Let’s Talk about Food… some more. :)

We recently switched from unsalted to salted butter.  Not because I found us lacking salt in our diet (far from it!), but because of something I didn’t know.  Unsalted butter isn’t just butter (well, cream).  Most available brands also have “natural flavorings.”  And since I don’t know what that is, I’m sticking with salt.  I know what salt is.  There are some brands that are just cream, but I don’t they’re quite as available.

One of my favorite blogs to read, www.heavenlyhomemakers.com, is often writing about her food orders from Azure Standard, a co-op.  They didn’t deliver here though (they’re way north), even though I was excited about a lot of the things they sold.  As of 2011 though, they now have a line that comes way down here!  There’s a tiny extra charge on top of the price of the food, but I’ll take it!  The main reason I’m so excited is because they have wheat berries.  You just can’t get whole wheat berries around here!  I want to grind my own flour so badly.  But the cost of shipping the berries has just been too cost prohibitive.  I don’t mind spending a little more, because I know this flour will be divine, but I just can’t justify doubling or more our cost of whole wheat flour.  Plus I’m going to have to buy a grain mill.  And that is no small price.  I am so looking forward to the investment though, and I’m saving up!  So not only does Azure Standard now deliver to our neck of the woods, the closest drop point is literally up the road in Porter.  Wahoo!  They deliver every four weeks it looks like and you must meet an individual minimum order amount ($50) and a minimum amount for the drop.  I’m so excited to place my first order by March 8th to be delivered March 15th!  I will of course post when it happens.  My plan is to order some wheat, some apples, and maybe some unsalted butter.  :)  I might throw a few other things in as well.

I just joined a CSA.  What’s a CSA, you ask?  (Well, some of you may not ask, you may know!)  It stands for Community Sponsored Agriculture.  And basically you pay a membership fee to a local farm who supplies you with a share of their fresh produce weekly or so.  You get what you get, so it will be a fun challenge to cook and eat things we may never have tried before!  I found this one through www.localharvest.org.  It’s up in Cleveland, and they have a delivery in Kingwood weekly!  I can’t recommend it of course until we actually try it, so I’ll update when that happens.  It looks like it will be March-May, and we’ve subscribed to the every other week option (five deliveries in a ten week period).  I don’t know that it will really save us money on food, but I love that the produce is local, and while not certified organic, it’s close.

The composting is coming along.  I love dumping garbage in my back yard.  :)  I had Matt mulch up some leaves with the mower for me so I can add them to my pile as I need to.  I’m a very “lazy composter.”  I’m just kind of letting it happen.  Hopefully in a year or so, this stuff will be really good dirt!