Chris and I make weekly trips away from the consumer wasteland that is Gresham, also known as the armpit of Multnomah County. Every weekend we drive into Portland in search of better quality food. We usually hit Trader Joe’s for nuts, cheese, cereal, bread, dog treats (!), and wine in search of mostly organic high quality staples and perishables. Next stop is New Seasons for the well stocked and well staffed meat counter, Stumptown coffee, tea selection, and cream in glass bottles. We often pick up organic vegetables there as well particularly leafy greens like kale and chard and amazing fresh asparagus in the spring. Some weeks our pit stop includes Costco because of the awesome prices on giant bins of organic mixed lettuce and baby spinach. However, lately we have grown disenchanted with Costco due to their ever-changing product lineup. The minute you get accustomed to a product, they switch it out. Very annoying.
This summer is the second summer we have purchased a share in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) at Dancing Roots Farm in Corbett. Starting in May, we go to the farm every Monday evening and pick up freshly harvested outstanding organic vegetables. In addition to veggies we get eggs. Farmer Mike brings us a dozen eggs weekly from his free range chickens. His eggs are absolutely fresh and tastes heavenly. The egg yolks are astonishingly yellow and perky. I love the varied colors of the eggs in any given carton. A few times a year, we also buy chicken from Mike and at Thanksgiving last year, a succulent turkey. New for us this year is the purchase of half a cow, grass-fed and free of antibiotics, to be delivered in the fall.
Needless to say, all this running around and concern about quality ends up costing extra money. To me it is worth it. I can’t stand the thought of horrendous animal factory feed lots, and fields and agricultural workers exposed to toxic pesticides. I would like to think that I contribute to all that misery as little as possible. It surprises me how little people seem to care about the food they put in their bodies, how little they care where it came from, and how it was produced and by whom. People are remarkably lackadaisical and unreflective about the horrors of mass food production and the diseases that ensue. Every local grocery store contains more chemicals packed in bottles and boxes and covering the produce than a Chinese River and people aren’t alarmed, not even concerned. Odd.
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