Thinking about food

This week I discovered that the "you play, you pay" concept has once again caught up with me and my jeans...so once again it's time to get back off (most of) the sugar.  There goes the peanut butter, strawberry jam, the Fig Newmans and the Sundrops.  Dang!

The great tomato panic of 08 has brought to mind, once again, how dependent we are when it comes to our own food sources.  Surprisingly, our local hardware store still had some tomato plants in inventory, so I've found a very warm spot next to our house and planted them in hope of success (growing outdoors is dicey and lots of hard work at almost 8,000 ft.).  For years I've been a member in a local CSA program and reaped the delicious benefits of my hardworking friends.  If you haven't had the luxury of eating locally grown produce recently, I hope you can soon.  Lettuce freshly picked makes grocery store lettuce so sad by comparison...even that from the local organic market.  It's just the way it is...it hasn't been on the road for a week or two before reaching you.  I've made a vow to start hauling myself out of bed and driving to town a couple of Saturdays a month to support our local farmers' market, as well.  I'm longing for fresh carrots.

We recently had the chance to watch an independent film produced about an Illinois family farm.  If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.  It's called The Real Dirt on Farmer John and is available from Angel Organics for a small, well deserved fee, if you can't find it easily where you live.  It's a story about the evolution of a family farm, going into this new century, and what ended up being a fabulous ending for an otherwise sad story. 

I didn't hear it, but Monte was telling me that listening to the radio program Bioneers this week Michael Pollen (The Omnivore's Dilemma and another newer book I can't recall the title of) was on discussing where our food's coming from and what we're actually eating.  I didn't hear the program, but I've often wondered if those so called "organic" foods we're eating that are flown in from other countries (China included) are tainted with who knows what and we're just not the wiser.  After all, if our government doesn't have the staff to check all the imported goods from China for poisons, why should we think it's possible to check all the imported foods?  I can't even begin to guess where the non-organic foods might be hailing from...Monte recently caught the produce guy at a local grocery chain unloading broccoli from a box stating proudly it was a product of China.  Ewwwwww!  Just imagine what could be in that, and what a horrendous carbon footprint it has.

So think about it...even if you can only find the time and space to grow your own herbs, it's a step in a good direction...not to mention the joy of seeing your own food grow before your very eyes.

PS:  I want you to know I'm doing my part:  I've become a local food group for a host of no-see-ums and who knows what else this last week.  I look like I have the measles and am scratching more than my dogs.