Still at It!

It has been quite awhile since I have posted. I have still been eating locally. I have also been focused on other things. Jon has been canning like crazy. We have tomato sauce, tomato paste, spicy tomato sauce, jelly and jam of every flavor, apple sauce, pear sauce, you name it. In the midst of very cold February we will be eating the best food ever!

We have had so much fun visiting the North Tonawanda Farmer's Market on most Saturdays. We have aslo visited Bond Lake Park in Niagara County that has fruit orchards! We have been there four times to pick pears. It has been amazing. The trees are covered with beautiful bosc pears, a little small, but otherwise perfect. I was at the grocery store today and saw some that were not nearly as good looking. There is an apple orchard as well. We hope to adopt some trees to see if some pruning and care will increase their yield next year.

These orchards are there for the public to benefit from. It is amazing and sad to see the number of pears that will end up on the ground. So much food going to waste is such a disappointment.

I have to admit I have not really been eating local food as much as I had hoped. I have changed my habits so that when I eat prepared foods I get them from the Lexington Co-operative Market (www.lexington.coop). So even though I have not kept to my original plan as well as I had hoped, I have kept with the spirit of the plan.

Thinking and planning for eating locally affect many of my other choices. I think about other things I might buy from local sources. I drive less (most of the time). The choices we make really do end up making a difference.