Hello all,
I was reading in the Austin American Statesman today about a company that delivers local and organic produce, meats, milk, etc. It is called Greenling Organic Delivery. Their prices are comparable to Whole Foods Market and Central Market. The website is http://www.greenling.com/ . The only problem is that they do not deliver to Leander yet. They deliver to Cedar Park. I sent them in my info and it says on the website that if enough people from a certain area inquire into delivery service than they might be able to deliver outside of their normal delivery area.
Just thought I might send this out in case anyone else is interested.
Thanks,
Jennifer
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I have mixed feelings about supporting Greenling. As an environmentalist, I absolutely believe that we must all start buying more organic and locally-produced food. It helps the environment in so many ways – especially by reducing the fossil fuel consumption of delivering produce from Mexico, Chile, the Rio Grande Valley, California, and other distant locales. An awful lot of fuel is burned for such “convenience.” And organically produced vegetables use virtually no chemical fertilizers or insect control. That’s great for the environment and it’s great for your health, too!
On the other hand, even though Greenling says they buy locally “whenever possible,” they give you no indication as to which products fall into the “local” category. Also, they eliminate much of the fuel savings provided by dealing in local produce by making deliveries to individual homes. The produce is transported twice -- to Greenling’s warehouse and then to many, many individual homes. All of those individual deliveries are a very inefficient usage of fuel. Lastly, their prices are extremely high.
I think a better alternative would be to buy organic and locally produced food at HEB, and while you are there, tell the store manager how important these products are to the environment. Ask him if they can’t get more such goods in stock. Say this not just one time, but often. This would provide the benefits of less transportation more significantly and on a larger scale than would accrue by shopping at Greenling. It would also help the price of organic goods come down by getting HEB’s commitment to provide it on a larger scale.
I applaud your willingness to buy organic and locally grown produce. I love the fact that you are concerned enough to pay high prices to help the environment. But I don’t think Greenling provides much in the way of environmental benefits compared to buying organic/locally-grown at HEB. I can’t refute the time savings of having home-delivered groceries, but the cost (dollars as well as environmental) are too high for me to go that route.
Regardless of whether you buy organic and local produce at Greenling or at HEB, you have helped the environmental cause, and received higher quality goods. So if you really like the idea of having that plus doorstep delivery, it is a good thing.
Personally, I already buy organics at HEB and I am going to try and persuade them to stock more organic products.
Our household has also quit buying bottled water for the same fuel considerations. An awful lot of fuel is burned transporting those bottles full of something that you can get right out of your tap. And with the addition of a relatively inexpensive fiter on your tap, it can be purified as well or better (it was recently disclosed that a lot of bottled water actually is no different from ordinary tap water) than what comes in the bottles. This practice also saves a ton (many tons) of plastic from going to our landfills.
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that around March the Monument Cafe will be moving to their new location in Georgetown.
I was told that they may include a totally organic "Farmers Market". This may not be too far away to shop for organic produce and foods. All of their vendors are local, so it would be good to give them support.
Just thought I would let you know what I heard.
Thanks,
Mary
Mary is right. From the Community Impact Newspaper December, 2007...
"The Monument Café will be relocating to the old Mac Haik showroom on the corner of S. Austin Avenue and 6th Street. The café is phase one of a development that will span the entire block. Owners Rusty Winkstern and Clark Lyda have plans for phase two and three to include two office buildings and an organic farmers market."
I saw this reference at the Hill Country Voice.
The comment about Greenling wasting gas is just a little short-sighted. Does one van driving around to homes use as much gas as cars from all of those homes driving to the store and back? No way! I get a box and my neighbor does too. That completely eliminates two trips to the store from the same location.
Also, as a customer, I know they send emails every week detailing which items are local and which are not. They say local availability changes so frequently they have trouble keeping the website up-to-date on that.
Lastly, I find their prices comparable to Whole Foods. Much of what they sell is even cheaper, but the real benefit is that they have so much more organic produce than any store! You just can't find their selection anywhere.
The previous anonymous post has some good points. But unless you get all of your groceries from Greenling, the argument made about fuel consumption being short-sighted misses the mark.
If you buy from Greenling, and also go to HEB, Whole Foods, Randalls, whatever, for the bulk of your shopping, there is no fuel savings by using this home delivery service, and, in fact, my original remark about it being an inefficient use of fuel has merit.
Price is not the most important consideration in this issue, and I am willing to pay higher prices for locally grown and organic products. I might give Greenling a try if they come to Leander, because as the previous commentor pointed out "they have so much more organic produce than any store!"
There is a definite void in the established grocery purveyors when it comes to organic. My preference would be to have HEB step up to the plate and be a leader in this area, so that I can get the organic food I want without having to contract with a delivery service. If that doesn't happen then Greenling and the proposed organic farmer's market in Georgetown will be the next best option.
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