Starting next week, December 23rd Boston Organics will be offering the Dogma Box. This box will include produce sourced as close to Boston as possible. This box is intended for customers that believe it is of utmost importance to purchase organic produce that is grown as close to home as possible.

The box will consist of approximately 8-14 items. We’ll source produce close to home and move further out until we can provide at least 8 unique items. NO SUBSTITUTIONS or NO LISTS will be allowed in this box. In the winter you may only get a box full of root vegetables. As the harvest season has come to end, many of the items in the boxes will be coming from storage.

For the early winter we will have access to root crops and some winter squash from New England. We will also have access to a few items grown indoors like sprouts and hot-house tomatoes. As we head deeper into winter and spring we will start sourcing items along the East coast as far south as Florida if necessary.

Ultimately, we would like to offer only Mass grown vegetables year round in the Dogma box. Unfortunately at this time, we do not have access to enough local produce to make this happen. Read here to learn more about the challenges and what we are doing to increase the supply.

As this is a new offering and not set in stone we would love your feedback. Is this Dogma box not hardcore enough for you? How would you like to see it improved? Please send us your feedback.

I am really excited about the Dogma box.

I wish I could take credit for the name and the concept, but I learned that another “box” company in Denmark has been offering one for years…

I think the Dogma box will help serve as a reality check for the current state of the local food chain. Hopefully, in a short time we can say, “Do you remember the first Boston Organics’ Dogma Box? It was so lame, it only had beets and potatoes. Look at it now, even in the winter it is full of local vegetables from green houses heated with solar panels and bio-fuel.” For now we may have to settle for beets and potatoes if we’re lucky (see my first blog post explaining the challenges we currently encounter).

If we succeed and can offer a great Dogma Box, it will mean that a larger portion of our dollars are being spent in the local economy and that we are succeeding in re-building the local food supply chain.

I sincerely appreciate and thank any customer that chooses to support this.

-Jeff

I am new to blogging and have been having a hard time figuring where to begin. So here I go.

One question we get often is the following…

Why can’t we get all those cool vegetables we see at the farmer’s markets or even local root crops through out the winter?

We’re just as frustrated as you that we don’t have access to an abundant variety of local organic vegetables as well as winter friendly roots like beets, potatoes, parsnips, etc year round. We know you want them, we want to get them for you, and we feel we should be able to get them for you. The problem is that there is only a very limited supply available right now. As small of a company we are, our demand for local organic produce exceeds what our network of growers can provide us.

The current poor state of the local food chain is a result of the modern food economy we have created. Cheap food produced on large-scale farms from far away that can be transported inexpensively destroyed a once flourishing local food economy. The physical logistics connecting growers to their markets have to be rebuilt and reinvented. Knowledge of and infrastructure for root storage has to be re-learned and re-built. Markets for local carrots coming out of storage competing against fresher/nicer looking/cheaper carrots need to be created.

Both eating organically and locally resonate with me on a very basic, emotional level that I call “truths.” It only makes sense that you only want to eat clean food made without the use of synthetic chemicals. For the simple sake of peace of mind, it only makes sense that you want to have access to food grown nearby and not rely on food grown on the other side of the continent. There are so many more reasons why it is important that we support organic and local food production (the local economy, the environment, etc.).

These are some of the motivations why I started Boston Organics, and why I am so excited that I believe we have arrived at a time where we are on the cusp of seeing some significant, positive change about to happen.

Our growers are beginning to see the demand and we are taking steps to increase the supply. We are all very excited about the possibilities and will try our best to get there as quickly as possible. However there are still many challenges and it will take some time.

Steps Boston Organics is taking to get local organic vegetables available to you year round:

1. Pre-Orders to the Growers

First of all, we are only able to do this because of your support. Because you are supporting our model of the “mystery box” and trust us to choose what goes in your box, we are able to offer growers a level of unprecedented commitment that allows them to increase their production significantly.

Because you are willing to sacrifice some control as to what goes in your order, we are able to commit in the winter for the next season’s product. THIS IS EXTREMELY POWERFUL and has been one of the most satisfying and rewarding parts of the business.

2. Build a root cellar?

We are in the early, early, early, dream stage of talking with a few growers about building a root cellar. Building a cellar and growing the vegetables to stock it are only parts of the solution. The growers need to learn about the best practices to ensure that the potatoes and other roots will last into the late spring. Other questions include, will refrigeration/electricity be needed to store the crops? If so how will that impact the economics?

It is an exciting time to be involved in the food business. There is some great momentum happening to make some real positive change to create a sustainable food system. Through your support, I believe Boston Organics can be part of the solution.

Thanks for your support and business.

-Jeff Barry (owner/founder of Boston Organics)