Live off the Land

I recently started reading the book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver on a recommendation of a friend. I've only read the first two chapters and I'm already hooked. It's the story of how the author's family attempted to live off the land for a year, meaning they ate what they raised and grew themselves, and only bought food from local sources. I'm am impressed with their dedication. I would eventually like to get to that point, but I plan on doing it over several years, little by little. Our family's start came when I started making my own bread and then it gradually increased from there.

What I found most interesting in the book so far, was how the book describes how fuel-dependent the food industry is. According to the book, "Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We're consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen - about 17 percent of our nations energy use - for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use." Say what?? The bulk of that use is from "the trip from the farm to your plate." Meaning, of course, that all the processing and packing and transporting the food to stores uses a ton of fuel. I had never thought of it that way. I find it interesting, that we're all trying to save on gas by getting more fuel-efficient cars and not driving as much, but we're still paying a boat-load of money to have our food prepared, packaged and delivered to us. If we really want to bring gas prices down and save the earth and all that, we should probably get back to growing and making our own food, or at least the majority of it. Can you imagine how much good would come from everyone having some kind of garden and gathering around the table for a home-cooked meal?

One way to put your money back into your community is to buy locally. I recently discovered a gem here in little old Hemet. It's a local farm that sells their organic produce every Friday. This is how it works. They harvest what is ready in the morning and set it out for you to buy in the afternoon. They also have a CSA program, community supported agriculture, meaning that you can buy a share of the farm, and receive produce as it's harvested. At this particular farm, they sell by the box, 4 boxes at a time, and you get to pick what produce you want. If you're not interested in the CSA, you can just pick and choose however much or little you want. The prices are comparable to what you would find in the grocery store, and it's organic, locally grown, and super-fresh. Plus, you are supporting people within your own community. The company is called Organics 4 Life and they operate out of the Hemet Stock Farm. You can find their website here. I've made trips on three Fridays so far and plan on going again tomorrow. Now I'm just waiting for the gas prices to start dropping...