While waiting for this and that to bake or roast, I’ve been looking into family farms in the area that have co-ops or in some other way sell produce and animal parts to the public. I have found produce to be readily available through the farmer’s markets here in town and several very nearby farms. Animals bits are more of a problem, though I did find one farm that is reasonably priced, has mixed boxes every two weeks (not just beef or pork, but all manner of farm animal bits). The only problem is it being a two-hour round-trip drive twice a month to pick it up. I’m attempting to justify this by taking into account that if I am picking up boxes of veggies at one of the markets every two weeks and not spending hours every week at the grocery store, two hours to go get boxes of meat doesn’t seem to bad. Besides, I used to like driving through the country-side. It might be a good and guaranteed way to get me out of the house every two weeks and see something different.

Now all I really have to do, aside from contacting the farms and setting things up, is convince Lin the extra expenditure is going to be worth it. He agrees whole-heartedly that we need to get away from all the stuff posing as healthy food in the grocery store, go organic, free-range, and as natural as possible, but it’s not cheap. The meat, for example, averages out to about $5.15 a pound (not including gas money), and that is far more than I ever pay for any cut of meat EVER. Then there is the whole “pay up front” thing for most of these programs. It’s a good bit of cash to lay out at once, even if it isn’t really all that much more over the long-haul as compared to our usually monthly budget. I’m sure I can convince him, seeing as he declared me the kitchen manager the other day and said whatever I felt was right was what we should do. Still … the boy thinks about money a lot, and I don’t know what his limit for eating well is going to be. I think I’ll write up a report with charts and graphs to explain all this to him. He seems to respond well to written reports that look technical. It’s the engineer in him, I suspect. :)

I’m excited about the whole idea of buying goods from farms and not stores. Excited and a little nervous. It is going to be a huge hassle, what with having to go here to get that and there to get this, only getting new food every two weeks, and only getting whatever is in season. It’s going to be a challenge to me as a cook. But I have to tell you, the only eating seasonal veggies grown in the area isn’t going to completely wash with me. I have to have avocados, and I have to have them year-round. On this one thing, I will not quibble. I also have a fondness for mushrooms, and I haven’t seen any locally grown mushrooms yet. So there are still some fresh foods I will have to get at the store, as well as rice, flour, sugar, and cooking oils. I’m not sure yet how to work this all out. I guess the first step is to convince Lin to make the investment in our health and eating habits, and then just get started with it … work it out as I go along. It’s not like I don’t pretty much make things up as I go along in the kitchen all the time anyway, and that grocery store isn’t going anywhere in case I find I need more than we are getting or am lacking something I can’t live without.

Yup … excited and nervous. It’s totally the right thing to do, but it’s going to be a bit costly, and it’s going to be a huge change from the way we do thing currently. I can’t wait!