The Buck Straps Here Deal

New Boston-based businesses form partnership to empower local food systems, offering discounts to Boston residents. #buckstrapshere

To celebrate this new partnership, Bootstrap Compost and Buckle Farms are offering an exclusive deal running through April. Sign up and receive $30 off your Buckle Farm CSA share and one month of free Bootstrap service. More information below.

Bootstrap Compost and Buckle Farm are breaking ground on a unique partnership to improve Boston’s food system by offering healthy produce to local residents while reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture.

Bootstrap Compost was founded by Andy Brooks in January 2011 to provide residents and businesses of Greater Boston a sustainable alternative to conventional waste disposal. For a small fee, customers sign up to have kitchen scraps picked up, which are composted into high grade soil. Subscribers receive a portion of this compost in return and the remaining soil is donated to local community gardens. To date, Bootstrap has diverted nearly 60,000 pounds of organic materials from landfills. In addition, 30% of all pickups are made on bicycles. The company now services over 250 clients in Greater Boston.

Jim Buckle, a long time local farmer and avid supporter of Bootstrap since its founding, saw the potential of a partnership while embarking on his quest to build his own organic farm this past year in Dighton, Mass. Instead of relying on compost shipped from far away to grow his vegetables, Buckle wanted to use top quality compost produced right here in Boston. Thus, Buckle will be growing local produce using locally sourced compost from Bootstrap Compost.

Through April, Bootstrap Compost and Buckle Farm are offering a unique special to new subscribers. Sign up to become a client of both businesses and receive 1.) $30 off CSA shares from Buckle Farm for the summer/fall season and 2.) one month of free pickup service from Bootstrap Compost with a four-month subscription. CSA shares from Buckle Farm run from June through October and will be picked up at the Loring Greenough House in Jamaica Plain, on Thursdays from 3-7pm.

The partnership between these two new businesses boosts local economies while signifying a sustainable and efficient approach to the conventional factory farming system in the United States. Some studies show that in conventional agriculture, on average, produce currently travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate. Taking travel time into consideration, produce that is 10 days old loses 50% of its’ nutritional value. Meanwhile, 10 calories of fossil fuel energy are used to grow one calorie of food energy, making food access dangerously dependent on the price of non-renewable resources. Together, Bootstrap Compost and Buckle Farm are saving resources by reusing organic waste, lowering the environmental footprint of food production, improving food security in our community and providing residents of Boston with fresh, healthy, and locally grown produce.

To sign up, contact Farmer Jim at bucklefarm@gmail.com and tell him Bootstrap sent you. More info on http://www.bucklefarm.com and http://www.bootstrapcompost.com.