The Great Farmer's Market Experiment

...otherwise known as "A Break from Couponing Never Hurt Anyone."

A little background -- I've been a mildly avid (as opposed to extreme) couponer for almost two years now.  I follow two different deal blogs, pretend to organize each week's coupon inserts from the newspaper, and manage to usually save right around 50% on my groceries each week (on average).

Lately, I was surprised to find that my stacks of coupons I brought to the grocery store were getting smaller and thinner.  And the sale ads were looking less appealing.

Perhaps the ads and coupons had changed.  Or perhaps I had changed.

Recently, I've begun reading a several books about our food -- where it comes from, what is in it, how it is grown.

And with that growing knowledge has come a sense of responsibility.  See, I'm not really liberal, and while I care about the environment, I'm not extreme in that sense either.  But it struck me that stewardship means taking care of and being responsible for the plants and animals around us.  Even though Jesus didn't say "Thou shalt not eat factory farmed food," I think the compassion we are called to live into extends to more than the people around us.  Indeed, if we are to be truly a loving presence in this world, we must be more aware of the ongoing effects of the actions we take.

That being said, I have also realized that being aware, being present must be practiced and walked out...day by day.  I cannot find change all at once.

With that in mind, we have embarked on The Great Farmer's Market Experiment.  This is our way of hopefully changing what we buy a little bit and being more aware of what we eat and where it comes from. 

Resolved: we will shop mainly at the Farmer's Market during the month of April with the exception of certain items that cannot be bought there (mainly dairy products).  We will work towards saving our extra food budget money to be able to buy humanely raised meat from a local farm.

So, with much patience for steps backward and much hope for steps forward, we are working towards more simplicity in our food supply.

And may our efforts make us more loving as well.

Amen.