Farmer's Markets

I really want to start buying my food as local as possible.  I have been very surprised at all the farmer's markets that are going on in the Oklahoma City Metro area!  I am really excited to check out the 23rd Street Farmers Market this Sunday.

The first big reason, I want to shop at Farmers Markets is FLAVOR!  Fruits and vegetables you buy from farmers are the freshest you can get.  They are allowed to vine-ripen, instead of chemically ripen like big chain grocery produce.  It is simply fresh from the farm (the farm down the road!)

Another reason I want to shot at Farmers Markets is because I want to support family farms.  I am already a HUGE proponent of banking and eating at locally owned places.  This is just one more component of that.  You are helping your neighbor stay in business and it tastes better than shopping at Super Walmart.  You can find meats, eggs and cheeses from animals that are cared for without hormones or anti-biotics, that are raised eating real food, grass fed or natural diets, not feedlots and cages.

When you buy locally, you know where your food comes from.  You can meet and talk to the farmers and food artisans that you are buying from.  And you get out and meet the people in your community. I would much rather walk around selecting fresh foods outdoors in the sunshine than wheel a cart through a cold, fluorescent lit store.

Meatless Mondays

In an effort to try to eat more healthy meals and eat more vegetables, I have started doing a "meatless Monday" several months ago.  Since I started this, I have been in awe at all the great vegetarian and vegan meals that are out there - that taste great and have great flavor and textures.  I have been pleasantly surprised!

Going meatless once a week can reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, and obesity.  And going meatless once a week can also help reduce your carbon footprint and save precious resources like fossil fuels and fresh water.

Approximately 1,850 gallons of water are needed to produce a pound of beef!
Approximately 39 gallons of water are needed to produce a pound of vegetables!

Some of my vegetarian meals have included Sweet Earth Natural Foods burritos.  They are amazing! The Anasazi is one of my favorites.  It has Anasazi beans, green chilies, butternut squash, chipolte seitan and ginger.  It is very good.  The seitan is flavorful and has a constancy very similar to meat. There are 15 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber in one burrito and about 300 calories.

My other favorite is the Peruvian burrito.  It has black beans, red quinoa, sweet potato, goat cheese, roasted corn and spirulina.  It has 17 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.  And about 300 calories.

We have also been getting meals from Green Chef delivered to our house.  It comes with everything you need to make a great vegetarian meal.  So far, everything we have tried, we have liked.  Which, I usually like the meatless things, but my spouse does not.  She has been pleasantly surprised at the things she has liked.  In fact, she recently went to chipolte and got the vegetarian burrito and is addicted to it!

My kids are not as easy, but they will have an omlette or try some of the tofu, seitan and other meat substitutes.  But the point is, we are all making an effort to eat less meat, which I think is a good thing!

City Chicks

I am not very rural.  I grew up in a small town and knew many people who had farms and ranches, but I grew up a banker's daughter.  We lived on 4 acres but never had anything more than a dog.  I did, however, go with my dad to visit his trust customers and most of them lived on farms.  I would help the lady of the house collect eggs from the chicken coop while my dad "talked business" with her husband.  I once bottle fed a baby goat and helped some with lambs and calves and pigs on my many visits to different farms.

Something about it I loved.  Being up close and personal with nature and taking care of animals.  It made me feel good inside.

I have been reading a lot about raising chickens for eggs.  I (unfortunately) cannot do that right now, because my neighborhood HOA has a stipulation in the bylaws forbidding it.  However, the town I live in recently passed a city ordinance lifting a ban on it.  Backyard chickens!  A lot of people in town have them now.

One thing I have read a lot about is that you need to be ready to be a Mother Hen before you get some chicks.  For the first several weeks, they need hourly attention.  You have to decide on using a coop or letting them be free range or a combination of the two.  I would love to have a "chicken run" fenced off on the side of my back yard where there could be a coop, but also let them out to peck and scratch in the grass and get plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

You can build a coop, there are many plans to find on the internet and you can even find chicken coops now at Petco or PetSmart!

And what kind of chickens?!  There are over 400 breeds of chickens today.  When choosing a breed, it is important to think of temperament, climate, egg-production levels, and if you will be just using them for eggs or also for meat.

If you have backyard chickens, how do you do it?  How long have you have them?  Tell me about it!