Eat local baby!

I have been reading several books this year about sustainable agriculture and eating locally. My FAVORITE book about why we eat what we do and how to eat is Micheal Pollan's Eater's Manifesto. This book will change your life! The motto: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. He contests that we don't need "diets". If we ate food, not "food like substances" we all would be healthier people. His test is if your grandmother would not recognize it as food, don't eat it! Bye-bye technicolor Go-gurt!

It has really changed how I view the food I am buying. I had made an effort to eliminate high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated fats from our foods. Reading this I had an epiphany considering that the Western Diet has reduced food to nutrients. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become.

So back in July, I headed to Grapevine to check out the farmer's market to see what I could eat locally!

First, take a deep breath, expect to pay more. (MP even suggests paying more-eat less, yikes!)This is something else I have had a change of heart about. Feeding a family of five is no small task! However, realizing where to move my money dollars around has helped. Most of the world lives on modest, healthy, unprocessed food (like beans and rice). Finding a surplus grocery store with Whole Food stuff has also aided greatly! I buy .99 natural peanut butter by the dozen.

This 2$ flesh colored cantaloupe was hands down the best I have ever had. I won't tell you how much these tomatoes were! But, I was excited to use them in 5 different meals! The honey is local and I have notified the fam it is for medicinal purposes!
Enjoying these summer tomatoes that taste delicious and not like rubber balls, really makes the effort worthwhile. Now, if only someone out there can help me actually grow something myself!