In Honor of Earth Day!

For those of you who know me personally, you know that I am not the most 'one with the earth' kind of person ever born, but I am eating a raw food diet, again, starting May 1st, AND, in general I try to eat organic.  I know that 'organic' has a LOT of different meanings and there are tons of brands that tout organic ingredients, or that fruits/veg are grown organically, but different states/countries have different definitions of what organic farming entails.  


Since I have recently moved, I have been shopping at Whole Foods (Whole paycheck, more like it) and my local organic vegan grocers, which are great, but I still run into the problem that I don't know where my food is coming from, and I don't know that they are adhering to truly organic farming.  When I lived in the UK, I had a great thing going, where I paid this woman 6GPB/week and every Thursday she left a huge sack of veg on my doorstep. Most of the time, I had the usual veggies (potatoes, carrots, beets, some type of lettuce, etc) but then she would put in these veg that I had never heard of.  She would include a little slip of paper that had the name of the veg and a suggested recipe.  It was AMAZING!  I fell in love with celeriac and found all of these cool recipes (some were total busts, but some were keepers) and found a new addition to my diet.  it kept basically every meal exciting because I was trying something new...and it was healthy, and most often yummy.


Long story, short: I found a CSA (community supported agriculture) near me just yesterday, that will do the same thing!  So, even though i live in a city, I will get my organic, LOCAL, farm fresh veg dropped off weekly, and will get new and different fruits, veg, eggs each week.  Some of the CSA's have work requirements, and some are just a shareholders fee.  You can buy a full share, which can feed 2-3 people (I did because I eat a lot of veg, my dogs eat a ton of veg, and I love to entertain) but you can buy a half share and get enough for one person.  So, not only am I doing something good for my body but also I am supporting local farms/local economy, and I can go SEE where my food is being grown. I can see the cows, chickens, etc and how they are being treated before I get the meat. You are encouraged to go check out the farm and get to know the owners; it is a friendship along with a business deal.


So, check out your local farmers and see if they still have room for more shareholders http://www.localharvest.com and if you are not interested in committing to a share of a farm (which can run from $400-650 for 22 weeks of fruit/veg/meat), check out each farm and their philosophy, how they grow, what they grow, and see where/when they sell at your local farmer's market and support them that way.


So, I hope that some of you go check it out and help sustain small local farmers AND your bodies :)


Yours in Good Health


B