I joined a CSA, grown my own organic veggies and am trying to find a CSA for next year that will meet my vegetarian diet. I am planning to get a freezer so I can freeze veggies in season, etc. Its a long slow process, but doable and I have friends whom I see as inspiration. I also appreciate that some of my meat eating friends have been finding local sources for meat, where they are feed appropriate for their stomachs and humanely. You can do it in the local area. There are several restaurants in the local area who care about this as well.

This winter, I have found it difficult to realize how bad the produce is at the grocery stores. I am trying to keep things local at this point but its hard being a vegetarian and staying local because of the need for more variety of veggies than storage veggies, but doable.

There's a lot I've learned through this journey. There are compromises to be made for the location we live in but the goal is to do the best possible. And every year get better about it. My friend says, its a learning year. I agree. Its a process and knowing what's in season for veggies is the thing I learned the most this year.

You know one idea I have is that we create a coop of like minded people who are interested in understanding where and how the food we eat comes from. I don't have time to research everything I want to. Each person takes something that is of interest to them, researches how its made, comes up with the questions and helps find a local source for the product. Maple Syrup is my current thing as I'm running out of it. Other examples that come to mind right now is raw honey. Raw milk (Are you doing raw milk)? I wonder if people would be interested enough in food to do this with me.

My daughter is 3, and I want her to know where food comes from and not be ashamed to eat it.

One part of the issue is cost & availability. In Queens it ain't so easy to find free range or all-natural meat and if you do, be prepared to shell out about 5x the cost of the other stuff. As a compromise, we at least buy all our meat from the Halal butcher. It's supposedly treated humanely and slaughtered in a “civil” way but don't ask me what it means beyond that! All I know is that quality wise, you can tell it's very fresh and much better tasting.

Then there's the matter of work. I eat my biggest meal at lunch, so I buy it, and thus don't have much control. There is one place I frequent called “Organique” which makes all the claims & blah blah but I typically shell out about $12 for a salad.

Anyhoo, I found this post interesting! What a cute quote from your girl.

PS, I could no longer comment on the “winter blues/SAD” post, but wanted to add two tips that helps me, a fellow sufferer. You're the type who probably already does this stuff but here goes:

1) CANDLES! I light tons of them every day/evening and put them everywhere. It smells great, helps the room feel cozy, and also puts off a bit of heat into the room. Also, I love lamps and love using winter as an excuse to add one to our home. Just a carefully placed homey little lamp can help a bit.

2) BAKING! You are on a cooking kick, which is great for SAD! During the summer it's way to hot to do a slow-simmered stew, or to bake a batch of cookies. Winter, though, is a whole other story. Plus 4yo's looooove doing stuff in the kitchen so it's fun to make it a project.

If all else fails, be glad you don't live in Denmark, which I believe has the highest suicide rate in Western Europe due to the short, cold days in winter! : )

As for the stock, I always make stock after we have a roasted chicken but now my issue is more finding a chicken that fits my parameters. If I'm really going to play by my own rules than those labels like “free range” are pretty meaningless.

It gets waaaaaayyyyy more complicated when Caralena is thrown into the mix. I will try to work on that post in the next couple of days.

Love the guy who only eats meat at other people's houses.