what kinds of organics, (& variety of) are available where you live?

[OakLeaf]

I just don't have the knife skills, and it's not for lack of use. I cook all the time (used to be daily) and it always takes me 2+ hours to make a meal from scratch with more than 3-4 vegetable ingredients - especially if there are a lot of different seasonings that need to be measured and ground. Even something really simple like pressure cooker risotto with just onion and garlic and two vegies takes me an hour and a half from apron to table. That large bunch of broccoli? Washing, trimming, peeling the stems will probably take me 10-15 minutes. One of these days I'll take a knife skills class at Sur La Table.

I was lucky in that my parents taught me a LOT of things around the kitchen (baking bread, making tofu, making butter, cleaning fish, canning, making candy, etc.), but knife skills just weren't one of them.

But... how many of the people that were the topic of the original message are going to take the time to learn knife skills? How many probably don't even realize that there is a quicker way to do things? How many of them would just be totally intimidated even going into a cook's store?

/okay, this is a little drifty. But as I understood the OP's thrust, it had to do with people's ability to cook healthy, and all I'm trying to say is you have to look holistically at their ability, not just whether the ingredients are available for purchase. (which as I mentioned, they aren't always.)

[mimitabby]

I am on my 4th year of getting a farm share from a local organic farm!
FUN! You never know what you're going to get, so you learn to eat new foods.
When we went on vacation last year, i got someone else to pick up (and eat ) my veggies. THey loved it too.

Living in Seattle, you have access to all kinds of organic produce! you can be fussy and only eat local stuff; if there's not a label, the grocer can tell you where it's from.


I don't have "knife skills" but with a decent french knife i can cut vegetables and make good meals. (what are knife skills?)

We have been cooking almost exclusively from "scratch" since I was on my own.
I can't imagine living any other way. Sure, it takes time, but so does everything else. And my stomach is happy and i don't have a weight problem.

[redrhodie]

I have excellent knife skills, but I still hate chopping. I'm just not meant to toil away in the kitchen . That's been the hard part of the farm share. I'm forced to cook. Ugh. But, I love the produce, and dbf (who is a chef and ALWAYS at work these days) has been impressed and amazed that I've been making good meals. I guess I'll do it if I'm forced to.

I saw this knife skills book in the library, and I thought it was beautiful. Mimi, I think you would love the drawings.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Kni.../9780393061789

Sad that the one review is bad. I read enough to disagree.

[coyote]

Along with buying organic, there is a sustainable community movement going on. The theory is that everyone can have a garden and contribute. There are a couple of community gardens here. One of them even has their own farmers market. We also have a problem with the farmers markets being more like craft fairs. But the community foodbank sponsors 2 really good farmers markets and they have a workshop on how to garden. The garden coordinator will even come out to your garden and help you get started.

[shootingstar]

Sounds like a good deal, zen.

We shop often at the market(s) here. I confess that we don't necessarily aim for organic, just local is good enough for us. Right now the raspberries are in abundance..and apricots. Gorgeous stuff.

Local blueberries have just made their appearance while local strawberries and cherries are towards the tail end.

ANd since we're on the coast, it's on the lookout for fresh whole salmon at good prices..but now it's way more expensive than other years.

[GLC1968]

I'm currently in the Portland, OR area and organics are everywhere. In fact, local produce appears to be a point of pride here. It's unbelieveably refreshing. I've got weekly farmers markets all over the place (one on Sat, one on Sun and one on Tuesday evenings) within 10 miles of me. I have a store that prides itself on local and organic just 2 blocks from my apartment. And, on any weekend day, I can see farmstands all over the place (seasonal produce, berries, eggs, buffalo meat, etc). Plus, even the super cheap food stores have bulk foods that are organic (like Bob's Red Mill stuff - which is also local to us). Add to that our own initial attempts at organic gardening & raising chickens, and we are pretty set. Oh, and there are tons and tons of restaurants (even fast food!) that source locally for as much of their food as they can.

When I lived in small town NC, I had access to organic stuff, but it was quite a bit more expensive and most of it was not locally grown. Tobacco yes, veggies...not so much! It was there, but you had to be prepared to pay more for it. Though, I will say that two of the major grocery store chains (Lowes Foods and Harris Teeter) both had large sections of organic foods (including organic processed foods) right along side conventional stuff...so it was convenient.

I was actually just thinking about this last night as I made dinner. 90% of what I made was local and all of it was organic. I didn't plan it that way...it just happend to be made of the stuff I have available to me to buy. It's just so easy to eat organically here (particularly in the summer). Gotta love that!