Eating Local

Well, I guess it's been a while since I've posted! It's been a bit busy around here. I'll be posting some new pictures of the kidlets soon. I am currently reading a book called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It's a pretty good book. Last year, my family and I made a pledge to reduce our carbon footprint. We did a good job, but we are trying to take it a step farther. We've already ordered our CSA share for next year. That'll start in mid-June, and we're looking forward to getting it again! We've also been looking into local farms. We are planning on going up to Grant Family Farms (where we get our CSA) to visit it. We also have plans to go up to Berry Patch Farms this summer to pick berries to put up. I recently talked to another local farm that is out east of the city called May Farms. They are a family owned farm, and they have a "you-pick-it" patch where they grow many different kinds of vegetables. We have plans to pick a bunch of pickling cucumbers and make pickles!

Today, the kidlets and I went to Whole Foods, or as we refer to it in our house - Whole Paycheck! We were on the hunt for locally grown products or products from local businesses. We found quite a few things. Some of the things (like the bread products), I am unsure of how many local ingredients are in the product. I plan on doing a little research though. Here's a list of what we got: fingerling potatoes, shiitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, fresh sorrel, fresh basil, alfalfa sprouts, dried apples and peaches, green chile goat cheese, dill & garlic goat cheese, ice cream, BBQ sauce, hot sauce, gf bagels, gf bread, and potato chips. I told the kids that I am going to make them a meal of almost exclusively Colorado products tomorrow night. I also have gf crackers, honey, and dried beans from local sources, and I will have local, farm fresh eggs tomorrow as well. The kids were really jazzed about finding stuff made in Colorado. They're also really jazzed about getting to know some of the local farms.

I'm planning on making a quiche from the eggs, goat cheese, mushrooms, and basil. I'm going to make a potato side dish with it. For desert, I'm thinking that I'll make something from the dried fruit, honey, and some soy yogurt that I have in the fridge. Should be interesting!

We're really going to do what we can to support local and/or small businesses and artisans. I'll try to remember to blog about it along the way!