Food Roots, October 15: where does your food come from?

“Or what if I had simply grown up in a time when food was seasonal? When there was, in each year, a time of more and a time of less? When food was not just there in packages on the supermarket shelf all year?”

~ Jessica Prentice ~

Welcome to another edition of Food Roots!

Our food system is destroying the soil, wasting valuable resources and making us sick. The only thing that is sustainable and the only thing that can reverse the many complications of a broken food system is to get back to our food roots. We must plant the seeds ourselves. We must shake the hand of the farmer who grows our food. We must take back our food system.

Where Does My Food Come From?

I have no second post up this week because of kitchen and life busyness. It seems like all week I have been attempting to get something extra done, but with company and every day life I am now woefully behind in laundry, dishes, and general up keep.

This week on the local food front…

• I attempted to cure the gallons of olives I received in the mail. Did you know that you can buy them for $1/pound and cure them yourself? That is a great price, which you can find here. Not exactly local, but finding olives here could prove impossible. I do believe there are certain foods that are worth bringing from afar when they are nutrient dense.
• I dehydrated trays full of thyme, sage, oregano and rosemary from our perennial herb garden. The house smelled so lovely.
• The usual kitchen chores of making chicken stock from a local chicken, rotating kombucha & other ferments, and soaking and dehydrating nuts for snacking and breakfasts has filled up my spare time.
• I purchased about 2.5 brown paper grocery bags full of local, organic apples and pears for only $15. That is an amazing price that we couldn’t pass up. Generally they are three times that price. So I will be most likely dehydrating them or making sauce in the near future. I will also look into purchasing more next week!
• We prepared meals filled with local goodies such as a beef stew containing all local ingredients – beef and vegetables within 25 miles and herbs from our own garden. There were fresh green salads from our CSA, roasted squash from the farmer’s market, and soups with plenty of herbs from our garden.

The fall air is cold and damp and the house is filled with the smells of hot tea, bubbling soups, warming spices and a dining table that is covered in pears and apples. It feels just right for fall. Now please, tell me of your adventures in this season of stocking up and preserving.

So I ask you again…

Where does your food come from?

To participate in Food Roots…

1. create a blog post pertaining to local, seasonal foods or what you are doing to find your food’s roots.
2. in your post add a link back here so that others can benefit from everyone’s information and encouragement.
3. add your name and url to mr. linky below.

Feel free to use the Food Roots banner above, if you wish. If you do not have a blog, please share your thoughts in the comments.

I can’t wait to see what you all come up with. Thank you for participating!