It's the beginning of a new season...yes, I know there is still thick, icy snow on the ground here in upstate NY, but the seed catalogs have been arriving and the planning has begun. I took some time away from the blog to re-evaluate what I was really trying to accomplish and decided when the bulk of the "work" began, I would head back to share my efforts. And here we are...only a couple of weeks away from the day when I put my precious seeds in their growing cells and coax them out of hibernation into the warm indoor air of our home. They will spend a few weeks alternating between the cool, artificially lit basement and the warmer sunny windows of the back bedroom in our home. All the while, I will be dreaming of their new homes in the outdoor backyard garden. But, more on that later...
This winter, as I hit numerous challenges in my "eat mostly local foods" plan, I began to think more about what it really was I was looking for. Reduction of food miles? Organic certification on the label? Better taste and food quality? Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I just want to get back to the roots of my food. I want to know where it comes from and who is involved in the raising and producing of it. I want to avoid the food that have a negative impact on my health and the environment. And, I want better tasting, fresher food without all the artificial preservatives on most food labels today. Does that mean I am going to go cold turkey on my favorite processed foods? Not a chance. As much as I admire Barbara Kingsolver and her family, as they journey through a year of locally grown and raised foods (www.animalvegetablemiracle.com ), it takes a lot more planning and restraint than I currently have.
What I have discovered is that, while I have always hated the dreaded weekly trip to the grocery store, I look forward to my many trips to area farmer's markets, local food stores, and my newly discovered foodshed buying club (www.foodshedbuyingclub.com ). I love the socialization and the ability to ask specific questions about food's origins and the best ways of storing and cooking these foods. I like to meet the people and know that the people raising and growing my food know my name and my family. I also like the hunt, or most often, the discovery of a seasonal, local food that will soon grace our table.
I have had to really adjust my cooking habits, as I have always been a planner....to the extreme. Each month, I would plan our menus for the whole month, hit the supermarket for all the non-perishables at once and just go in weekly for those items that stock the fresh portions of the meal. Of course, this resulted in a mostly processed diet full of fat and sugar...and not to mention the expense. Yes, I had a low food budget in respect to other processed shopping strategies, but for lack of flavor and a lot of food waste. Now, I plan our meals as they come. Relying on whatever is in season right now and is fresh and local. We add non-perishables as we need them with a quick trip into a local grocery store.
I have stocked my cookbook shelves with interesting titles and glorious pictures of food...Local Flavors, The Harvest Cookbook, and a nice stash of books from the Barefoot Contessa. Each and every meal has been delicious and full of flavor. I have read many books on local growing, cooking, and eating with each one adding to my thoughts and goals. But, mostly, I have discovered that by including these seasonal, local foods, we have had tastier meals, reduced food budgets (yes, even with organic food in our cart), and happier trips for food pickup.
However, I am not perfect, and occasionally, even I tend to slip a few unnecessary items into the cart. Most often, it is some treat or another. My kids love seasonal PEEPs. We are a marketer's dream as we hunt for the once a year sugary marshmallow treats shaped like ghosts, hearts, bears, or bunnies. We float them in our hot chocolate and dip them in chocolate coating. And I have wondered, on more than one occasion, if anyone in the grocery store muses over the cart stocked with organic, grass-fed beef and milk, local apples, dried beans, cold pressed olive oil, and marshmallow PEEPs.
As much as I would like to eliminate all processed foods from our diet, I have decided that a gradual decrease is more likely to avoid opposition from my American cheese loving kids and salad-dressing-from-a-bottle husband. So, PEEPs are still in my cart, but surrounded by the goodness of whole, local, or pasture raised foods.
What am I really looking for? Ease of shopping and cooking. Better taste and freshness. Knowing where my food comes from and that it has been minimally processed and mostly in it's original form. Meeting the people involved in getting food to my table. Knowing that we are making healthy choices.
It doesn't come down to organic vs. non-organic, especially knowing that the cost of certification often prevents small farms from obtaining it. It does come down to food grown without pesticides, hormones, and under kind living conditions. I always choose local and/or seasonal when I have the choice. And when we can visit the farm or grow our own, that food will always be the first on our table. Nothing beats food eaten fresh from the garden or farm, eaten in the season in which nature intended...
And with that said, I have a stack of seed catalogs, a calendar to schedule planting and harvesting dates, and a few more books I want to read...
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