Published:
10/26/2021 12:47pm
Purpose Driven Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping can have a positive impact on the environment, your budget, the community you live in and the nutritional value of your meals. This is why we are seeing such an increase in the local food movement from "100 mile diet" campaigns to food action coalitions helping restaurants and grocery stores support local food suppliers.
For the individual grocery shopper, this means taking the time to find and purchase from retailers that stock locally grown and produced foods, within British Columbia (Canada). Luckily, Dave and I also live in an agricultural paradise, and this special community truly cares about the health of its valley. Most of the restaurants in Creston BC and the grocery stores offer locally grown foods. There is a huge food hub where numerous food-related groups network and collaborate on a variety of projects. One of these is the Harvest Share project, where volunteers aid busy individuals or those with physical challenges in harvesting their fruit and nut trees - sharing a portion of the harvest with the property owners and dispensing the rest out to a variety of soup kitchens, food bank outlets, church meal programs and the like.
It is also quite easy to find space for growing a few pots of herbs, lettuce or more and you don't need a large yard, in fact you can grow on the balcony, in front of the window, on the entry steps, in hanging pots along rails, fences or walls, or along a walkway can have a positive effect on the environment too. Dave and I grow about 60% of our vegetable and fruit in our gardens, and nuts too. What we cannot consume, we process for ourselves via canning, dehydrating or freezing. Whenever time, personal energy levels or shelf space is constrained we are able to share with friends, clients and neighbors. We utilize the local small brewery to make the berry and fruit juices we produce from our harvests into beautiful wine at only $6 a bottle. As such, we spend 60% less on food, juice and wine than we would have if we did not garden.
It is well known that every inch of green space is very important for the health of the environment, to mitigate climate extremes and provide habitat for birds, butterflies and bees. The flowers are beautiful and they feed pollinators in your region, helping honey producers and bee hive businesses. Growing plants actually cleans the air, improves soil and generally make the world a better place.
Farmers and gardeners play a vital role in creating an important wildlife habitat. They also stimulate the local economy because they purchase supplies ranging from fuel to tools, seeds and soil amendments, and they hire seasonal help locally as well. Isn't it worth supporting that?
Did you know that harvested foods begin losing nutrients immediately? The longer they are in storage, continually leaching nutrients, they become less and less budget friendly. Choosing to shop fresh, and grow what you can, results in delicious, nutritious meals that are less costly and have less packaging. In fact, many local producers reuse packaging such as grocery bags and cardboard boxes. When we shop from local producers our food has a lower fossil fuel impact due to the minimal transportation involved.
It is easy to see now, why seemingly small changes to shopping habits can have an affect on the economical vitality of your community, how shopping locally affects the physical health of your family, and benefits the planet too.
* About the authors: Lillian and her husband Dave are the team behind
Brummet Media Group, high-fiving cheerfully as they pass each other on the way from checking off one item or other from their long to-do list. Their business includes Dave’s music studio and percussion accessory products and graphic design work as well as numerous award-winning non-fiction books and popular blogs. Today we help them celebrate their latest book release -
From One Small Garden, with over 300 delicious, nutritious recipes! Learn more via their Amazon Author page:
https://amazon.com/author/lillianbrummet
