Farm Fresh Food
We have renewed our goal of healthy eating for our family recently. Joe and I have always tried to eat healthy - aiming for fresh, organic foods, eliminating fast food and anything with high fructose corn syrup. It is especially important to us now that Rosie is eating more, and basically eating off our plates, and we want to make sure she gets only the best - so we have to follow the nutrition guidelines we want for her.
This was made even more apparent after reading some great articles in The Nation about the food we eat and how it is produced and how long it travels to actually get to our table.
A couple of these articles can be found here and here
Even the word “organic” cannot be taken at face value nowadays as the execs at Kraft and other food giants have paid and lobbied to get the requirements for “organic” food to fit their manufacturing - allowing certain chemicals and practices that are NOT organic at all. Not only that, but the average american meal has traveled over 3000 miles before it gets to your table - so the food you are getting is NOT really fresh, and think of the cost of the gas to get the food across the country!
So, the best way to eat is to find a local farm near you, and get your food from them. Joe and I joined a CSA this year (Community Supported Agriculture) and paid to be members and shareholders of this organic farm near us Maple Creek Farm.
We split a share with friends of ours and we get a ton of fresh fruit and veggies each week - as an example - last week we got:
Spinach (no e-coli scare for us!), green beans, snap peas, turnips, red potatoes, eggplant, butternut squash, apples, pears, arugula, bell peppers, and I think that is it…. We get a really wide variety of produce each week and I actually have a hard time finding ways to use all of it. We have really expanded our horizons and tried new veggies and recipes this year (who knew I would LOVE beet greens?)
We also had a potluck picnic at the farm last month and met the farmers and took a tour and it was amazing to really see where our food comes from.
Rosie and her friend M were playing and sharing the fresh food at our farm’s picnic.
They have 80 acres and it was interesting to hear about crop rotation, cover crops, and other aspects of real farm life.
I want to find a dairy farm and start to get my milk and eggs and any meat fresh from a local farm as well.
Continuing with the farm theme, we went out to our friend’s horse farm last weekend, and they happen to have chickens on their property as well, so we bought some farm eggs from them ($1 a dozen!), and the difference between store bought eggs and farm eggs is striking.
Which one of these things does not belong here? (a little Sesame Street memory for you)
While we were at the horse farm, I actually got on a horse and rode
(well, was lead around) for the first time in over 20 years and it was great! I am hoping to take lessons and make it a more regular (well, semi-regular) part of my life.
Rosie really loves horses - except she still calls them “doggie”. But she had fun feeding them
and really liked petting them too.
It was fun and we hope to spend more time at the farm with our friends again soon.
