It’s been a long and busy week here at Casa de Crazy, and I’m hoping that next week isn’t quite so kooky. It’s only what, two weeks til Christmas, so I’m sure it will be calmer!?!?
Anyway, I had the opportunity to hear Alice Waters speak this week, and she was delightful. She is a chef, a proponent in the Slow Food movement, and is passionately dedicated to bringing the idea of fresh, seasonal, healthful foods to children via school. She described the gardens in the schools in Berkely, CA and how the children tend to them, and then prepare food with their harvest. Isn’t that a lovely concept?
She spoke of how when her daughter started at Yale, she bent the president’s ear, and now the university is growing it’s own food, supporting local farmers and has revived a local cannery in the process.
She spoke of her time in France, of the friends who gathered to cook and share food. Of preparing the food she needed for sustenance, and so much more.
It was delightful and whimsical, and yet logical too–and since Tuesday night, I’ve been trying the think of ways to incorporate some of her ideas. It makes sense, but the implementation seems overwhelming to me at the moment.
I’m thinking I need to find a CSA for next summer that has a convenient drop off point. A butcher outside the big-box store. A source for good eggs. I’m in a metropolitian area in the middle of the corn belt–it shouldn’t be that hard, right? A 30 minute drive takes me out to BFE, so surely there must be good groceries between here and there, right?
As for preparing the food, I’m still figuring out how to make dinner with a cranky, hungry three year old at my feet. Time and patience for meal preparation is hard to come by at the end of the day.
Ideas, anyone? Anyone??
I’ve been trying to do the same thing to your north. We have found a wonderful butcher who buys all his meat from local farmers who don’t use additives or antibiotics. He’s started carrying eggs now, too. I had been buying eggs and butter as well as produce at the farmer’s market. My butcher is 5 minutes away, and the market is about 25 minutes away, so I’m happy eggs are closer.
Even though I’m surrounded by farms, not too many are doing the CSA thing. There are one or two who require members come “work the land”. That’s not really an option for us. I can’t imagine where we’d find the time. One delivered, but they dropped the ball and never emailed me back after the initial agreement. It’s harder than it should be to buy local.
Don’t know aobut the groceries, but as far as helping keep MAM out fromunder your feet, I read about a cookbook called something like Fix, Freeze, Feast–seems like it was healthy, good, food, in bulk recipies to be freezed in single meals. So one day of fixing nd freezing could lead to healthful yummy meals quiclkly over the following weeks.
We’re selling our eggs to many people in our town and at my work now- not certified organic, because we haven’t replaced every fencepost on the property and we do have neighbors, but they’re healthy, med-free, roaming birds. I love our eggs – if only I got to your neck of the woods more – I’d cart over my eggs!
Remind me next time, I’ll bring some freebies your way…