The One in Which I Say She Was Right....

Eating 'local' is not something I've ever given consideration. Why yes indeed I am (er...was) one of those people who never thought about where our meat or produce or milk came from other than the store. Did I think about the chicken being from a farm owned by one of the only two companies who produce chickens now? Nope. Dora has been pretty focused on the health consequences of added hormones and preservatives in meats, dairy and even produce. The first share we got from our CSA include strawberries. I remarked on their size. Her response? They're small because they aren't pumped full of growth hormones. Strawberries on steroids? Nice.

Part of her campaign for eating local was gently cajoling (ahem...forcing) me to watch Food Inc. one Sunday morning. Repulsive, sad, and eye opening. It's not easy to watch, but I'd suggest it. If nothing else, it makes you think.

I wasn't too sure when we joined the CSA...and I really wasn't too sure about having a whole pig in our freezer downstairs but let me tell you...she was right. Healthier? Absolutely. But it also tastes different...better. Go figure. It forces us to cook outside the box. We have steak now, because of the CSA meat share...that's just not something we were buying before. We have cuts we've never had and we're forced to do something with. We have vegetables we've only heard of in passing (or, if you are me, you've never heard of before). Example: kohlrabi. It's a german turnip. Dora made a kohlrabi soup tonight. It's delicious. We paired it with homemade biscuits topped with Dora's homemade (CSA) peach jam. It's fun. And it helps to be married to someone who can make something delicious out of just about everything. Even if she's never met one of their kind before.

Our fridge overflows with veggies and fruit. Our freezers, both upstairs and down, are chock full of meat that hasn't been pumped full of anything. We stop every weekend at our dairy, where we buy milk. We're invited, of course, to go meet the cows from whence said milk came. Thus far, I've passed. C'mon now...it's summer. They are cows.

To eat this way is not effortless, nor is it necessarily cheap. Okay, it's not cheap. But we paid up front for the season, and obviously for Sausage the pig...and our weekly market trips total nearly zero. Cleaning products, bread and diet coke (ahem...from the earth, entirely chemical free soda) tend to be the only things that make the list these days.

Does any of this mean I see myself milking goats or cows and collecting eggs from our own chickens (or, apparently, ducks)? No. Excuse me. No. But I'll continue support our local farmer, so long as that farmer is not me.