MAPLE VIEW FARM
  • Home
    • Visit
    • Blog
    • Gallery
    • Media
  • The Farm
    • The Farmer's Attic
    • Pony Rides
    • Christmas Trees
    • Farm Trails
  • The Brewery
    • Our Beer
    • Our Food
    • Winter Can Club
    • Brewery FAQs
  • The Farmhouse
    • IN AND AROUND GRANBY
  • Events
    • PRIVATE EVENTS
    • SEMI-PRIVATE EVENTS
    • FARM FIELDS 5K

NOT PERFECT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME

10/2/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
I have a secret to share about the grocery store.  Me, I like a banana with a few spots on it.  I look at those green ones on the grocery store shelves and can just feel the chalkiness in my mouth.  That’s why my favorite spot in the grocery store is usually in a back corner, maybe over by the bathrooms, where there is a rack of “old” produce.  That’s what the grocery workers call it.  I call it “ripe” produce.  I’m afraid that we have become so accustomed to wanting something to LOOK perfect, that we have forgotten that looks often don’t mean much when you start talking about taste.  In the US, we are wasting about ½ of the food that we grow.  And grocery stores are a big part of that.  Anything that doesn’t look like the perfect picture of itself gets dumped out the back door (literally).  Is it the grocery store’s fault?  They want to put out their “best” stuff.  Trouble is, we customers equate “looking good” with “GOOD”, and so we continue to shun apples for small bruises, bananas with brown spots, and avocados for being soft.

Now, we can’t just jump on the blame bandwagon at the grocery store until we take a hard look at what goes in our garbage.  At home we throw away an enormous amount of good food as well.  Even from the beginning, some food will be wasted because it can’t get harvested, or just isn’t right for consumers.  Check out this TED talk to see more about what I’m talking about.  On the farm, we feed uneaten food to chickens, pigs, or throw it in our compost pile.  Not much gets wasted around here.  Even our tomato and pumpkin plants get thrown in the pig pen after we’re finished harvesting.  This type of recycling was common in leaner times in history.  During WWII, people in England kept metal “Pig Bins” on street corners to save food that people weren’t going to eat for the pigs.  These days, feeding pigs such leftovers is illegal, but is there something more we can do to recycle our food?  It seems to me that shopping from that rack of old produce is a start.  Tell the grocery store you don’t need perfect food.  Ask your local grocer to compost what they throw away, or give the blemished produce to a pig farmer.  Take care in your meal preparation and encourage your family not to waste food.  Make friends with a local farmer and bring some veggie leftovers over to their chickens every once in a while.  A big part of raising food sustainably is not throwing away half of it.


1 Comment
Heather Driscoll link
10/2/2012 06:44:29 am

Amen sister! What a great blog! Hope you and your family are well!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    A blog about farming and food. Kate Bogli owns and operates Maple View Farm, raising livestock and growing veggies, with her husband Jason.  The farm has been in his family for 65 years.

    Archives

    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2019
    March 2017
    February 2016
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    March 1988

    Categories

    All
    Agriculture
    Broth
    Candy
    Cooking
    Cow
    Csa
    Death
    Family
    Farm
    Farmer
    Farm Store
    Fed
    Food
    Food Desert
    Free
    Friends
    Grass
    Kids
    Life
    Livestock
    Local
    Meat
    Mom
    Mother
    Outdoors
    Pig
    Play
    Processing
    Range
    Recipes
    Summer Workers
    Thanks
    Work

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • Visit
    • Blog
    • Gallery
    • Media
  • The Farm
    • The Farmer's Attic
    • Pony Rides
    • Christmas Trees
    • Farm Trails
  • The Brewery
    • Our Beer
    • Our Food
    • Winter Can Club
    • Brewery FAQs
  • The Farmhouse
    • IN AND AROUND GRANBY
  • Events
    • PRIVATE EVENTS
    • SEMI-PRIVATE EVENTS
    • FARM FIELDS 5K