Tag: local

My Healthy Food Budget: February, 2013

February Healthy Food Budget: $330.72

This was a great month! I spent $71 less than my $400 budget for the month!

It seems a lot easier to spend less in the winter, so this will allow me a little spending cushion for summer, when I know I spend more. Or if I do well next month, I might use the excess to pay off the whole meat delivery I received in January.

February Food Spending $330.72

Dining Out: $121.52
Groceries: $209.20

Dining out spending wasn’t bad, considering we had a sit-down Valentines night dinner at a local Italian eatery for an extra splurge.

I was amazed at how little I spent at the grocery store. Inspiration was sparked by the Good Cheap Eats 1 Month Pantry Challenge. I didn’t hold myself to any specific rules or timeframe, but I made a conscious effort to refrain from purchasing ingredients when I knew there was something that could be cooked from my pantry, fridge or freezer.

For instance, I skipped the Winter Farmers Market last weekend because I still had kale, cabbage, beet, celeriac, potatoes, and sweet potato left from the prior week’s shopping trip. All I needed at the store this week was some fruit; I was able to use what I had on hand for meals all week.

I’m also finding inspiration over at the $100 a Month blog. Mavis, the author, hopes to feed her family of four with an average of $100 per month. She has a spectacularly massive garden, complete with egg-laying chickens, and it’s very educational to read about her adventures. I’m fascinated by her “reclaimed” food posts. ((Thanks for the recommendation, Angela))

Lastly, I’m excited because I found a local grain grower; We’ll be meeting up with her at a local farmers market on Sunday. To start, I’m trying bags of zorro wheat and barley flours. If it’s as wonderful as I hope it is, the next step might be a grain mill to grind my own flour.

Where I Spent My Grocery Dollars This Month

Total: $209.20
Market Basket 63.43
Trader Joe’s 44.74
Whole Foods 37.68
Winchester Winter Farmers Market 30.65
Open Meadow Farm 25.20
Seven Acres Farm 7.50

About My Healthy Budget

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal (local if possible,) home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and gardening.

There’s two of us eating (mostly) 3 meals per day. DH occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

Gardening Diary: Food!

Got another harvest of lettuce yesterday AM, along with a few pea tendrils, and sprigs of basil & parsley. We each feasted on a small side salad for dinner.

I can’t wait for my garden to take off, but in the meantime, Wilson Farm (a local large farm) is offering their own fresh produce, as well as a few other offerings from states closeby.

I scooped up some of their own sugar snap peas, radishes, lettuce along with strawberries from CT.

Life is good!

Connecticut Farmer & Feast Book Review

I found the Connecticut Farmer & Feast: Harvesting Local Bounty book at the library, and took a few weeks to read it.

The book opens with an introduction and I was saddened & shocked to learn that Connecticut’s farmland is disappearing at an unbelievable and alarming rate of 8000 acres a year! The author, Emily Brooks, states that it is one of the fastest in the country! In less than 20 years, CT has lost 21% of their farmland; residential and commercial building is taking over.

She also states that farms require less than 50 cents in town services for every dollar they generate in local taxes while residential development costs towns more than 1 dollar for every dollar of revenue generated.

That statement puzzled and intrigued me, so I did some research. With the cost of schools/education, police/fire, road maintenance, towns that have a choice to purchase & save open space vs allow commercial/residential development, are much better off in the long run choosing to save the open space. Real estate taxes go up for everyone to recoup the cost of more children attending schools.

Here is a great link I found while searching:
http://www.greatswamp.org/Education/anjec.htm

When I think about it though, we can’t blame the farmers for selling out to developers. The local farmer is overworked and vastly under-appreciated.

That’s why this book is so important. It shines the well-deserved light onto local Connecticut farmers.

The book is divided by county. Each farm is highlighted with a few pages, including their location info and a full description/interview with several photos.

There are many different types of farms including many that grow vegetables, several that raise animals, and some even operate a fishing/shellfish business.

I was amazed that there were also a few maple syrup producers, although the book states that only tenth of % of all maple trees in Connecticut are actually tapped for their syrup.

This is not necessarily a cookbook although there are lovely recipes using some ingredients that the highlighted farm sells. It’s more like a history book with stories from each farm with photos so you can really see each farmer and the land they work.

Some stories are heart warming and some are heart breaking. For instance, the owners of Futtner’s Family Farm (3 generations) are going through financial problems due to health issues. They are drowning in medical bills. Theirs is a sad but hopeful story of family and deep love for each other and farming.

I wish we lived just a little closer to Connecticut and some of these marvelous farms.

It’s exciting that the author is currently writing a ” target=”_blank”>similar book for NYC. I really hope she considers a Massachusetts version in the future! It’s something that could be a fantastic reference for every state!

If you live nearby to Connecticut, I recommend finding a copy of the Connecticut Farmer & Feast: Harvesting Local Bounty book, even if it’s from the local library. It’s a great resource to learn more about specifically where your food comes from!

Disclaimer:
I love reading cookbooks, like some people love reading novels! I am inspired by recipes, and enjoy learning ideas from cookbooks, which means I’d rather put my own spin on a recipe than follow it exactly. Please keep in mind that my opinions might be completely different from the other home cooks.

Some Local Farmers Markets Are Turning Into Commercial Marketplaces

Yesterday, I was reading the online vendor list for a Farmers Market located at a nearby Agway store, and I noticed this week they were also allowing Girl Scout Cookies for sale.

Sorry, a Farmers Market is not the place to sell high-sugar junk-food made with partially hydrogenated oils, I don’t care what the organization is!

This same market is also allowing multi-level-marketing vendors selling “so-called natural” skin-care products and over-priced cookware. Disgraceful!

Farmers Markets Are “In” and Integrity Is “Out”

In the past couple of years, there has been a lot of buzz about Farmers Markets; it’s the current “in” thing to do, with one popping up in virtually every town in my area.

I’m really happy that we have so many choices locally, but unfortunately, with more popularity, there is now a tempting opportunity to exploit the public’s trust! :(

Similar to how most local New England country fairs have turned into commercial marketplaces offering slicer-dicers, t-shirts, and crappy jewelery, it’s a shame that some winter Farmers Markets in our area have slowly turned to the same direction.

Besides the Agway Farmer’s Market referenced above, I took a closer look at another local garden store’s cleverly named Winter ”Farmers-plus” Market, and was surprised to find a local butcher was participating.

No, this butcher does not sell meat from local farms, or even antibiotic/hormone-free meat. Will consumers realize that? Or will they quickly make assumptions about the quality of their meat based primarily on the fact that this business was allowed to participate?

Allowing vendors like this cheapens the idea behind Farmers Markets and takes advantage of the public’s trust. Just as the food marketing labels “natural” and “free range” have been abused beyond recognition, I am hoping our beloved farmers markets are not heading down a similar path.

Yes, I understand that market organizers need to cover their costs, and could feel pressure to minimize their standards during the winter because there are not many New England farms that offer winter produce.

But the issues I’ve seen, seem to be with markets held at established businesses, (like garden centers), so it really makes no sense…their store is open anyway, what extra expense is there? Even if there were only a handful of reputable vendors, they are still benefiting because potential customers are gathering in the store. Why compromise their character and allow inappropriate vendors to participate? Hmm, I can’t even guess $$$ – hehee

Thankfully, there are still a few independent New England winter markets in the area that successfully retain their high standards throughout the year without compromise!

What can consumers do to protect themselves against irresponsible Farmers Market organizations?

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  1. First and foremost, you must check the integrity of the farmers market. Do they have a mission statement? And if so, do they have specific standards that each participating vendor must adhere to before they are accepted?
  2. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Get to know the vendors at the markets. Ask them specifically about their products and do not feel pressured to purchase from them if they do not meet your standards.
  3. Do not assume that just because they are a vendor at a Farmer’s Market that they offer a sustainable, quality product.

Is it bad to eat corn & soy fed meat from a humanely raised farm?

I’m in the middle of a debate with myself. Which is a better purchase?

  1. 100% grass-fed animal products sold at Whole Foods that might or might not be humanely raised, from an faceless farm in different state many many miles away?
  2. or
    local humanely-raised outdoors, mostly grass-fed but also fed corn & soy?
  3. or
    local humanely-raised outdoors, 100% grass-fed, but at a much higher cost to purchase?

I had a long conversation with a local farmer at the farmer’s market yesterday. He pasture-raises his animals, but he also supplements with soy and corn feed. I don’t necessarily agree with all his reasons to feed GMO corn and soy, but our discussion was enlightening.

Corn-fed beef tastes more familiar to consumers than 100% grassfed, and it’s more cost effective.

He didn’t come right out and say it, but reading between the lines, I realized that as a farmer, you’re trying to sell to many people, so it’s necessary to make local humanely-raised animals more attractive and accessible by keeping the cost as low as you can, and at the same time, offering a meat product that tastes better but more “familiar” to the consumer.

He is a responsible farmer. He uses no chemical fertilizers, as the fields are self-fertilized by the animals. He’s sustainable, and that’s more than we can say about the majority of other farms (even organic) across the country.

I wrestle with the idea of adding corn/soy to a cow’s diet, and I know there are other local farms that do not feed corn and soy, but they also have to charge much much more. Is it worth the extra cost? Perhaps, yes, or perhaps it doesn’t matter so much either way because we personally limit our animal product consumption, and eat mostly plant based foods.

Or perhaps it doesn’t matter because the animals and the farmland they are raised on, are treated with respect and care by ALL of these farmers.

Then it hit me. I realized the most important question I should be asking is how well the animal is being treated? As long as an animal is raised with respect, on land that is equally respected, THAT is a good life. THAT should be priority number one!

So I did purchase a few items from that farmer. I bought a small whole chicken, a beefalo brisket, and a small picnic pork roast. My total was just shy of $60. I’m still considering other sources, but it’s a start for me in my quest for local meat!

PS He told me he feeds about 5-6 pounds of formulated grain (no anti-biotic or growth hormones) to each his beef cows per day; from what I gathered online, the average feedlot cow eats about 20 pounds of corn/grain per day, so, if my calculations are correct, his animals are not getting a whole lot of corn/soy per day and are mostly grass fed.