Why I haven’t written about Hugo’s restaurant before, I don’t know. I like this healthy, organic-friendly dining spot so much I had my birthday dinner there a couple years ago. In fact, when I lived in West Hollywood, I dined at Hugo’s once every couple weeks — the KCRW discount the restaurant offers being an extra incentive.

If you haven’t been there yet, here’s one big reason why you should stop by the West Hollywood spot — Hugo’s has something for everyone, from a green juice concoction for those on a cleanse to Chimichurri Steak with mashed potatoes for the really hungry people.

My recommendation for eco-pescatarians: The Barramundi Nicoise Salad. Sadly, this delicious eco-friendly twist on the nicoise — the delicious barramundi the restaurant serves is sustainable — is only occasionally offered as a special. However, last I checked, the restaurant lets you add on seared barramundi to any salad — which is what I liked to order (below) when the nicoise wasn’t available.

For the raw-gans, there’s the Kelp Noodle Salad (below) — a cool healthy lunch with a tangy-sweet mango sesame dressing. If you haven’t tried the super low-cal, light kelp noodles before, get them here!

That said, Hugo’s isn’t just about light, salad-y fare. You can get some delicious organic comfort food here too. One of my favorites is a special available around the holidays: the Portabella Potato Pancake Sandwich (below)! The crispy potato pancakes — stacked with grilled portabella mushrooms, grilled onions, roasted red bell peppers, goat cheese, and fresh basil pesto — aren’t exactly low-calorie, but they are a rich and delicious treat.

The rest of the year, there’s the flavorful Tika Masala Vegetable Patties (below), made with organic sprouted mung beans and other yummies then covered in a savory Indian sauce. I also like the filling Moroccan-Style Stew and the Tres Tacos!

Green diners love that almost everything at Hugo’s is organic and local, while picky eaters love the precise labeling system of Hugo’s menu. Little symbols mark vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and organic items — and many dishes are veganizable with organic tofu or veggie patties. Of course, carnivores can rest assured that their meals are sustainable too, since Hugo’s gets Chino Valley Ranch organic veg-fed eggs, free range turkey, and other better-for-the-planet proteins.

Not all of Hugo’s dishes are wins, however. I’ve had some very bland dishes there — where taste really seemed to have been sacrificed for nutrition’s sake — and was bitterly disappointed by the restaurant’s Scharffen Berger Hot Chocolate, the description for which sounded like a rare treat (“from rare Venezuelan criollo beans and whole Tahitian vanilla”) but ended up just being a so-so hot beverage. The restaurant’s especially weak on desserts. I’m not too taken with the blandish vegan New York Style Blueberry Cheesecake — and I once tried a quinoa cake special that tasted like a big, bland, brick.

But what Hugo’s does well, it does really well. My favorite dessert at Hugo’s is the vegan Pumpkin Pie — a deliciously spicy smooth treat in a coconut and pecan crust and topped with pumpkin seed brittle (above)! And the healthier pecan-stuffed Brownie Tort (below) isn’t bad either

What’s your favorite dish at Hugo’s?

Hugo’s Restaurant. 8401 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. 323.654.3993. Locations also in Studio City and Agoura Hills.

Earlier this month, I raved about the organic juice Ritual Cleanse. Now, I’ve found a liquid cleanse that’s also all organic and all raw — but includes wellness shots and free nutritional consulting — for $60 a day!

This cleanse is the Earthbar Rejuvenation Cleanse. The WeHo juice hotspot’s just started offering customized juice and smoothie cleanses — and I got to try one out on a fast day for my Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse. The day started with me dropping by Earthbar as soon as they opened at 8 am to pick up a cooler full of six, 16-ounce drinks and two wellness shots — then racing home to get started.

First thing down the hatch: The Wellness Shot, a concentrated mix of lemon-ginger-cayenne elixir that overpowered my senses enough to jolt me awake! Then I sipped the two alkalizing green juices — Total Greens and Gimme Greens — both available by the glass at Earthbar locations all day.

It’s amazing how green juices can keep you full all morning. They’re energizing without being filling — at least if you’re only juicing for one day! For lunch, I drank the raw almond milk — lightly flavored and sweetened with dates and vanilla bean — for a little extra protein kick.

Early afternoon came the E3 Live shot, an organic, wild-harvested blue-green algae drink that tasted — like bland green water. I quickly moved on to tastier fare though. The Liver Cleanse — a mix of ginger, lemon, beet, green apple and aloe — was sweetly nourishing without being too sweet. And the fresh coconut water was so deliciously refreshing that it put those Tetrapaks of less-than-fresh coconut water to shame.

I saved the best for last — The thick, rich, and chocolatey Raw Recovery Shake, made with fresh coconut milk, raw sprouted protein and fiber, antioxidant cascade, and raw cacao — lightly sweetened with dates and stevia. The delicious raw chocolate drink’s decadently filling and nourishing — without the cloying too-sweet taste or the food coma-inducing heaviness. True to the cleanse’s purpose, this drink’s a lot less sweet than, say, the Mayan Cacao shake on Earthbar’s regular menu — but even more filling and, IMHO, tastier.

That’s Earthbar’s basic program — which comes to $60 a day. But as I mentioned, each cleanse comes customized. There’s no one-size-fits-all program you can just order online with a credit card. Instead, you need to email cleanse@earthbar.com to get your cleanse, at which point Earthbar’s Noah Bubman will get in touch with you to talk about your nutritional needs and health goals — then tailor the program to suit your needs. That might mean you might get a ginseng tea to boost energy, carnitine shots to boost your metabolism, or other tinctures and herbs to customize, augment, or modify the cleanse.

So your Earthbar Rejuvenation Cleanse might look rather different from mine. If you do it, let me know what goodies you got to try — and how you liked it. At the moment, Earthbar’s cleanse is available by pick up only from the West Hollywood store, though plans are in progress to add a delivery option.

Earlier: Ritual Cleanse: Fresh, organic juice feasts made deliciously easy

On Earth Day, I took an after-work hike up Runyon Canyon in West Hollywood, then settled in for the night with an eco-themed movie — to watch the screen show a fellow West Hollywoodian hike up Runyon Canyon!

Who is this neighbor doing the same thing I’m doing but making a film about it? That would be Sebastian Copeland, environmental photographer extraordinaire — except to be fair, he and I don’t exactly hike alike. Unlike me, Sebastian hit the trails wearing a 100-pound vest. Why? Because he was training to trek to the North Pole. On foot.

Sebastian accomplished that cold goal back in 2009 — and documented his journey into an eco-documentary that came out this month called “Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul.” The film begins with Sebastian undergoing an intense training regime in California before moving on to a hardcore winter boot camp in Minnesota — then follows the eco-activist to the arctic — where he, with a fellow traveler called Keith Heger, makes the slow two-month, 400+ mile trek on foot to get to the North Pole.

Why this crazy cold walk? “Into the Cold” seeks to draw attention to the effects of climate change. Sebastian made his trek on the centennial of Admiral Peary’s 1909 trek to the North Pole — capturing gorgeous images of the Arctic for posterity — because by the bicentennial in 2109, the Arctic as we know it will no longer exist, thanks to global warming.

Along the journey, Sebastian and Keith suffer frostbites, dangerous icy adventures, and temperatures below -50 degrees Farenheit. But aside from a few anxious moments, “Into the Cold” is a quiet film. After all, most of Sebastian and Keith’s adventure consists of a painfully steady, near-silent plodding along in a white barren landscape for days on end.

As such, I actually wished for more soul, more introspection in this documentary. When asked about his personal reasons taking the trip at the beginning of the film, Sebastian says he seeks some sense of peace — yet doesn’t go any further into what compels him towards these highly-challenging, painstakingly difficult trips. The end of the film left more questions than answers. Did Sebastian find the peace he was seeking? What, if anything, did he find for himself in this journey of the soul? Is personal peace possible in a melting world?

Mostly, “Into the Cold” left me with a sense of discomfiting wonder — at the beauty of the Arctic (seen in HD, no less), and the restlessness of the human soul. “Into the Cold” is now available on DVD for $24.95.

Photos via Into the Cold

My new go-to spot for a fast superfood fix: Earthbar. Here you can get a quick sweet meal full of healthy, organic ingredients — like the Acai Bowl (above). This healthy vegan twist on the yogurt parfait has three layers: A blended, yogurt-like bottom of acai, banana, hemp milk, and add ons of your choice — in my case, almond butter for an extra nutty protein kick, homemade granola in the middle, and fresh bananas and strawberries on top.

The Acai Bowl actually comes in a large cup — and makes for a very filling lunch! For a lighter meal or snack, Earthbar also offers lots of fresh organic juices and smoothies. My friend Traci got an Earth Berry organic smoothie (below) — blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries sweetened with agave and blended in coconut water.

Need something you can really chew on? Earthbar’s bars are fresher, superfood-ier alternatives to the run-of-the-mill energy bar. The organic bliss bar, for example, is made with raw almonds, cashews, goji berries, cacao nibs, agave, hemp seeds, maca, flax seeds, sea salt — all for $3.75. The crumbly discs may not look like what you usually think of as an energy bar — but I personally really like the Organic Spirulina Bar for its extra green flavor.

According to Earthbar’s Noah Bubman, Earthbar’s committed to getting certified organic fruits — bought locally when possible. Of course, some of the superfoods Earthbar uses can’t be grown in California — but Earthbar still opts for organic certified options.

Earthbar’s flagship spot in West Hollywood also offers lots of vegan-friendly eats, packaged salads and wraps from Greenleaf, and raw foods to go. The store portion of the location offers a lot of health supplements and vitamins too — though I don’t use those myself.

The one downside of dining at Earthbar — as with other to-go spots — is the single-use cups and bowls. Still, Earthbar’s opted to go styrofoam-free with its compostable containers — unlike most Jamba Juice and other smoothie stores.

Of course, an Earthbar organic superfood smoothie will cost you more than the weak stuff at Jamba Juice. Simple smoothies start at $6.95 before the add-ons; my almond butter-fortified acai bowl cost me $12.45 with tax.

But it was worth it. The West Hollywood location is Earthbar’s only stand-alone location now, but many Equinox locations have Earthbars attached to them. All of those spots are open to the public — except the most recently opened Equinox Century City location. New Earthbar locations are scheduled to open at Equinox Irvine and Equinox Pasadena in the next few months.

Earthbar. 8365 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood. 323.301.4980.

The organic dining competition’s heating up in West Hollywood. Tender Greens, O! Burger, and Hugo’s Restaurant now have a new green friend — Fresheast, an organic, pan Asian eatery in West Hollywood.

This casual dining spot serves your favorite Asian dishes — made organic and healthy. Opt for the Korean Bulgogi Bowl (above) made with Harris Ranch certified natural beef, Chinese Mongolian Chicken made with natural Jidori Chicken, or the Japanese Green Tea Salmon (below) made with certified organic Shetland Salmon. Thai and Indian dishes are represented too.

But for veg and vegan readers: Fresheast isn’t all about the meat. In fact, my favorite dishes were the vegan ones. The Green Tea Salmon was a tad too bland and the Bulgogi a tad too sweet — but both the vegan Japanese Vegetable Curry and Indian Vegetable Curries (below) were deliciously seasoned and perfectly nourishing.

Many meals are available as bowls or wraps, with the option of white or brown rice, quinoa, or a baby greens salad. And according to Fresheast’s website, grapeseed oil is the healthy cooking oil of choice and the produce served is local and organic whenever possible.

The staff’s friendly, the hours inviting, and the service fast. Order up front, take your number, and sit at the counter or at one of the eco-friendly kirei board tables inside — or in the shaded outdoor area to watch the WeHo crowd go by.

One downside for zero-waste fanatics is that this grab and go spot uses only disposables. The plates and bowls, to be fair, are made from fallen palm leaves, the flatware compostable, and the to-go boxes are compact-sized and made with 100% recycled paper. I suggest taking your own reusable utensils to cut back on the waste.

Fresheast. 8951 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood. 310.859.9989. Open daily 11 am – 11 pm.

That’s why the news that building L.A.’s Subway to the Sea would only relieve traffic congestion by 1 percent doesn’t disappoint me at all. Once that subway gets built, it’s bye-bye to fighting traffic — and hello to hopping on a subway train that’ll get me from Union Station to UCLA — in just 25 minutes.

The 1 percent statistic was announced as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/ Environmental Impact Report for the Westside Subway Extension — or to put it in layperson’s terms, a draft study of how extending the Purple Line down Wilshire (and perhaps the Red Line through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills too) all the way to the beach would affect the city.

Even if you’re a diehard driver, there are good selfish reasons to support the Westside Subway Extension. Think a 1 percent improvement’s too measly an improvement to be worth pursuing? Zach Behrens at LAist points out that without the subway, traffic will get a whole lot worse instead of very slightly better: “Population growth means more vehicles on the road. Metro estimates about a 26% increase in daily vehicle miles traveled within the westside subway extension area.”

Ready to start riding the subway? Well, it’ll be a little while. Steve Hymon at Metro’s The Source blog spells out just how long you may have to wait:

Under the long-range plan adopted by the Board of Directors of Metro last year, the subway would reach Fairfax by 2019, Century City by 2026 and Westwood by 2036 using a combination of Measure R sales tax money and federal funds. Why so long? Because the subway to Westwood is expected to cost about $4 billion and sales tax money flows into local coffers over time — not all at once. Measure R funds also have to fund a plethora of other projects promised to county voters.

However, there is a plan to speed up construction of the subway. The 30/10 Initiative being pursued by Metro — and backed by many other politicians, environmental, business and labor groups — would use federal loans and other financing to try to build 12 Measure R transit projects in the next 10 years. So there’s hope.

Want to help get the subway built sooner rather than later? Then you’ve got to get involved with making the Westside Subway Extension a reality. Read the executive summary of the draft EIR (PDF) — or if that 64-page PDF is just too painful, read Steve’s quick bullet points about the report at The Source.

Then get thee to one of the public meetings about the draft EIR! Those will happen from 6 pm – 8 pm on:

>> Mon., Sep. 20, LACMA West – Terrace Room, 5th Fl., 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

>> Tue., Sep. 21, Westwood United Methodist Church – Fellowship Hall, 3rd Fl., 10497 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles

>> Wed., Sep. 22, Plummer Park – Community Center, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.

>> Mon., Sep. 27, Roxbury Park – Auditorium, 471 S Roxbury Dr., Beverly Hills.

>> Wed., Sep. 29, Santa Monica Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.

After Metro collects feedback until Oct. 18, Metro officials will select a route for construction on Oct. 28 — after which will come a final environmental impact report, followed by actual action to start building the subway (the process is more complicated than I’ve made it sound; see page 2 of the executive summary for the wonky details).

Earlier: Find out what the Subway to the Sea stations near you will look like

Images via Metro

In this yummy skin concoction, an honey mask meets a gentle walnut scrub. Concocted by Josh Rosebrook, senior stylist at West Hollywood hair salon The Parlour on 3rd, this exfoliator’s full of organic herbal extracts — from bilberry to white willow bark to ginkgo leaf — combined with very finely ground walnut shells and organic essential oils in an organic honey base. Open the jar and you’ll get an intense herbal scent — by which I mean real, organic, botanical herbs, not the weird synthetic stuff that gives Herbal Essences its not-so-natural odor.

For green beauty seekers used to exfoliating with a scrub, washing off, then reapplying a face mask, Josh Rosebrook’s exfoliator will simplify your routine. Just apply a small amount of the product in a circular motion to exfoliate, then leave the stuff on to work its magic as an herb-and-enzyme honey mask — for as little as 10 minutes to as long as an hour — before rinsing off.

I was a little nervous before using Josh Rosebrook’s exfoliator because I was concerned the walnut shells would be too abrasive for my skin — but I found that the shells were ground into very fine granules that did their work gently and that the honey and enzyme mask left my skin feeling healthy and pampered. That, plus the fact that this exfoliator’s really about as organic and natural as a product can get, makes me think the product will be replacing my usual Arcona Cranberry Gommage as my favorite exfoliator.

There is a downside to this coveted skin care elixir full of high-end organic ingredients, however. At $60 for a 2-ounce jar, Josh Rosebrook’s exfoliator doesn’t come cheap. A small amount of the product goes a long way, though, and if you were spending more than $60 to buy separate scrubs and masks, this exfoliator could actually save you money.

Find Josh Rosebrook’s Active Enzyme Exfoliator at The Parlour on 3rd, both in store or by calling 323.651.4200, and expect other L.A.-area spas and boutiques to start offering this product in the fall.

>> L.A.’s turning into a cyclist’s paradise for a day, when CicLAvia rolls into town. Come Sun., Sept. 12 from 10 am to 3 pm, 7 miles of roads from Boyle Heights to East Hollywood will be closed to cars — and open to bikes and vibrant, car-free streetlife. (via LAist)

>> Prep for CicLAvia by taking the FREE Confident City Cycling Course sponsored by the City of West Hollywood. Local bike activist Ron Durgin will be teaching the class, which includes a class session on Sat., July 10 and an on-the-road session Sat., July 17. Classes frun from 11 am – 4 pm both days; contact Ron at 424.288.1747 or rdurgin@gmail.com to sign up. (via Be a Green Commuter)

Photo by ubrayj02

365 new dresses for $365 in 365 days. That’s the happiness goal of sorts Marisa Lynch set for herself when, just months before her 30th birthday, she got laid off. Losing a job means hitting the streets with a resume to some, wallowing in grief for others. But for Marisa, it meant getting the sewing machine out and upcycling thrifted fashions. Every day.

“I was just in this not-feeling-good, crummy kind of mood, and I didn’t know how to kick it,” says Marisa. That’s when Marisa saw Julie & Julia. “[Julie] was finding something to do every day that made her feel great. I was jealous. I thought, I want to find that.”

Thus, New Dress A Day entered the blogosphere. The task: To make a new fashion piece a day — on a budget of a dollar a day — for an entire year.

Think the uber-frugal budget and tight turnaround requirements can only mean shoddy, unfashionable duds? Not for Marisa. All you have to do is see take a quick glance at New Dress A Day to see that while this West Hollywood resident may be short on money and time, she’s never short on style.

She’s also got an imaginative fashion sense, serious sewing skills, and some awe-inspiring powers of transformation. In each of her daily posts, Marisa shares the story — and impressively fugly before photo — of an old vintage dress found at a thrift shop or garage sale. Then comes the chic and cute after photo — along with details of where she wore the new-again outfit and how it was received. Earlier this month, for example, Marisa took a somewhat frightening-looking blue gown reminiscent of a Disney magician’s suit, and transformed it into a cool blue shirt perfect for her outing to a Dodger game!

Always a fan of thrift stores, Marisa says she loves the “romanticism of wearing clothes from earlier time.” Marisa grew up seeing her mom — a home economics major in college — sewing things around the home, then learned to sew herself in a home economics class in 7th grade. Though she didn’t sew often, she did carry a DIY purse to her prom, made for just $4 using directions from a Sassy magazine.

Now, Marisa sews every day, under a deadline. The time commitment’s quite considerable. Marisa usually goes thrifting and garage sale hopping on the weekends — Jet Rag‘s $1 Sunday sales and the Melrose Trading Post are among her favorite stops — picking up dresses to overhaul during the next week or so. Once home, each trash-to-treasure transformation takes anywhere between 25 minutes to a couple hours, depending on the condition of the original garment and the desired design.

While she sometime gets an immediate idea about what to do with a piece when she first sees it, most designs take more time to evolve. “I’m picking stuff because of the fabrics and because of the patterns — and maybe because of the great hardware or the buttons on the sleeve,” Marisa says.

Marisa’s first post’s dated Nov. 27, 2009, but her birthday is actually in mid-October. That day’s when she upcycled her first dress for the project — but New Dress a Day didn’t officially launch until about a month later, when Marisa got the mechanics of blogging figured out. Starting Nov. 28 though, the outfit in the post is the outfit Marisa wore that day.

Marisa’s now 194 days into the project, working to juggle thrifting, designing, sewing, and blogging alongside her job at a music company and her social life. What happens once the 365 days are up? At the moment, she’s thinking about partnering up with a charity or other organization, perhaps auctioning off the 365 creations and donating the proceeds.

But those and other loose ideas have yet to be stitched together into a stylish plan. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she says. “But I’m not gonna stop.” Expect Marisa to keep on sewing and blogging at New Dress A Day until Nov. 26, 2010 — and beyond.

Photos courtesy of Marisa Lynch

Thanks to the growing interest in local, organic food, Angelenos can suddenly pick from a wealth of community supported agriculture programs with locations all over the metropolis. CSA programs basically let you invest in a local farm — for which you’re rewarded with weekly boxes of fresh local produce grown from that farm.

Some of the programs below have stretched that definition of the CSA a bit, to pool produce from more than one organic local farm, for example. Still, the general goal — to connect you to local, seasonal produce and the farms and farmers around you — remains the same. Your options:

CSA California
Cost: $25 for about 15 lbs of produce
Pick-up locations: Downtown Los Angeles, Mar Vista, North Hollywood, Santa Monica, Topanga, Valley Village, West LA (at Fairfax High), Westchester.

I tried out CSA California — and loved the delicious strawberries. This new, quickly-expanding CSA program gets most of its produce from Tutti Frutti, a certified organic farm in Carpinteria.

Take your own reusable bag — or else you’ll get your produce in a paper Trader Joe’s bag. The service requires an initial commitment of at least four weeks — though after pre-paying for the first four weeks, you can then pay for each week on site. Delivery service is available — but it sounds like you have to get 9 other neighbors to also sign up for delivery in order to make this happen.

South Central Farmers.
Cost: $15 a box — for a lot of produce (see Dave Bullock’s photo of the loot)
Pick-up locations: Culver City, Downtown L.A., Hollywood, Lawndale, Leimert Park, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, South Pasadena, Watts, Westwood

The now-famous South Central Farmers travel to a farm in Bakersfield to grow produce — then bring it back to sell it to Angelenos. The user-friendly website lets you buy by the week, month, or season — and even pay by Paypal.

Tierra Miguel Foundation
Cost: Roughly $45 per 15 – 20 lb box per week.
Pick-up locations: Altadena, Burbank, Cheviot Hills, Claremont, Costa Mesa, Downtown L.A., Echo Park, Glendale, Granada Hills, Highland Park, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Mar Vista, Newport Beach, Pasadena, Torrance, Valley Village, Van Nuys, and more.

Biodynamic farming fans can get all their produce from an organic, biodynamic farm in Pauma Valley, Calif., run by the nonprofit Tierra Miguel Foundation. See Jill Doughtie’s post at Eye Level Pasadena for a closer look at what the Tierra Miguel deliveries look like.

Perhaps the best-known CSA program in the area, the downsides to this program include the lack of exact pickup location info on the website, cumbersome sign-up process (you have to mail in a form) and the higher up front cost that requires to pay $700 in advance for each season. However, you can join mid-season at a prorated cost or get a two box trial for $90.

Abundant Harvest Organics
Cost: $19.80 for a box “that will feed one to two people” for a week; $33.80 for a box that’ll feed a family of 4 for a week.
Pick-up locations: Downtown L.A., Hollywood, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Topanga, Valencia, Woodland Hills

Abundant Harvest Organics gets its produce from local family farms — profiled in detail on the AHO website — though some produce comes from the Coachella Valley region, depending on the season. You can easily add on to your box extras like raw milk, eggs, and chicken at whole sale prices.

Silver Lake Farms CSA.
Cost: $20 for a box of produce
Pick-up locations: Silver Lake and Beachwood Canyon

Launched late last year, Silver Lake Farms CSA gets all its vegetables very locally, from one Farmer John in Echo Park and Tara, veggie grower at Silver Lake Farms. Become a member by contacting Tara at info@silverlakefarms.com or 323-644-3700. One downside: These CSA boxes are fruitless, at least until L.A. laws are changed to allow for sale of locally-grown fruit. Upside: Tara posts recipes for current CSA box ingredients on her blog!

Napa Valley Grille (PDF)
Cost: Roughly $35 a week for a box enough to feed two for a week.
Pick-up location: Westwood

This brand new CSA program’s run by Chef Joseph Gillard of eco-minded restaurant Napa Valley Grille in Westwood, where CSA members will need to pick up their boxes every Wednesday. The produce, grown by organic standards, comes from Country Fresh Herbs’s two farms in Tarzana and Somis. You will need to pay up front: $520 per thirteen-week season ($455 for winter) — or $1900 for the whole year. An extra bonus for this CSA’s members: A seasonal farm dinner will be held for all participants at the farm and Napa Valley Grille!

J.R. Organics Farm
Cost: Roughly $24 per box of produce — each enough to feed a family of 4 — plus a $20 one-time fee.
Pick-up locations: Mar Vista, Santa Monica

Get all your produce from an organic farm in Escondido. Because J.R. Organics also sells at booths at local farmers’ markets, customers who pick up from those locations can trade in items for other fruits or veggies they like better. 98%+ of the produce in the CSA boxes are grown at the J.R. Organics Farm, but some of the fruits come from other local, organic farmers.

You do need to sign up for a longer-term membership and pay up front, but trial 4-box memberships start at just $94 — plus a $10 non-refundable administrative fee and a $10 refundable box deposit. J.R. Organics also offers flower shares at $10 per bouquet, if you’d like seasonal, fresh, locally-grown flowers delivered with your CSA box.

Old Chimney Farm.
Cost: Roughly $30 for about a dozen servings of produce
Pick-up locations: Delivered to your doorstep in Malibu!

If you live in Malibu, this is about as local and convenient as you can get. Get your weekly box of produce direct from a local 8-acre permaculture farm — delivered to your doorstep every Tuesday between 4-6pm. This brand new CSA requires a seasonal commitment ($360 for a 12 week season). Sign up now — Only 7 spaces are left, and deliveries begin June 22!

CSU Farm Fresh Produce Bag Subscription Program .
Cost: $10 to $12 for a bag of produce for 1 – 2 people
Pick-up locations: Thursday Farm Stand at EXPO, 3980 Menlo Ave., Los Angeles

For low income or bargain seekers who live near USC, this CSA program sounds the most affordable, though I haven’t actually seen a $10 bag to see how much Community Services Unlimited — a nonprofit community organization based in South L.A. — deems is enough produce for 1 – 2 people. If the produce isn’t enough, you can opt for the larger $20 bag — still a great deal, considering the fact that the very local produce comes from CSU’s urban mini-farms and local farmers.

Subscribe for a minimum of four weeks. And if you’re a well-heeled locavore, consider paying the “supporter rate” — $12 for a small bag, $24 for a large — to help out your local farmers.

Amy’s Farm CSA
Cost: $20 for 6 – 9 varieties of produce.
Location: Claremont, South Ontario

This cute CSA program gets its produce from Amy’s Farm, a program of the nonprofit Southern California Agricultural Land Foundation that seeks “equitable access to healthy food” and “preservation of local space to grow this food.” According to the website, “A large percentage of Amy’s Farm produce is donated to local food banks and shelters.”

Farm Box LA
Cost: $50 for enough fruits, veggies, and herbs to feed 1-2 people a week
Delivery area: Most parts of Los Angeles County.

I’ve tried this service — and love it — but find it too expensive. That said, here’s one very local company that provides very personalized service. Farm Box L.A. is run by an L.A. woman called Reysha Fryzer, who personally picks up produce from local farms at the Hollywood Farmers Market — and delivers them to your doorstep in a big reusable plastic box.

Expect top notch service — from box contents and unique recipes on the Farm Box LA blog, to details on the exact farms your produce is coming from, to a veggie pickling service for $10 a jar if you can’t finish the entire box’s contents. If you can pay for it and could use the tips and help, the service is a uniquely handy one.

Auntie Em’s Delivery
Cost: $42 for 13 -15 types of produce, enough to feed 2 for a week.
Delivery area: Eagle Rock, Silver Lake, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Hollywood, West L.A., Downtown L.A.

Can’t be bothered to pick-up local organic produce yourself? Get it delivered via Auntie Em’s Delivery, which buys local, organic produce from Santa Monica, Pasadena, Hollywood, and South Pasadena farmers’ markets as well as some local farms. Delivery doesn’t come cheap though, since in addition to the higher-than-average produce prices, you’ll need to fork up a refundable $60 deposit — and be ready to pay a $10 fee every time you forget to leave out the reusable delivery boxes by 6 am in the morning.

Still, you can’t beat Auntie Em’s on convenience. In addition to the produce, you can add on prepared meals, desserts, cheeses, and other grocery items — like Truffled Mac and Cheese with Spring Peas or frozen pie dough — for an extra charge.

Farm Fresh to You
Cost: $31.50 for a box enough for “4 people or a couple that enjoys cooking.”
Pick-up location: Delivered to doorsteps all over the L.A. area!

I tried this CSA delivery service — and am still using it today. Don’t have the time — or don’t want to drive — to pick you your CSA box? Farm Fresh to You will deliver to your door local produce picked within less than 48 hours — if you’re willing to expand your definition of local produce to include those grown 90 miles northeast of San Francisco in Capay Valley. The produce comes from such various and far away farms that this program toes the line between a CSA program and a less farm-specific organic produce delivery service.

Still, customers can select the “Capay Valley Organic Service,” and all your produce will come from farms in Capay Organic Valley. You also have the option of going for the “Regular Organic Service” for more variety — but then some of your produce will be sourced from even farther away — including from farms outside California. The flexible program lets you opt for veggies only, fruits only, or bigger boxes.

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Tried any of these CSAs? Share your experience in the comments. Still can’t find a CSA with a pick-up location you can walk or bike to? Almost all of the above options are open to adding on new pick-up locations. You’ll just need to do the work of getting neighbors interested, finding an appropriate pick-up spot, and coordinating with the CSA.

Earlier:
>> Organic produce delivery in L.A.
>> Organic fruits and veggies, simplified
>> Organic meals, delivered in Los Angeles
>> Spud: Organic food delivery with a food mile calculator
>> Hacks for Locavores

Top photo of CSA California’s box contents by Siel; bottom photo of Tierra Miguel CSA box by Jill Doughtie