What real food tastes like.

[AMKuska]

I'm feeling a little concerned about the food industry right now, and I'm wondering if I'm not alone.

As most of you know I am getting my first taste of garden fresh produce from my garden this year. There is no comparison. Carrots taste like chunks of old wood compared to the flavor of a home grown carrot. Salad is fresh and enticing (although the spider I found in my lunch after I let my husband do the rinsing is definitely not a high point.)

Now I just bought some fresh local honey and tried to take a sip of it to compare the flavor...almost got knocked over by the powerful honey flavor. It's extremely sweet and way more "Honey" than the stuff I'm getting in the store.

And so now I don't want to eat store bought food anymore. At all. But there are things that I just can't find locally. (Local cow's milk. I have looked everywhere and just can't find it. Maybe I'd like fresh goat milk better than storebought goats milk? Hmm.)

What do you guys do to minimize the foods you eat that aren't awesome? It's not that I'm against storebought food, its just that it isn't awesome. And why eat something that's dry and flavorless when you can get something tasty?

 

[digitS']

I believe that the most important thing that I did, @AMKuska , was to venture into stir-fry.

The fats & oil use probably didn't go up because I am eating less meat. The alternative for me is just oil or just a little meat.

The result has been a lot more vegetables in my diet.

Steve

 

[baymule]

You are to be commended for jumping into the world of gardening. What took you so long? Fresh beats flown across the country or from another part of the world.

I buy milk at the store. I would be unwilling to make the commitment to twice a day milking if even I had the place for a cow or goat. I buy bread because no matter what I do, my whole wheat is crumbly. I just don't have the knack for smooth bread. Mine tastes better though. I do make dinner rolls that are yummy. I buy pastas, cheese, sugar, spices, meat, olive oil, crackers and other things that don't grow in the garden.

Honey-I buy at the feedstore who stocks a local honey. It is dark, heavy and delicious. http://rudyshoney.com/index.html

@AMKuska we have evolved into seasonal eaters. We eat what is ready in the garden, according to it's season. I can, dehydrate and put up in the freezer. I make jelly and preserves. Nothing beats home made jelly and preserves on fresh bread. I second Steve on the stir fry. Just pick what is ready and make stir fry.

My garden space is small, but we grow tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, squash, corn, green beans, butterbeans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, chard, onions, mustard greens, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, carrots, and turnips. There are no 50' rows, just small beds with everything schrooched up together. As vegetables get ready, that is what we eat. If I get more than what we can eat, I put it up for later. If I can grow it, I don't buy it at the store, mine is sooooo much better.

We have hens, right in the middle of town. They give me eggs and they make compost. I throw leaves, grass clippings, corn shucks, pea hulls, garden trimmings and kitchen trimmings. What they don't eat, they poop on and scratch to bits. When the hens age out, I butcher them. Occasionally I have the odd rooster or two and they get butchered before they start crowing. Store bought chicken.....well.....I know how they are raised. "Nuff said. I also raised Pekin ducks this spring and sent them to that lovely duck resort, freezer camp.

I guess what I do to minimize what I buy is simply grow it. I know where it comes from, I know how it was grown, I know it is not drenched in herbicides or pesticides and I know it is not GMO. Knowing what I know about industrial food makes what the store offers look unappetizing.

You have been introduced to real food. Now that you know the difference, you can expect to want more. You will want to grow more varieties of what you already like, you will want to grow things you never even heard of. You will save seed so you can plant next year. You are now a farmer. You don't have to have cab tractors and hundreds of acres, just feed your family. Welcome, FARMER.

 

[catjac1975]

I used to think that food was just not very fresh. Now I am realizing that it is also quite toxic. When you grow your own food you see it does not keep very long after you pick it. Grocery store foods keep forever in the fridge. Why is that? I cut and peeled a grocery store apple for my Grandson. 4 hours later it still had not turned brown. How could that be? I notice a bitter flavor in apples and peaches from the grocery store also. What is that? Going out in the morning to pick a boatload of raspberries from my garden, will prepare and freeze them into raspberry sauce. No bad taste there.

 

[AMKuska]

I used to think that food was just not very fresh. Now I am realizing that it is also quite toxic. When you grow your own food you see it does not keep very long after you pick it. Grocery store foods keep forever in the fridge. Why is that? I cut and peeled a grocery store apple for my Grandson. 4 hours later it still had not turned brown. How could that be? I notice a bitter flavor in apples and peaches from the grocery store also. What is that? Going out in the morning to pick a boatload of raspberries from my garden, will prepare and freeze them into raspberry sauce. No bad taste there.

How many raspberry bushes do you have? I managed to score one from a friend, not sure what good one berry bush will do though. Fortunately there are countless thousands of blackberry bushes growing wild everywhere. Plan to do some pretty heavy scavenging when they ripen.

 

[digitS']

We don't get a boatload from 6 plants (originally). DW gets a small bowl daily, right now.

Seasonal diet: it is nearly a binging sort of thing. No, not with our raspberries. We are probably binging on broccoli right now. It was those 3 varieties of kale ... I see by what is going in the compost that it's beginning to take over on the kale front. We will get back to that! We can sustain an interest in one vegetable at a time over several days.

It isn't just storage where the industry fails. I know of a field of summer squash. Of course, it isn't just several plants in and amongst many more things. And, this isn't the first year. I've been going by that field almost daily for almost 20 years. Yeah, it must have been that long that I've noticed that squash being grown there! Can we imagine the reliance on synthetic fertilizer, the soil depletion??

My compost is very hungry and I try to deny it nothing. I also buy a good deal of organic fertilizer. There is no monocropping in my vegetables and the soil where they are grown is a little better each season. I'm growing a garden!

Steve

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

We try to grow/ raise most of our food. Here's what we do to get what we can't grow or raise for ourselves, in a few oddly arranged paragraphs -

One thing that wasn't mentioned with is bartering from other growers/farmers for what you can't grow/raise yourself. It does help if you already have an established friendship with the other person, or have some good people-skills. We've been getting whole gallons of goat milk from a nearby farmer in return for small favors or some of our produce/meat/eggs. This is great because selling goat's milk is, for the most part, illegal in our state. (I do think that I remember seeing pasteurized goatsmilk at a store somewhere, but that was a long time ago and actually could have been in another state.) They make it illegal because "it's unhealthy and anybody that drinks it runs a high risk of contracting this horrible disease" but it's really to destroy any competition that the factory farmers might get from the small, organic people. Get caught selling it here and you're going to face some serious consequences.

Sometimes you can even buy good food. There's an organic, free-range cattle ranch about ten miles from where we live - they raise Texas Longhorns. We get all of our beef, steak, etc from them (their prices aren't crazy). Although everybody might not be this lucky, it probably won't hurt to drive around and see what's near you. Talk to your neighbors and other small farmers near you, they might know something that you don't.

Another thing that we do is forage. We live in a large valley that's had people (think of all of those farming/gardening immigrants way back when) living in it for a very long time. The valley has a large diversity of plant life (introduced and native) which means plenty of edibles hiding in there - just have to go out and find them. We get daylillies, morrel mushrooms, cress, blackberries, rosehips - and I can right a whole page of all of the things that we get, but it's all free! If you can't forage on your own property you might be able to forage on your neighbors or maybe at a state park (just ask).

 

[seedcorn]

Reason produce in store keeps is varieties are bred and used that allow shipping and stay "fresh" longer. Plus kept in cool from time picked.

 

[so lucky]

@AMKushka, go to Real Milk.com, to see where the nearest dairy is, that sells raw milk. Some states have laws against it; in other states you can buy it for your "animals" but not for you to consume. In some states, you have to have part ownership of the cow, so you are legally just drinking milk from your "own cow." So far, big brother does not try to take your own cow's milk away from you. Perhaps in the near future.
It is believed, by real milk advocates, that the homogenization and pasteurization processes destroy the good bacteria and enzymes that makes milk such a nutritious food.
Even if it is totally outlawed in your state, discreet inquiries may turn up a small dairy where you could find raw milk that you could use for your "animals."
The dairy I get milk from has more demand than they can supply.

 

[catjac1975]

How many raspberry bushes do you have? I managed to score one from a friend, not sure what good one berry bush will do though. Fortunately there are countless thousands of blackberry bushes growing wild everywhere. Plan to do some pretty heavy scavenging when they ripen.

I started with a dozen bushes. They spread and fortunately these are not too invasive. But I have a nice patch about 6 feet by 20 feet. I give them very little attention. Trimming dead canes back and picking and eating.