BUY LOCAL- BUY FRESH
04 Jan 2010 15 Comments
in Books, Garden Fruits, Living Healthy, Vegetable/ Herb Garden Tags: Barbara Kingsolver, buy fresh, buy in season produce, buy local, farmer's market, organic gardening, seasonal fruit
Eating In Season Fruits
BUY LOCAL – BUY FRESH – BUY LOCAL – BUY FRESH
Buying fresh, local and in-season fruits and vegetables has become one of my more recent goals. Last month I read Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Good Life, which described aspects of farming in America and how produce is transported from the fields, then to the grocer, and finally to our dinner tables. This book along with other sources inspired me to make buying local one of my New Year’s Resolutions. Although some book reviews described Animal, Vegetable, Miracle as sounding “preachy”, it seemed to me that it was more of a goldmine of information on a subject that is not often on the evening news or the cover of magazines.
These reprinted excerpts from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle are specific quotes on this issue of “why buy local?”. Read the entire book for more and other very in-depth information on organic gardening, sustainable gardens, recipes from the garden, commercial poultry factories, etc., etc. You will most likely learn more than you wanted to know, or as it was in my case, I was quite surprised at how much I knew nothing about.
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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle : A Year of Good Life : “Quotes” by Barbara Kingsolver
- “Eating home-cooked meals from whole, in-season ingredients obtained from the most local source available is eating well, in every sense. Good for the habitat, good for the body.”
- “Waiting for foods to come into season means tasting them when they’re good, but waiting is also part of most value equations.”
- “Find your nearest farmer’s markets and local producers on the USDA Web site:
www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets
www.csacenter.org.”
- “Most standard vegetable varieties sold in stores have been bred for uniform appearance, mechanized harvest, convenience of packaging and tolerance for hard travel. None of these can be mistaken, in practice, for actual flavor.”
- “Transporting fragile produce dates back to the early twentieth century when a few entrepreneurs tried shipping lettuce and artichokes, iced down in boxcars, from California eastward over the mountains as a midwinter novelty….in just a few decades the out-of-season vegetable moved from the novelty status to such an ordinary item, most North Americans now don’t know what Out-Of-Season means.”
- “Concentrating on local foods means thinking of fruit invariably as the product of an orchard, and a winter squash as a fruit of an early winter farm. It’s a strategy that will keep grocery money in the neighborhood, where it gets recycled into your own school system and local businesses… it’s a win-win strategy for anyone with taste buds. “
- “Organic gardening nurtures and sustains the soil vs. depleting it with pesticides and herbicides.”
- “Locally grown is a denomination whose meaning is incorruptible. Sparing the transportation fuel, packaging, and unhealthy additives is a compelling part of the story.”
- “The increased availability of local food in any area is a direct function of the demand from local consumers… First: in grocery stores, when the cashier asks if you found everything you were looking for, you could say, “Not really, I was looking for local produce.” The smaller the store, the more open a grocer may be to your request.”
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On December 22nd I went to my local grocer and in the produce section picked up a cellophane “microwave-able” bag of green beans from (how many states away?) Ohio. I asked the produce manager standing nearby if he had any “local” green beans available. He advised me to come back on the 24th for a new shipment of fresh green beans saying: “green beans need to be fresh for the holidays and you don’t want them to be more than a few days old”. I asked him why they had this substandard microwave-able brand from Ohio if they could also provide local and fresh green beans? He replied, “people just want it fast and easy.”
I waited and bought the local fresh beans a few days later and they were worth it.
* Link to another garden blog I just discovered: 1greengeneration that supports local community building and organic gardening.
Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com Creating-Growing-Learning
Jan 04, 2010 @ 08:48:40
preachin’ to the choir, sista’ We shop our local organic co-op and frequent our farmers’ markets. I grow some of our food too, asparagus, blackberries and a few tomatoes. I hope to add raspberries this year.
good column
Jan 04, 2010 @ 09:33:32
way to go! keep it up!
Jan 04, 2010 @ 11:05:58
Studying nutrition, I’ve learned that local is definitely the way to go. A lot of these imported fruits and veggies were picked long before they were ripened, and so they didn’t receive all the nutritients and you’re getting less for the money.
While the frozen packages might not seem good… they’re actually the next best thing. They were picked as soon as they were ripe, so they have all of the nutrients, and flash freezing them preserves the nutrients. Of course, you can’t enjoy a nice cold carrot and dressing that way. Canned veggies are even better nutrient-wise than the “fresh” vegetables.
While it doesn’t have a lot to do with gardening, you might enjoy the documentary “Food, Inc.” – it really shows how much better organic and local foods are.
Jan 04, 2010 @ 11:32:31
I started FOOD INC. the other night and had to take a break, it was so disturbing. I plan to finish watching it this week. I do purchase flash frozen products at Trader Joe’s and they are always good. Thank you for your comment and information!
Jan 04, 2010 @ 17:37:44
Nadia, I agree with you. I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and found it inspiring rather than preachy. (Who can resist a character as enchanting as Lily?) Kingsolver’s book, combined with Michael Pollan’s food books, got me to increase the proportion of local food in my diet and to join a CSA.
Jan 04, 2010 @ 19:20:56
How do people buy produce at the grocery store? There is no taste in the fruit or tomatoes, go fresh and local, what could be better?
Jan 04, 2010 @ 23:31:03
Added you to my blogroll Nadia =) I like your posts, even though I’m not a gardener
Jan 04, 2010 @ 23:31:48
that’s awesome! thank you!
Jan 05, 2010 @ 08:32:19
I think I will go out asap and get the book. Sounds just like what I need. I am at the point where I want to take out my Roses and have all 15 raised beds used for food. We are planting some more fruit trees. (anyone interested in planting trees for home use check out google: backyard orchard culture. You can plant up to four different trees in the same hole!!!. Pretty cool concept. Nadia, we have also decided to get four chickens this Easter so we will also have fresh eggs! plus the kids will LOVE raising chicks!
Jan 05, 2010 @ 12:18:38
YOU GO GIRL!!! Now that is progress and making plans for a better tomorrow. That sounds fantastic!!!!!
Jan 05, 2010 @ 13:49:39
Just this past week I was in Trader Joe’s and Ralphs in Westwood (Los Angeles), CA and noticed both establishments posted signs in their produce sections that read “we buy local”. I didn’t investigate exactly which items were from the CA fields, but was surprised programs have been implemented.
First with produce, then later with other food products, the industry will slowly begin to depend more on local commodities. Global food markets exist because cheap oil has allowed it to. Only increasing oil/energy prices will cause industry to realize this is a finite industry and global food transportation will diminish, hopefully.
There is a self-narrated novel by a couple living somewhere in the Midwest (I think) who made a deal with themselves to only eat food that was grown within a 100 mile radius of their home for a year. They didn’t discard “>100mi” food items they had to start, but even so they essentially starved that year. Their unprecedented experience reads like a novel and is a bit verbose, but is called “Plenty”
An unfortunate consequence of modern industrialization is that we have no option if we want to adhere to what is right for our health, mental satisfaction, local businesses, and environment. Even if one only buys local produce in the market, they are limited to produce. What about the grains, spices, beverages, preserved fruits, and meats that complete a balanced meal? How can one be sure the cattle that produced your milk and flank steak ate a local diet?
Great blog post
Jan 06, 2010 @ 13:42:31
Great blog Nadia. Check out Be Wise Ranch and their CSA in San Diego.
http://www.bewiseranch.com/
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan is also a great read.
Jan 06, 2010 @ 15:05:18
Thank you for the tip, I will check them both out- great to have good referrals for good information out there.
Jan 14, 2010 @ 18:05:24
bought locally grown tomatoes this week and they were good.
Jan 15, 2010 @ 00:55:08
I love your blog, Nadia. It is beautiful. It makes me want to get into my garden and dig,dig, dig!
Thank you for your inspiration!
Allison