Mindful Locavore

“We are the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe. And reclaiming democratic control over our food and water and our ecological survival is the necessary project for our freedom.” Vandana Shiva (Earth Democracy)

I will begin this journal entry with a paragraph from the book The Locavore Way by Amy Cotler:

Creating a healthier food system- what the food and agriculture writer Michael Pollan calls “sun-driven” rather than cheap oil- driven–is not just a dream. But it requires major policy changes to help cure some of the most pressing crises of our time. Our current food system, supported by once cheap oil,  contributes up to 37 percent of greenhouse gases (by some estimates). Industrial agriculture is second only to cars in use of fossil fuel and is a major contributor to climate change. Food produced by our current system is fattening us beyond recognition, clogging our hearts and the health system, degrading local economies and our land, and leaving us with flavorless food. We need to re-think how we produce food and work for the policies that advocate those changes. So, let’s get going!

Ok Denise… Let’s get going. Even though I am struggling with this here in Riley Township, Il, I need to dig in.

The reason why I felt so good about living in River Falls, Wisconsin  was I loved shopping at the food co-op that was just down the road in town. We visited the farm, Rising Sun, that grew most of the produce that was sold at Whole Earth Grocery. ( We made sure to visit the farm on days that the farmers were not practicing naturalistic farming. Look that one up). We invested our time and money in that local economy, we grew our own food, raised our chickens, and bartered for goods and services.

So, today, I am making a pledge to look deeper into the community we live in today, and find farms that are humanely raising their animals and sustainably farming their land, and patronize those businesses. I will continue learning  about canning and dehydrating my “extra” produce for the winter months, from our garden.  I look forward to the years of goat’s milk, from a very local place, my back yard. I really hope to grow, raise, and harvest  all of our food sources, right here on this land, within the next 2 years.

I guess I am a locavore. It just does not always work out perfectly. Sometimes I have to think about how much money is left in the grocery budget or how far we are going to have to drive to buy local, or I just feel lazy. My heart is very local though. My heart is driving me to be the woman who sells the beautiful, humanely raised, sustainably grown food to the community I live in. I need to be and create what I want in this community. Gosh, I think I might want to be a farmer!