Jay’s previous post on the Gastropub inspired this post on local eating. Last week, we had our first “community” meeting with friends who are interested in participating in a house church kind of experiment. It fed my heart so much. There was just five of us, but I think the group will grow soon. We have decided to eat a meal together each week and just hang out for a while, pretty similar to the community we had in Liberty. After eating, we do Common Prayer together and then discuss a chapter from a book that we are all reading. Currently, we are reading Practicing the Way of Jesus by Mark Scandrette. (Thanks, Scott for the recommendation!) We will write more about this group in the future for sure.
Anyway, last week during the discussion we realized how easy Springfield makes it to eat locally. There are tons of Farmer’s Markets and locally
grown produce and meat options. Fassnight Creek Farms is literally around the corner from our house! We all felt kind of silly for not utilizing these resources more. So, this weekend I had an adventure with the local food industry. I visited the Farmer’s Market of the Ozarks and was not at all disappointed. I went with my grocery list for the week and was able to get all of the meat, fruit and veggies that were on the list. I am particularly excited about the locally and humanely raised bacon that I got from Raised Right Meats. It has no nitrates or any of the yucky junk the hyper-processed meats at the grocery store have. After that, I went to Sunshine Valley Farms where I picked seven pounds of blueberries. Yes, seven pounds. I froze them for future use. I ended my shopping endeavor at Home Grown Foods, a locally owned independent grocery store with all local product. I got some pretty exciting sausage and milk there.I often go back and forth between the goodness of locally grown foods and the goodness of cheap food from places such as Aldi. I ask myself, “Is it wise stewardship to spend more on locally grown and humanely raised foods or is it better to get the cheap stuff that is shipped in and might harm the earth in the process?” It’s a hard question that I don’t think I have completely found the answer to, especially after spending quite a bit more on the meat at the farmer’s market than at the grocery store. When I talk to people about vegetarianism, I always tell them that as long as the meat is humanely raised, I’m okay eating it. But I seldom act on that. Perhaps this little adventure into local dining will help me put a little action behind my words.
What do you think – which is better: local or cheap?
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