Wednesday, January 2, 2013

2013 and real food

A friend posted on Facebook an article about butter vs margarine.  Of course, butter came out on top, with the article comparing margarine to plastic, and rightly so.  The friend said she and her 20-something daughter have been talking about "real food" and how processed food is killing people.   We see more and more posts about food on Facebook than ever.  Maybe it's because we have lots of friends who are foodies.

The new year often prompts us to review the past year and wonder what the future holds.   This brings us to another question presented by Mother Earth News.

What has been the most rewarding part of self-sufficient living?

Karen:  Hands down, the most rewarding part is working and learning alongside James and being proud of how far we've come in raising our own food in a healthy and humane manner.  It wasn't until we moved to Virginia that I really gave much thought to what I put in my mouth, except maybe how many calories or grams of fat were in something.  It was more about fitting into my clothes, not if what I was eating may improve my quality of life. 

I think more people are moving in this direction and if they can't raise their own food because of time, location or finances, they are at least recognizing that the stuff that comes wrapped in plastic and cardboard in which every package looks exactly the same, is making people sick.  I haven't made any new year resolutions but I am going to make a prediction.  I predict there will be more people at the farmers' markets in 2013 and fewer people eating at McDonalds.

James:  When I was about eight, our family of seven was invited to dine with, as I recall, the even larger family of a biology student of my father.  I remember three things about the visit. Their mule kicked me, everything they served came from their farm, and there were many leftovers.

One of the greatest rewards of self-sufficient living comes when we sit down at the table with extended family and friends, knowing that most of what goes into our mouths comes from Elk Cliff Farm and that my great-grandparents would be able to identify everything on that table and could have prepared it. It's wonderful to know that this meal is not the product of a broken food supply.
We generally haven’t been a trendy couple, as a visit to our closets would confirm. Ironically, our retro-perspective landed us near the front of a movement. Although I don’t much care for faddish terms like “foodie,” I guess we’re foodies because we care what we eat and we devote a lot of time and attention to growing it and preparing it.

It’s strange that many folks who insist on washing their hands with anti-bacterial soap don’t give a thought to where the stuff they put in their mouths has been. Recent reading suggests that this is changing and more and more folks care where their food comes from. I have a feeling we’ll see huge changes in 2013.

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