Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Sustain your family, your region, your planet
4/22/2008 - 4/17/08
| The New Mexican
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Food/Sustain-your-family--your-region--your-planet


Work toward buying as much locally produced food as possible, including meat. 
We're defining "local" as foodstuffs that travel no more than 300 miles to 
reach your home. Next week's Taste section will feature several stories on 
this issue; we'll also be starting a blog to discuss the pros and cons of 
eating locally and share tips for good sources and prices. Later in the 
season, we'll address preserving the foods we buy locally or grow ourselves 
so we won't have to live on beans, squash, potatoes and carrots all winter.

* Grow some of your own food — even if it's just some lettuce, tomatoes or 
herbs in pots. You'll eat better and appreciate the hard work of farmers. 
Watch for information on growing your own in the Taste pages too.

* Go hunting and fishing for some of what you eat — or team up with someone 
who does.

* When you can, avoid meat from animals raised on factory farms and 
"finished" in feedlots. Local ranchers raise lamb, beef, buffalo, pork, 
rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese. You can find some of them at the 
Santa Fe Farmers Market on Saturdays. Others sell in bulk directly from the 
ranch. If you have the freezer space, you can save money buying in bulk.

* Source your eggs locally when you can — especially from people who allow 
their chickens to range freely. Recent research suggests eggs from truly 
free-range hens are more nutritious.

* Support local food producers by participating in a community-supported 
agriculture program. See the story below for a list of available CSAs in our 
area.

* Buy as little processed, packaged food as possible. Go for fresh and buy in 
season. Even if the fresh food comes from a distance, more of the profits 
will be going to the farmers and ranchers than to the middlemen who do the 
processing.

* Eat at restaurants that support local farmers and ranchers. This is the 
list of members of the Farm to Restaurant program at press time: Aztec Café, 
Blue Heron at Sunrise Springs, Chocolate Maven, Cloud Cliff, Counter Culture, 
Cowgirl BBQ & Western Grill, El Farol, Harry's Roadhouse, Il Piatto, Joe's 
Diner, La Casa Sena, La Mancha at the Galisteo Inn, La Montañita Co-op, Le 
Zodiac, Mission Cafe & Sweet Shop, Mu Du Noodles, Pyramid Café, Over Easy 
Café, Second Street Brewery, Treehouse Pastry Shop & Café, Zia Diner. New 
restaurants are joining the program every week. Visit 
www.santafealliance.com, click on programs, then on Farm to Restaurant for an 
updated list.

* Ask if the containers for your take-out coffee and other foods are fully 
biodegradable. If they are not, ask why not.

* Buy your yogurt (and other foods you consume daily) in 32-ounce containers 
instead of 6-ounce containers. Reduce your impact on the landfill by making 
the smaller portions yourself.

* Switch one food item that you buy regularly from conventional to organic. 
Most important (especially if you have children): animal products like milk, 
butter, cheese, meat, poultry. The Environmental Working Group's Shopper's 
Guide lists 43 fruits and veggies, from highest to lowest pesticide load. The 
20 that follow are those the organization considers the worst; if you eat a 
lot of any one of them, you might want to consider making that your first 
organic choice: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, 
strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, spinach, potatoes, 
carrots, green beans, hot peppers, cucumbers, raspberries, plums, oranges and 
domestic grapes.

For a downloadable version of the full list, a tuna-mercury calculator and 
other information about toxins in our food supply, log onto www.ewg.org and 
follow the links.