Slow Food

My kitchen smells earthy from beets simmering in a pot on the stove. My sister would tell you it smells like dirt. She would say, that, beets taste like dirt. In a way she is right and maybe that's why I love them; they are about as close to eating rich lovely soil as you can get away with. They are a connection with the land from whence they come. The smell is sun and rain and the time and work of the farmer who brought them to my table. The beets have been simmering in the pot, wholly intact for the better part of 30 minutes now. Still, they are not done. This is not "fast food".

About a year ago our diets changed in correlation with Mike's chemo/radiation. We came off of our whole food diet in exchange for more processed food which was supposed to be easier on Mike's digestive tract. We found ourselves eating out, a lot, because of traveling here and there for appointments. We were both tired, exhausted at times, and it was quite often easier, and quicker, to pour something out of a can or packet. I must say we did a pretty good job of avoiding the "fast food" joints still we ate a lot of food fast. When Mike was undergoing his second round of chemo there was this monster appetite. He could not wait for prepared food. When he was hungry it was NOW and there had better be something there to eat at that moment.

Over the course of the last year we developed some, and I hesitate to use the word bad, maybe, some unfortunate eating habits and they happened fast.  We forgot the joy of preparing and  cooking together! I even confess to buying pop-tarts! Horror!

But, we are back on track. We are eating better, eating in season and eating local. The beets we are having came from the local farmers market where small scale organic farmers meet several times a week to sell produce grown on soil within a 30 mile radius of Bemidji. We are also having cukes from our garden, some corn on the cob, some awesome pasta salad which Mike made from scratch and small steaks. The steaks were an "on sale" item from a large local grocer. Though, don't confuse that last item as eating local. I'm sure the steaks were feed lot raised. We are fixing that problen in the next few weeks, however, because we have bought half of a cow raised by my friends son for 4 H and Mike intends to harvest a deer this fall. I've seen this cow, steer, I've fed this cow and I have patted the steaks, roasts, stew meat and burger on this cow.

This year we intend become more mindful of where our food is coming from, what, exactly, is in that food and how it was raised. We will harvest, raise and preserve as much of our food as possible. We will prepare our food at home and cook together. We'll support the farmer's market instead of Green Giant, eat in season and use meals as a time to slow down with slow food.  Does this mean you will never see a McDonald's bag in the trash container in my car or that plain Lays potato chip bags will never take up space in my cupboard? NOOO....there are still a few things that we will treat ourselves to. We do like to eat out sometimes and we do occasionally like the sour cream donuts they sell at Leuken's for breakfast but they will be treats instead of staples and we will still eat them but I promise, we'll chew slowly.

Peace,
Karen