Saturday, June 28, 2008

Attempt #1: Buying Locally.

I have been attempting to read my new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but having a two year old and an 8 week old have made that rather difficult. You see, when I get a spare moment, I'm too tired to string a sentence together, let alone read one. When I do have the a quiet moment, it is usually because I am breastfeeding Cameron, so I don't have a spare hand. In lieu of being able to read more than two pages per day, I have been thinking a lot about the food we eat. I am once again going cold turkey on my diet coke addiction (I have replaced it with homemade ice tea), and I have been looking at my food labels not only for what is in them, but where they come from. Imagine my surprise when I got home after buying strawberries only to discover they were a product of the USA! I live in Ontario - where some of the best berries on earth are grown, and it's prime berry season. This pissed me off a bit. There is no good reason to be eating berries from the USA this time of year!

So, after doing a bit of research, I found out that there is a local organic market in Oakville every Saturday. Max was being a beast this morning, so brilliant me, I thought, I'll take him out to this market - that will get him out of the house, and I'll do some grocery shopping at the same time. You can only imagine how successful this outing was. Max embraced his terrible 2's, which resulted in a quick outing to say the least. The market had fairly slim pickings, but I did get some honey from Bees Universe, some greens from Whole Circle Farm, and some asparagus from Everdale farm. I also found out about another market in Milton that is a bit larger, so I may try this (sans Max) next weekend. I have also been thinking about setting up a weekly delivery of organic produce from Green Earth Organics. I think this may be the best choice for me right now, given the fact that Max and Cameron are just not that into anything that doesn't involve climbing on things and booby.

Now excuse me while I enjoy my glass of white wine (from France, not locally made...). Yes, that's how challenging this outing was this morning. I got home, unpacked my items, and declared "it's happy hour somewhere".

4 comments:

  1. I think the delivery is a great idea. It's good to make these changes in small steps so they are manageable, especially when you've got enough challenges to deal with in your daily life!

    Megan and I bought share (shared a share!) in a Community Supported Agriculture farm, so we'll be getting organics delivered starting next week. I did that once before years ago and it prompted me to try all kinds of new receipes because I was cooking what came in the box, not the same old stuff I was used to picking up at the grocery store. It was neat!

    I think you're doing awesome at... well... everything, by the way!

    xoxoJ.

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  2. Anonymous6:54 p.m.

    Yes, I like the idea of "leaning" into these changes. You are my hero.

    love,
    mb

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  3. Awh, thanks ladies ;-)

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  4. Anonymous6:02 p.m.

    Hi Kat!

    Thanks for the link to Whole Circle Farm. It's folks like you who make our hard work worth while. Hope to see you often at the market (kids and all!), and we'll do our best to keep the supply of fresh veggies and pastured meat coming to Oakville all summer long.

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