Local Veggies

This week's share at Blooming Glen Farm.

"Can I have some more turnips?"

How many times has that sentence come out of the mouth of a 6-yr old?  Luckily for me and Mary Beth, it came out of Jake's mouth last night at dinner.

We picked up our share at Blooming Glen Farm last night.  Turnips, strawberries, kale, escarole, spring onions, lettuce, kohlrabi, bok choy and Jake's favorite, fennel.  So we made a bit of a salad feast for dinner last night--along with some chicken and pesto pasta. 

Jake and his strawberry with a face.

Even before we had dinner, Jake was asking for some sliced up fennel and some water to drink with a fennel "straw" (the stalks are hollow, so you can use it as a straw for some licorice-flavored water).  Then he scarfed down his lettuce, turnips, strawberries and kohlrabi. 
It's so nice to see him really enjoy these tasty and nutritious foods.  And he's so excited to go to the farm and pick them up.

Jake is a very healthy kid.  And I have no doubt that his eating a diet full of fruits and vegetables has a big hand in that. 

So many kids these days don't even know where vegetables come from, let alone know what kohlrabi is.  (Do you know?)  I don't know how many parents I hear complain about how their kids only eat chicken nuggets or mac and cheese. 

I truly believe that exposing children to these foods--whether at a CSA like Blooming Glen or at a farmers' market--makes them more interested and willing to eat them.  Even better, growing your own garden--even if it's a small one--gives kids a chance to have some ownership of the food they eat. 

Sucking on fennel, surrounded by this week's loot.

Along these lines, I saw Michelle Obama on The Daily Show last night.  She is promoting her book, American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America, which helps to stress the importance that gardens and fresh local foods do to fight the childhood obesity problem that is rampant in this country.  See the interview here.  It made me feel good that we've turned Jake on to a view of fresh and local food that will help to keep him healthy and, hopefully, promote it as he gets older.

So if you have kids--or even if you don't--eat local.  Pick up some items at a farmers' market that has probably traveled less than 10 miles instead of buying supermarket produce that travels an average of 1600 miles from field to your plate--losing flavor and nutrition all the while.  You'll be glad you did and you might even hear a request for more turnips!

It's That Time Again!

Baseball, flowers poking up through the ground, green leaves showing themselves--all sure signs of spring.  But one of the best signs that we're into that time of year is the opening of our many local farmers' markets.

Cows of Tussock Sedge Farm in Blooming Glen.
(photo courtesy of Lynne Goldman)

Slowly but surely, the farmers' markets in our area are starting up, giving us the opportunity to buy great local foods (and other products).  It's a great time of year.

A number of studies show that supermarket produce travels an average of about 1500 miles from the field to your plate.  That's a long way.  During the food's not-so-excellent adventure, both nutrition and taste are depleted.  That gives us some pretty tepid and bland veggies sitting in the grocery store.  Add in the fuel, refrigeration and packaging used to ship these products so far, you've got a pretty major carbon footprint.

That's why eating locally produced and grown foods makes so much sense.  No long-distance shipping.  Foods that retain their natural nutritional value.  And food that simply tastes so much better than things shipped from across the country. 

There are places in this country that eating local isn't very easy.  But we are so blessed with an amazing array of locally raised foods to choose from here in Bucks County and surrounding areas.  Why would we eat anything else?  Buying from local farmers lets you actually talk to the people who work so hard to give you these great items.  You can ask questions and really know where your food came from.

A Blooming Glen Farm farmers' market display.

Whether it's produce or meats, eating local also gives a much-needed boost to the local economy.  The neat thing is that many of our communities were founded on economies based on farming.  So the local food movement, while forward-thinking, also hearkens back to the past--and brings things full circle.

So go check out a farmers' market this weekend.  Join a CSA (we finally joined Blooming Glen Farm and are very excited about it!).  Stop by a local meat or poultry market.  The farmers, your family, your body and your taste buds will thank you for it!