There's nothing like having a new child in the house to really make you think about the things you do and how you do them. I've been thinking a lot lately about what we eat. For some reason, I would never put half the things in my baby's mouth that I put into my own. I know we have junk in our house that's not healthy and Josh and I eat it without thinking twice about what's in it or where it's from...but for Katelyn, you better believe I'm reading labels. I don't want the food with the ingredients I can't pronounce going into my child's mouth. I don't want her eating all the added steroids, antibiotics and hormones. Our pediatrician gave us the green light to switch from formula to whole milk (whoo hoo). So I was at the store buying organic milk.
I've been reading the book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," by Barbara Kingsolver. (Aaron, I really will give you your book back one of these days!) The author's family moved from Tucson back to her husband's family farm in Virginia and as a family they committed to eating locally grown, organic food for one year. If it didn't come from their community, they didn't eat it. They grew much of their own food and ate things seasonally. In our consumer society where most of our food has traveled 2000 miles to get to our table, this is a radical move. What if more families made this kind of commitment? Health benefits aside (although this reason alone is a great argument), think of all the energy that's being used to process, package, transport, refrigerate, etc. All so that we can have food off season...packaged for quick convenient meals...loaded with preservatives so it can sit on a shelf. We don't think about how the animals have been treated, what they have eaten or what has been shot into their bodies to fatten them up quick. It's sad that we are so detatched and don't care whether it's humane or not. What's even more tragic is that we don't care that we are ingesting things that over time could hurt our own bodies.
I've been looking online for ways to eat organically on a budget. The reality for us is that we can't really afford a food budget that's a whole lot more than what it already is...but at the same time, I think that eating locally grown foods is the way to go as often as possible. Not only do the foods taste better and are better for us, but we are then, as a household, choosing to support local farmers whose very livelihood is dependent on selling what they have grown.
Also, cancer has touched our family in personal ways this year. We've known family and friends who had/have cancer and friends who have lost loved ones. I can't help but think that the foods we put in our mouth are somehow connected to at least some of these cases. Does anyone think that it's a coincidence that as our food has moved away from the local farms of the past to the mass producing farms of today, our nation's health as a whole has gone farther and farther downhill?
I'm not sure what this will mean for us, but two things I've read about/discovered today are: If you can't afford to eat everything organic look at the things you eat most often and the things where it will make the biggest impact to go organic...milk, produce, other dairy, meat. I've also been reading about CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) where you pay so much up front (looks like in our area it's about $600 for 20-22 weeks - mid-May thru late Sept/early October) and you get a share of a local farm's crop. Once a week you pick up a bushel (or 1/2 bussel depending on the size you pay for) of seasonal items that are picked fresh that day. So you are getting a variety...but you are getting produce as it's in season. I love this idea! I like to try new recipes and I love the idea of going out to a local farm and picking up a bushel of fresh greens, berries, squash, tomatoes, peppers, etc and then cooking based on what's we get that week. I really love the fact that our grocery money would go into the pockets of the farmers a few miles from where we live. I really, really love the fact that it's certified organic. I really, really, really love that we would be teaching our daughter that it's important to think about where our food is coming from and how it's been grown.
I think it's too late for us to really get on board with a CSA this year, but we'd like to next spring. Elmwood Stock Farm - a sixth generation farm...the largest organic growing farm in our state is just a handful of miles from our house. They also sell meat and eggs. Berries on Bryan Station is a farm growing organically with a CSA program and they are just 7 miles north of the church where I work. I drive farther than that to go to the mall for pete's sake.
This is all just something I've been thinking about and I feel like as the person who grocery shops for our family, I am not making responsible, conscious choices about the food we're eating...I'm making easy choices. Easy isn't always better...it's just easy. I feel that God calls us to make the best choice...the right choice...not the convenient one.
I'll let you know how it goes...
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