why grow your own?

last year i had no idea about food. i mean, absolutely no idea. i lived in new york, where everything you wanted in the whole wide world could be found and i lived for stop & shop. i lived in the supermarket bubble and had no concept of where my food came from. growing up in an italian family, you learn not to ask the important questions like: "what's in that?" because honestly, you don't want to know. it's always delicious but maybe you don't want to hear that what you are eating contains eight cups of olive oil and twenty five sticks of butter. i love my heritage, but we don't give a shit about fat content. anyways, for me this meant never thinking twice about what i placed in my mouth. then one boring evening my husband and i decided to watch food inc. if you have seen this film then you know the horror i have experienced, if you have not, don't watch it. ever. explore other ways of finding out about food, especially if you are a beginner. at the time, i was already changing my perception of food due to my health nut co-worker but this brought it one step further. it opened my eyes to all the things that are terrifying in the food industry. just a few months later, my husband was laid off and we found ourselves living in maine. how funny it worked out that way. after arriving in suburbia i read two life changing books: eating animals by jonathan safran foer and farm city by novella carpenter. after that, it was over.

i begged my husband and my father in law to construct a giant raised bed garden for me, which they did while rolling their eyes at my over sized seven months pregnant ass. then i scouted out all the farms, nurseries and slaughter houses i could find around me. i bought everything that i could imagine devouring in the form of seed and plant. i talked to all the interesting and sometimes crazy farmers that would give me the time of day to find out not only how to grow all this stuff but how they raised their food. i became best friends with the man at blue seal feed which is a mere two miles from my home and has everything for my garden i could ever need. i planted it and one by one watched amazing things happen. then i scouted out a whole foods and asked where every piece of meat was raised and how much they paid the local farmers. do i think whole foods is the end all to a great life? no. but they have a selection that i adore and they help local farmers make a decent living.

when you go to the supermarket you have to look around and ask questions. how do they get all that produce year round? what do they use to ripen those beautiful tomatoes in winter? why does that produce stay fresh for so long? it's because it's treated with every chemical you can think of and is most likely laced with all sorts of genetic modification and disease. when you can and if you have the space, it makes sense to purchase a pack of seeds and grow something for yourself. there is no doubt where that food is coming from and it will, i promise you, taste so much better. everything about taking the time to garden makes sense: it's good for your body, your soul and the environment. if you have no space, find out who around you is growing locally. you would be surprised, even in new york there are urban farmers with beehives on their roof tops. ask questions, seek it out. but most importantly enjoy what you eat.