Last week, I came home to my roommate making meatballs.

My roommate is the exceptional Emma Kilbride, also a reporter at the Vineyard Gazette, and also an avid supporter of local farms. For these particular gluten-free meatballs, she was using Allen Farm lamb, Mermaid Farm duck eggs and Mermaid Farm feta cheese, with herbs and accompanying produce from Morning Glory.

“I’d be curious to know how much more it actually costs to shop from local farms, rather than Stop & Shop,” she wondered out loud.

It’s a good thing she lives with the Gazette’s Farm and Field columnist.

Recently, I set out to buy only food grown or sourced locally. I loosely tracked the prices and compared them to a normal week’s worth of groceries, which in the summer includes a mix of trips to supermarkets and farmstands.

The result was no surprise: buying locally is more expensive. But money is not the only cost to consider.

Most of the food that ends up in our grocery stores is mass produced on large, monocultured farms. It’s harder for smaller farms to be as profitable, a natural issue of scale. Vegetable farms also don’t benefit from the government subsidies that support corn and soy production in the United States.

While Island farms may use tractors, most operate on a hand or small-machine scale, unable to automate in ways that would drastically reduce labor costs, said Lucy Grinnan, program and outreach manager at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society.

At a local farm or farmstand, grants can help take costs down, but it’s still up to the business — and the consumer — to absorb the price of labor and materials, exacerbated by the Island factor. Hay and feed, which must be imported to the Vineyard, is especially expensive for Island farmers.

“I do think it’s important to be realistic about what that takes because the return, particularly on vegetables, can be quite slim,” Lucy told me. “It’s really difficult to sell enough radishes to make enough money to live here.”

So, let’s be realistic: I spent a lot more on groceries than I normally do.

I bought my produce from Morning Glory and North Tabor Farm, and for dairy I went to Mermaid Farm. My meat was from Fork to Pork. The hardest part was grains. New England once had a thriving grain economy, and while local grain growers are returning, it is only on a small scale. I relied on bread, pasta and grains from Beetlebung Farm, which sources from Island grain growers and small-scale growers in the Northeast.

Not everything can be Island-grown. I still bought bananas, granola bars and citrus from the supermarket. But it was super easy to construct meals around only what local products were available. I made a few stir frys and ate radishes obsessively, much to my colleague Ray Ewing’s concern.

I also teamed up with a friend for an early-summer Island meal. We made scape-basil pesto with Beetlebung pasta and added roasted, Island-grown chicken and vegetables. I cared for my ingredients in a way I might not have if they had been shipped in from California or South America. I spent more time cooking, and my meals tasted better. Local produce is fresher — it hasn’t been sitting in a truck for days or weeks — and benefits from richer soils than monocultured, large scale agriculture operations.

I lead with these observations intentionally. In a place and era where the cost of living is already sky-high, making an effort to spend more on groceries is not always a comfortable decision.

But the very process of transaction when buying locally is different. I know the people who I bought from. I know which fields produced Morning Glory herbs — you can see them flourishing past the greenhouses when you’re walking into the farmstand. I spent an evening in February with Allen Healy in Mermaid Farm’s milking barn, and met their cheesemaker and the cows. There is a friendly black and white one named Manhattan. I’ve heard Jo Douglas from Fork to Pork talk about leasing grazing lands from neighbors, and how much she loves cows. I’ve spent time with Matt Pontarelli, the head baker at Beetlebung, surrounded by their stone mill and half a dozen bins filled with whole wheat. I’ve spoken to the farmers from Massachusetts that grew that wheat.

This is a privilege that comes from being paid to report on agriculture. But it’s not difficult to reproduce those relationships. The West Tisbury Farmers’ Market is twice a week. Talk to the people selling produce, ask them questions, get to know them. Go to one of the many farm tours and events sponsored by the Agricultural Society and hear about each farm’s unique approach to responsible growing. Wave to the people bent over in a row of salad greens. More often than not, they will wave back.

Not everybody can afford spending more for Island-grown groceries. This week’s column did bump up my monthly expenses. But seeing the farmwork and knowing the people who do it makes the commitment gratifying, almost exciting. The additional cost is an investment that supports healthy soils, responsible growing and a robust Island food system. It is an easy way for an individual to be more environmentally friendly, reduce waste and support local businesses.

Lucy had a similar perspective.

“When you’re buying a radish from a farm stand, you are directly supporting everyone who is employed in that business, and that money then goes back into our local economy,” Lucy said. “I think of purchasing locally as investing in relationships. You’re investing in the security of the community.”

Lucy also pointed out that one can also eat locally without spending more money. Island Grown Initiative’s (IGI) extensive programming, including gleaning, purchasing excesses from farms and harvesting for the food pantry, helps distribute local produce to Island residents. Stay tuned for a future column on agricultural excess and IGI’s work.

Responsible farming cannot continue without responsible consumption. We live in an era where we constantly complain about the price of groceries. I’ll suggest that instead, we choose to shop from places where we can carry that price with pride, knowing that it has contributed to a healthier earth and a healthier community.