From Mrs. Cog's Corner

Where did this come from? What's in it? What has it been exposed to? What was used to grow it or feed it?

These questions seem daunting and tedious. Wouldn't we all like to put food in our shopping carts or order it from a menu and trust that whoever put it there had the consumer's best interest at heart?

Naturally, producing our own food is the surest way to know exactly what we are eating. In this day and age, this just isn't practical for most people. Understanding ways to critique our supplies is the next best think to picking it out of our own garden.

In our home, the most recent foray into recreating a wholesome snack that we used to buy processed is granola bars. We call them granola blobs because I cheat and bake them in a cupcake pan. I know where each ingredient comes from and what it was made of. I cannot claim that for every food in our kitchen, but one by one we are replacing them and it is moving along at a good pace. Our next experiment I have planned will be homemade crackers and corn tortilla chips.

There are all sorts of ways we can locate healthy food. We can take the time to talk with the produce and meat managers at our grocery stores. We discuss their sources and procedures for selecting what they sell and label as "organic" or "grass fed". I am learning what the long words on nutritional labels mean - Google is my friend. We have found alternatives to a number of regular favorites in our cupboards, and once we got used to them, we still wonder how we ever ate the other stuff.

Here are some great links to find locally produced food in your area.

http://localbounty.org/

http://organicconsumers.org/btc/BuyingGuide.cfm

http://www.realtimefarms.com/

http://www.homegrown.org/

http://www.localharvest.org/

https://www.pick-a-pepper.com/

http://www.farmerspal.com/

https://www.farmmatch.com/

http://www.eatwild.com/

http://strongertogether.coop/all-coops/

http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home

http://www.localdirt.com/

It’s quite simple really. Humans are the only living organisms on the planet that need to pay to live and pay to survive. So it then becomes a question of who owns the money because those that do become the gatekeeper to the quality of food available. How about bio-hacking your food supply and grow your own? While you’re at it, you can hack your income, hack the strength of your community, and hack your bond to the earth you are connected to. http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/02/07/food-revolution-real-takeaway-natural-news-garden-life-subway-agreements/

Now THIS is exciting:  I’m tired of the mega-food producers hiding behind the cloak of food safety laws, licensing laws, zoning laws, patents and subsidies and a host of other government interventions that make us more dependent upon their services, rather than upon ourselves and our neighbors’ services.  If this law passes, it will make small farmers lives easier, strengthen communities and improve access to real, clean food.  Stop worrying about health department ratings, GMO labeling, and the validity of USDA “organic” certifications. Certify it yourself, by going to the farm and talking to your farmer. http://foodriotradio.com/2014/01/revolutionary-cottage-food-law-proposed-in-virginia/

How do YOU source your food?