Growing your own food

To grow everything you eat (or drink) would be (and is) a formidable task, and we've got centuries of world trade routes to underscore the interest in tea, coffee, sugar, and spices for centuries, as well as the currently active shipping of produce, meat, seafood, and frozen goods around the world, in a global marketplace.

Not to mention bananas, the cheapest fruit available in my supermarket today, but certainly not local or necessarily sustainably grown. 

But, my gardening companion enjoys having a banana each morning with his cereal, and it's hard to think of a reason (in the grand scheme of things) why I shouldn't indulge his habit.  OK, maybe I shouldn't support the small-scale (or big scale companies) that produce bananas throughout the tropical world, but ...

I had a delightful time at a Locavore potluck yesterday evening, but was amazed at how few folks had homegrown veggies in their dishes -- for example, lettuce, greens, or peas (or early strawberries) to offer as their dish to share. 

There was quite a bit of asparagus, which I hope (mostly) came from backyard beds, but one dish was labeled Chinese asparagus.  Hmm.  What I've seen in the markets lately has been from Mexico, before that Peru.

And it was a bit disappointing to see contributions of cantaloupe and blueberries and an attractive pepper, onion, and tomato salad --NOT local, or regional around here at this time of the year.

My vegetable garden (and the gardens I monitor) are overflowing with lettuces, mature purple mustards, overwintered chard, spinach, arugula, sugar snap peas, snow peas, newly sown chard, etc. 

Geez, I'm in a greens glut currently.  It's a good thing that they're good for you, and stir-fried with onions and garlic, are quite delicious.  And good as leftovers for breakfast (with local eggs) and with lunch, too!

My message was to start growing more veggies!  They're easy, delicious, and good to eat.

Local grains

Thanks to a comment by Commonweeder, I checked out her supplier of locally grown wheat.  Wow.

It's encouraging to have small farmers reclaim growing grains locally.  The economics favor the mass producers in the midwest, where efficiency and soils are definitely advantageous. 

But isn't it important to encourage locally grown grain, too, whether it's wheat, oats, corn, or barley?  In North Carolina, there's a bread flour project, supporting growers of organic wheat, to serve (artisan) bakers in the region. Rarefied, maybe, but local production may be the future of sustainable agriculture.

Potatoes are apparently the most efficient carbohydrate-rich crop, though, if times really get tough.

But I'd love to be able to buy regional grains (or flour) to make my own bread.  I'm a bread maker already, and buy flour from a nationally-distributed source of North American flour from an employee-owned company (King Arthur) at my local grocery.

This makes sense to me.

Farmer's markets

Part of the fun of visiting local farmer's markets is the sense of community.

Buying a bunch of turnips or a loaf of bread from a wood-fired oven or home-grown native plants means a direct connection from producer to consumer.

It's a pleasant feeling.

I grow quite a few of our own vegetables, to be sure, but to buy eggs from the farmer who talks about her hens that have been foraging on clover is a lovely thing.

Some folks think it's a bit rarified (even elitist) to buy relatively well-priced veggies and other products, when many people don't have access to fresh vegetables of any sort in 'urban deserts.'

Well, that's true. But, given the opportunity, isn't it a good thing to support local small farmers and producers of bread, cheese, and other goods?

It's an exceptional experience to be able to buy farm-raised trout from the local producer or SC scallops directly from someone who has connections from the coast near Georgetown, SC or black drum from the NC coast.