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Hmm, I don't see why a comment about supproting more natural food would raise such dismay. It's not like you ranted that they were awful people. And the comment about the gas to the farmer's market? How does hubby think the food in the grocery store that is closer to you got there from across the country? going to your farmer's market might mean YOU spenda little more gas, but the produce didn't spend extra gas, so on the whole, it works out in favour of the ecology. I always try to support the local business people. be they farmers or businesses.

I had the same reaction about patronizing the local farmer's market, it's great to support local farmers and local businesses, but many local people are employed by the so-called "evil" corporate supermarket too. I guess there is no easy answer, but I do believe that small changes by many people can make a huge difference. Have you read www.pocketfarm.com? It's written by a woman iand her husband who left the typical consumer life to try a simpler way. They are in Maine, so the geography is obviously much differenct than TX, but you might find some bits of inspiration.

I'm not sure why there was such an unbalanced reaction to the idea of buying something farm raised, but one thing is for sure. The home grown and farm raised stuff tastes a heck of a lot better than anything you'll find in a grocery store. So if there is a local meat source you can find that does things more traditionally, I say give it a try. I have a friend in Pennsylvania that started doing that and she says that what she gets from there is really really good. My family grew up poor, we had a large garden and chickens, so there was some stuff we could produce ourselves and we did some canning. We had to use the store, too, of course, but our garden stuff sure was good! As for the environment, we can all do our best, but in the long run, it'll have to be a global change of attitude before any big accomplishments are realized.

when i go to my local farmers market , it's to buy produce that was comming to my area anyway, so the gas is a non issue to my way of thinking. i can buy four times the amount of food for the same money . it's better tasting and cheaper and that is not ! global thinkning is it? then there is the side issue of food cosmetics. a year or so ago there was some news around "florida tomatoes" that did not meed the pretty standard and so ; even though they were more productive and tastier, they could not be marketed as "florida' tomatoes. this is a real soap box issue.

I am lucky in that we have a company that delivers a box of organic, mostly local, food to our door every week, and I can customize the box any way I want each week. We also have several farmers markets very close by. But remember that there can be many hidden costs to smaller grocery bills -- higher medical bills from unhealthy food, more pollution from agribusiness and transport of groceries long distances, etc., more waste from "pretty" packaging designed to make you buy stuff you don't want, etc.

Good for you for thinking about this and for contemplating changes.

I saw Barbara Kingsolver at a reading for this book and was so charmed I went right out and got it. She did say some stuff at the reading that I'm not sure is in the book but may answer your questions. She spoke of not only going to farmers markets, but when you go, get more than just what you need immediately and put it up just like you would if it was from your own garden. And you can do the same with your local market. See what is grown locally and is in season and put it up. It financially supports the local growers and you are sticking with the in-season foods.

It is a small step but if more people did it it would make a difference and allows for a gradual lifestyle change.

Do they have any of the community farms in your area? Those seemed like a great option for me who just doesn't have a lot of room for a garden. Plus, some of those community farms will butcher the meat for you. You will, likely have to get a second-hand freezer for the garage. But it should pay for itself pretty quickly.

It is quite an inspiring idea. I'm excited to be trying it. I used to love going out to our pantry to get something we had all canned with our Mom.

Well, I guess you have to make a choice about what is important to you. Do you want "really unplayed around with food" or economy? If you want the later, it is going to take time, money and gas and there is no getting around that. Short of pulling up stakes and living out in the midst of no where, you have to choose.

As for my and mine, I look for green grocers that are near me. Get on the net and see who is closest to you be they butchers, bakers or candlestick makers. Patrinise these close places. If you have to drive a bit, make a list of stuff that you only need now and then and don't have to go 10 miles to get.

Grow in pots the veggies you want and have room to care for. I have done that two years in a row and have had very good success. I planted tomatoes last year and have some in the freezer still. I planted peppers, baby carrots, green onions and kolrabe all in large pots in my back yard and had very good success. The green onions and kolrabe really came up well and tasted wonderful!

Look in the grocery store for organically grown products too. Many stores are beginning to carry unfooled around with food. It costs more, but, again, you must decide what you really want.

Hope that helps,

Barb R. Shelton CT

There is plenty of time during the winter months for me to patronize my local grocery, and I do. During the time of year when the farmers markets are active, though, I really try hard to get my produce and other goods through the local sellers. I've put up a few things in my freezer this year, with the hopes of having a bit of summer to combat the long grey months that make up a PNW winter.

Like everything else in life, I think that there will be some time spent trying to find the right balance. I know it would be really difficult for me to go all local, but that I can make strides towards supporting the local economy by stopping at the f-market on the way to another appointment every Friday during the summer. I truly do feel that you get more bang for your buck as well. Example - three incredibly sweet and beautiful melons that were on the verge of too ripe - I got them for $1 each and have been eating the cut up and 'fridged bits now for three days, and it's fabulous breakfast treat. Along with those melons I got a big bag of cherry tomatoes, two pears and some corn, and all for under $11.

I'm rambling - I'd also encourage you to join the local freecycle group on yahoo (people really do give away some amazing things, like perfectly functioning standing freezers and whatnot, all for the cost of your time and energy in coming to get it), and to maybe check the local craigslist for other items like pots for growing veggies and stuff in. I would think that the climate in Houston would make it pretty easy to grow veggies year round, and how awesome would it be to do that on your patio?

The way I look at it: I'd rather pay the high prices at the farmer's market than pay the drug companies and the know-nothing doctors. I am in my late 60s and in the 5 years since I began eating locally and, whenever possible, organically, I haven't had the flu or headaches or a even a cold that lasted more than 2 days. Good food will save you money. As far as gasoline, I take a cooler along with you for the produce and anything else that needs to be refrigerated. That way I can do all my errands on that same tank of gas. I still work, but get no benefits, so good food is, literally, a lifesaver. Your in-laws' reaction was really strange, unless they're like that about everything. This is just my experience, but I urge you to think about it. worstedwitch.com has lots of good ideas about green living and good food. Wishing you good health, good food, and good company!

A friend and I were discussing this yesterday in relation to alternative fuels. Her opinion, with which I agree, is that even though ethanol isn't the best choice for a lot of reasons, it'sat least a start. Change happens only if you try, and you don't have to reach the end all at once.

It's all very well to support local sources. But people are focusing too much on the positives and not thinking about the negatives. What if there's a 5 year drought? Kinda hard to go local when there's nothing growing for 50 miles out of your home.

I suspect that once you start looking for local options you might find more than are immediately apparent. That's how it is where we live - lots going on 'under the radar' so to speak. After all, the FM in all those roads is supposed to stand for 'Farm to Market' right? Good luck with your search. I lived in Houston 15 years ago and found that stepping outside the narrow view of 'normal' to be difficult. (But I was a Yankee, which didn't help.)

Ouch. Sorry you're surrounded by such negativity. Hang in there! Going green is not merely a matter of faddishness or politics. Many "evil" corporations, such as GE, have become concerned about clean air, clean water, healthy food, and pristine environments because bad air, bad water, unhealthy food, and polluted environments are bad for business. Because negative impacts accumulate incrementally (sort of like unwanted pounds), even small positive changes - say, just one compact fluorescent bulb - have a positive impact. Not to mention the plain fact a farm-raised turkey just tastes better.

The thing that struck me in your post was your acknowledgement your diets (menus, eating, whatever you want to call it) are suffering due to financial concerns. This grabbed my attention because many times that same thought has crossed my mind. Often, it is we women who notice this stuff first because we tend to be the menu planners/grocery shoppers. Change is a slow, often painful ordeal. When finances are limited, those changes take twice as long, sometimes even longer.

See if you can find a copy of Square Foot Gardening at the library. Of all the gardening books I've read, Mel's SFG makes the most sense to me. At the same time, "waste" the gas to hit the farmer's market. Ask around to see if the sellers will further reduce prices near the end of the day, then load up with as much as you can if you are able to freeze or preserve it. Homemade pickles are a huge hit here as well as a treat. Made with free cukes from a friend and sale cukes during a local grocer's Buy Ohio sale. The 11 quarts I made this year have worked out to be cheaper than the cheapest I can buy. (Already had the jars and other needed stuff) My girls actually prefer fresh from the garden produce over junk food (that's saying A LOT too). It was not an overnight sensation by any means but now they are anxious to have a larger garden.

The gas you might use to get to the farmer's market is nothing compared to the amount of fuel used to transport produce from the farmers to the grocery store, since it's not a direct route. Sometimes it's sent out of state to a central location before being shipped back into the area it was grown. Now that's a negative environmental impact.

It does all add up. I think some of the things we think are small, have a much bigger hidden impact when you look at the picture outside of our direct realm of experience. Light bulbs that use less energy and last longer has a small personal impact, a few pennies less on the electric bill and a few less bulbs we have to buy. But it adds up. Buying fewer bulbs leads to less packaging for all those new bulbs, and less waste from the spent bulbs. Plus consuming less bulbs (on the large multi-person scale) means less of them have to be produced and shipped, which adds to the impact. A similar thing happens with buying as locally as possible. Less negative transport impact, less negative packaging impact, creation of demand for local products which can reduce the demand for factory farmed products, which is a huge impact. We've been lucky in that there is a local program that works much like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), that delivers a box of mostly local, organic produce once a week. For us it's been cheaper (and healthier, and tastier) than buying produce at the grocery store. I'm not sure what area of Houston you're in but Homesweetfarm (http://www.homesweetfarm.com/CSA.htm) has a CSA that delivers to SW Houston and would probably know of other CSAs if you're not in their delivery area.

I also agree with the other folks, make the trip to the farmers market, sock up and store the excess. It's well worth it.

• We all do what we can with what we have.

I'm very lucky that there's a local farmer's market only about a mile from me that's held every Wednesday. Wonderful produce and the vendors are friendly, too. Most of them automatically give me a discount if I purchase several different kinds of produce from them.

Freecycle is a great service! We've given away a Xerox copier that we weren't using, a very high end color laser printer, full video game systems, teak patio furniture, leather recliners - you name it. All of it in great shape. Sure, I could probably make some money by selling the stuff but I like the idea of helping someone else out and/or not throwing more stuff in a landfill. AND, I don't have to bother with the hassle of newspaper ads and telephone calls. I post something on my local Freecylce group and within a couple of hours I've got several replies. Usually, whatever I'm giving away is out of my hair and gone to a new home in 24 hours or less.

Just an FYI, the offspring of inseminated animals are not sterile. They are perfectly capable of reproducing on their own. It is just more efficient to inseminate. Particularly in the case of chickens and especially if there are genetic issues in play.

I think it's great that you are even thinking about making such changes, even if they aren't practical now. I really believe it is more of a lifestyle change than truely thinking that one fluorescent lightbulb will change the world. Of course it won't, but buying it encourages others to buy it, which works to allow alternative technologies and lifestyles achieve the critical mass necessary to become commercially viable. Who would have thought a few years ago that flourescent lightbulbs would become popular? I'm pretty sure that I people scoffed at my suggestions to switch (my own family too!) (Likewise, remember back when wearing seatbelts became law? OK, I don't really, but I was alive when that happened! I know people hated the idea when it first started because it was different than what they were used to (some people anyway, this is what my parents have said). But now most people can't imagine getting behind the wheel of a car without putting one on. I know *I* can't! And think of all the lives it's saved. Because of a lifestyle change (forced or not, it doesn't matter, the point is public perception, and acceptance, has changed, and for the better.)

In sort of a similar vein, the "green team" at work had a meeting a few weeks ago to discuss what we can do to make the office more environmentally friendly; we've already made some changes, like buying office supplies with a certain amount of post-consumer recycled content (although, ironically, the only recycled paper we can get, because of restrictions on who we can order from, comes wrapped in PLASTIC - how's that for irony?) Anyway, we are are working with the idea now that there are some things you CAN'T change, for instance, we have office space in a larger complex, and can't do anything about the heating/ac system (we've tried, over and over, getting the building management to make changes, and short of moving to other office space, which is highly unlikely, it's a non issue). So instead we are focusing on things we CAN do. Small changes can cumulatively have big impacts.

I know I've read somewhere that if you are on a limited budged to buy all-natural or organic products there are certain items you should put a priority on and others that you shouldn't worry about as much. For instance, some fruits absorb pesticides into their skins (I think, nobody flame me if I'm wrong) so those are the ones to avoid. I personally only buy organic milk anymore. It's just one of those things that's important to me. Whoops! Rambled on a bit there. :)

Actually, we've found that replacing most of our incandescent bulbs with flourescents lowers our bill quite a lot. And since they don't burn out nearly as often it's cheaper in the long run.

The food at our local farmer's markets is not only better, but a lot cheaper. We're lucky and have quite a few local markets.

I loved Animal Vegetable Miracle. Also read Omnivore's Dilemma and certainly have our food sources on my mind. In the "olden days" farms were run by families and their reputations rested on the quality of the products they raised.

• I recall being at a restaurant many years ago and the server was extolling the virtues of their Iowa corn fed beef. I told the server that cows don't eat corn , they eat grass, and he looked at me like I was some kind of lunatic. Hey, I grew up in Nebraska and went to university in Iowa. I know from beef!!

Support your local growers when you can / seasonality of fruit and vegetables. So you have to drive - you have to drive to the grocery, right?

The taste will be different - fresh picked within a day of market, vs. ripening in the warehouse. And the opportunity to get baby sweet potatoes, or just 2.75 pounds of sweet onions, and to pick them out yourself. No more bad ones hidden in the bag.

My partner and I have chickens in the back yard - fresh eggs, sometimes still warm from the laying, are excellent - I can't eat eggs out dining anymore - the taste is so different.

Do what you can, what you feel comfortable with, what you enjoy eating.

If you're concerned enough to start questioning, then start exploring the answers.

Hi. You might have a look at this website: http://www.localharvest.org/ There are a reasonable number of local farms to try. Something else you can do is look into coop shares. Sometimes they will deliver. Look into Central City Co-op. There's also an organic meat co-op listed in Spring. I live in N. Galveston County, and even down here there's places to get local produce. Unfortunately, despite our mild climate, it's not available year round.

Haven't heard form you in a while and I check every day on your blog. Hope all is well. Miss hearing from you..

I keep checking and you are not there....everything ok??? Miss your posts and hope you are still knitting or doing something with your hands to keep you sane. Take good care and post soon ....pleeeeeeease???

Hi! Check out http://www.yourhealthsource.org/ to find out if there is a location near you... I get produce from them & it's very good & fresh! :)

Hope that helps Jessica