I'm learning about a lot of things. These books have influenced how I obtain my food and being more aware of where my food comes from.
People are more conscientious of what foods they put into their bodies and books like the ones I'm reading are definitely bringing issues to light and helping us make responsible choices about food. It's about choosing food that's good for you, good for the environment and food that just simply tastes good.
I'm hooked on my fresh, organic eggs from the farmers market. The yolks and how plump and firm they are when you crack one open into your bowl - there's nothing like 'em!
I've always loved the European (or Japanese for that matter) practice of shopping daily for food and it's a shame the busy American lifestyle has us shopping at ginorma-marts to buy our groceries instead of going to the bakery for your bread, the butcher for our meat, cheese from a fromagerie and our veggies from the greengrocer.
When I buy local, I try to keep the 100 mile radius in mind, but for me, I've extended the radius to make it the entire state of Washington. By doing so, I'm enjoying emmer pancake mixes and whole grain emmer flour to bake with. The photo below also shows some organic foamy soap from a local company that I've been wanting to try and finally got my hands on some of their products.
I also joined a neighborhood buying club to get grass-fed, pastured meat like beef and pork from Central Washington. For my first purchase, I got some ground beef, top sirloin steaks, italian sausage, a pot roast and some peppered beef jerky.
I'm totally addicted to berries right now. Strawberry season appears to be done now and the fresh raspberries and blueberries are popping up all over. I scored some tayberries (they're like a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry) and raspberries at the market yesterday and have made a mixed berry freezer jam with that too. I think I'll try for blackberries later on in the summer where you'll find them growing wild around here and make that into some jam too. I'm jammin' (heh) like it's going out of style. Why didn't I start jamming earlier??? It's addictive!
Oh yeah, I also got fresh organic peas!!! The sugar snap peas are so sweet and crunchy. I got some shelled English peas too.
So yeah, this is what I'm preoccupied with. Eating locally, organically, sustainably and reading all about it. Buy local if you can, because you are where you eat!
3 comments:
Great post! I am trying to make local changes over here and also extended my radius to the whole state of Wisconsin in order to get in on some beef I like...However, for my one local meal per week, I'm strict on the 100 mile rule.
Canning is addictive. I am out of control. I have 17 jars so far...strawberry, low sugar strawberry and strawberry lime. My name is Laura and I have a problem. We still have cherry and blueberries to look forward to!
Good for you. We are, too. We had organic beets roasted with organic onions and fingerling potatoes. Our meat people haven't been at the market for 2 whole weeks. I hope they're there this weekend. We are about a month past the sugar snap peas time. I guess we're wayyyyyy south of you:-)
Good for you! I joined a CSA for my vegetables this summer at Whistling Trains Farm. They also have a U-Pick berry place next door that they team up with. I'd like to know more about the neighborhood buying club for meat. Since Barry's not a vegetarian anymore, we've been trying to find happy meat to buy but haven't had much luck. Feel free to send me a message on Ravelry about it (yarnhooligan)
-Paula
ps. I was originally here to steal your freezer jam recipe. I'm trying it out today.
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