GONE LOCAL Week Ten: Now's the Time

I’ve always thought that as our society has progressed (relative term), locally owned businesses have been slowly picked off one by one, leaving us with a homogenized majority of stores. The stores of my youth – the Creamy Freeze, Save-a-Cent, and Lakes Market are long gone. But as I’ve gone in search of the locally owned stores I’ve discovered there is truly an abundance of them. Something is happening now. There is an energy, a movement if you will, that is re-focusing consumers on buying local again. Much of the growth that is slowly lifting us out of this recession is coming from small businesses – locally owned.

My best guess for the reason behind the momentum is two trends I’ve observed. The first trend was made necessary by the recession. This is the trend towards simpler lives. When things get hairy in terms of financial and physical security, we hunker down and focus on what’s most important to us – our health and our happiness.

GONE LOCAL Week Nine: Buying Local Bottom Line

When I announced that we were GOING LOCAL on January 1, my husband’s first comment was, “Can we afford to do that?”  I assured him we could, although I was not certain of that fact. Now, with two full months of buying local behind us, we are both pleased.

While we may have spent more on items like saline solution, birthday gifts, and beer/wine, we have saved in other areas. But the biggest reason our budget looks so bright and shiny, is that there has been less impulse buying and much less oh-that’s-such-a-good-deal-why-don’t-I-just-pick-up-six-while-I’m-here purchases most commonly made at stores like Walmart and Giant that I no longer frequent  Another area of huge savings has been the near complete halt to internet shopping. It’s much too easy to add things to a virtual cart and press “next,” without considering the consequences.

GONE LOCAL Week Six: A Girl and Her Hair Products

Buying locally is not always convenient. This may be the biggest deterrent to those of us who would rather buy from local businesses than mega-stores and chains. At first, I thought it would be the price that got to me, but the difference in price is not so substantial, especially when you factor in the quality. Plus, as I’ve pointed out before, when I am shopping the smaller local markets and stores I’m looking for specific things on my list and not randomly grabbing the great deal displayed on the end cap.

For me, the rub truly comes at convenience. Ever since this endeavor began I have enjoyed the challenges inherent in finding local sources for our favorite things. I’ve met some very nice people and discovered some surprising stores. Only one item has alluded me this past month or so. And it’s not a strange product. It is not expensive or difficult to find. It is my daughter’s favorite hair product.

Week Five GONE LOCAL: Buy Local, Buy Direct

This buying local is getting to be a habit now, but as I wrote a check for my Pampered Chef order as part of a fundraiser for the SPCA, I paused. Are Direct Sales local? If you live in a rural or semi-rural community such as ours, you are more than familiar with the party invitations that say “no obligation to buy”. When shopping and employment options are limited, it’s easy to see the draw of becoming a “consultant” or “rep” or “ adviser” for any number of Direct Sales companies. Tupperware is still out there, but boy has the landscape changed when it comes to home parties.

I’ve been to parties where we tasted so many different dips that I wound up throwing up half the night.  I’ve been to so many jewelry parties, I had to create a new system for storing my treasures. (see pic). And I’ve been to parties where it was necessary to draw the shades to protect the privacy of the guests as we perused the samples of toys, lotions, costumes, and tools that promised to add a little spark to our love lives. Sometimes it’s a great chance to get out of the house and enjoy some girl time, but more times than not I spend much more than I should and come to regret it.

Confession: I have been a rep for one Direct Sales company for ten years. In the beginning I went at it great guns. I didn’t know anyone in this town, and I used it as a tool for meeting new friends. It worked. Some of my best friends were a result of my business. These days the business is very low key. It pays for my own products, my cell phone, and provides an excellent tax write off, but I’m certainly not making any money.

There are plenty of people who do make good money from Direct Sales. Some of these people live in my community. So, even though their business is national and the national office certainly stands to profit much more than they ever will, do I consider their business “local?”  I do, and here’s why.

As I said at the start of this post, employment opportunities are very limited in this small community. This is why most people commute a healthy distance to work every day. But for those of us who are bound to this community because of family responsibilities, profitable work is hard to find. By the time you factor in child care and transportation, a part-time job hardly pays.

Enter Direct Sales. It’s a great solution for self-motivated people and they can work their own hours. But Direct Sales is no easy money. I know of which I speak. You can make money, but you’ll bust your butt to do it, not to mention strain the bonds of friendship and get tired of hearing yourself talk. So my sympathy goes out to anyone trying to earn even a partial living in Direct Sales, and I am ready to support them as a local business (this doesn't mean I’m hoping for any more party invitations though). I know these women are working very hard for every penny. They are my neighbors and friends and if I can help them to pay a few bills or take an extra vacation, I’ll do it. I’d rather give my money to them, than some large national retailer. And besides, who can ever have enough stoneware?

GONE LOCAL Week Two: Less Stress, Long Distance Drugs, and Where O Where Can I Find Nerf?

I’ve discovered that while going local requires a little extra detective work at this stage, it’s much less stressful. Hear me out.

When we are in need of something, say dog food, I have limited options.  Limited options means less stress. I don’t have to consider which store has a better price or a sale. I don't have to locate the store coupon which is always expired or not valid because of the small print I can't read without my glasses. I don't have to worry whether I’ll get a better deal on dog food at one store versus the other. I don’t have to figure out which store might be most convenient for my day’s kid-chauffeuring schedule. There is no stress created by the possibility of making the wrong choice. In fact I don’t have to make a decision at all about where to go. Plus, there’s no danger that I’ll go to Wal-Mart and wind up buying a cart full of things I don’t really need now, but might need sometime in the next month.

Since I’ve committed to buying locally, I know the best place to buy dog food is at the locally owned pet store where I know the owner and can stop and have a chat with the groomer who is one of my favorite people in town. I might even throw the dogs in the back seat and bring them along for their pedicure. Instead of it being a chore, which going to Wal-Mart or Giant or Tractor Supply or wherever I decided to get the dog food would be, it’s now a visit. Much less stressful.

The dilemmas this week revolve around the children. Don’t they always? First up, prescription medicine from last week’s doctor’s visit.

My cursory search for a locally owned pharmacy turned up blank. If you Google “independently owned pharmacy in York PA” it contains only five entries. This is a rare instance for Google. The first listing is a pharmacy in Gettysburg. The others listed are not independently owned, except the one listing for Maryland. Seems the pharmacy of my youth where the pharmacist knew your name and even which color lollipop you liked, is gone.

At first I thought I would have to travel to Gettysburg (45 minutes away) to fill the prescription. My husband justly complained. However, it so happens that I was headed to Gettysburg this weekend anyway for a conference, so it would be convenient. I promised him I wouldn’t go to Gettysburg for all our prescriptions, just this once.

But alas my husband's worries were put to rest because while taxiing my boys to an activity this week, I passed Minnich’s pharmacy. I’d never noticed it before. It’s locally owned, bright and clean and open until 9pm! The pharmacist even came out and talked to me personally. He apologized for not having the particular medicine I was looking for and assured me he could have it by noon the next day.

Well, first I have to say how refreshing to have someone check BEFORE you’ve waited thirty minutes to see if they have something in stock. And second, how nice they care that I have to wait a day. I’ve had pharmacy experiences where after I've cooled my heels waiting 45 minutes for them to not call my name, the beseiged checkout clerk informed me that they don’t carry the meds in question. "No worries," I told the nice pharmacist. I’d be back this way next week and could pick it up then.

I’m guessing that service is the reason Minnich’s is the last one standing amongst York’s independent pharmacies. Driving a few extra miles is much better than waiting in line at the Wal-Mart pharmacy  before spending thirty minutes buying things I don't need and being annoyed by the sheer fact of Wal-Mart. Sure, I appreciate that Wal-Mart is convenient, but it feels good to know it’s not my only option.

On Tuesday a birthday party invitation arrived for my ten-year-old. He danced around happily when he saw it was laser tag, and then announced “I want to go to Wal-Mart to get Michael a glow-in-the-dark Nerf basketball set!” Problem. Very gently I reminded him that we don't go to Wal-Mart anymore. “I’ll just find a toy store in York and we’ll go next week,” I promised him.

Well, here’s hoping someone builds one by next week. No toy stores. Like so many other small businesses, the mega-stores have put every small toy store out of business. There were a few niche shops for comics, hobbies, and gaming, but no store that would carry Nerf. After lengthy searches (Google failed me again), I finally found an obscure sounding toy store near the mall that has no web presence. I have to meet my mom at the mall this week to climb through another loophole on my buy local manifesto (more on that next week) so I shall journey forth and let you know what I find. Here’s hoping they have Nerf. I figure my out is to give the kid cash so he can go buy it himself, but that feels like a cop out.

And if that weren’t enough my daughter announced that she was auditioning for the Talent Show and if she made it, could she please, please, please have a new dress to wear? And could it not be from Goodwill? Well, my sweet little cherub, local clothing I can do. I proceeded to tell her about the independently owned stores in York City that carried dresses. I even mentioned the cool vintage clothing store that her cousin from New York thought was so awesome. She doubts me, but I got this one.

I can see that having fewer options when it comes to shopping for clothing for my daughter could be another instance where Buying Local reduces my stress. The clothes might cost me a little more, but the reduction in hours spent in changing rooms at Gabriel Brothers, Kohls, Target, Bon-Ton, Charlotte Russe, etc., will more than make up for it.

How Fresh is YOUR Milk?

I received the following e-mail over the weekend. Not only did I take heart in the fact that at least one person is reading (and enjoying) my rantings, it also inspired me to investigate the local possibilities once again.

Hi Cara ~

Just wanted to let you know that I am really enjoying your blog..... each and every entry! You give so many useful tips on how to create a better life for our families and I share your tips often with the girls at work.

One of the new things we are doing that has made me very happy......is having our milk delivered to our home each and every week. We have an adorable milk box (see pic below) and instead or getting mass produced milk at the store, we now have a local farmer deliver our DELICIOUS milk to our front porch. His dairy farm has been in business for over 50 years. We live in the suburbs so I never dreamed I could get my milk delivered like my Grandmother did!! He even delivers our FRESH milk in those great glass bottles (pic below).

The milk is organic and his cows are not dosed up with horrible drugs of any kind. When you call the farm to order the milk his adorable wife answers the phone and it rings right into their living room :) He is always on our front porch by 6:30AM every Friday and it truly warms my heart to hear him clanking those glass milk bottles. And the best part! (drum roll please) the milk is actually LESS EXPENSIVE than in the store. His half gallon of 2% organic is $3.25....at my market it was $3.50.

And most importantly, I am supporting a local business! I have told all of my neighbors and more and more of us now have our milk home delivered. Thought you would enjoy this and perhaps you can even remind people on your blog that they should do some local research to see if they can get their milk delivered to their front porch! The taste is so superior to that of the store brand. Lew and I cannot get over how delicious FRESH milk is!

I live smack dab in the middle of dairy country. How is it that my friend, who lives in the suburbs of upstate New York, can get wonderful home delivery milk and I can’t? That’s the thing about this buy fresh, buy local food movement – it’s dependent on local economies and local demand. If the people near you are willing to support it, business will boom. Maybe my area is slower coming to this because so many people are farmers or wanna-be farmers. Or maybe it’s that they’ve moved up here to escape the city, but are so far removed from farm life that they’re afraid of unprocessed products.

I don’t know the reason for my areas unwillingness to embrace locally grown whole-heartedly, but it just about kills me that my kids go to a school in sight of farm fields, yet the school doesn’t serve any local food. Everything comes from the big distributor, nothing comes from the local farmer. This seems backward when our message to our children should be that the healthiest food they can eat is whole food, grown close by. “Fresh” vegetables and fruit trucked in from the distributor, who had it trucked in from a supplier half-way across the country is not nearly as healthy, it’s already lost plenty of its inherent nutrients. The healthiest food is grown and harvested and eaten locally.

And then there’s the whole argument for supporting local businesses. It’s in all our best interests that local businesses do well. When local businesses fail, the local community suffers in terms of home values, tax base, and jobs. When we support our neighbors, we are also supporting ourselves (and many times, our health).

Cyndee’s e-mail inspired me to begin bugging some local dairies once again about the possibilities of home delivery. I would encourage you to pick up the phone or bring up your search engine. I was surprised to find that there were more possibilities than the last time I investigated two years ago. If consumers create a demand, suppliers will meet it. Basic economics. We can change the food system in the US. It does not have to be about processed food and mass marketing, we hold the power. Remember that. If you want to learn more about changing our food system check out the film Fresh.

Just googling “home delivery milk” and your city or state will bring up plenty of hits. But you can also try:
http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.eatwild.com/
http://www.eatwellguide.org/

Note: If you live in the Southern York County vicinity and would like to participate in home milk delivery (also cheese and other dairy and meat products) from a local dairy with hormone free, grass-fed cows (Apple Valley Creamery), please let me know ASAP. Please ask your neighbors and friends. We need at least 25 customers to create a viable weekly delivery route.

Blind Chickens, Blind Consumers

I’ve been thinking lately about how far removed we are from our food. What’s brought this to mind is the fact that I now have a blind chicken living in its own personal hutch custom built and attached to the garage. When this chicken survived its horrendous attack by the other chickens, my first thought was – Sunday dinner! I’m sure you’re shuddering. But really, we have 31 other perfectly good chickens and here is just one more chore waiting to happen. Why shouldn’t we butcher it? My children have lots of arguments for saving the life of “Kernel” (named after the ill-fated Popcorn who was carried off by a hawk), none of which amount to anything more than “how could you?”.


When I mention my disappointment to friends, they ask, “Could you really kill it?” I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve never had the opportunity. But I’ve been thinking that if I’m going to eat meat, I really should be able to kill the animal that supplied it. We all should. Don’t get me wrong – I think it would be incredibly hard. I’m certain I would have nightmares afterward and shed plenty of tears in the process, but I also think that morally I shouldn’t be eating meat if I can’t do the deed.

Not that long ago, everyone killed the animals that supplied the meat for their dinner. My father-in-law likes to horrify us all by demonstrating with a waving arm how he killed chickens back in his day. After watching the movie, Food Inc., I was convinced that we needed to raise our own chickens for meat. I explained, carefully, to the kids that these chickens would be so much better off than the chickens in the film. They would live happy, carefree lives right up until the moment we butchered them. No dice. I haven’t given up hope, though. They are petitioning to let our two broody hens hatch the eggs they have to be pried off of each night. I’m willing to make a deal here. But they haven’t yet decided that the joy of watching the girls hatch our own chicks would offset the final end for some of these precious chicks.

How many of us really know what we’re eating? We’ve become so far removed from creating our own food that most of us have to look up how to boil an egg or make a pie crust. Our grandparents could do these things in their sleep. I can’t help but wonder how the waistlines of Americans might be effected if they had to make all their own foods. If we ate only what we created with our own hands from ingredients purchased whole or grown ourselves, I bet we’d lose some serious weight. Maybe I should create a diet, called “Made (and Lost) From Scratch”.

Recently I came across an article with a quiz in it. It listed the ingredients in the average breakfast cereal, cracker, cookie, and bread. Then it asked the reader to identify which was which. It was impossible. In fact, you wouldn’t even recognize the group of ingredients as any food because most of the lengthy list would have been hard to pronounce. I love this quote –

“If you are what you eat and you don’t know what you’re eating, do you know who you are?” (anonymous)

It’s funny, but it’s also a very poignant comment on the state of the average person’s diet.

The next time you’re shopping, pick up your favorite box of crackers or cereal and take a look at the ingredients. Do you know what they are? Cause if you don’t, you’re gambling your health (and possible your life) on the trustworthiness of some huge manufacturer whose main consideration is how much you’ll pay for said product. You’re also banking your life on our government’s ability to regulate the food industry. They wouldn’t allow companies to sell something that would endanger your health, right? Of course not, just like they wouldn’t allow you to have a mortgage you can’t afford. Or allow an oil company to drill miles deep in the ocean with no safety net.

Be smart and remember, we truly are what we eat.

Eating Your Beliefs

My Groupie obligations led my kids and me to attend a church in Maryland this past weekend. After considerable WTB (Whining, Threats and Bribery), we cleaned ourselves up and headed down 83 to attend the service because dear friends were singing in the service, and I rarely pass up an opportunity to hear them sing. They sing as a family (think the Von Trappes with all grown up beautiful children). I can’t imagine my own children singing the same song, let alone standing so near each other. My kids were mildly impressed (although they were wildly impressed by the donuts – with sprinkles!). I thought they were great (the singers, not the donuts).

Anyway, during the children’s time, the church highlighted their children’s camp held the previous week. The theme was making choices about food that impact the world. I’m sure you can imagine my delight.

As committed as I am to sustainable living and organic food, I have never considered it from a spiritual perspective. The premise, I imagine, put forth during this camp was that our faith is reflected in the choices we make about the food we eat. How basic. We have an opportunity several times a day to enact our beliefs.

If we believe in the inherent worth and dignity of all individuals, that should include the farmers who work hard to raise healthy food. We can choose to pay them a living wage for the food they produce. Sometimes that means paying a little more at the register or seeking out the farmers themselves so we can buy direct. It might mean supporting our farmers markets or requesting more local, sustainably grown food from the stores where we shop. It can mean reading labels about how a product was produced before we put it in our cart.

If we believe that we are responsible for the other living creatures that inhabit our planet, then we can choose to buy from farmers and manufacturers that treat their animals with respect and care. We can buy meat that has not been grown in feedlots. We can support legislators and legislation that restricts the increase of these operations and questions the conditions in which these animals are raised and our food is processed.

I am not a vegetarian. I believe our bodies were designed to eat meat. At the same time, I feel strongly that we owe our gratitude and best care to the animals raised to support us. Choosing to buy meat directly from farms where animals are raised on grass and treated with kindness helps me to live that belief.

We raise our chickens ourselves and give them the best possible life we can because they produce the eggs we eat. As much as I joke about them, they are important to our lives and we treat them as such. Next week, I am taking my kids to the farm where the cows live that provide our milk. I think we need to say thank you and see for ourselves that they are living in happy and healthy conditions.

And here’s a powerful motivator for eating healthy - if we truly believe that God created our bodies as temples, then we will treat them as such. We will take care with how we nourish it. We make a decision about the value of our bodies every time we put something in our mouths. The next time those campers reach for a bag of Doritos, perhaps they will pause before they consume the entire bag. And when they open the fridge (and stand there for what seems like hours letting all the cold air out and running up the electric bill), maybe they’ll take a gander in to the fruit drawer and consider their options.

I’m impressed with a church that recognizes the personal power that our food decisions grant us. I’m even more impressed when they find it so important that they plan an entire children’s camp around the theme.

The service we attended was wonderful – beautiful music, a strong and important message, but it was the children’s time that really challenged me and made me think. (I think this is the case at many services, yes?) As you do your shopping this week and as you plan your menus, consider whether you are living what you believe. When we eat our beliefs, we eat well and we make a difference.

Buy Fresh, Buy Local

I’m going to assume since you’re reading this blog that deep down inside you believe in the need for environmentally conscious, locally grown food. If you don’t, you could just click over to something more your speed right now. I think the biggest stumbling block for all of us is reconciling the desire with the practicality. It’s just not that easy to find the good stuff and it’s not that easy to know if it truly is good stuff or just the same old stuff with a new label and a higher price tag.

It’s discouraging, but it’s not something we should give up on. The more we seek out and support local products, the more options will become available to us. If you want to incorporate local, fresh foods in to your life, but don’t have the land or knowledge or time to grow it yourself, than get yourself to a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. These farms sell “shares” of produce which means that each week you stop by the farm or the designated pick-up locations (many CSAs have drop offs in the cities or suburbs) and receive your share of that week’s produce. You don’t have a whole lot of say in what you get, but that makes it kind of like Christmas each week. Besides how great is it that someone else did all the grunt work and you get the ultra-fresh veggies?

When you join a CSA, I promise you will discover fruits and vegetables you never knew existed. Many CSAs also offer information on how to prepare the things they grow. Some allow you to come to the farm and work off part of the cost of your share through your labor. This is a great way to learn about gardening. Some CSAs offer eggs, flowers, milk, and meats in addition to produce.

Another great benefit of a CSA is that you can meet like-minded people and come away not just with a box of fresh veggies, but some life long friends. So it’s really a win-win for everyone involved. To find a CSA near you check out www.localharvest.org. Sometimes there’s a waiting list for a share, so if you think this is something you are even slightly inclined to get involved in, get your name on a list. And don’t think it’s too early in the season to start receiving produce. Despite the snow around us, spring is upon us.

Another way to find locally grown foods is to visit a Farmer’s Market. And be sure to talk to the “farmers” there. Ask questions and be skeptical of anything packaged or out of season. Not all Farmer’s Market organizers are very discerning when it comes to their suppliers. When you find real farmers who use organic methods, make every effort to support them. That means making a commitment to getting there each week. If that’s difficult for you, talk to them about other ways of buying their produce. Maybe they sell their products on additional days in other places or maybe they’d sell directly to you from their own farm. I think we get stuck in the grocery store mentality of our only options are the ones on the shelf in front of us. Speak up and you’ll appreciate the flexibility of buying directly from the farmers instead of the marketing specialists.
For those of you who live in Southern York County, let me be the first to tell you about a new Farmer’s Market starting up in my hometown – New Freedom. It begins this April on the third Saturday of each month. You can find it in front of the Red Caboose along the Rail Trail in “downtown” New Freedom from 10am-1pm. The organizers are just getting it together and are looking for more local farms to set up stands. If you or someone you know would like to apply for a spot, send me an e-mail and I’ll put you in touch with the right people.

I’d like to also let local readers know about another new opportunity to enjoy local foods that just turned up in our area. Well, actually it’s in Maryland, but since we basically hug the border around here, it feels like “our area”. There’s a new restaurant open just north of Hereford in the old Wagon Wheel Restaurant on the Susquehanna Trail. Souper Natural opened a few weeks ago and serves scrumptious soups, sandwiches and out of this world desserts made from locally and sustainably grown ingredients. They have fruit juice “sodas”, handmade breads, creative soups, and an inspired menu with reasonable prices. A friend and I recently had lunch there and couldn’t begin to describe the bliss experienced from their Blueberry Bread Pudding with Lemon Curd and Fresh Cream. Amazing. I watched as the elderly couple at the table next to us shared a Hot Fudge Sundae and were overcome with delight, so much so, that the other couple sitting with them relented and ordered one too. Wonderful place. I hope you’ll give them a try and help make Souper Natural such a success that more restaurants are inspired to follow their ways.

Finding local food is not always easy, but it’s the right thing to do not just for your mind and heart, but your stomach too!

School Lunches and Saving the Planet

One of the selections on last week’s school lunch menu was: Macaroni & Cheese and tater tots. I suppose the side dish of canned peaches swimming in heavy syrup qualified as the fruit/veggie. Two of my children petition regularly to buy these lunches. Their favorite lunch is French toast sticks with hash browns. We have worked out a fragile peace plan allowing them to buy their lunch at least once a week, twice when their argument is compelling or I’m feeling particularly wimpy. So I am overjoyed to hear that Congress is getting ready to upgrade school-wide nutrition standards this year. The first time in 15 years!

President Obama has set aside an extra $1 billion for child-nutrition programs and has challenged the decision makers to get more fresh fruits and vegetables in to the mix - “We’ve got to change how we think about getting local farmers connected to school districts.” Amen is all I have to say to that. Now would be a good time to call your congressman/woman and share your thoughts on the importance of healthy and local food. There is a national farm-to-school program in place that 9000 schools have joined. Pick up the phone and find out if your school is on board.

My daughter, my most challenging child to feed, brought home a paper the other day that had 5 tips for eating smarter. She was very proud to tell me she already knew them all. These tips were taken from a kid’s version of the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I’ll share them with you here.

1) Try not to eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

Love this one. I’m fairly certain my great-grandmother would not recognize a dinosaur shaped chicken nugget or Dipin’Dots ice cream. We had fun thinking of food that didn’t look like food.

2) Avoid eating packaged foods with more than five ingredients, or with ingredients you don’t recognize.

This one prompted one of my children to pick up the box of Cheezits, hoping to prove to me they were “healthy”. The list was nearly as long as the box itself. No dice.

3) Limit food and drinks that contain a sweetener called high fructose corn syrup. It has been linked to obesity.

Duh, mom. We know this one. I guess I’m a little over the top in my vigilance against the high fructose corn syrup. We all should be – they are dirty words.

4) Try to avoid food that doesn’t eventually rot. A food made to last forever is usually full of chemicals. Food should be alive and that means it should eventually die.

My daughter phrased it more simply, “Don’t eat foods that don’t have an expiration date.”

5) Be your own food detective. Read labels. Pay attention to where your food comes from and how it was grown.

And this really is the key. Give your kids some power over what they eat. Make them responsible for the choices they make. Talk to them about the impact of buying local versus buying global. Grow some foods together. Notice what’s growing in the fields near you and stop at the roadside stands and meet the farmers. Talk about why one food is good for you and another is not – and tell them why it is not.

One of my constant refrains is “Your body wasn’t designed to eat that food, so if you do, it’s very hard for your body to process it and that’s why it makes you feel sick.” I’ve explained to my children that one of the reasons people get sickness and disease is because they are putting things in to their body that there body was not designed to eat. It’s hard on a body to process this kind of food, making it weaker and more susceptible to illness. Just like putting the wrong kind of gas in your car – it may run, but it won’t run well and it certainly won’t run for as long as it was designed to run. Help your children make the connection between what they eat and how they feel.

We all need to talk to our kids about what and why they eat. If we teach this generation to make better choices – for their bodies, their neighbors, and their planets – things could change. In fact, I believe that’s the only way they will change. I grew up on programs like “green circle” and desegregation. My generation is measurably less racist than the previous generation. Granted there is still progress to be made, we wouldn’t be where we are if adults hadn’t started teaching kids about racial equality a generation ago.

The only way to bring about real, lasting change is to teach the children differently. We make decisions not only about what we eat, but how we live, based on the way we were raised. That stuff is hard-wired in there. That’s why it’s so much harder to break the TV, fast food, instant-gratification habits that most of us struggle with – it goes against how we were raised.

You have a chance to change all that. Your children could live differently. They could turn the tide on so many issues. They could literally save the planet. Don’t miss your chance to empower them. It starts at your table.

Buying By the Cow

The year we began buying our beef by the cow is the year all my children decided they liked steak (even the vegetarian one). Friends raise their eyebrows when I tell them I’m buying half a cow. They’ve come to expect extremes from me when it comes to food. Buying your meat by the animal is much, much cheaper than buying it in Styrofoam cartons from the butcher. And don’t worry – it doesn’t arrive on four legs.

The first task is to find a farmer who sells their cows, hogs, or sheep whole or half. There are many that do (how do you think your butcher buys them?). Ask around at your local butcher shop, farmer’s market, or check online. Two great sites online to get you started are www.localharvest.org and www.eatwellguide.org. Pick a farmer that raises animals without growth hormones, unnecessary antibiotics, and preferably on grass. If the farm is certified organic – great (although the price will be higher).

A half a cow will feed my family of five for nearly a year. We eat beef about 1-2 a week. The price does go down if you buy an entire cow, but I like my beef to be fairly fresh, so we buy just the half. If you have a friend to split the cow with you can both save lots. When you order you will be told the cost of the beef per pound. Be sure to ask if this price includes the butchering and packaging (most do). When you place your order, you fill out an order form telling the butcher things like how much steak you want vs. how much hamburger, how many pounds per roast, and how thick the steaks should be cut. I always feel like royalty when I direct my steaks to be cut 1½” thick and order the percentage of fat I would like in my burger. Oh, and package my burger in one pound packs with a few three pound packs thrown in for parties. Nobody grants my wishes like the butcher.

It generally takes about two weeks from when you order your cow until you are carting it home. It arrives flash-frozen and vacumm packed in plastic packages. The hamburger comes in neat little blocks that stack great in my freezer. We had an exceptionally big cow last year and some of the hamburger was in our freezer over a year but still tasted great.

All that savings and convenience is well and good, but the taste is the best reason to buy your cow local, fresh and untainted by growth hormones and antibiotics. In fact my six year old just listed steak as his favorite food on a homework sheet for first grade. Prior to our conversion to buying grass fed black angus beef, my kids refused most steaks. If they did eat it, they would chew it like gum and leave it in unsightly lumps on the edges of their placemats. But that was before they tasted “our cow”. That was before we could afford to feed them filet mignon on a Tuesday because we paid the same price per pound for the filet mignon as we did for the hamburger we grilled over the weekend. The beef they are eating is better than beef they would get in most restaurants. It melts in your mouth and is so tender it never needs a steak knife. I could go on but suffice it to say – buy your own grass fed black angus cow and you will never go back to eating plain old steak.

This past weekend we purchased our first whole hog. Very exciting. (I’ve told you it takes very little to get me excited) We picked up the pig from the farm where it was raised – a picture perfect Amish farm with turkeys that look just like the ones my kids draw using their fingers for feathers. Our pig cost $3 a pound, so the total bill was $465. The weight is the hanging weight (after the hog is drained). For that money we received 2 fifteen pound hams (OMG how will we ever eat that much ham?), four 4lb roasts (I just pulled out the grocery store circular and it had organic pork roast on sale for $4.49 a lb – boy do I feel justified!), 40 lbs of sausage (breakfast links, seasoned coils, and regular coils), 18 lbs of pork chops, 2 tenderloins, 8 lbs of spare ribs, and 18 pounds of bacon.

I know you’re first concern is –where do you put all that meat? It doesn’t take as much room as you would think. The hog fit neatly in to two big coolers when we picked it up. We have a standing freezer that is about the same size as our refrigerator and the cow and pig take up about half of it. My adorable nerdy husband plans to make up a spreadsheet showing the cost of buying by the pig and buying the same thing from the grocery store just to make a point, but I don’t need the numbers to tell me. The food is fresher, healthier, tastes better, and supports my neighbors. It’s just an added bonus that it costs less too!