King Corn

When we restarted the blog for the summer, I promised there would be movie reviews, and I even added a "movie review" category to the sidebar! So what happened? Honestly, I find them hard to write. To begin with, I am not an expert in farming or nutrition, so I'm worried I'll mess up the facts. The other problem is intent: I don't want to sound preachy, and I don't want to BE preachy.

But I still want movie reviews, so I'm giving it another go, and we'll see how I do!

A few days ago, Gerry and I rewatched the documentary King Corn. To summarize the movie, way too much corn is being produced because of government subsidies, and this is leading to a degradation of our food supply. Go to the King Corn website and click on the "Farm Bill" button on the right to read a better explanation of this than I could ever write. When I was a kid, corn was the lovely, tender stuff we bought at farm stands for a dollar a dozen. Now it's industrialized and the things they're doing with it--feeding it to cows who aren't built for that diet and processing it into freaky corn sweeteners--are practically poisoning us.

For Gerry, his first viewing of King Corn marked the beginning of a shift in his diet. There is a scene in the movie (and I hope I'm not ruining it for anyone) where a nutritionist sticks his hand through a little door in the side of a live cow to show the effects of the corn heavy diet. Gerry remembers me asking if he was ready to become a vegetarian. I couldn't see anything that drastic happening, but I did encourage him to seek out healthier alternatives to the meats he was buying at the grocery store. We realized this would mean the end of discount meats, so he's compensated by eating less. Eating a better quality meat (and less of it) has resulted in better numbers at the doctor's office, too.

For my part, I've never eaten meat, so I didn't have any changes to make there. Instead, I zeroed in on high fructose corn syrup. I'm sure I'd heard of HFCS before watching King Corn, but I don't think I realized how prevalent it was. I sort of figured that it would be in really junky things like Pop Tarts and Kool Aid...you know, things I wasn't eating anyway. Then I started checking bread wrappers. HFCS! Spaghetti sauce. HFCS! Cranberry juice. HFCS! Raisin bran. HFCS! Ritz crackers. HFCS! Holy cow.

So now what? Well, at first I looked for substitutes. I actually found and bought different highly-processed foods that just happened to be free of the dreaded sweetener. And these days it's much easier to do as some manufacturers have caught on and removed HFCS from their recipes.

So that's a step in the right direction...sort of. Eventually, however, I figured out that an even easier way to avoid the stuff was by avoiding processed foods. These days, I couldn't even tell you what's for sale in most of the middle aisles of the grocery store. And honestly? When I see the array of things for sale it makes me kind of sick.

Just in case you think I'm getting a little preachy let me tell you this: I love cotton candy, potato chips are a staple around here, and we still go out for fast food sometimes. We're not perfect. But we're a long way from where we were.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, we believe it's important to support small farms by joining a CSA or shopping at local farm stands because it ensures we will have fresh, healthy food to eat. I don't want to see even more small farms gobbled up by corn growers so that more cows--and more people for that matter-- can eat themselves sick.

Who's Your Farmer?

"You shouldn't be buying garlic shipped in holds of ships from thousands of miles away, between sex toys and flip flops."

--Carol Boutard in the film Ingredients

If you need any convincing that buying local food is the way to go, this documentary should take care of that. Now, before you roll your eyes and click away, let me add that the film does NOT say the only solution is to become a 100%, hardcore locavore, eating only food that's grown within a 100 mile radius. It specifically says you can have your olive oil, your coffee, bananas, or chocolate and still support the local food movement.

One point the film makes over and over is that locally grown food is just better stuff. The large-scale, industrial farms are interested in just about everything but flavor. Chemicals and genetic modifications may result in lower labor costs, higher yields, and a more uniform product, but flavor and nutrition and sometimes even safety are sacrificed.

Of course, another aspect to consider is fuel and energy costs. The film quotes a statistic that one fifth of our nation's fossil fuel consumption is used in the growing, packaging, and transporting of food. I think we've all heard that food costs are due to go up, and that's partly because of fuel costs.

I could go on...and on...but why not just watch the film? It is truly a feast for the eyes and food for thought. If you're a Bucks County resident, the film is available to borrow for free at the Bucks County Free Library. There is also a great Ingredients website and blog.

Let the Season Begin!

Today was our first pick up of the 2011 season at Myerov Farm! I seem to remember it being a gloomy, rainy day way back when we did our first pick up in 2008, too. Here's what was included in today's share:

asparagus
pac choi
mint
chives
lemon balm
cucumbers, beit alpha variety (more about them later)

Now, remember, this year we are doing a half share, in an effort to waste less! Full shareholders received TWO heads of pac choi, larger bundles of herbs, extra asparagus, a jar of honey, etc. This will plenty for the two of us!

One thing that's different from when we did this last is everything was set up to serve yourself, so I got to choose the exact veggies I wanted. I liked that! This way, if you are a fan of, for example, super-slim asparagus, you can choose that. If you like your asparagus as fat as possible, you can choose that instead. I couldn't remember which way Gerry liked it, so I picked one that was in the middle. I hope it's juuuuuust right, Baby Bear. Next time I'll be sure to take my camera along so I can show you how beautiful and inviting the full crates of vegetables looked.

If you're maybe still wavering about joining a CSA this year, I want to share something I thought about as I was en route to the farm. Lucky for me, this year I can swing past the farm on my way home from work. It feels good that I can do this without making a special trip. (By the way, if you aren't close to the farm on Elephant Road, you should know that there are other pick up points available in Glenside, New Hope, Doylestown, and Montgomeryville. They are listed here.) Anyway, my new route takes me a different way from what I was used to, and I pass several housing developments along the way. I had to wonder how much of that land was once farm land. You see where I'm going with this, and I won't get into a whole, big preachy thing, but it's something to think about.

What about you? If you're a member of a CSA, what were your reasons for joining?

Gearing Up

Our season with Myerov Farm hasn't started yet, but we are starting to get into the groove with other locally grown vegetables. At Bolton's Farm Market, Gerry succumbed to the siren song of asparagus, and then we spied the spinach fresh from the field in its picking basket, so we had to have some of that as well! We then stumbled upon a small farmers' market on our way home and snagged some lettuce and these beautiful French breakfast radishes, which are new to us. Isabella has had her first taste of this season's fresh greens, and we will join her at dinner tonight with a big, fresh salad.

If you are thinking of joining a CSA this year, there's still time! If it's something you've never done, I urge you to take the plunge. You can see if there is a CSA local to you at the Local Harvest website. I guarantee you'll learn things, meet great people, and experience new tastes. You'll also be supporting the local economy and helping the environment by eliminating long-distance transport from the equation. C'mon, give it a go!