Fact

"Only about 10% of the fossil fuel energy used in the world's food system is used for producing food; the other 90% goes into packaging, transporting, and marketing. Locally produced food is more energy efficient, with the majority of energy used going toward food production. "

Source: "Thinking outside the Shopping Cart", compiled by John Hendrickson. In Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce. 3rd Edition. Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition. Copyright 2004. Page 4.

~~~~~

Musings on Butterfly Hill Farm:

• Fossil fuel (coal, oil, gas) is a limited non-renewable resource.
• What we use today will not be available for future generations.
• The use of fossil fuel contributes to greenhouse gases and global warming.
• Because life styles in our society are heavily dependent on oil, the use of fossil fuel (oil in particular) is a major issue of national interest which results in our nation's actions in other's homelands on the Earth.
• The difference between the taste of produce sold in conventional grocery stores and produce locally grown is dramatic. We speak this truth based on lifetimes of research over the course of our combined 155 years eating 3 meals a day, less only if we weren't feeling so good and sometimes more. We use as standard: produce from our childhoods in the 1950s and 60s when most people in our experience gardened and were very proud of it, produce we have grown in our own gardens over the years, produce we have purchased from local farmers through farmer's markets and Community Supported Agriculture, produce grown organically without the use of those nasty modern chemicals. We find today that locally grown produce tastes like veggies and fruit should taste. They are vibrant and alive. By contrast, the shipped in stuff grown often on poor soils with some nasty chemical stuff often tastes like "food models", or produce that has been grown less for taste and more for appearance and transportation qualities. We compare instead that juicy red ripe tomato, fresh vibrant strawberry picked at peak, and watermelon with sweet juices dripping and seeds spitting out the sides. These come from local growers and from our own soils and hands.
• We will cut our own indirect use of fossil fuels in the food supply. We will buy local as much as possible which includes buying from local farmers and producing our own food. We will be mindful of those times when we do not. (For example, after the sweets and heavy foods of the holidays, we now want fresh vibrant produce: tossed salads and fruits.)
• We find such practices much much more satisfying and fulfilling.
• Yum.

~~~~

Above Photo: These strawberries were grown and picked May 22, 2007, at peak of ripeness by an Amish family 10 miles from our farm. (Can't you just smell them? taste them?) When Richard's brother called that morning announcing they were ready, we jumped in the car to join him and the kids on their way there. We immediately brought the strawberries home, tenderly washed them, removed stems, and froze them. Well, some did not make to the freezer. The frozen strawberries maintained frozen peak for about 6 months. We believe that produce should be eaten at peak. That means fresh strawberries are an early summer ritual and treat, depending of course on all systems of nature supporting our humble human plan.