The story

     There is a little information about why I am doing this along the top and side of the page, but I want to kick off the blog with a more in-depth explanation of how this came into my radar.
     In my Freshman Honors Exploratory Writing class I was assigned to read Animal Vegetable Miracle, by Barbra Kingsolver. I loved the story, but I also came to value eating local food. I love the idea of either growing my own food or buying it at the Farmers' Market, but as a college student living in a new city, and in a dorm on a meal plan, there was no way I could do it just yet. However, I had plans to live this way whenever I finally was really on my own and in charge of my own food. Also in that freshman writing class, we read part of Omnivore's Dilemma, the book about corn, and I was disgusted by the waste that makes up our food. It is ridiculous how far some of the food in the supermarket has traveled to get there and it is compiled of stuff that really ought not to be eaten. These are processed foods and they are to be avoided. We also touched on school lunches, but that was not a real issue for me personally until I met Jamie Oliver.
     Ok, so I did not actually meet him, but I watched every episode of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" and I absolutely think he was right and that schools should be using fresh food instead of the "processed junk" that is so common these days. And true to Jamie's intentions, it does not stop in the schools, but extends well into our homes and adult lives. If we are to have a real revolution we all need to commit to eating better food--fresh food.
     All of this together is my motivation for growing my own garden and learning to cook the food I grow. It is a two part project complicated by the fact that I am going to have to find a job and make money at the same time. But that complication will only make this more realistic because you have jobs and kids and all sorts of things going on that make it hard for you to find time to garden, go the the Farmers' Market, and to really cook from scratch. Hopefully I will be successful so you can see some things that you can change to make your family more healthy and to be a part of this revolution that really does need to happen. I do not expect you to completely eliminate processed foods from your diet today, but we as a nation need to rediscover fresh food for the sake of future generations. A life of eating only processed food is sure to be a short one and that is where this country is headed.
      I am actually still at school and I have not even told my parents about my plans, so I have not started anything yet. Hopefully my next post will be a list of all the vegetables and fruits I am going to grow and an update letting you know that the first seeds are in the ground.