Going Organic

Call me a fanatic. Most of my family and friends know, with me, it's usually all or nothing! I usually throw myself into something or am not interested AT ALL! i am now becoming one of "those" who goes for organic! i used to be the one who looked at the "healthy" food section at the store, roll my eyes, and think, ya, go spend twice as much for a smaller package, ya right! Now i find myself amazed at what i can find at the local Kroger, even if it's in the "healthy" food section. such as hormone free, no antibiotic chicken nuggets! (that was a very exciting moment! ) As you all know, I started my journey in gardening last year. Learned lots of lessons in what NOT to do, that's for sure! (if your interested check out that blog). I have stuck with this desire for longer than most interests i have... (Squirrel!) . i still want to garden for the same reasons, ie. save money, pride in what you've done, less mowing....lol. But i am now finding even more reasons, such as all the chemicals on/in grocery store food, not to mention the poor quality. but after watching the documentary Food Inc. it's also to quit encouraging and "voting" if you will to the big companies that are bullying the farmers and producing par quality food at a higher and higher cost to us and not just monetarily. They are destroying the soil so the food will not get any better, yet the raise the prices. They also use so much chemicals and pesticides, the food isn't even natural in the seed itself! Don't even get me started on the meat in the stores, restaraunts and fast food places. I am disgusted with myself for feeding my kids that for so long. So now i am on a quest, to find LOCAL farmers who grass feed their animals, to buy my meat and dairy from, and to grow, can and freeze all my own produce so i know it's fresh and the best quality i can provide. until i get better i will have to subsidize my homegrown with someone else's so i have chosen to go to farmer's markets, and question them on what they use. Luckily the downtown market, has mostly organic vegetables, so i can buy them. in the meantime, i am encouraged with my own harvest thus far.....my strawberry patch. they are the most beautiful strawberries and i grew them myself. my small little patch has put out quite the bounty so far and still has many growing! my family and i had been saving the cartons you buy strawberries in from the store, so i can REUSE (my new favorite thing to do) with my own. Today i picked 4 cartons full from my little patch. i can hardly keep up with them! we plan to extend the patch so i can freeze and can a bunch. it's crazy how much food we can grow ourselves just in our backyard....IF it all does as well as my strawberry patch!

and yes, the camera still needs a new date set....