I'm giving more consideration to our food choices. Having been raised in a family of cooks and eaters, I've always been interested in good food - good taste, good quality, trying new things. My recent interest is to support local food production much the way I already support local hardware store owners and so forth. When I recently bought some furniture, I shopped as much as I wanted but I bought from Main Street Furniture, Vancouver, WA and purchased from the owner of the business. Then I called Husband on my cell phone and asked him to bring the truck and trailer to get it. Being the good Husband that he is, he did so immediately and with minimal grumbles.
But part of me says, "hey, I work 9 or 10 hours a day and I keep a busy household!" I need it to be easier! Why can't I live in a world where small business owners, such as myself, are easily accessible and carry the products I need. I mean, sometimes the stuff I need is at Home Depot, not at Grover Electric and Plumbing. What's up with that?
So I'm on a milk thing, right now. I've been buying Darigold, which is distributed out of Seattle. The Portland metro area has a local Dairy - Alpenrose. It has a long history in the area and family owned. But none of the stores I normally shop at carries it.
To their website I go. http://alpenrose.com/pages/index.html
I find that Albertson's carries Alpenrose. I'm not normally an Albertson's shopper, but there is one in my community. They carry only gallons, but that's okay, since I make yogurt out of it, too. So, now I've decided to buy Willamette Farms Eggs from one place, produce from Diane's and Gateway Produce, I have a bread source at another place. Safeway carries Santiam Cannery and Nor Pac canned and frozen vegetables. But am I really going to make several stops per week for basic staples?
Have I mentioned that I work 9 or 10 hours a day and I keep a busy household? There must be a way to support local food producers without this much work. Is it a commercial idea to start a business that carries only locally produced food? Don Pancho tortillas, Willamette Valley Cheese Company cheese, local wine, Tillamook products. There must be others. It wasn't really that hard to buy 1/2 a cow, so why doesn't some store carry local meat? Probably not a workable business plan for this or someone would be doing it. The entrepreneur in me is staying awake at night thinking about it.
Remember to buy local.
Agreed! Sometimes it is very hard to walk the talk, like you have said, "am I going to make several stops?".
ReplyDeleteLucky for me, I live in an Area where there are many Organic Markets that carry mostly local produce, meat, milk and others necessities from close by producers. I do hope this trend could go on to be a national movement. Our meat, eggs, produce and milk comes from our local grassfed group but there is so many political interests to keep them for doing so.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see that more people like you are trying to support the small business in your area.
Have a great weekend and happy cooking!
Mely