locally grown food

I have never really cared about knowing where my food comes from. By the discussions in class and the novel “All over creation” I have developed a better awareness of the importance of knowing the origin of my food. Eating locally along with paying close attention to discovering where food came from and whether or not it is organic does take time and effort, effort that I was never really up for. Now, I realize that eating locally grown and organic food does make a difference. It puts me in more control of what I am eating and what goes into my body. Fine print on labels of food (ex. Olive oil) often times contradicts the large print because although the labels may say one thing, the fine print tells the truth. This makes me angry because people don’t always take the time to read the fine print , making me feel like we are being cheated. I am going to try to take care of myself and watch what I ingest, but its very difficult when I never really know where restaurants get their ingredients, or if labels trick the consumer. I know now that it is better to know where my food is grown and who handles it. This is important because it establishes trust, creates awareness of the damage that pesticides can cause like infertility and other diseases, and because it limit’s the damage from fossil fuels used to transport distant grown food.
I talked earlier about wanting to have a garden when I got older, however I know now that I can have a garden presently . I have never heard of p-patches before this class. I love the idea of having a community of gardens that people share. It allows people who live in apartments or small houses that don’t have enough room, to grow fruits and vegetables. It also establishes a sense of community because the gardens are grown in clusters, so people with the similar interest of gardening are able to grow food together. Contradicting the article by Adam Gopnik, growing food locally is a great idea because of the vast volume of food that grows. Gopnik argues that eating locally is the lifestyle of peasants because of the small amount of food that grows, however, when we visited the p-patches it was said that too much food grows for one person forcing them to give their food out to others for free. I think this is great because this food can be shared with the large number of homeless and hungry here in Seattle. Overall, growing and eating local food is a healthier alternative to store bought food.