People who hear the word “co-op” might think of a group of hippies living together eating home-grown vegetables accompanied by broken-guitared refrains of “Kumbaya.” For the members of the Purple Dragon organic produce “pod” based in Weehawken, the reality of the co-op has evolved into something entirely different.
Weehakwenite Kirsten Skelly took over as pod coordinator for her group of 15 local members two months after she joined Purple Dragon in 2010. She, her husband, and her two children easily go through the 25 to 30 pounds of fresh, organic produce delivered to her door every other Saturday in a week and a half, after which they eat pizza and anxiously await the next delivery.
“I’m terrible at making decisions,” Skelly said last week. “The co-op sends you what’s fresh, and it differs every week, so I’m forced to get creative. It’s a lot of fun.”
At around $50 a share, the fruits and veggies come to around $2 per pound, which is quite a deal for produce in general, not to mention organic, and delivered to the members’ pod coordinator’s door step (or rather, driveway) from farms around the world. Food comes from as far as New Zealand and the Caribbean.
Queen of the pod
Skelly originally searched for a community supported agriculture (CSA) group, which is a group of people who buy direct from farms and share the labor involved in distribution in order to receive fresher product at a lesser cost.
CSA groups typically receive food from one local farm, so most of them only run during the spring and summer months. If the crops do poorly, they’re locked in.
Because Purple Dragon sources its produce both locally and internationally, members receive fresh organic food all year round. Each pod share contains between 10 and 12 different items, each with a description and certification of the farm, and oftentimes with recipe suggestions.
All 15 pod members’ shares are shipped to Skelly’s Weehawken home every other Saturday morning. She and her 7-year-old daughter, Bridget, and her 4-year-old son, Edward, help her divide 10 (or more) types of fruits and veggies into smaller portions.
“Bridget really enjoys counting the apples,” Skelly said, “and because I lead the pod, I get a discount, and it makes me get up early on Saturdays and pretend like I’m a farmer.”
Members then come to collect their shares, including Weehawkenites Gerry Nobile and Quinn Cassavale.
“It’s a learning adventure, and it’s a way to force myself to eat healthier.” –Kirsten Skelly
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Farm to table
“I like the idea of being part of a group of people who, like me, realize the importance of eating as many organic foods as possible,” Cassavale said. Her 6-year-old daughter Amelia, who goes to school with Bridget, loves the idea that her food comes straight from a farm.
“I think it’s been a way for her to get excited about, say, Brussels sprouts, whereas she may not have been so gung-ho otherwise,” she added.
The co-op is not just for families. Nobile started with a full share twice a month, but found that for only one person, the large portions left her “making something every five minutes to keep up,” she said. Now she picks up a share only once a month and still finds herself freezing soups and stews for future consumption.
“The first thing that struck me when I first ate an organic potato was how different it tasted from the regular, non-organic product,” Nobile said. “It wasn’t some waxy hybrid thing that came from who-knows-where that was unearthed a month before. I was sold.”
Purple Dragon has allowed her to really commit to her belief in the values of farm-fresh, organic produce. “You go to the supermarket and an organic cauliflower can cost $5,” Nobile said. “With the co-op you get an enormous amount of food.”
Creative cuisine
“Once we got this odd-looking green thing,” Skelly said. “I chopped it up and tossed it with some pasta and it was just great.”
She’d also received black radishes, which she didn’t know existed. “It’s a learning adventure, and it’s a way to force myself to eat healthier,” she said.
Cassavale described the kiwi berries she received one Saturday, which she had never seen before. They were like regular kiwis, she recalled, but shrunken to the size of grapes and meant to be eaten skin and all. “They were the most amazing thing,” she said. “I love the variety.”
Nobile also loved the kiwi berries. “The co-op exposes you to foods you’ve never had before,” she said. “I never, ever mind the surprise. Whatever’s in there, it’s just so, so good and abundant.”
For more information on the Purple Dragon Co-Op, visit www.purpledragon.com.
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