My Experiment: End Of Week One

Well things are going pretty smoothly, despite a few glitches here and there. (The grapes thing really threw me!) Now I feel I've got a better handle on things. But it really is amazing where our food comes from. The 'object' part is easy, I live at a flea market, and I'm taking a trip to Goodwill this Saturday to both offload AND pick up.

The food thing, however.......*shudder*

I live right up the road from a health food shop, a farmer's market AND a local gormet shop....and I STILL can't believe where food comes from!!!

I was at the health food grocery (NOT the 'big one') and picked up a jar of "Genovese Italian Pesto". Now you would THINK this was imported from Italy. Still not really on my list for food, but a pretty honest guess.

Israel.

Not kidding.

Floored me.

SO...off I go to the LOCAL farmer's market. I got som eggs from right up the street and not too pricy, some local goat cheese and a head of garlic from their farm. Then I asked THE question...

"So the grapes over there....where are they from?"

"Ya know, I'm not sure, lemme ask."

"Cool, thanks."

"______, where are our grapes from?"

"Hmmm, not sure. Someplace in South America."

.........................................
..........................really?..............

.......................................
.........really...........huh. Ok then.

SO.......the gist here is that, unless the 'BIG ONE' has grapes from at LEAST California....I get no grapes for a year. What that also means is, I have to really check where my jelly is coming from too.

This shit trickles down ya know.

Man......Ok, so no grapes. No big deal, really.......

But in the scheme of things ladies and gents, I would like you all to try a little experiment of your own. Walk through the produce of your LOCAL market, be it Farmer's or otherwise, and check the labels. How much FOOD do we actually grow here?

I understand the seasonal thing, I get that. But there are actually LOADS of fruits and veggies that are in season NOW. Why is my lettuce coming from South America?? I LIVE IN THE GARDEN STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-ahem-

Sorry. But this experiment is really opening my eyes in a way that no politician or documentary could. By living this way I have allowed the changes this country has undergone in the past few decades to really hit home.

Small farmers wiped out by factory farms with mutilated chickens and tortured cattle always seemed a horrible thing that I should be really upset about.

NOW it strikes me as a serious deterioration of this country's ability to sustain itself. Everyone is so worried about our ability to 'stand on our own' in the oil race.....

but we'll DIE without food.

And the stuff we're putting into our bodies looks less and less like food every year.

I fear the age of the nutrient pill!!

So to sum up.....

This year I see how well I can do this thing. I'll take notes and post all my steps here.....next year, I'm going to see If I can get anyone else to join me.

Cause this is really a bigger job than I can handle! LOL!

A good, eye opening first week......

I hope I don't end up a radical fruitcake.

Awww crap.