Polyface Farms

Chicken from Polyface Farms

After reading Omnivore's Dilemma I was moved to start examining where the food I ate came from. If you've read the book, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't read it, you should.

I came away with a new-found respect for the small farmer. I was also disgusted by what I learned about where most of our food comes from.
The damage that industrial monoculture farming does to the environment is astounding. I realize that we produce an outrageous amount of food and that is great as we need to feed a lot of people, but it has a cost.
I won't go into the whole thing, but in the end it boils down to paying people who you trust to grow food for you, or paying the shareholders and VP's of a multinational conglomerate to give you food that isn't sustainable, environmentally friendly, animal friendly, or in some cases even nutritious.
Stepping down from the soap box, I actually put my money where my mind was an ordered food from Polyface Farms. It's different than what you get in the Styrofoam at Giant. It's got different texture and different flavor. It takes a little more time and effort to buy responsibly, but the food is worth it. It doesn't even cost much more than what you get at Giant, and it's less than what you'd spend for the same thing at Balducci's or Whole Foods.
Not a sermon....just a thought. Give it a try. Support your local farmers.