My grandparents got me a great book for Christmas, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". I'm only a little bit into it, but it's got me thinking. How realistic would it be for me to buy only local items?
Fruits and vegetable we could easily do this. I would have to can and freeze more than I did last summer, but that is fine.
We really want to buy part of a cow (or maybe buffalo) but haven't because it is so much money to pay at one time. This year we are definitely going to do that. I am sure we could find local chicken to buy. We want to eat more fish, which I know we can buy locally.
Walmart sells Wilcox brand milk, eggs, yogurt, and cottage cheese. Wilcox does home delivery of their products, but the closest they come is Olympia. I e-mailed them to see if they would be extending their delivery to Shelton...so I will keep my fingers crossed on that one. I love their products...but hate using Walmart as the middle man. How great would it be to have home delivery of dairy products??? I would LOVE it! But I get giddy about silly things like that. :)
Other things can be found at farmers markets, cheese and honey are two that I can think of.
I make our own bread and I really like to bake, so what about things like flour, sugar, oatmeal, nuts, spices, yeast, cooking oils, etc? I don't think many of those are grown locally.
Some things like cereal, crackers, and granola bars would be tough to do without. And it would be a stretch to eat only fruits and vegetables that are grown here.
I don't know where to draw the line. Is my goal to support small farms? Or is it to help the environment by not buying foods that have been shipped from "who knows where" and uses resources in doing so? Or is it to have the healthiest things for my family and I know that nutrients are lost in the shipping of things. (produce mostly) I think it is a combination of all of them. I can buy things directly from farms using Local Harvest, but then they are still shipped here and therefore using resources.
These are the things I have been thinking of. Local Harvest is a great resource for finding local farms. Does anyone have other suggestions or ideas? Or do you know of things that can be bought locally that I haven't listed?
For now I am going to try my best to buy as much as I can local. It's a tough time of year to start though. I'll keep you all updated on how I do.
I'll write more about the book later because I have lots of thoughts on it.
These may be ideas that make Justin wonder what he got himself into when he married me. :)
8 comments:
i love it.
kristi...such a good post. all the same thoughts I have these days! it's hard to even define our idea of "local". I try to stick to washington/idaho/oregon...pretty broad definition of local, huh? and how does eating locally fit in with living frugally? beef and chicken aren't an issue, nor are apples, apricots, peaches, potatoes, veggies in the summer...but what about in the winter? does this mean i never get to eat grapes again, unless i go to wenatchee and pick them from my friend's backyard? pineapple? bananas? i can't expect my husband to give up things he loves, just because I want to eat locally, if he doesn't buy into that idea, and how does quality of life fit into this plan? i try to buy darigold milk, which is bottled in seattle, i think. but are those "local" cows that milk is coming from? and what if local isn't organic? which has priority. ay yi yi...trying to do the best thing is often so confusing...isn't that so in all of life, tho? check out the book Plenty. I got it from the library. It's an excellent book about eating locally, written by a couple in Vancouver, BC. I admire the way you care for your family!
oakland bay farm out on highway 3 has just recently changed hands and is now an organic farm/farm supply. I'm pretty sure they grow some grains...i'm not sure if you could get basic staples from them or not.
i think they sell eggs and stuff there too...
now that i'm saying this...i realize i don't really have that many specifics on what you could actually get from them...but you could go check them out...they might at least be a good resource on what other places are around.
or maybe just call...i'm sure with the little guys it's not that easy to go tramping around miscelaneous farmalnd. :)
Have you ever checked out the co-ops in olympia? i know its still not shelton but its all organic/local. I know you have to have an account or card or something to buy from them, sorry I dont know all the info, but i have a vegan friend who goes there and i know you have to have a card. Might be something to check out if you cant find the grains and whatnot anywhere.
I have also inquired about Wilcox Farms, so hopefully someday...but for eggs, it's easy to raise chickens and Justin can fish the Skok in August for salmon. My husband catches one salmon a day for the month and we are pretty much set for the year. We use "Azure Standard" and they deliver from farms in Oregon. We get wheat berries and grind our own flour (fabulous tasting bread). You can grow stevia plants in your herb garden and grind them into your sweetner. Stewart's Meats in Yelm has great organic meat, but doesn't Justin hunt? There's a lot of mushroom hunting to be had around here. Start buying up those canning jars at thrift stores right now and stock up for summer canning. There's nothing like a full pantry. Good for you for taking such good care of your family with quality food. Aimee B.
i love buying local. however i do very poorly at it. my room mate also eats very unhealthy so sometimes it is hard for me to eat healthy with all the junk he brings around. but i have pikes place market so close. i just need to go downtown once a week and get all my veggies. i am definitely going to be better at this in 08! let me know how your local buying goes.
you should come w/me to the co-ops in oly (great) and the farmers market there. i don't really start that till marchish cause of the weather, but w/school and all I was always over there so i'd stop by weekly to get all our fresh produce. daniel loved getting some meats, cheese, mustards/marinades, homemade dips, etc from there too. lots of variety, and not too bad of prices.
have justin hook up w/daniel and james to get some fish. those boys froze and fried more fish than i can count over the spring-late fall. i'm not the biggest fan, but it's good.
The food co-ops in Olympia are really good. I get my milk, eggs, and other dairy products delivered to my house by Smith Brother Farms. I'm not sure if they deliver to Shelton, but their products are really good, so it might be something you want to check out. The cows and chickens live out in Yelm somewhere, and the milk I get is usually 1 day old, which means they don't have to put any preservatives in it.
Post a Comment