Local Food

The Local Food vs. Organic Food debate has been going on for years. Call me spoiled but I always wanted both. Our family visited a non-certified organic/ biodynamic farm this week with our homeschool group. Although I was very impressed with the knowledge and care of the farmer, some things he said just didn't sit well with me. One was the fact that he used conventionally grown cotton waste as compost. This is so wrong to me, "conventionally grown cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop and epitomizes the worst effects of chemically dependent agriculture. Each year cotton producers around the world use nearly $2.6 billion worth of pesticides -- more than 10% of the world's pesticides and nearly 25% of the world's insecticides.

Cotton growers typically use many of the most hazardous pesticides on the market including aldicarb, phorate, methamidophos and endosulfan. Cotton pesticides are often broad spectrum organophosphates--pesticides originally developed as toxic nerve agents during World War II--and carbamate pesticides.

Pesticides used on cotton even when used according to instructions harm people, wildlife and the environment. These pesticides can poison farm workers, drift into neighboring communities, contaminate ground and surface water and kill beneficial insects and soil micro-organisms." according to PANNA the
Pesticide Action Network of North America

And then this cotton waste is being put on "organic" produce. Where is the logic there?

I do feel for this farmer, he has not always been organic but felt that it was either make the switch to organic or lose the farm. And cotton waste is what he can afford. And he feels that local cotton waste is better than having to truck in organic fertilizer from California. Where do you draw the line? And he realizes that because of these cost saving measures he will never be certified. I hope that he finds more choices out there. I would like to visit him again and discuss more things. But I just can't see investing in his CSA knowing what I do about his practices. So for me I have never minded if someone wasn't "certified" but I want them to be honest with me and sometimes that takes walking out into their field and really discussing their growing practices.

But on the other hand sometimes when I am extremely low on funds or travelling, I do purchase conventional produce, (extremely rarely) or prepackaged food that is not organic. Who knows how far these ingredients had to travel to make it into that box. And what about restaurants. Besides the two local vegan hangouts here in our city I don't know of very many inexpensive places that try to use organic or local produce. This is one of the reasons if we go out to eat, which is rare, we go to either End of the Line or Sluggo's!
And at least this farmer is TRYING to make a living using organic and biodynamic principles.

We have heard of a local farmer who is certified organic and working biodynamically. I have tasted some of his produce at potlucks around. He has a "buying club" where you pay a small yearly fee and you can order produce each week and pick it up at his farm. I am very excited. I signed up tonight, paid my fee by paypal and I am hoping to get strawberries, kale and leeks tomorrow. Then I will head to the organic farmer's market to see what else they have. Now I know some people will think, Man, that is just three things but that is what it is to eat local. There isn't a lot of variety at one time. But the taste and quality will blow you away. And very soon the strawberries will be gone. So we will enjoy all we can now, freeze some and then we will be ready for blackberries, and then blueberries. While we may not be able to get bananas local (although I am looking into planting a tree here!!! wish me luck) and with thier extremely large carbon footprint we are trying hard not to purchase them even though they are mine and O's favorite easy quick snack. Here is some more info if you want to find out a bit more.
http://web.mit.edu/mitei/research/spotlights/bananas.html
http://carbonneutraljournal.com/wordpress/2007/04/16/hamburgers-and-bananas/

There are so many wonderful things to look forward to. And I think it will be worth the wait. So this week we will have strawberries fresh, in smoothies, in muffins and I will freeze some for my daughters birthday in a few weeks and so we can have strawberries for a while longer.
We will have kale mixed into miso soup, vegetable soup, a pot of curry, kale steamed with garlic and onion, steamed with vegan smoke flavor and tamari, and raw kale thinly sliced with ginger and vinegar, or raw with vegan mayonaisse, garlic and tamari, and just torn up and mixed in with some spring greens for a salad.
Leeks will make a wonderful casserole, soup, and vegan omelettes.
Yum...

I have something to tell you. I have children who eat. They really eat. Our 11 year old eats more than me most days, and I am nursing an 11 month old! Which doesn't mean that they aren't each picky in their own way. But we did not deaden their taste buds with cheesy crackers and boxed mac and cheese. Well, being vegan this would just be wrong but also I wanted them to love food as much as I do. It is so odd to me, children who have access to the most incredible tasting food, beg to eat cardboard. Well, if that is what you fed them from 6 months on you can't expect them to eat kale at 3 years old. We don't buy junk. Even our "junk food" has nutritional value. That isn't to say that we only eat straw and rocks all the time. To know me is to have tasted something incredible that I have cooked or baked. We don't eat gross food. As my brother used to say "don't tell me what's in it, just let me eat it" I don't hide unwanted foods in my kids meals. I am honest with them about what it is. I have a son who has never liked fruit in it's natural state except pears, watermelon, and sometimes bananas, apples, and pineapple. But I was determined to get fruit into him. So we experimented with different ways and now he will eat ANY fruit in a smoothie (fruit usually frozen, water, fresh juice or a nut milk, almond or hemp or rice milk) and he will eat some things frozen. We have also made frozen pops with blended up fruit and a little fresh juice or water. But everyday, in some form I make sure he eats fruit. Veggies are no problem, his favorites are asparagas and brussel sprouts (can you imagine?) But there was no one ever sitting there telling him that those things were "gross" and we don't read books that tell kids to hate their vegetables. (Why does anyone think that this is a smart thing to do to our kids?? There are soooo many books out there telling kids that if they were normal then they would hate broccoli. Ummmm okay. And we wonder why kids do hate it and refuse to eat anything green) There is one book by David Shannon, Bad Case of the Stripes, and it is all about staying true to what you are and what you like to eat!! Yeah David.


I don't feed our children baby food, I do not grind up our table food in the blender, I just give our babies breast milk and when they start reaching for our food I feed them little bits. If they are younger than 8 months I chew it up a little bit to start the digestion process and I make sure it is soft enough for them to gum. When they are first starting out I try to limit the number of ingredients to look for possible allergies and we try to stay away from high allergens until near their first birthday. We don't go heavy on any one thing. Start off small. Let them play with it a bit. Get used to the different textures and tastes of things. Funny story. L our almost 11 month old, loves pears and apples, will jump out of your arms for them. The core is his favorite but any one will do. And sweet potatoes, he starts drooling while they are still cooking. Well, a few weeks ago I got itchy to take a trip so I loaded up the 5 babes and set off as the sole adult to see my dad and other family and friends, we ended up eating out more than I would have liked and I ended up picking up a few jars of organic baby food because I didn't like how much convential food the baby kept being fed by well meaning relatives. But L wouldn't eat it. He spit it out, dumped it out, played with it but wouldn't eat it. I don't know whether it was the texture or the taste but he didn't like it. So we are back home and back to eating fresh organic, and local as much as we can.