shorten your food chain

SHORTEN YOUR FOOD CHAIN

these are my supersweet onions that i planted this week in my garden

i will use them as a example of how to shorten your food chain
this photo below is from the dirtdoctor.com 

i take these onion plants and plant them in my garden now
over the next 6 months when i need an onion i pull it and use it
then
when they mature and the tops fall over i harvest them
sometimes they are 4-6 inches in diameter
some i hang in onion chimes in my garage to use as i need them
or
i take them and put them in my blender to chop them up 

then
i freeze them in a freezer bag for use whenever i need onions for cooking
eg yesterday i took out the bag and removed a fourth of the onions from the 1 gallon bag to use in my bean soup i made 
i planted these onions a year ago

so 
for almost a year when we needed an onion i got it from my garden or from my freezer

thats the home garden to the plate that uses the less energy and tastes the best

most of the vegetables we eat come to our plates from our garden
the most energy efficient way and freshest way to get our produce

next
is a local farm
now i never use this one since i grow so much of what veggies we eat
but with a local farm to the plate via csa boxes
they harvest it and deliver it fresh to you or you pick it up 
its the second most efficient way
we have a local farm within a few miles of here that i would use if i was so inclined
to buy what veggies we need or use their csa or community supported agriculture boxes

when we go to a friends house in texas he has this neighbor who has a local farm 
we usually buy stuff there to take as gifts to those we visit and to consume ourselves

next
is a farmers market
now i again dont go to the farmers market as much since the pandemic hit and since i grow so much of our own veggies
when i do go to the farmers market my eyes glaze over at all the produce
i can spend two hours there looking around and talking to farmers

its the 3rd most effect way to get our food
they do have to truck it in to the markets sometimes by as much as a hundred miles
its still better than from a grocery store
the produce is fresher
its usually picked the day before or that morning

next
is the supermarket
it goes from farm then is trucked to a distribution center then trucked to the supermarket then to the plate
that takes up a lot of energy to do that
its inefficient
the food is not as fresh as the other ones

finally 
the least efficient and probably least fresh is
the food delivery services
it goes from the farm trucked to distribution centers then to packaging centers then delivery to you to your plate

which is freshest
i would say my onion plucked from the garden maybe an hour before it goes into a salad or tacos or soup or a sandwich
there is no wilting done

i think of that onion that got plucked for that delivery service
i wonder what they do with that onion before i put it in my evening meal
was it plucked from the ground a week earlier
maybe
was it plucked 3 states away or two countries away or how many miles did it travel
the same may be true for supermarket veggies
sorry ill take my onion from my garden any day
its good for my health 
its good for the environment

so
grow your own food
support your local farms
support your local farmers market
and
if you have to 
go to the supermarket to get your onion
or
wait a few days to get it delivered

for me its a no brainer

the organicgreen doctor