localharvest.org

Could anyone love food more than me? Seriously. I have a major love affair with fresh, seasonal fruit & veg and delicious meals. Philipp calls me a food snob. And the truth is, I totally am. It only makes sense that my passion and appreciation for good foods would directly correlate with my hate and total disgust for bad, tasteless foods. Its the Scorpio way. All or nothin', baby.

I get so mad at what the crap food industries are putting on the shelves of American stores as the only affordable food items & how for a various slew of causes, fresh fruits and vegetables have become of luxurious status due to the prices skyrocketing in grocery stores. It really makes me sad to know so many children don't have a grasp of where food even comes from. Much less what it tastes like in it's natural, unadulterated state.
One of my main goals in life is to provide wonderful, healthy organic meals for my family for every meal of the day. I believe in nutrition making who you become and the quality of life you obtain so much that I will arrange all other things in a budget around not compromising on the quality of food. Its worth it to me to live simpler lives in relation to the things you can buy and spend extra money on vs. the abundance of fresh, in season, organic & wholesome things in the house to eat.

I love the website www.localharvest.org because you can find farmer's markets, organic farms, CSA shares, etc. anywhere in this country with just the click of a button. For instance, I just found 3 organic farms within driving distance of my family's home in the sticks out in North Carolina. This excites me so much for the area where I grew up where the closest chain grocery store is a good 20 minute drive and the offerings there are not impressive, to say the least. Most people do their shopping there or at the local Wal-Mart, who for all its misgiving is starting to provide more & more affordable organics, albeit all of which have been flown/driven in from who knows how many hundreds of miles away.

Point being:
LOCAL FARMS ROCK.

I get so excited about Farmer's Markets and stands that its just silly. I literally become like a giddy, smiling child walking thru the aisles; looking at all the produce that was ripped from the earth that morning, roots and dirt often still attached. I remember while living in Ukraine how eye opening it was to be at the market and all of the carrots were black with dirt and had stems and roots still intact. Nothing like the little meager shoots in a bag I grew up on.

Whenever Philipp & I get to a place where we'll be settled, I really want to invest in a farm share where we get a weekly box of whatever fruit & veggies are in season from local organic farmers. I think it will be so fun to sharpen my cooking skills by having to cook things from whats in season and in that box, cause God knows the cheap ass in me would not stand for something being tossed out.

Also, on this subject there are several nutrition/food books I'm really interested in checking out at the next library victim: