What’s On Your Plate?

Happy Easter a few days late to all of my readers/followers! Hope your day was great!

For me, holidays are always a time to reflect, be thankful and enjoy family time. Seems like every holiday is centered around food. There’s nothing wrong with that! Food is very important. It sustains us. Definitely one of our basic needs.

This Easter I had the honor of cooking Easter dinner for my family. We had my immediate family and four others. So, eight of us around the table plus one coon hound whom often waits under the table for someone to get messy so she can retrieve scraps!

When I get the honor to cook a holiday dinner for others its something that I really enjoy. I love to cook anyway! So this year I did some traditional Easter dishes but not in the way that its common to prepare food here in America anymore. Everything on our dinner table was grown by us or a local organic grower. This is something that is high on my priority list for many reasons. And not just for holidays but everyday here at home. Nothing feels better to me that serving others food that I know the source and nutritional value of.

Here’s what was on the menu at The Moris Home this Easter!

• Pasture Raised Ham ~This came from my friend and partner farmers market vendor, Dean and Kim Zimmerman of Coulee View Family Farms
• Potatoes~These were raised by my family. Mostly my son Gavin whom founded his own business at age 11 as an organic produce grower. Gavin’s Garden and Bird Supplies
• Green Beans~These came from our home garden and were canned by me the summer of 2010. Still fresh tasting and delicious! (I found myself questioning my sanity when I looked at the date on them and realized that I had just had a baby 2 weeks prior to canning huge batches of beans)
• Cole Slaw~Organic carrots and cabbage purchased from Oneota Co op in Decorah, Ia
• Homemade bread~made by me with organic local wheat flour from Tom Martin of Mountain Lane Farms and organic local butter from Westby, WI.

And dessert was brought by our guests so I can’t speak for that part of the meal.

Here are a few GREAT reasons why I eat local and organic and why you may want to consider doing the same!

• Local foods are most often fresher therefore containing more nutrition
• Local Foods have less environmental impact~Those thousands of miles that your food is shipped leads to a big carbon footprint
• Local foods support your local economy~buying your food locally means your food is passing through fewer hands and usually means more money to those growing your food.
• Local Foods create community~knowing where your food is from connects you to the people who raise and grow it. Instead of having a relationship to a big supermarket, you develop smaller connections to more food sources.

These are just a few reasons!

One thing we have practiced around our dinner table daily is talking about where our food came from and what is in it and what the approximate cost was per meal. We have done this since our son, Gavin was about 6 years old.

I would like to leave you with one question…

If you could not purchase your food from a grocery store or supermarket, would you have the means to grow, gather or connect to food to feed yourself and your family?

I would love any input, questions or ways that you grow and/or cook and preserve food for yourself.