It's amusing to see our habits these days coming full circle, to what once was just common practice years ago. My grandmother just visited me recently from Spain, and she grew up near the farm lands of Missouri. I was ecstatic to tell her about the new local fare that is available to us now in the form of CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture)... and that we no longer have to get our Organic/Local food just from grocery stores! She gave me a perplexed look and just laughed in amusement at my excitement. She explained that this "local" concept was something that was in full force in her neighborhood growing up.
"Honey, you used to just go out back to get your dinner ... and if you didn't grow any, then you went to the nearest neighbor for their freshly picked fruits and veggies, and to the dairy farm for your milk and butter. All that was left was baking your own bread or supporting the town bakery. In fact, many times this is how you met your neighbors!"
Neighbors lend you more than sugar:
Hmm... meet your neighbor. Now there's a concept! :)
Turns out that we have some incredible neighbors in Kansas City, and those neighbors work hard to supply us all with Organic and Local produce. It's a husband and wife team who own and live on a farm Rebecca's family has owned for four generations. It is called "Fair Share Farm," located just North of Kansas City, outside of Kearney. What was once so simple and common is now proving harder and harder to find. However, "Fair Share Farms" is connecting us again to real food--and community-based agriculture. It is a different world entirely when you bite into a commercial tomato from the grocery store and one that came from a local, organic farm. I can see why many kids dislike the taste of vegetable and fruits they eat from the local stores these days. They resemble a plastic and cardboard taste, devoid of most of their nutrients, and most of the time, they have arrived from different states and/or countries. Once harvested, the vegetable or fruit slowly starts to lose its nutritional value. This is why it is best to eat it right from the garden or soon after.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs):
CSAs provide communities all over the United States with local produce and foods that are harvested and immediately sent to you or to a distribution point. We pick up our local, organic produce from Fair Share Farms every week here in Liberty, MO, and they have multiple distribution points. They not only offer fresh, local produce; but their produce is proudly grown organically. You can sign up for a half share or full share (highly recommended if you have a large family or would like to share with another family). The flavor of the produce is a world apart from what you taste in the store, and it will change the way that you feel about "healthy" produce. Who knew veggies and fruits could actually taste so good?! It also might even put the flush back in your cheeks, due to actually receiving the nutrients from the food. ;)
One of the greatest benefits of being a part of a CSA is that you receive only what is in season and local at the time. This is ideal for the greatest health! Your body responds better to what is in season and also what is picked locally. Fair Share Farms also provides you the opportunity to work on their farm as part of their program, and this allows you to get closer to your food and even closer to your community; not to mention that you always walk away learning something you didn't know. We MUST get our hands dirty as we dig deeper into what brings balance into our bodies. This puts our power of health back in our own hands. The only way to truly appreciate our food and our health is to put our heart and passion into it. Know your food, and please know where it comes from.
I had the most incredible time on the farm as our whole family went out early one Saturday morning and picked fresh kale, scallions, snow peas, raspberries, cabbage, lettuce and much more. You also get the opportunity to pick any wild flowers that are growing, and there are wild, medicinal herbs growing everywhere. I am a true nerd for medicinal herbs, so when I spotted the pink and white echinacea scattered across the land... my heart skipped with extra love. I promptly went home and thought of the different tinctures I could make for the winter to come. Also, growing on their land were comfrey and motherwort. Comfrey is used traditionally in salves for healing wounds, and motherwort is the star herb for palpitations. So many of us could benefit from any one of those herbs, and there are so many others just waiting for me to discover.
You can't afford not to:
Local and organic produce may cost a little more, but these days, you can't afford not to buy organic at the expense of poor health. Here's the question you may want to ask yourself: "Would you rather spend money on good food or on medical bills"? One choice is empowering; the other puts the power in someone else's hands. We are the problem, and luckily, we are also the solution!
Start now. Neither a new way of thinking nor a new life style should start tomorrow nor Monday. We must begin our life right now, in this moment. It takes only one thought and one action to begin. Start small if you must, but start right NOW! Planting a seed today holds the power for a bountiful garden for all the days to come. Let's plant some thoughts/actions for future generations.
We are nothing without each other, and our community is begging for support and for greater wisdom about our health, individually and as a whole. Support your local farms and get your hands dirty!! These farms need you, and your health needs them. Let's empower each other.
I had the most incredible time on the farm as our whole family went out early one Saturday morning and picked fresh kale, scallions, snow peas, raspberries, cabbage, lettuce and much more. You also get the opportunity to pick any wild flowers that are growing, and there are wild, medicinal herbs growing everywhere. I am a true nerd for medicinal herbs, so when I spotted the pink and white echinacea scattered across the land... my heart skipped with extra love. I promptly went home and thought of the different tinctures I could make for the winter to come. Also, growing on their land were comfrey and motherwort. Comfrey is used traditionally in salves for healing wounds, and motherwort is the star herb for palpitations. So many of us could benefit from any one of those herbs, and there are so many others just waiting for me to discover.
I am a firm believer that we must know our land better and find the medicine in our food. We are dying a slow death from knowing too little about our bodies. We are the most fed nation, and yet in many ways, we are starving ourselves of real nutrients. Sadly, we enter massive grocery stores like robots with shopping carts (such large carts, at that). We are driven by a shopping list that mostly spells out the same ingredients and packaged goods we get week after week. We follow our addicted bodies to the inner isles where all the packaged and boxed "foods" beckon to us, and some of us rarely go to the outside circle where the real produce and fresh food are located. Even then, for the few that do shop the outer circle, they are left with the dredgings of produce that is about as nutritious as electrolyte water these days. Look around sometime at the people who are shopping the inner isles only... we are starting to look like those packages and boxes. We are getting a little better with the small organic sections! But still, where did that Organic food come from (check it out and read the label)... and how long ago was it harvested? Stay informed!
You can't afford not to:
Local and organic produce may cost a little more, but these days, you can't afford not to buy organic at the expense of poor health. Here's the question you may want to ask yourself: "Would you rather spend money on good food or on medical bills"? One choice is empowering; the other puts the power in someone else's hands. We are the problem, and luckily, we are also the solution!
Start now. Neither a new way of thinking nor a new life style should start tomorrow nor Monday. We must begin our life right now, in this moment. It takes only one thought and one action to begin. Start small if you must, but start right NOW! Planting a seed today holds the power for a bountiful garden for all the days to come. Let's plant some thoughts/actions for future generations.
We are nothing without each other, and our community is begging for support and for greater wisdom about our health, individually and as a whole. Support your local farms and get your hands dirty!! These farms need you, and your health needs them. Let's empower each other.
For more information about "Fair Share Farms," please visit this link:
(The owners, Rebecca Graff and Tom Ruggieri, are incredible people with a great passion and a world of knowledge. They will make you feel right at home on their farm as they inspire you to greater health and love for what they do.)
