Our Sustainable Food Day

Reed and I watched Food, Inc. yesterday/today and we were kind of in shock at the lack of attention we have paid to the things we buy. FACT: The things we buy directly affect other people. It's not just about health, although also very important, its mainly about what we are doing to the workers "making" our food. The movie is pretty crazy with all it reveals about the practices of the corporations that produce most of the food in our country.

Anyways, all that to say, Reed and I really think its time to stop pretending we don't know what is going on and make sure that our purchases honor God...even if that means spending a little more money.

So here is me documenting our sustainable food day adventures...

We started the adventures off (after we hung out with Rachel this morning) with lunch at Chipotle, a "sustainable" restaurant, ie. a restaurant that uses local produce and meats.

Reed couldn't finish his burrito and was very distraught about it. This has nothing to do with being aware and conscious about our food choices, but I thought it was cute :)

Next we headed downtown to the Dallas Farmers Market. This thing is intense...I think it is one of the biggest in the country (don't quote me on this, but just know its rather large). Before we actually got to the food, we decided we wanted to spruce up our apartment with some fall decor, so we picked out some pumpkins! P.S. I love that downtown is in the background of the farmer's market...something about it just makes me want to giggle.

Our pumpkin! Reed was thrilled that he was the one showcasing it :)

They had some seriously BIG pumpkins!

And some seriously cool mini-pumpkins!

Next we ventured to Shed 1, which had the local farmer's produce! You can't really tell from the picture, but the shed is really long and you can drive and park in the middle and the vendors line either side. They all had AMAZING samples...I mean the cantaloupe we tried was just spectacular!

In the end we came home with all these wonderful veggies AND some natural pork chops! As in not the "manufactured" pork you get in a store. You'll have to watch Food Inc. to understand what I mean by "manufactured". We got to see a glimpse of how cows/pigs are raised these days and also how they are slaughtered (they featured the largest pork slaughter house in the WORLD). They didn't show the gory stuff as much as how they are raised and treated. Anyways, we were really pumped to find some local butchers who are raising their animals naturally. And here is our bounty...

I'm definitely pumped. It ended up being pretty darn fun going through the Farmer's Market with Reed. And the people were so nice and helpful. I'm pretty sure I never know what to look for in each vegetable (as far as ripeness), but these people GREW them, so they were able to help explain what to look for in something you want to eat soon and in something you may want to eat in a couple days. Pretty neat.

Also, just as an FYI, after typing the word "pumpkin" so many times, it no longer feels like a real word to me. Maybe I need to go to bed...