This is the order in which I buy our groceries. We live in Madison, WI and local food is everywhere! Wisconsin is full of all kinds of farms and local food can be found year round. Yes, we have cold winters and snow. However, you can find local storage vegetables, meat, eggs and dairy all year.
A little background on me. After working for 8 years in the field of interior design I decided I needed a change. I was talking with a few of my coworkers about what we really enjoyed doing. I came up with cooking, gardening, reading and going for walks. Well, I can tell you no one is going to pay me to read books as I am a bit of a speed reader and honestly skip a few things while reading. Also, I usually read so many books that I honestly can't remember a lot of them. As for walking, does anyone know of a profession that pays for this other then dog walking? Long story short, I ended up working for a Vegetable CSA run by some friends.
I can't tell you how much I loved the work! Yes, it had its ups and downs, but involved everything I loved! Being outside, labor as a form of exercise, growing local and organic vegetables (I was a vegetarian at that time), sharing these vegetables with people who had the some passion for local vegetables. At the end of the day I got to take vegetables home and cook a meal with them.
Well, eventually all good things must come to an end. During the third year of working at the farm I was pregnant. This was planned by the way, and my husband and I were so excited! In October of 2010 we welcomed our daughter Marie into our family.
So back to the title of this post. Once I stopped working for a vegetable farm I had to start thinking about where to buy our food. For a few years we had been receiving a winter share of vegetables from a local farm called Crossroads Community Farm . I was able to do a worker share with them in exchange for vegetables the summer after my daughter was born. The last three years I have done a sitter share with them where I watch their beautiful daughters in exchange for a vegetable share. My daughter gets to play with the girls, we get veggies, it's a win-win!
They are a local and organic farm. To us as a family, this is very important. Since we get the vegetables for free, that's an easy choice. We also have two gardens, one at our home and one in a community garden. Also pretty cheap. Since we try to eat in season as much as possible, vegetables are never an issue. We even get storage vegetables from the farm until the beginning of spring.
The problem comes when trying to decide where and what to purchase when it comes to the rest of our groceries. We are technically a single income family, so there is a food budget. Since we rarely eat out, our whole food budget goes to meals I prepare at home. Whenever the budget allows, I buy local and organic food. If eating seasonally, this is easy with vegetables and fruit. With other items this becomes harder. Our budget does not usually allow for organic and local meat, dairy and eggs (I am no longer a vegetarian). It does however allow for local OR organic. Whenever possible we buy local first. We do this by getting to know the farms in which our meat,dairy and eggs come from. When unable to buy local products, we purchase organic next. I know people have different views about places like Costco and Trader Joe's, but we shop there. Buying conventionally raised meats with unknown backgrounds is not an option. Buying no meat protein is not an option. I buy most of our organic chicken, organic hamburger and some of our dairy at Trader Joe's or Costco. After these various food groups, we then purchase some conventional. We go through A LOT of bananas, avocados, citrus (in season), melons (in season). Vegetables and fruits that carry a low pesticide load we will buy conventionally. Pantry items are about 50/50 organic versus conventional.
The reason I am sharing this information is because I want people to understand that they do not have to buy all organic. In a perfect world we would, but most of our budgets do not allow for this. And quite honestly, I would rather support local farmers and companies whenever possible. Many follow organic practices, but are just not certified.
What I want from you? Do your homework! Make a food budget and really look at what you purchase. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say they can not afford organic and/or local food. Yet, they stock up on unhealthy things like soda and junk food.
For about 10 months when I was at the end of my pregnancy and when our daughter was first born we lived in a small town outside of Madison. This town's local grocery store chain was more expensive to buy food at then at Willy Street Co-op. I would drive into Madison because it was cheaper to buy organic food then it was to buy conventional at this chain store.
I did my homework, will you?
Our front yard garden. You can't get more local then that!
Cutest house on the street, too!
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