Days 74 - 80 Omnivore's Dilemna

I have been reading Omnivore's Dilemna off and on and I am about half way through the book. As I read the first part it really made me wonder what the heck we are doing with our meat production in the US (and the world). We have joined a local meat CSA and enjoying locally raised and grass-fed meat. Yes, we do pay more for our meat, but just as anything,you get what you pay for!!

I am now on Part 2 and Michael Pollan is discussing organic food. Phew, you think that you are doing a good job when you go to the store and buy organic...and he blew that away. For example, the locally raised organic Rosie Chicken is not much better than the typical "chicken" raised the "chicken farm". Most organic produce is grown in huge monoculture farms using production techniques that are similar to conventional...but making sure that it follows the organic rules...barely.

What to do? Local Farmer's Markets are a great solution. Or, of course you can do what we are trying to do...do it yourself!! We do not, and can not, raise enough produce for all of our needs, but we sure make a dent in the stuff that we do have to buy from "Big Organic" (BTW, as the Cascadian Farm founder pointed out, at least there are large swaths of land that are not having chemicals poured on them!!). Somebody asked me this week, "Do you just eat the same stuff all the time?" I hope you see that we do not. We do eat "in season", so when grapes are ready, we do eat grapes, and "eating seasonally" is a whole other discussion.

Well, what did we harvest this week?

Day 74
1) Two apples ($1.00)
2) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)
3) Four pounds tomatoes ($8.00)

Day 75
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
2) One pound grapes ($2.00)
3) Three apples ($2.00)
4) One basket raspberries ($2.00)
5) Two figs ($0.50)

Day 76
1) 3 1/4 pounds tomatoes ($6.50)
2) 3/4 pounds grapes ($1.50)
3) 1/2 pound apples ($1.00)

Day 77
1) Two bunches chard ($6.00)
2) Two tomatoes ($1.50)
3) 1 1/2 pounds grapes ($3.00)
4) Three apples ($1.50)
5) Handful of green beens

Day 78
1) 1/2 pound grapes ($1.00)
2) Three apples ($1.50)
3) 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes ($3.00)

Day 79
1) Three apples ($2.00)
2) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
3) 1 pound grapes ($2.00)

Day 80
1) 1/2 pound figs ($2.00)
2) 1/2 pound tomatoes ($1.00)
3) 2 pounds zuchini ($4.00)

Weekly harvest: $61.00

Total Produce Harvested (Year-to-Date): $610.00
Total Honey Harvested (Year-to-Date): $220.00
Expenses (Year-to-Date): $50.00