The farmers market comes to your cubicle

Can't make it to the farmers market because of work? Then bring the farmers market to you. The new Santa Monica Market Basket Program does just that, assembling a wide variety of fruits and veggies into a basket and delivering it to your workplace for you to pick up during a break or at the end of the day.

Sure, we have organic produce delivery companies in L.A., but why not get both organic AND local, enjoying farm fresh produce AND helping out your neighbors who've grown them?

That's where the Santa Monica Market Basket Program comes in. The first deliveries started earlier this month, and so far, takes about 70 baskets to Santa Monica City Hall employees each Wednesday. And according to Katie Ricketts, Market Basket Coordinator, the program's actively seeking new businesses to take advantage of this basket program.

To get signed up, all you need is about 50 people (Katie says she'd try to work with smaller groups too) at your workplace interested in getting weekly farm-fresh produce. Then, Katie will work with your workplace to hash out some basic logistics, and in a week or two, you and your co-workers will be able to pick up yummies from the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market without ever leaving the office.

Participants can pick from 3 tiers of baskets. The $20 classic bag will give you about 10 farm fresh staples -- all the basic items needed for a person for a week, based on the USDA requirement of 31.5 cups of fruits and veggies -- as well as newsletter with recipes, market news, farmer bios, and other tidbits. You can get double that by opting for the $38 double person bag, which Katie says is really enough to feed a small family for a week. Then there's the $30 specialty basket, which has all the items in the classic bag plus some extra goodies -- perhaps eggs, honey, or special fruits with a higher price point.

Interested in signing up? Contact Katie Ricketts at katie@sfma.net or 310.740.7544. And if you're stressing about the "best" way to eat, fret not -- Here's my simplified guide to eating like an environmentalist.

Photo by Siel