Moooo

The experiment is over. We've decided to stop our Arganica orders after the trial run. Theoretically, I like the idea of having everything local/organic as well as those few items we purchase that are not local or seasonal (bananas, avocados) coming directly to our door. The convenience, the online ordering, someone else doing all the running around gathering items for me, the available variety...but...I miss doing these things for ourselves. I really enjoy the act of shopping and selecting. I don't mind making a few trips each week to collect what we'd like to eat. I like to meet and talk with our farmers at the market. I like seeing and holding the produce, deciding which cut of meat would work best, and having my kids see this whole thing in action. I think if I were working outside of my home, didn't have a scheduled Polyface meat/egg drop at our home each month or so, and didn't have the luxury of going to a nearby farmers market (a wonderful Smart Market) each week, and didn't have the convenience of an excellent grocery store (Trader Joes's) close by I would be more inclined to continue. Most of all, I think that the act of going about and acquiring our food this way helps our family appreciate what we eat. It helps teach our children where food comes from, and how hard real people that they know work to get food to our table. I don't want to lose those opportunities for convenience sake.

I remember about 15 years ago, I was working with a family in their home. I had a toy milk jug with plastic cookies that fit into the top, and when you tipped the jug it mooed. The older sister (maybe 6 years old) of the child I was working with said, "why does that milk moo?". I started asking her some questions about why she thought it might do that. We were getting no where, and finally I said "well, where does milk come from?" and she said "the refrigerator." Well, yeah, that's why she was confused about the mooing. I want my kids to grow up understanding where food comes from and how to ask the right questions of the folks who grow and process our food in order to be sure it is the right choice for them to eat. Now if only we could have a goat and some chickens in our yard...