The subject of eating is one that is difficult for many people. There is so much wrapped up in this subject. What to eat, how much to eat, is it worth it to buy local, organic, and sustainable? More and more people are beginning to make conscious choices about what they are putting in their grocery carts including me. The thing is that many people view eating organically and locally as something that only gourmet chefs do or only something that people with money can do and people don't know if it is all really worth it. I get that, I have felt that. Our culture has grown to think that food is to be a fast and disposable thing, with out taking much care in to looking at what it is that is in the things we are buying and eating. The sad thing is that many who can afford to make this change don't know what a CSA is,they don't know of these other options and have freezers full of Hotpockets and Totino's Pizza rolls. Of course I am not perfect, I still buy Bananas from South America and drink Coca Cola sometimes. I do know that while our family is not one that would be considered affluent by American standards I have this determination to find a way to eat the way I feel is most beneficial for my family and for this planet and for the sake of a change in our way of thinking toward knowing where our food comes from and how it grows. It has not been easy, but it can be done on a tight budget. Bartering is a good way to do this, we all have some kind of skill or talent and if we have the ability to use your hands and feet then you've got some. All it takes is an email or a phone call to the local farmers in your area most of them will allow you to help them out in exchange for produce. You can also offer them other services like web design, screen print their tshirts for them, offer to help with deliveries. You just have to ask. If we all tried to support just one farmer in one small way we can begin to see a change in prices and what is available to us.
Finding things like organic fruits and vegetables, free range eggs, fresh milk, and grass fed meat at the grocery store for now is very expensive. I have seen much cheaper prices for these things from local farmers that often run CSA's or Co-ops. Some CSA's offer help for those that cannot afford to pay the full price for their own share through a program called Feed a Family. One of the CSA's that offers this program in Illinois is Sweet Home Organics, they are very helpful and informative there and some of the nicest people I have spoken with through email. Don't know what to do with this kind of produce? they send out a weekly email newsletter that contains links to videos showing how to prepare and then cook the various things in your box that week. You can check the website Localharvest.org to find farmers in your area. The book Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes also outlines how you can find other people in your neighborhood that might be growing fruit and vegetables that you can trade for from your own harvest. If you have the land why not start a community garden where each person who signs up can use a portion for their own crops. Each participant can grow something different and then have a trade at the end of each week or month. This is another great thing that can be done as a family.
The art of growing ones own food has become largely a lost art, but its starting to make a comeback. It is a cheap way to supplement your food budget and it is also a great learning opportunity for the whole family. Our garden has led us to many interesting discussions. This year in starting our own garden I was shocked by how so much of it comes intuitively, and also how much of it can be learned so easily now through the use of the internet and books from the library. It just takes one search of your chosen crop on youtube and there you will find loads of videos on how to plant and harvest it. I was also shocked by how much of the basics I did not know, the wonder at the peas emerging out of the flowers on the pea shoots, I never knew that potato plants sported such lovely purple flowers. There has been nothing like this experience to make me feel closer to God in this way. It was like that feeling that you get when you see your newborn child for the first time. There in the garden with the dirt on my hands, caring for these seeds which will grow in to something that will feed my family I feel a great sense of pride and thankfulness.
Today on NPR Krista Tippet talks to Barbara Kingsolver about her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. You can read more about it and download the podcast here.
Stepping down from my soap box now...
