Where I fell in love with local food

I started my adult path towards organic food and sustainable agriculture after a moment in a supermarket in New Haven in 2003. But, in some ways it started when I was much younger with my granny. We'd always walk along the railroad tracks that had been converted to a pathway by her house in Ashford-on-the-Water in England and pick enough berries for fruit leader and fruit tarts. I just remember how much I loved eating handfuls of blackberries and raspberries, when they were fresh and juicy. I loved walking with her on those cool, damp afternoons through the green pathways and then arguing over whether something was a pie or tart as we made the dough in her kitchen.

The next moment that shot me into action looking for ways that I could support local and organic food was in that aforementioned supermarket. I stood in the store, holding some strawberries, and my friend Dawn said "Don't take those, take these, they are organic". And I said "but the ones I have are bigger". She turned to look at me and said "but these ones taste better and are better for the world. We're getting these ones". And they were better. So much better that now I can't eat a strawberry out of season without wincing.

I'll definitely have more to say about this, but eating as locally as I can and always buying organic, which for me has just become a fact of my budgeting has totally shifted what I eat. I now am obsessed with massaged kale, and tend to eat it numerous times a week. And I fell into this obsession when I lived on the Sunshine Farm in Chelan. Take kale and cover with a tablespoon of ume vinegar or lime juice and a pinch of salt. Massage. Gobble up while perched on your kitchen counter. 

And I'm not sure that I knew what kale was before I started working for a farmer's market. But now I hardly go a week without it. And thankfully it grows through much of the winter in Vancouver.

And now, I'm craving kale. So I might go find myself a bowl of this tasty plant to massage, and I'll be back with more deep thoughts about kale soon.