From a reader!

Woot woot...who knew I am so special as to get blog related mail already! EXCITING!

This comes to you from my friend Susie, who gave me permission to post this (so don't think I will post your stuff without permission! I also edited the bottom part because y'all don't need to know everything about me!)

Hey Jeannette!
I was poking around online to find local farms and stuff in the Waterloo Region. I came across an amazing website foodlink.ca that lists ALL the farms/stores in Waterloo Region that sell local, organic food. There are a TON of them. I mean, seriously, for a 20 minute drive to one of these farms, I can have access to organic and local beef, eggs, milk, cheese, breads (all home-grown grains, etc), chicken, turkey, lamb, pheasant, pork, venison, wild boar, trout, CHOCOLATE, seasonal produce - I'm not even joking.

There are two places in particular that are AMAZING. You can even sign up to their 'co-op' and each week they deliver a basket of food to your home for a certain price and it contains all seasonal, local and organic food for the week. You never know exactly what you'll get - I love that! Each farm has their family story up and how they came to do this, and they explicitly explain how the animals are fed, housed, raised. AND, they invite you to visit the farm for tours so you can SEE the facility with your own eyes. I'm totally doing this - and I'm taking my son. Start early, right?

Now, the one things is (understandbly so) is that it is SO much more expensive. I understand why, and if I am going to spend money on anything, I should be supporting our local farmers. I'm going to sit down with George tonight and create a budget, looking at the price lists online. We do take out a lot because of how busy we are. If we cut that out, we can EASILY afford to eat like this. Also, I have to plan meals better and then voila, I think it's feasible. Well dear - once again, you've enlightened and inspired me. Thank you. I'm so disgusted by that documentary. I'm so thrilled to find a local farm that produces venison in a humane, organic way. The deer live in a HUGE free-range forest-type setting (just like 'home') and they're fed a really natural diet. I LOVE THIS. I know you're not in KW, but you should check out the website for fun - it's so user-friendly and informative. Why didn't I know about this shit earlier? Oh ya, the big food companies don't WANT ME TO KNOW! Ahem - I said it before and I'll say it again: ASSHOLES!!!!!! No wonder we're so sick as a people. I'd like to say I'd go vegetarian, but I know I love meat. My compromise is to eat meat that I know were treated in a humane, respectful way while they were living. They give me life - they should enjoy theirs while they're on this planet. So, I'm thinking we'll eat vegetarian 3 nights of the week and meat the other four. As a start. Now I have to sit down and explore my vast expanse of recipes to start getting ideas to reformulate our way of looking at food. I look at it as my job as a mom and wife to do this for my family.Chao twin!
Susie

So, if *I* am going whole food and as-much-organic-as-possible-food, and Susie is aiming for the same, and Bert is getting more fresh veg (ROASTED CAULIFLOWER FOREVER!), and Cath is always little miss healthy eater, and Jenn, well, Jenn, I dunno, I haven't talked to you in forever, but you're probably interested in this/doing this already, otherwise you would not have signed up....THEN ALL OF YOU GUYS OUT THERE CAN DO THIS TOO! Start small, you don't have to go all wiggy on us and clean out your cupboards and replace everything with whole food ingredients and fresh fruit and veg (I didn't even do that)...just start with 1 thing. Pick a better cereal next time, cruise down the organic section at your supermarket, buy organic eggs (if they have 'extra' stuff in them - like fortified OMEGA-3's- that's not what we're looking for here...I found out that if chickens eat what they're supposed to eat and live how they're supposed to live, the OMEGA-3's in their eggs increase NATURALLY....)

Susie also sent me info on another really good link for this CSA in K-W (which is Kitchener - Waterloo Ontario if you didn't know, and probably where I'll be moving to next!). A CSA is a Community Supported Agriculture group (I learned about this in my book From Earth to Table) basically, you buy a SHARE of a farm's crops, then you get to reap the benefits of what's grown. I love that concept....but again, for a single gal...that's alot of veg for one person...but, maybe you can split a share? I dunno, find a CSA near you and ask if you're single....

In the e-mail above, Susie said she found the organic stuff to be more expensive through FoodLink...although in an earlier e-mail she told me that she has been buying her family's whole meats privately through a local farm and that it was cheaper...

Don't let the cost scare you away...in Bermuda, I am finding the cost to be not much more than what I normally would have paid for groceries (you'd totally faint if I told you what I normally paid for groceries so I really won't scare you!), and in the last few weeks, I am noticing that I am eating less and less...which means spending less and less...and like Susie said above, she'll probably stop getting take-away so often, which is probably the BIGGEST adjustment for me! But, I have saved SO MUCH MONEY by brown bagging it everyday for breakfast, lunch, and snacks....OMG you have no idea how much - that I can afford to spend more on the groceries that I am buying to make these meals! :) YUMMY!

Start today! :)