A friend posted a link to this story this morning, written by the family at Dog Island Farm.
They went a year without buying food from the grocery store or big box stores, and blogged their experiences. Very interesting and inspirational. Do you think you could do it?
What I found most interesting in this piece was this passage:
We learned that you don’t have to produce your own food to give up the grocery store, you just have to get out there and meet the people that do produce your food. Not to mention that we saved money on food while buying higher quality products.
It's this kind of action that is truly revolutionary in this country. For decades we've been poisening ourselves with unhealthy food just because some ad campaigns tell us to. But buying all or most of your food from the grocery store is mostly an American adaptation, and it's relatively recent within American history. Even 30 years ago it was common for people to have small backyard gardens and grow their own produce or trade canned food with friends. There are a lot of great websites devoted to bringing back a measure of self sufficiency and healthier eating to Americans, like Punk Domestics, which is one of my favorites.
If there's one thing the last few years and the fall of the economy should have taught us it's that we have to take back our own power as consumers and take a hard look at how and where we spend our money. The New Year is almost here. Isn't this a great time to Occupy your own kitchen and change the way that you and your family eat?
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