Food for Thought

I've been brainstorming topics for my next post. I have several in mind but I think they will have to wait. I have a few things I feel the need to share.

Around two years ago my sister and her boyfriend did an internship on a farm in Richmond and decided they wanted to start their own homestead on my parents property. Since the beginning of their journey my sister has really opened my eyes to what I have been eating and what I have been feeding my family. I knew big companies were producing GMO products like corn and soybean. I'd seen the commercials going back and forth on whether high fructose corn syrup was good for us or not, but I never gave it any mind. I sped through Wal-Mart grabbing the snack cakes, chips, pop tarts and pre-packaged meals and went on my way. We are a busy generation, who has time to cook from scratch, right?



My sister's table at her local farmer's market  lunaacres.blogspot.com

One summer evening my family and I sat down trying to hunt for something to watch on Netflix and my sister told us we really needed to watch Food Inc.  By the end of the documentary, not even my 8 year old wanted a McDonalds chicken nugget!  Over the next several weeks we watched more documentaries on the U.S. food system and began to become very unhappy about what they were allowing in our food. Not to mention the conditions that the animals produced for human consumption were being raised in.  We decided that it was time for a change.

Our haul from the Farmer's Market

The beginning of our journey took us to the Wytheville Farmer's Market. I'd never been to a farmer's market and always pictured it as a bunch of old people selling greens to some "health food hippies". Boy was I wrong!! There was a huge selection of fruits and vegetables, beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and all kinds of homemade goodies. The vendors at the market were super nice and have been come close friends of ours. They are more then willing to talk to you about their products and give wonderful advice. Can your meat man at Wal-Mart tell you where exactly your hamburger came from and what it ate?

The next place we discovered was the Dutch Pantry in Rural Retreat. They have a large selection of spices, cooking supplies, healthy snacks, canning supplies and the best lunch meat and cheese in the county.

Tomatoes in our garden

This past summer we decided to take our movement away from processed foods a step further and plant a garden. We ordered our seeds from a seed catalog that only sells heirloom non-GMO seeds. To our surprise it took off very well , we didn't use any fertilizers or insect repellents. Then the rains came!! Everyone I talked to had a poor year due to the excessive rain, so I didn't feel like such a green-thumb failure.  We did manage to get a few tomatoes, carrots, snow peas, beans, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, watermelons, cucumbers and three pumpkins.  Not too shabby for people who have never grew anything but weeds in a flower bed!

Some of the vegetables from our garden

My first attempt at homemade bread.

Over the short course of our long journey, I have been trying to make more things from scratch. Breads, snack foods and laundry detergent just to name a few. I have began following several blogs and posts on Facebook of others who are making the switch to being self sufficient. I have found many close friends who are trying this lifestyle also, and I have educated some on what is happening under our noses and on our dinner plates. imperfectlyhomemademom.blogspot.com

That brings me to the reason behind this post. I do have friends who think I'm crazy and turning into one of those health food nuts and don't see anything wrong with GMO products.  That is their opinion and I will respect that, but it's very far from the truth. Are we perfect and make everything from scratch? No.  Will you find convenience items and pre-packaged food still in my pantry? Sorry to say, but yes. We are however making progress and that is what counts.

Our progress everyday is one step closer to our goal: "A Healthier, Happier, Self-sufficient Family"