Where does your food come from

Last Sunday, as we sat down to dinner, we realized that three family businesses were responsible for most of the food on our plates. To insure that we - and others who look for good food - have food that is carefully raised, carefully processed, and sold with mindfulness, we must support small farms and small businesses that are doing their best to deliver it to us.  

On Sunday's plate we had chicken from Crown S Ranch (that's Jennifer Argraves - top right -  in her chicken processing facility), emmer and wild rice pilaf from Bluebird Grains (Brooke Lucy - bottom right - in her farm store in the family mill), homemade bread (yup, that's me) made with whole wheat flour from Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill (Kevin Christenson - bottom left - in his mill), and leeks and shallots from our garden (that's Ken - upper left - who harvested the shallots last fall and the leeks in the afternoon).

Rather than fill your plate with food that has traveled thousands of miles, been processed until there is no food value left, and is full of additives, preservatives, and artificial colors and flavors, go local or regional, organic, and direct. You'll support a small business that needs all the help it can get and you'll eat fresher healthier food.  

Here is our "tip of the hat" to these fine folks! Read more about how to do that here.   

Making sushi with friends

There's more, keep reading! Get a cup of coffee and join us at GoodFood World, where we get to the source by talking to the people who produce, process, and deliver good food. Take care, eat well, and be well! 

View from Mount Sentinel looking South towards sprawling development

A new voice at GoodFood World, Christopher Kailing, is focused on the effects of local and regional planning on our food system.

In almost all parts of the country, the general land use  planning formula is out-of-date. It is not geared to the pressing need to grow more food locally and regionally and to be less dependent on imported products - whether from other parts of our country or other countries.  

As energy costs continue to rise and oil price increases accelerate - as they must - high distribution costs will make it necessary to shorten the distance food needs to travel.

To ensure that we have good food, we need good soil and clean water. As more and more good agricultural land is paved over, that availability is drastically shrinking. Christopher encourages people who care about the food they eat to get involved directly with local planning in Updating Land Use Policy Before It's Too Late.

Our Good Food on a Budget correspondent, Kate Hilmer, recently finished reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. "One thing is for certain, and this book made it painfully clear to me: meat matters," says Kate. "To what extent does it matter? It's a complex and personal question that each of us must decide for ourselves."

Anne Schwartz, a Washington farmer, responds to those like Kate who are trying to decide whether or not to eat meat.

Here is Anne's perspective - that of a farmer with an animal science degree.