Chickens

 Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of watching Food Inc.  - I had heard about it here and there, but then saw everyone on facebook talking about it. I had to watch it. Since it is 90 minutes, I watched it in segments, and every time I walked away, I felt sick to my stomach. How can food in this country be so bad, how can these things actually be OK???

Since we've had children, I've become more and more involved in healthier living and eating. I have always tried to buy whole, organic foods, but I wasn't too adamant about it (well, certain things)...until now. After watching the movie, we have to do more. Cage free eggs and hormone/antibiotic free milk won't cut it anymore. Regular, non-organic beef won't cut it anymore either. I am happy to say we buy all natural chicken - there will be no more purdue in our house, sorry roaster chickens. I will try to buy local [organic] fruits & veggies from the produce section, use local farmer markets and organic milk & eggs. There is just too much information out there for me to be comfortable with feeding our family questionable food. I want to feel good about the food we are eating. I want to know the food we are eating is coming from healthy, well-treated animals - not animals who were at deaths doorstep before they were slaughtered.......or could barely walk because they were overloaded with crap food to make them big and meaty. Yuck. No thanks!

Mondays are generally my food shopping days. As we entered the produce section, I paid very close attention to where our food was coming from. The tomatoes I usually buy are from Mexico. I'll pass. I settled on tomatos from New England - a little more expensive, but that's okay. I'd prefer to give our money to local farms rather than foreign ones. Next up - lettuce. I sometimes buy organic if they are on sale, but usually they aren't. Today and from now on - organic lettuce. I bought organic milk & eggs, and all natural chicken, organic yogurts (as I usually do), etc. It's a start, and once the farmers markets start up around here, we'll be going there for our produce. I was happy to see our store had some Bison, so we will try those next time we want a burger.

A friend of mine has a sister who is a local farmer. She mentioned raising chickens. I thought, "what a fun idea!"- seriously! They are cool animals, and how fun would it be to have fresh eggs everyday from your own chickens??? I mentioned the idea to Kevin, and he laughed at me. Chickens are cheap, too! I mean, you can buy a chicken for the same cost of a dozen organic eggs at Hannaford! I tried to convince Kevin, but he wasn't having it! Yeah, I agree...getting a few chickens probably isn't the best idea for our family right now! We're a little busy raising three little girls and two dogs, not to mention, we are set to transfer a year from now. I think down the road it would be a really great learning experience for everyone, but right now.....well, I'll stick to local organic eggs and produce that come from someone else who have chickens :)

I really hope this country will move in the right direction! I think it is really sad that it costs more to eat healthy than it does to eat like crap. I mean, really? It's just wrong. I want our girls to grow up without hormones and medicated meat.....I want to know that the animals we eat are treated with respect, and not to mention are healthy themselves. Why would I want to eat an unhealthy animal? I'll say it again...It's. Just. Wrong.