I got cherries!

I had to go to possibly the most pathetic farmer's market in the bay area to get them but I got them. They were very taste. Maybe next sunday I will have to head to the civic center to go to a real farmer's market.

Can you ever go back home?

Slow food and the local food movement are gaining popularity (at least out here on the left coast), but can you really ever go back home? What I mean by that is that the slow movement and the local food movement are very much how our grandparents lived. Well my grandparents anyways because I am 30ish and my grandparents are 80ish. They grew their own vegetables and bought their meat from the local butcher that got his meat from the local rancher. It was a better time...or was it. The past is always better because human nature remembers the happy times and leaves out the downers.

I admit I am going to go the farmers market for more of my food. I am going to shop where I can get quality ingredients that I can be assured are prepared or grown by my standards. I am going to do these things because I can. How is middle america going to pull this off? They don't have a california climate. So much of the farm area has been mowed down and turned into pre-fab housing. I came from middle america and know my parents would be hard pressed to get all their food from local sources. They have no local butcher and no access to veggies year round. My mom might wish she had time to can and put up all her veggies but lets be realistic that is a lot of work. I am doubting that my great-grandparents enjoyed constantly cooking, preserving and cleaning so why would my mom want to go back to that. It is after all what we have worked so hard to get away from. It isn't about promoting laziness but that ability to have leisure activities and enjoy life.

I think we should all put more energy and thought into what we buy and most definetly what we eat, but we need to make sure we do it with some touch of reality. I am going to do my part and hopefully we find a way for middle america to do the same. I hope for my parents part of the country that they can at the very least start getting more organic products. Even this would make such a difference.

For those of you out on the west coast enjoy your local and seasonal produce. It is one of my favorite things about living in the bay area. See you all at the farmers market I will be there for my cherries later today.