there are all these ways, with the snacks and the winter market, that make [the CSA] feel like a community. I haven’t experienced that with other CSA shares.”
Thank you, Amelia, for sharing your experience with us! -Rachel