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My husband and I recently moved to the country. Well, closer to the country. I've long been inspired by the peaceful lifestyles enjoyed (it seemed to me) by bloggers like Pioneer Woman and Redneck Mommy, and wanted a piece o' that for myself. And my husband, as it happened, wanted a pick-up truck. So we moved out of the city, to a pretty property in a small town within comfortable commuting distance. We did this because we wanted to get out of the city, but didn't want to move to the suburbs. Basically, we wanted to pretend that we were living in the country while still remaining able to walk around the corner and get a latte. And then take those lattes and go to a farmers' market or two.
It would be pressing the truth a little to say that a big part of decision was motivated by a desire to live and eat more healthily, but only a little. It was a significant part of our decision. Maybe not as significant as wanting breathing space, four bedrooms and a clawfoot tub, but still: it mattered. It matters. And here's the thing: so far - almost four weeks into it - it's totally working. We are, it seems, living better. And apart from maintaining a steady diet of espresso drinks (decaf for me), we do eat better.
For one thing, we eat more locally. It's still winter, so the farmers' markets aren't in full swing, but we're still able to buy a lot of stuff that is grown or raised on local farms and/or produced by local hands. Even our maple syrup is local.
I was reminded of how important this kind of thing is - eating locally - after I wrote last week's post about the current BlogHersAct Canada challenge (to reduce household meat consumption for the month) (how're you all doing on that, by the way? don't forget to leave tips and recipes and links HERE). There was some great discussion in the comments to that post, including a few good reminders that it can arguably be equally important to eat locally. Alyssa, who writes at Just Cause It!, said that the guiding principle in her household is whether a good old-fashioned farm woman would have put it on her table: "We call it our Little House on The Prairie Diet. If Ma Ingalls could have put it on her table, I'll put it on mine. Since we made this switch to TRULY natural food, we have all lost weight, had more energy and felt better."
Rebecca from Cooking Up A Story noted that she and her family had, in an effort to forge a closer relationship with their food, begun growing some of their own this past summer, and that her kids, so far, had really gotten into it. "They even," she said, "began to bravely try freshly picked tomatoes."
And there's the crux of it, people: establish a good relationship with your food - for starters, by getting to know where it comes from - and your kids will do the same. I'm not sure that we'll kick things off in our household by raising a cow in our backyard - but I can report that by sourcing out foods at local farms, we're doing the closest thing to it, and my two-year old daughter can provide the evidence. Having seen more farms in the last month than many people do in their entire lives, she recently announced to us that "people eat cows for food. From the farm. DEY EAT DEM." (She, for the record, does not. She likes tofu, and butter. We haven't explained about butter coming from cows yet.)
And if you are, in fact, raising a cow in your backyard (or, for whatever reason - it better be a good one - you are not participating in this month's BHA Canada challenge), you can enjoy this recipe from Pioneer Woman. Just make sure that your kids don't name the animal first. (Vegans and BHA Canada diehards - you can make this one. And you're welcome to name the apples.)
