Jesse has been reading Barbara Kingsoler's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, and when you are married to someone reading a book--it 'almost' counts as you reading it yourself. It has challenged us to question our eating habits, where our food originates and what happens to it along the way. I have seen daily evidence of my struggle with this topic.
It's baby steps for us; we've lived a lifestyle similar to many Americans not giving a second thought to our food and it's direct effects. I decided that we are going to buy our bread fresh and local (or make it ourselves when we have the time--in 5 years maybe). Yesterday, the boys and I trekked half a mile to the bakery, walking (not relying on oil)--another lifestyle change. It was wonderful. I got the exercise I'd been trying to find the time for, we got fresh baked (cheaper than the grocery store!) bread, waved at EVERY car and neighbor we passed by, and enjoyed everything seeing the things we usually zoom past.
It's these choices that will hopefully create, what every parent wants, a better life for our children. We would love for them to slow down, enjoy life, and spread love to everyone around them. The bakery trip was our first and will now be included in our weekly activities.
About Me
- rachel
- I play mom to 3 little guys and wife to 1 big guy. I also work in a bookstore and teach rubber stamping classes. In my 'spare time' I read, stamp, write, sleep, and shower.
5 comments:
That is absolutely great! Not only will the bread taste better (being freshly made and not full of preservatives) but your karma will allow you to sleep soooo much better, as well.
Liz got a new bike last weekend for the sake of her summertime Karma, and we're both excited to use as little oil as we possibly can in the coming months.
fresh bread..yum....Hamdy and I pretty much buy all our food locally, except for some staples like rice. We get fresh pita bread hot out of the oven from Jerusalem Bakery (a small shop owned by a friendly Israeli-Arab couple) and we buy all our meat now from another small Islamic halal butcher (owned by Somalians). They get the meat freshly killed from Dearborn and it is processed in a clean and humane way--and free of hormones. Plus you can get lamb and goat for really good prices! And we get our fruits and veggies from farmer's markets. It is true that sometimes you have to pay a little more for quality, but at least your money is supporting local farmers and in the end, your health is worth it! Not to mention that I enjoy the human interaction of buying food from small shops.
to add to that last point--that was one thing I loved when I lived in Egypt. I bought my bread from the "bread guy" on the corner, my vegetables from the "vegetable guy", my fruits from the "fruit guy", my chicken from the "chicken guy", my fish from the "fish guy," and you just ate whatever was in season. I think that is the way to live...but hard to do it in our society today.
Rachey, I've been looking through a few great websites that help you locate locally grown, sustainable agriculture in your area. Enjoy!
www.eatwild.com
www.localharvest.org
www.farmstop.com
www.eatwellguide.org
you may also want to check out this cookbook: "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats" by Sally Fallon
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