As I am sure everyone knows, the Farm Bill is in the process of being renegotiated. This is a very interesting topic and one I came into in a rather back door kind of fashion. I was searching out thrifty recipes and such at Hillbilly Housewife which led me to the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge which led to me linking to a fascinating article about why a bunch of carrots cost more that a box of Twinkies. Think about that. If you are a mom, you know it’s true. Why can you buy Little Debbie snack cakes for a quarter, but a pound of celery is $1.29? I hope you will click on some of those links and read for yourself. Especially the fascinating article– it’s from NY Times Magazine and it seriously blew me away (if it prompts you to register, it’s worth doing IMHO).

The way we feed ourselves is broken and the time to fix it is now.

There are two ways that I can think of to do this. One, write to your representatives and make your voice heard. Here’s a link to an email form. Two, make changes in your own home that reflects your values. Barbara Kingsolver and her family made a commitment to eat local and home grown food for one year. Here is a good interview about her experience. 85 cents of every food dollar you spend is for processing, packaging and transportation. I KNOW that is not a good value by any definition. It doesn’t have to be this way. I am not perfect at this by any means! It’s a whole new paradigm for me and I have a long ways to go. But I am beginning the process of buying locally at my farmer’s market and I will continue to make changes in how my family eats. I hope you will join me!

P.S. Rosie and Daisy are looking so cute! They both have their pantaloons and petticoats and Daisy is getting her dress. Just a few more days!