Family Eating Challenge

Did you know the BK Big Fish sandwich has its own Wikipedia entry?

DD12 proposed a family eating challenge, and we took up the gauntlet. I'm proud of her for having the idea and defending it in discussion.

Background: DH and I grew up with fast food being an occasional, but regular, part of our diets. Visits to the McDonald's to get free hamburgers for A's on my report card. The brand new Arby's in 1970, when employees wore western-themed uniforms. A first date in Pizza Hut. Ordering Domino's in college. I grew up with the taste of fast food. I know exactly what the food in each place tastes like, and that it will taste the same every time. I think the consistent taste is what trains your palette. I will *never* forget what a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger tastes like, just as I will never forget what smoking a cigarette is like - I quit 3 years ago.

Food Habits are Hard to Break: As a young adult, I was seriously addicted to Diet Coke, at least 12 cans a day. I got heartburn that felt like it was killing me. I figured out it was the carbonation and switched to diet iced tea - by the gallon. Eventually, between the all my drinking of Earl Grey and diet iced tea, the caffeine and tannins irritated the hell out of my bladder. I decaffeinated, which seemed harder than quitting smoking, in some ways. I am now addicted to herbal iced teas (Red Zinger with a touch of honey) in summer, and hot decaf Earl Grey (black, no sugar) in winter. God, I hope those don't do anything bad to me. I also drink a lot of water and a good amount of milk.

Kids, Not Terrible: My kids were born to a financially-challenged life. We seldom had fast food (or any other dine-out meal). We did eat pizza. We never had soda at home, just milk, water, and 100% juice in limited amounts. They were allowed to order soda if it came with the kid meal in a restaurant, and they drank it at other people's houses. Soda didn't become a highly-desirable forbidden food for them, and they seldom choose it as a treat. But fast food - when we had a little more money, we indulged. Not all the time, but once a week or so. We had one period where we had "Take Out Friday" and took turns choosing between pizza, fast food, Chinese, or hoagies. Fast food started looking like an affordable treat, something we deserved to have when there was a little spare cash. Coupons and Dollar Menus made it look like a Good Deal.

That Was Then: We knew it was full of fat, but we were not yet aware of the environmental impact of this ultra-industrial food, nor did we think about the quality of the food-like ingredients. It's not like we eat it every day....

This is Now: Today, we are wracked with fast food guilt. We've seen the films and read the books. We still want fast food, but now we feel guilty about it. For the past few years, while DH was finishing his degree, money was very tight and we almost never had fast food. Since May, things loosened up a bit, and we started noticing that nearly every time we ran errands, someone would suggest a "little snack" from the Dollar Menu. We boycotted Burger King during the tomato-picker crisis, but recently went back, and realized with some dismay that we missed the fish sandwich (me) and the Whopper (DH).

We were eating little fast food meals 3-4 times a week - while I ran all over the county buying local organic food in bulk to can and store! I think part of me was thinking, "Better enjoy the last of the fast food, before the industrial food complex falls apart in the world economic collapse."

Plastic Turning Point: But, we all started noticing, and talking about it. I had a key conversation with my kids, in a Chik-Fil-A, just a few weeks ago.

We had gotten hungry while shopping. I looked at our tray and thought of the blog Fake Plastic Fish, which I had recently started reading. I told the kids about the trash in the Pacific Gyre, and how the plastic elements on the tray in front of us had been useful to us for only a few minutes, but would exist in the environment and in the ocean for centuries. DD12 talked about the trash generated in her public school's lunchroom, where 87% of the kids qualify for free lunches, and all of the food comes in plastic and tinfoil. Even the paper milk cartons have become platic bottles. We calculated that 72,000 plastic sporks are thrown away each year, at her school alone.

In that conversation, the kids became more aware, and DD15 is working on an article to post to her hundreds of friends on FaceBook, and we are working together on a youth food workshop. She encountered a little resistance when she could not find a satellite photo of the Trash Vortex - but she is assembling reliable reports from various sources to overcome disbelief. Some sources report the size of the Trash Vortex as "twice the size of the US" and some as "the size of Texas" because there is no good way to measure it and it is generally not visible in satellite photos. That makes it look like an urban legend to some folks.

Anyway, we agreed that when we eat out in the future, we will only buy the parts of meals that don't come in plastic. Sandwiches and fries tend to come in paper. We already have reusable bottles that don't require straws, so we can use them more.

That conversation started something. We already use canvas shopping bags, and stopped buying bottled water. Time for another step. We know that recycling is not the universally-green action it once seemed. Asian children on 60 Minutes harvest heavy metals from shiploads of illegally-traded electronic waste. Recycled materials from municipal programs now pile up in warehouses, since the Chinese stopped buying so much of it to make new plastic crap for us to buy. Even biodegradable plastics and paper from fast food joints does not biodegrade - composting doesn't occur in landfills sealed off from UV rays and oxygen.

So, we stopped taking the plastic lids and straws that come with cups. We started noticing that some bread comes with double plastic wrapping. We bitched about the plastic that packaged our (reduced) Christmas loot. And the youngest of us finally proposed that we seriously limit our fast food intake.

The Family Challenge: DD12, the one that counts French Fries among the most beloved of her picky-eater habits, said, "Mama, I think we should only eat fast food once a week."

We discussed why and came up with 4 major reasons:

• it's healthier for us
• it's better for the environment
• our dining-out dollars should go to local businesses
• it will save money for real treats
  

But, we still needed rules. DD15 said, "They say, if you need rules to control your behavior, you have a problem." Of course we have a problem! So, what counts as "fast food?"

• franchise chains are always fast food
• anything with a drive-through window is fast food
• pre-made food is fast food (school lunches!)
• sit-down restaurants with servers are OK
• small local food vendors, like stands at the market, are OK
• pizza and subs are OK if they come from local shops, not chains
• each person can use their weekly meal independent of the rest of us
  
• at an event that limits food choices, do the best you can
  
• do more planning to take food with us when we might get hungry

This whole conversation took place in the car on the way to pick up DD15 from work - and then they both used their weekly choice immediately! DD12 got Wendy's nuggets and fries, and DD15 got pizza.

But the biggest hurdle was still to be faced: DH needed to be approached at home. DD12 wanted me to do it, but we coached her through the proposal, and he agreed! She felt very good and I am proud of her.

This will be a good group effort for us, and well-timed. We just added a lot of new classes, meetings, and jobs to our schedule. That would normally tempt us to eat more fast food to save time. But none of us wants to, so we will do the work to avoid it.

Maybe someday we will stop eating fast food altogether, but that feels like a promise we can't keep, yet. Too big a step, too undo-able. Baby steps are easier to think about.

(Edit: DD12 packed her lunch to school this week. No more plastic sporks.)

Independence Challenge - Week 20

I like a beneficial bug as much as the next gardener, but not ON me. This Wheelbug was crawling on my back at soccer practice Monday night - flicked off by another parent (thanks, Earl!). It bites - a long-lasting, painful bite that is reportedly worse than a bee sting. It was huge. Ugh!

This will be a short update this week, because we spent a lot of time preparing for a trip to Washington DC for a family birthday party. I spent a shocking amount of money ($102) on an appointment for hair cut and color. I like the result, but I just can't stand spending money on that, even if I only go a few times a year. I can get a similar cut at lots of less expensive places, and I will ask a friend with a cosmetology license to help me buy and apply my own professional color.

Planted: Nothing new. Still clearing the remains of summer.

Harvested: Last of the basil, mint, and parsley. Cherry tomatoes.

A neighbor gave us some pluots. They are a cross of about 70% plum and 30% apricot, like large plums, but sweeter, right down to the pit. They are not brand-new, but our family just discovered them this year. I brought some home from a market to try, and DD15 bought some in Baltimore and introduced them to some of her friends. A neighbor also gave us some of a branded variety called "Dinosaur Eggs." I just love pluots - too bad they are only available from July to September, and apparently only grown in California so far. Maybe I better find place to plant my own tree.

Preserved: Dried mint and chopped parsley. Froze one-cup bags of sliced peaches. Froze blanched cauliflower in soup-recipe-sized bags. The freezer is officially crammed, and we need to get moving on buying a chest freezer.

Cooked: Roasted tomatoes with onion, garlic, and basil. It was very thick and I put it in a container in the fridge to decide how to use it - but DD15 discovered it and has been using it like a condiment on sandwiches and pasta. I am out of tomatoes, but I think I better find more and roast them up.

Our bread machine bread started coming out funny, and I wasn't sure why. Then I figured out that not everyone was firmly seating the baking bucket in the machine - the base has to lock into the socket, or the ingredients don't mix thoroughly. Now we are back on track with baking, and ready to experiment with new recipes.

Stored: Pasta, popcorn. Another dozen half-pints, a dozen pints, more plastic lids, new lids and rings for jars I got from Freecycle. Hair conditioner.

Reduced, Reused, Recycled: DH goes through about 3 leather belts a year. He has one everyday belt at at time, and replaces it when the holes rip through. I had a "D'oh!" moment when I realized we were throwing them away. I took the most recent one out of the trash and we cut it down and burned new holes in it for DD15. They both like simple leather straps with silvery buckles. I'm sure there are a lot of other things to do with a leather strap, so I'll be keeping them from now on.

Local/Family: Had dinner (Vietnamese Pho soup) with a friend that works for Penn State's Cooperative Extension. I am not sure of her exact job title, but she works with farmers who grow fruit and veggies. She frequently gets quoted as a source in the local paper. We had a long chat concerning my ideas about living in a city that often feels like a food desert, surrounded by the huge food-producing rural county. One fascinating thing she told me: small groups of people go to the large produce auctions and watch for the best stuff to be offered. Then they find the former who grew it and make their own deal to pick produce, presumably feeding large families or reselling to city shops. A problem across many types of farm-related business, she noted, was that people with farming ideas are often not equipped with practical business management experience. She will try to let me know if she hears of events or news that match my interest in exploring ways to connect city consumers with the food producers that surround them. She also recommended that I look into joining the Pennsylvania Assoc for Sustainable Agriculture as a consumer member.

More next week - we are planning some big food and equipment purchases.

A Weekend with SuperMom

I was SuperMom this past weekend. I think I have gotten too old and fat for my Spandex supersuit.

Friday, I took DD15 to cash her paycheck and buy dye to make the ends of her hair bright pink. Then we grocery shopped at Aldi, the grocery liquidator, and the farmer's market. Put away a lot of groceries. Made sure laundry and dishes were caught up. Made curried ham and lentil soup. Baked a loaf of bread that didn't turn out right, for unknown reasons. Cleaned the kitchen.

All because we were leaving DH and DD11 for an overnight trip to Baltimore. DD15 is an elected social-action chair of a 65-church regional youth steering committee - they plan four weekend youth conferences each year, with themes ranging from social justice, to leadership, to worship. The group has monthly meetings all over the mid-Atlantic, so we drive somewhere once a month. I can't stop being conscious of the price of gas, but DD15 pays for it. The deal we made is that I would do the driving and help with chaperoning, if she pays for gas and food out of her barista income. My criminal background check just came through, so now I will be an overnight chaperon. It really is a great leadership development opportunity for her, and we are getting tour a lot of beautiful old (and new) churches, where a group of 18 teens and 5 or 6 adults sleep on the sofas and floors. I also try to explore markets, food co-ops, and ethnic food stores when we travel.

Saturday, I drove her and another youth group member to Baltimore, about 2 hours away. We left early, so we could see something of the city. We parked on a little residential street near Inner Harbor. We could see dragon boat races in the harbor. The kids dragged me up all the steps at Federal Hill Park and down the steep grass on the other side. As I was trudging up the million steps, a woman going down whispered, "One step at a time, hon." That gives me a clue to how bad I must have looked, huffing, red-faced, with my knee audibly popping. I made the kids stop halfway down the other side to identify plantain, dandelion, and purslane - and tell the kids they could be eaten- bahahaha!

But it brought us to the American Visionary Art Museum. Visionary art is produced by people who have no art education - we call it "Outsider Art" at our community art center. The admission was discounted ($5) because they were between main exhibits, but the remaining galleries are very interesting.

There is a scale model of an ocean liner, made of toothpicks. My favorite was a huge multi-panel painting made up of zillions of detailed tiny people: "On an outer wall is a seven-panel trompe l'oeil mural by James Franklin Snodgrass imagining the population of the world materializing into a subtle image of a fertile reclining mother figure--an altogether different, more organic vision of Babel." Snodgrass was a 50's TV game show fraud whistleblower featured in the film Quiz Show. Many of the biographies of these artists talk about mental illness and reclusive behavior, and on the third floor is a whole exhibit devoted to OCD: Obsessive-Compulsive Delight. A gift shop on the first floor is stuffed with weird little objects, ephemera, books and cards. Everything from art books to vintage needle holders to tiny plastic dogs.

The outside of the building is as interesting as the inside. I love mosaic work, and the building is literally covered with it. There is garden full of native plants behind one of the buildings. The entrance fountain has water shooting out of faces carved in native rock.

The garden is a lush, wild mass of native plants and grasses. Wonderful to find tucked into a sheltered city nook. Like suddenly stepping into different world.

There is this fabulous structure in the middle of it all:

Across from it is a covered arcade lined with more mosaic panels.


We started to get hungry, and I wanted to find the Lexington Market, which is advertised at having been in operation since 1782. We didn't have good directions, but we managed to find it after a few loops.

I was disappointed. The market does have a lot of seafood and meat vendors, but few real produce vendors. Prices seem high; a smoked ham shank that costs $1.99/lb in my home market was $2.99 in Baltimore. Most of the produce is non-local fruit, cut-up and sold ready-to-eat. Most of the stands sell sandwiches, assorted ethnic food, and bottled beverages. It's more of a giant urban food court of prepared food. Not much of an emphasis on local food, at least not visible to me. Perhaps locals know what food is really local. I had some "Texas BBQ" that was really just sliced beef in a too-sweet gravy, with soggy macaroni in cheese sauce. The kids had sushi. We bought some fruit and baked goods to take to the meeting for later snacking. It just seems wrong, for the region to be at the height of the harvest season, with no sign of it in the city market - no corn, no tomatoes, no peaches, no green beans.

We found the church, which is a wonderful historic building, celebrating 200 years since the birth of Enoch Pratt, who built the church social hall out of bricks recycled from houses torn down to build the Pratt Free Library. I loved the architecture in Baltimore. I should have taken more photos. Every block has some ridiculously wonderful church or monument or a row of little old houses. Lots of little urban garden patches.


The youth meeting went from 6pm to about 11:30pm, followed by some youth social time. I read the last few chapters of my book club book, and went to sleep about 1am on a sofa. I set my cell phone to wake me at 6am. I wandered through the still-dark church, checking sleeping bodies until I found my daughter. She found the boy that was driving back with us. We gathered our stuff and were on the road by 6:30. The drive up Route I-83 was smooth and pretty. As the sun came up, there was light fog rising from the trees along the highway. We were all still quite groggy and silent - a relief after a day of constant teen chatter.

My goal on Sunday was to get to my own church by 8:45am to attend a book discussion group, and I made it. We were talking about Riding the Bus with My Sister (2002), a true story about a woman who explores her relationship with her mentally handicapped sister. I was particularly interested because the sisters are my age, and scenes from their lives echoes the clothing and popular culture of my life, set in my city. The author lightly disguises the locations and identities, but we recognized the descriptions. The handicapped sister still lives here and still rides the buses.

But the book club was just the start of my day! The club broke up it time for us to go to the annual RE breakfast, where you sign your kids up for the year. (RE stands for Religious Education, what we call Sunday School.) DD15 helped set up the breakfast, and I was starving. They had an assortment of bagels and spreads, several kinds of yogurt, and lots of fruit, nuts, and granola to make yogurt parfaits. I love that kind of breakfast.

One of the nice things about living in the city, is that we are only a few minutes from most of the stuff we do. So, I raced off to swing past our house and pick up DD11, so she could go to RE. We have a new DRE (Director of Religious Education), and had hoped to meet her, but she is still finishing up at her last job.

I tried to stay awake during the sermon, I really did. Not too successful, on only 5 hours of sleep, but I don't think I actually snored. When the service was over, we left to make a mad dash through the Sunday grower's market. I got 2 pecks of #2 peaches, a peck of #2 tomatoes, a large head of cauliflower, some sage, and a quart of plums.

Then we jumped back into the car to pick up DH and go to DD11's first soccer game of the season. She had gone to church in her uniform, and we got to the field by 12:30 for the 1pm game. It had gotten hot. I found out later it hit 90, and the heat index was 105. We made sure the players got hydrated. Most of us start our kids hydrating in advance the night before a game.

DD11's team tied 2-2, a good first game for us. They lost a lot last year. Our urban recreation league usually plays suburban teams with better equipment, soccer camps, and teams that also play together in school leagues. Our city teams tend to have lots of new first-time players every year, so we build a new team every season. We make sure all the girls play, and everyone plays hard. We all felt good about the game - players, parents, coaches. One first-year Soccer Mom was a blast to watch, as she leapt in and out of her chair whenever the ball got near her daughter, a first-time goalie.

We left the game and took DD15 to work - she had to work from 3 to 8. I think she had only an hour of sleep Saturday night. Oh, to be young again. I napped while she was gone, and woke up to realize I had a bad suburn. During the game, I just wasn't thinking about the blasting sun and not having sunscreen on my face and neck. I burned my collarbones in a boat-neck t-shirt. I slept with a damp cloth cooling my chest Sunday night.

I don't know - maybe other families are that active every weekend. But I felt like I did a week's worth of activities in 2 days. DD15 said she was proud of me for "not freaking out." I was tired, but didn't lose my temper, even when a 16-year-old boy was back-seat-driving at me. And I did everything I set out to do, in my madly over-scheduled weekend.

Now I have all week to recover in the kitchen and the garden. Because next weekend, DH and I drive to Washington DC to attend his aunt's 50th birthday party. We get to stay in a hotel, just us grown-ups! Whoo-hoo!

CSAs in the City: Community Support Needed

Full weekly share from Seasons' Harvest Farm

Those of us that read food, garden, or homestead blogs are familiar with the acronym "CSA" for Community Supported Agriculture. But the general public, not so much. I find it encouraging that our local paper is covering changes in the food economy, with articles like this one, about a small Kutztown CSA that lets one family afford to garden for 14 other families.

A lot of local produce goes directly to the Philadelphia market. There are other CSAs used by Berks Countians, but I am specifically looking at CSAs that are easily accessible to residents of Reading, where the 85,000 people live.

City-Accessible CSAs in Berks. The only CSA plans I can find in Berks, with pick-up within 10 miles of the city of Reading, are these:

Seasons' Harvest Farm - $575 Large and $415 Medium shares for 24 weeks in 2008. The farm is in Lenhartsville, far northern Berks, but one of their CSA drop-offs is at the GoggleWorks art center, making them the only CSA with a Reading city location. I know people that are happy with this CSA.

B&H Produce - $320 for 16 weeks in 2008, pick-up at the farm in Morgantown, or in Wyomissing and Shillington. I know this owner, and you can also sample her produce at the West Reading Farmer's Market on Sundays. I know people that are happy with this CSA.

Farm To City - $550 Full Share, $400 Partial Share for 23 weeks in 2008. The Red Earth Farm is in Schuylkill County near Pottsville, but the CSA mostly delivers in Philadelphia, with stops in Kutztown and Oley. I don't know anyone using this CSA this year.

Two Gander Farm in Oley is offering their first CSA, a winter plan (the only winter CSA) with greens, honey, and cellared vegetables. $475 for 20 bi-monthly boxes of winter roots and greens, including a 14 oz jar of honey, works out to $23.75/week. They plan to offer a spring and summer CSA next year. You can find them at the West Reading Market on Sundays.

Quiet Creek Farm is worth mentioning, although pick up is in Kutztown. It is part of the famous Rodale Institute Farm, which pioneered organic farming. A full share is $650, a half-share is $465, June through November.

There were 2 other CSAs in Oley. Covered Bridge Produce failed in 2006. Old Earth Farm announced that their 2008 season cancelled, and I don't know what is happening there. These failures worry me, because they make buying into a CSA look unacceptably risky.

There may be other CSAs, but they are invisible to me. One shortcoming of CSA farmers is a failure to take advantage of the internet. Every farm needs a website with current info on it. Barter with a hungry web designer! B&H does a very good job with this - website, and a blog with each week's share described, and they are listed at LocalHarvest.org. Please be findable, if you want community support.

Obstacles to CSA Use for City Dwellers. the average city dweller has zero knowledge about the benefits of buying locally, eating seasonally, avoiding farm chemicals, or the value of investing themselves in the support of a small family farm effort through a CSA. I know my city neighbors don't understand. Most of them work hard just to get the most food for the least money. Carrots seem like carrots, whether they are industrial, organic, homegrown, canned, or frozen. They don't go to the local grower market in West Reading because it is perceived as producing "food for rich suburban people who can afford to be picky."

It's harder to get low-to-moderate-income folks on the organic/local bandwagon that we need them to be on. We need them if we want to see wider-spread changes in how food is produced, delivered, and consumed. It will not work if we only include the elite bunch that can go to a foodie fest in San Francisco. CSAs, for example, which seem like a good idea for anyone, still come with obstacles for the urban dweller of modest means. There maybe solutions, but the community structure to support them is not there yet.

Even if we agree that the 35% of Reading households living below the poverty line simply cannot afford a CSA share, we are still left with the 65% that might afford it.

There are obstacles that will require community responses. It not fair to expect the farmers to solve it all - their profit margin it too narrow. And the lower-income households would typically have trouble organizing community structures beyond the neighborhood level. So, support needs to come from middle-to-upper income organizers. I don't think we should wait for government to provide the solutions we need.

1. People with fixed or limited incomes can't assemble the large payment. Most CSAs require about $500 in advance, long before the season starts. It's a good deal in the long run - an average of less than $25/week for a lot of produce. But $500 is a whole month's food budget, and there are no extra big lumps of cash lying around.

Possible Solution: A nonprofit could engage itself in buying CSA shares that families can purchase on a weekly basis. It would be more effective if families could use food stamps. An individual CSA can also commit to providing a certain number of reduced-price shares, or accept the risk of allowing a few members to pay weekly.

2. There are almost no delivery spots in the city. That effectively excludes city families that need to shop close to home because they have no cars, or very limited gas money.

Possible Solution: An urban church or social justice group could offer their facility for weekly CSA delivery, helping the CSA farmer with distribution tasks.

3. The CSA box includes unfamiliar food. Chard, turnips, garlic scapes, etc. These are gourmet treats for people used to cooking with them, but just so much rotting trash to those that don't know what to do with the stuff. That can make the CSA look like less of a good idea.

Possible Solution: The Penn State Cooperative Extension has two staffers that work on nutrition for low-income folks, including one that is bilingual and works mostly in Reading. That program could use more funding. Someone needs to identify and teach willing city people to cook (or support community cooks that can teach). Most people don't know how plan for and use seasonal food and simple staples, to replace processed food with homemade. It would also be nice to share cooking traditions between ethnic cultures, which would teach us to use unfamiliar produce. Language bridges are needed. Another option is for CSAs to be flexible with box contents, allowing people to substitute for things they won't use.

4. It is hard to take risks with our food budgets. Buying into a CSA is a gamble. What if it failed one year? There are no refunds; you share the risk of the farmer. You would have to come up with more money to replace the CSA produce you expected.

Possible Solution: One could hedge the bet by buying into a CSA and also planting some tomatoes and peppers at home. Or splitting a CSA share with someone else, so neither family is completely depending on the CSA. Or splitting two shares at two different CSA farms.

5. CSAs aren't a good match for small households. The city is full of singles, elderly and not. Single-parent households are the norm. Eating a giant box of leafy greens might be what we wish for a mother with young children, but we can't expect to start there. We have high-rise apartment buildings full of elderly residents, and no remaining farmer's market in the city.

Possible Solution: An organization that matches up 2-3 families to split CSA shares. Perhaps the same one that helps finance shares over time. It would need to come with recipes and help figuring out how to use that produce to cook for one, or for picky children. Or maybe we need to match seniors who could contribute to a share, with families that could cook for them. This kind of matching could also happen at the neighborhood level, if someone simply steps up to organize CSA shares for their block.

6. CSAs don't take food stamps. Some market vendors take WIC and senior citizen produce vouchers, but they have to be registered with the state for that. Some vendors in the suburban farmer's markets take food stamps. But no CSA that I know of can process food stamps, and that kind of paperwork may be beyond them.

Possible Solution: A CSA could partner with another vendor that is able to process food stamp purchases. Or, we are back to that matching/financing organization for city residents. It is possible to address this at the neighborhood level, if someone uses their food stamps to buy a bulk staple like flour, and then trades it for part of a CSA share - but that is a complex transaction.

7. CSAs are invisible. One of the biggest obstacles is the lack of visible information for city residents. I had to work hard and know the key Google search words to find what I did.

Possible Solutions: Part of this is CSAs needing to figure how to be more visible. But part is a larger media and community need to look more carefully at the real food shopping choices available to city dwellers.

Most working families do not have the time or money to spend on broad comparision shopping - they go to the place they can get the majority of their needs met. The Super Wal-Mart is a frequent choice.

Corner stores, ethnic food stores, and small independent city groceries are visible within more limited neighborhoods, and may carry home-grown or local produce. I know that some stores go to the Kutztown Produce Auction to buy bulk, or make deals with individual farmers. They are not good at advertising their local produce. Overall, the lack of selection and high prices make corner stores a poor choice for a family that can go anywhere else.

Supermarkets like Giant and Weis are visible, and put flyers in the weekly papers. The Super Wal-Mart is very visible in the urban food scene. The two large suburban farmer's markets are fairly visible, but shoppers will drive right past them on the way to the Super Wal-Mart. Personally, I try to avod Wal-mart, although their organic offerings are expanding and that is generally a worthwhile trend, introducing organic options to low-budget shoppers.

Discount grocery chains like Aldi and Price-Rite make themselves very accessible to people with small budgets and limited transportation. They offer house-brand canned and frozen food, basic produce and meat, discounted brand-name snacks. Almost none of it is locally produced, but you can half your grocery bill by doing most of your shopping at a discount grocer.

I get a good portion of my staples from discount grocers, and I am a better-educated food shopper than most. Price-Rite has the lowest-priced honey in the county, and good prices on canned and dried beans, sacks of rice, tortillas, large canisters of herbs and spices. Aldi has the best prices on staples like saltines, canola oil, sugar, baking supplies, dairy products, frozen ground turkey, canned vegetables, and 100% beef burgers, inexpensive cuts of pork. I can get real cheese in blocks as low as $2.50/lb at times; markets and grocery chains never go that low.

I am a low-to-moderate income food shopper, and I can't afford the food buying choices I would like to make, even though I know what they are. I can go to discounters, liquidators, ethnic stores, U-pick orchards, and spend $20-30/week at a local produce market. I can manage some small bulk purchases to save money. But no CSA, and I can't afford to avoid cheap imported food in favor of a more local diet. When gas and food prices rise again, the options I can afford will be curtailed. That isn't just a family problem, it's a community problem, and a societal one.

Tour: Farmer's Market in West Reading, PA

The photo is our market haul from last week. Local organic spelt flour and pastured beef hot dogs, corn, peaches, nectarines, Swiss chard, Italian zucchini, chives. Not seen: 2 dozen pasture-fed eggs. This stuff is from the Sunday grower's market, where we try to spend $20-30 a week from our food budget. This seems like a good time to talk about what "farmer's market" means around here.

There are variety of farm food markets in Berks County, but only three within a reasonable driving or bud-riding distance for the Reading city resident to patronize on a regular basis.

The Fairgrounds Farmer's Market in Muhlenburg is the largest, open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It really bustles on a Saturday morning. There are a mix of vendors. The meat vendors and bakeries tend to be local (or at least no further than Lancaster), but not organic. One of the butchers has an on-site smoker. There is an "organic stand" that sells meat, dry goods, produce, dairy, etc - but it is pricey and mostly not local. There are three large produce vendors who carry some local produce in season, but often just carry the same stuff as a grocery store. There are specialty stands for candy, snacks, ethnic food, seafood, lots of prepared food, etc - but almost none of it is either local or organic. I do buy a lot of food there, because the vendors themselves are local businesses. The bulk product stand is a good place to try a half pound of some new ingredient. Jambalaya Jay's Cajun food stand has an excellent Blue Plate Special: two crab cakes on jambalaya for $7.95. I get nice day-old loaves of bread from a Mennonite bakery for $1, and $0.25/lb pork bones to roast for stock. There are a number of local sources for my favorite cured meat: smoked ham shanks. It's just a better shopping experience than a grocery store. We snack on broasted chicken drumsticks and bottles of locally-made Sarsaparilla. DD15 used to work at a fish stand here, and we see a lot of regulars that we know.

The Shillington Farmer's Market is smaller and the building newer. Same Thursday-to-Saturday schedule. It tends to have somewhat more expensive vendors, and includes a local organic poultry stand where I buy chicken backs for making stock, a 3-4 pound bag for $2. Again, the meat is mostly local, the produce is mostly not, but the stand owners themselves are local businesses I want to support. One of the produce vendors has a half-price clearance of most produce on Saturday afternoons. They also have a bulk vendor, but I noticed the ground flax meal is not refrigerated, so it makes me wonder what else is stored poorly and thus lower in nutrient value. I must admit that part of the draw of this market is the Good Will clearance center down the block, where we like to rummage.

By far, my favorite market is the smallest, the West Reading Farmer's Market on Sundays from 9 to 1 PM, it is set up outside on a sidewalk, across from a handy parking lot. A policeman crosses you to the market side of the street. There areabout a dozen vendors, but every one of them grew or produced the food they sell. I heard someone call this market "a joke," and maybe it is, compared to larger city producer markets. But I prefer to call it "a start." It is the only place I can go and really feel like I know where the food came from. We try not to miss a market day, and to buy something from as many stands as we can within our budget.

We usually start from the east end, at B&H Produce, Erica Bowers' stand (above). She and a partner run an organic farm and CSA in Morgantown. We get their organic beef hot dogs at $3/pound, sold frozen. They have beef, whole chickens, soap, and a lot of nice heirloom produce. She is also my spelt source. Last week, I bought lemon cucumbers to try pickling. The week before I bought a pretty Italian zucchini, which she told me was not woody at a larger size than most other zukes.


Walking down the block there are a few more produce stands. where I often buy corn from Fisher's Farm and peaches from Stoudt's Produce (above). Then we come to my favorite herb lady, Carrie Rose (below). She sells generous 50 cent bundles of herbs, cut flower bunches, herb plants, and bamboo poles and stakes. Last week, she also had fabulous blackberries. I've been drying her nice sage all summer, and I am trying to root a piece of her fine-leaf basil.


There is a musician in the middle of the block, Bob Hassler (below), who sometimes brings other musicians. We usually put a dollar in his guitar case. We always stop at the Faller's Pretzel table. They produce crisp pretzel sticks in a historic brick oven, now fed with biodiesel. We will visit the bakery one day soon and I will post about it. We buy a $3 bag of pretzels every week.

We pass the cookie lady, the dog treat maker, and the cheese maker - not in our budget. Shollenberger is here, the organic chicken man from the Shillington market. Then we come to the Two Ganders Farm stand. I like these two young guys from Oley, who sell produce and honey. They sell interesting veg - garlic scapes, asian melons, bok choy. They plan to offer a winter CSA I will look into. They are another example of why I like this kind of shopping: when I bought a Tiger Melon, the guy could discuss which melons are more susceptible to wilts, which is useful to my gardening self.

Next door is the other herb lady that we like, from Creekside Gardens. She brings her two little red-haired boys (below). They often try out their own sales pitches if their mom is busy selling her herbs, flowers, and handmade soap. I've started to grow so many herbs of my own that I don't always need more, but I try to buy something if it fits into my budget.


At the far end is another favorite stand, run by the Reigel family, who drive from Kempton (25 miles) each week to sell eggs, produce, and jelly. They are another family with kids, which we like to support. I buy two dozen eggs and some produce next week. She has pullets laying small eggs that she feeds to the her dogs as a treat. We plan to visit their farmstand when we go up to County Line Orchard to pick organic apples later in the season.

See? I know these vendors far more intimately than a grocery store clerk. I see them every week, and they remember us. We chat. I *trust* their food. I want to see them succeed, and to see the market attract new customers and vendors. We need these local growers to sell us the Berks County produce that so often ends up in the organic markets of other cities.

Note: I have added a link to this post at the Farmer's Market Report. You might want to look for other market reports there. Philly-area market blogs: Farm to Philly does CSAs and local food reports; Robert's Market Report covers Headhouse, Reading Terminal, Clark Park and other Philly markets.