Eggs, Bacon,Spinach and Cheese...

The other morning, I made breakfast for my husband and me. It consisted of: organic eggs from a New Hampshire farm, organic spinach from a Durham, Maine farm, bacon from a farm in Northern Maine and cheese from Pineland, which is a farm just down the road. Everything we ate (at that meal) was from within a 150 mile radius of home. It got me thinking about how we get so busy with our lives, that sometimes we don't bother to take the extra step (to go to the farmer's market) or spend an extra dollar on a local product. Did you know here in Maine, we have farmer's markets through the winter? Our spinach grower has a green house and he grows it all winter long.
WHY is this so important? Support your local farmers? Sounds pretty, well, kind of "duh", right? But it does take an extra effort on our part to support them.
 One of our grocery store chains here in Maine (Hannaford) is pretty good about offering local produce. The other one, well, not so much. And Walmart? forget it. I like it best when they label where everything comes from. I will choose California strawberries over ones from Mexico any day. I look for "product of USA" If I'm really on my toes, I will pick my own strawberries and freeze a bunch to get through the winter.
Whole Foods? Be careful...they are not necessarily doing their part. The frozen "California Blend" of vegetables? Look on the back. Last time I checked it said (in small letters) product of China. Same with organic spinach from WoodStock Farms; -- you guessed it, product of China! Why are we importing food from China? We have plenty of our own right here. I don't know about you, but I'd rather put food in my body that was grown down the road. I know it will be fresher, and I know that means it will have more of the nutrients still intact.
So support your local economy any time you have a chance to do that. And our farmers and economy will thank you.