New Routine

I recently realized that I have settled into a whole new routine about the food that we eat in our household. Over the years, as I have assimilated more and more information about how food is produced, the choices that we collectively make as consumers, the options that we have to eat fresh and healthy food, I have taken incremental steps to change my routine.

It started with information that lead to buying less of food produced and/or sold in ways that were less in line with my values (industrial agriculture and large retail chains with no regard for environmental sustainability) - this just meant buying less "bad" stuff than actually doing anything positive, a first step. I took note of the times that I avoided that purchase or a trip to that store.

And I eventually switched to proactively seeking out food produced and sold in ways that are line with my values (supporting local businesses and local economies, producers who care about environmental sustainability) - this was refreshing and more motivating to think about the positive (vs. just avoiding the negative). My trips to the farmers' market were inspiring when I made the effort (which was not all the time) - and I celebrated when I could point to parts of meals with inspiring food.

And this evolved into developing connections and relationships with the people who grow the good food that I buy - which has been transformative. I have realized that not only do I look forward to my weekly trip to the Mountain View farmers' market as one of the best, most inspiring times of the week - it's part of an interdependent relationship where the growers rely on me to buy the delicious, healthy, sustainable food that they are working so hard to produce. My irregular, whimsical inspirations grew into a meaningful relationship.

And now it's just routine, just a part of my life. Sunday mornings are farmers' market days. I don't decide whether or not I'm going to go - I just do. I don't decide whether IF I'm going to buy anything from the farmers I've come to know and trust - it's just a matter of deciding WHAT I'm going to buy to cook that given week. And I don't even really notice anymore where the food is coming from in the large majority of the meals we cook at home - because it's become so routine that the food comes from local farms that I know and love.

It may have taken me a while to get here, and I am by no means a purist when it comes to local, organic and sustainable food, but to get to this point has been quite a journey well worthwhile.