5 Ways to Support Your Local Farmers

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Supporting your local farms, orchards, and ranches isn’t necessarily inexpensive, but is very important.  A portion of the extra $20-$30 you put aside each month can go towards supporting your local agriculture.  You don’t have to involve yourself in everything if you can’t afford it.  Even a little bit of support goes a long way.  Not only are you supporting your local agriculture, but you are benefiting from great tasting, fresh food that you know where it came from.

1. Farmers Markets

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Farmers Markets are offered in the fall.  Homegrown produce tastes better than store bought by a long shot.  Farmers markets are generally reasonably priced, and often, the food is organic.  Venture out and see which venues you like best. 

2. CSA - Community Supported Agriculture

The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is another way to support local farmers. In a CSA you can purchase a full share or half share in exchange for produce, and even sometimes meat, milk, cheese, eggs, and plants, depending on the individual farms/gardens.  Some places even have reduced prices if you volunteer to work in their gardens/fields.  Utah has its own website of statewide CSAs available at CSAutah.org.  It was easy to find, so searching for a CSA in your state should be fairly easy.

3. Bountiful Baskets

Bountiful Baskets is a co-op that supports national agriculture.  Bountiful Baskets is a community co-op that runs strictly of volunteers.  The produce comes from different farmers in different states, including Arizona, Colorado, California, Idaho, Texas, Utah, and Washington. 17 states currently offer Bountiful Baskets within their communities.  More information about Bountiful Baskets can be found at BountifulBaskets.org/.

4. Local Farms, Ranches, Orchards, and Co-op

Family farms don’t stop at vegetables and plants.  Many also offer honey, eggs, bread, grain, jam/jelly, syrup, nuts, berries, and fruit from the orchard.  Local ranchers offer grass fed animals; processed and unprocessed.  Last year, about half of my grain supply came from a local farmer that put together a co-op.  LocalHarvest.org is a great website for information and nationwide locations to your nearest CSA, farmers’ markets, Co-ops, family farms, and ranches. 

5. Buy Produce That Comes From Your State

In Utah, produce, dairy, and other products sold in grocery stores that come from local agriculture are labeled as “Utah’s Own”.  I don’t know how many states have a similar set up, but recognize where your food is coming from.  Try to support your state agriculture as much as possible by purchasing food that is state grown.

Whole Wheat Berries

Wheat is packed with nutrients.  Among the list of nutrients, wheat contains high levels of  fiber, magnesium,  phosphorus, potassium, folate, and calcium. Wheat also stores very well and has an incredibly long "shelf life".  If stored properly, wheat can last 25+ years.

There are many types of wheat, but among them the most common are:

• Hard Red
• Hard White
• Soft Red 
• Soft White
• Durum 

Hard Wheat:

Hard wheat kernels/berries are smaller in comparison to the soft wheat kernels.  They are high in protein and gluten, making them good candidates for bread making.  Generally, hard wheat contains 15-16% protein.

Red Wheat

When baking your own bread, hard white wheat is most commonly used.  Hard white wheat is lighter in color and has a milder taste than hard red wheat.  Hard white wheat will give you a lighter, fluffier bread loaf.  Hard red wheat on the other hand, will produce a more dense loaf with a stronger, more robust taste.

Hard wheat can also be cooked in its whole kernel/berry form and can be used in chili, soups, casseroles, hot cereal, and just about any way imaginable. It has a nutty, chewy texture, similar to that of brown rice.

Soft Wheat:

White Wheat

Soft wheat is not nearly as hard and is a good wheat to use if wanting to roll/flake the wheat.  Soft wheat does not contain as much protein and gluten as its hard counterpart. Soft wheat contains about 9-11% protein. It is commonly ground to use as pastry and cake flour for making cookies, quick breads, cakes and other things not requiring a larger percentage of gluten.

Durum Wheat:

Durum Wheat

Durum is the hardest among all the wheat varieties. It also has the highest amount of protein, but it won't develop enough elastic gluten for baking. Durum is used to make pasta of all varieties.

Semolina is used to make pasta as well.  To help with the confusion, semolina is the endosperm (heart) of the durum wheat kernel. It is more nutritious to use the whole kernel versus the center of it. 

 Cost:
  
For some people, the expense of purchasing a grain mill to grind various grains at home is unrealistic. There are so many types of grain mills to choose from and they can be quite expensive. I fell into this category. We just couldn't afford to buy a grain mill with the hope that I would use it enough to get my money's worth out of it. I have never spent that much money on a small appliance before. The key here is to do the research, save your money, and use a different method in the meantime. From my research, I  narrowed my choice of grain mills down to three:

• Nutrimill
• Wondermill
• Country Living Grain Mill (hand grind with the option of adding a motor and by far the most expensive)

It took me a little over a year of saving, but I finally ended up purchasing the Nutrimill. At the time, the Nutrimill was priced at $239.00. I had a specific envelope label "grain mill" and would put $20-$30 in it every  feasible month. Meanwhile, I continued watching certain websites, and one day a private seller on Amazon listed the Nutrimill. It was brand-new, undamaged, in the original packaging for $180 (including shipping). Apparently she had several because even after mine had arrived, the listing was still up for another week or so.

My suggestion is this - don't settle for something else unless it is incredibly cheap.  In the long run you'll just be disappointed. I finagled with the idea of buying a $150 grain mill, but I'm glad I didn't. Unless the mill is super cheap, just save and wait.

Before I really started making food from scratch, I longed for the day that we could buy a Bosch or a Kitchen-Aid mixer (much cheaper than a Bosch). One summer I came across a yard sale that was selling an old (and I mean old) stand alone Kenmore mixer.  The price was only $4 so to take it home an find out it didn't work was no loss. I figured I could use it until it died. This would be a test to see how much I really would use such an appliance, and would justify the expense of a new one. Well I took it home and to my surprise, it worked. It has now been five years, and crazy enough it still works. I still would like to purchase a Bosch someday, but for right now I'm just fine.