Love Thy Neighbor

Today the kids and I went to Peaceful Meadows in Whitman to get milk and vanilla ice cream for the ice cream sodas we were having for dessert. As is our custom, we stopped in the barn to visit the cows (it's always nice to see first-hand where the milk you're drinking is coming from), and we were delighted to see this two-day old calf napping in the corner of its pen. Although the milk from Peaceful Meadows is not organic, it is free of growth hormones and (I believe) antibiotics. And not only is its taste far superior to the milk found in the supermarket, but it costs less, too! The only organic milk available around here comes in cartons, and I just don't like the taste of milk from a carton, organic or not (my son, however, absolutely loves the Horizon chocolate milk "boxes"). So in the case of milk, I am choosing natural over organic without guilt. In fact, I am far happier supporting a long-standing local dairy than I would be buying organic milk from a faceless supplier. I try to support local farmers as often as I can, which is one reason I was so excited to find an organic CSA less than fifteen minutes away. This strategy works well from late spring to early fall, but when winter comes and the ground freezes solid for weeks on end, it's obviously a bit harder to find local produce (acorns and pinecones notwithstanding). I guess I will never be able to call myself a true "localvore" unless I start squirreling away keepers such as onions, garlic, potatoes and winter squash; preserving summer berries and tomatoes; canning, well, whatever produce one cans (tomatoes again?); drying herbs; and omitting carbs completely from my winter diet because there are no flour mills anywhere in this neck of the woods. And without flour, there would be no cookies, breads, crackers, pizza...Let me just say here that I am a girl who lives for carbohydrates--pastries, freshly baked bread, crackers with gourmet cheese spreads--and a winter without the aforementioned victuals would most definitely prove to be an excruciatingly long winter for me and everyone who knows me. I don't think I would make it in Vermont (or maybe I would--they do have King Arthur up there in Norwich).

When I was thinking about the topic for this blog entry earlier today, my intent was to write about my organic experience at Hannaford's (I almost typed "orgasmic", which actually wouldn't be too far off the mark considering how excited I was by all of the organic stuff I found) this morning. In fact, I had half of the entry composed in my head before I even reached the store. Of course, the likelihood that I would have remembered any of the clever remarks or compelling arguments that kept running through my mind was nonexistent from the outset, which reminds me that I really need to look into getting some sort of recording device to keep in my minivan. Then the kids and I went to Peaceful Meadows and saw the newborn calf, and--well, you've read the rest. So the plan is to dedicate the next entry to my trip to Hannaford's...but who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Kate

The Ordinary Organic