Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 2018)
14 Wednesday, March 14, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Food is a daily essen- tial of our lives. We all make decisions about what to eat. These decisions implicate us in the real cost of that food — socially, environmentally, and economically. Not to mention that our choices impact our health slowly, for better or worse, with every bite. When we walk into a gro- cery store we see aisles of food, colorful, unblemished, and convenient. A cornuco- pia year-round. Look a little deeper and its just a sea of labels, eye-catching branding on one side and a long list of ingredients on the other. There we are, fighting the monkey in us that reaches for what appeals aesthetically or what we are craving at the moment, and force ourselves to read the ingredients. Hmmm, there are a bunch of ingredients that I don’t rec- ognize or can’t say. The mind flips through some informa- tion about diets, cancer, health benefits, field laborers, soil erosion, chemicals. What do these ingredients even mean? And where is it from? It doesn’t even say where its from because we can’t seem to pass a law that requires that little piece of information be labeled — let alone whether or not it is genetically modified. These are processed foods, Every bite matters — By Sarahlee Lawrence, Correspondent — with multiple ingredients. So, head over to the vegetables and meats. Already a step in the right direction, since these qualify as whole ingredients, instead of processed, pasteur- ized, preserved, enriched prod- ucts that lurk at the center of the store. Still, more branding. Maybe some organic labels. But where is it from? How far, really? 150 miles? 1,500 miles? Another continent? The recipe in hand calls for ginger, sweet potatoes, and bell pep- pers. Chile, China, California. Only one option for each. Grab it and go. But isn’t there anything in the grocery store that was grown locally? 80 percent of the time, no. But Central Oregon produces a full array of vegetables in the summer, and stores tons of roots and Providing Central Oregon with quality cold-hardy, deer-resistant plant material Open in April! As soon as the weather allows. — Since 2006 — Trust us for all your nursery needs, including landscape maintenance 541-549-2345 5 54 4 1 -549-2345 Behind Space Age GOT DENTS? Save MONEY, Save TIME with PAINTLESS DENT REPAIR • 24 years experience • Save hundreds of $$$ on your repair • Most repairs are done in under an hour • Mobile service comes directly to you Free Estimates! 541-588-2299 meats in the winter, plus grows hardy greens in passive solar hoop houses. Try this: “Grocer, please direct me to where you display locally grown foods.” There may be nothing. You may have to decide if California is local to you. Grocery stores working with Agricultural Connections, who works closely with grow- ers, distributes to grocery stores around the area. Ask if the store works with them, or a local farmer directly. Same goes for restaurants. What on the plate is grown in Central Oregon? Do they use any organic produce? Have salad, because that’s what you get every time, but put some chicken breast on top. Where did that come from? Where did its food come from? And what happened to the rest of the animal when you just keep ordering the breast? You can’t even ask these questions because it makes you feel bad. It’s too much information and suddenly you feel like you can’t even trust the informa- tion. It is such a job to filter through it all. Paralyzing, in fact. You are right when you feel like making a small deci- sion about food takes the same bandwidth as a huge decision at work. So you save your energy. When we make our choice at the grocery store or res- taurant, we become a part of the story of each ingredi- ent. Complacent entitlement drives an industrial agricul- tural machine that is mecha- nized, fossil fuel-dependent, genetically modified, and consolidated, pushing small farmers off of their land and animals into confined feed- ing operations. The objective is profit and efficiency — as opposed to flavor, nutrients, well-being, soil health, and thriving communities culti- vated by small diverse farmers. In our community, we have a few people raising food. Driven by passion, with an earnest faith in and affection for their land, these people understand our inescapable bonds to the earth and each other. When you feed yourself and your family with ingredi- ents cultivated by a farmer you know, you actively support the stewardship of land, a more complex living soil, beneficial insects, open spaces, indepen- dence and neighborliness. If this is turning on lights for you, the closest you can get to your farmer is through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share. When you invest in a farmer, they commit to growing for you as their number-one prior- ity and your dollars stay almost entirely in your community. A thriving local economy bene- fits everyone. Check out Seed to Table, Mahonia Gardens, and Rainshadow Organics. If you travel, aren’t See LOCALLY GROWN on page 18 C&C Nu rsery C&C Nursery & Landscape Maintenance has been keeping Sisters green for over a decade. They handle all aspects of landscape mainte- nance — mowing, thatching, edging, aerating, fer- tilizing, needle cleanup and more, for residential and commercial clients. C&C Nursery, locate behind Space Age Gas, is noted for providing cold-hardy, deer-resistant shrubs and perennials. Here you’ll find quality, col- orful annuals, deck planters and gorgeous, colorful hanging baskets — Sisters’ symbol of spring and summer. Come to C&C Nursery to find butterfly-, bee- and hummingbird-attracting plants; succulents, ornamental grasses and topiary shrubs. You’ll find everything you need to make your landscape exceptional — ground cover, fruit trees and bushes, hardy flowering and shade trees and conifers — and there are veggie starts for your garden. Chad and Cathy Stadeli know Sisters Country well, and can provide you expert advice on how best to make your plant selections work for you in our tricky climate. Dent Craft It happens. Somebody’s stray shopping cart comes rolling across the pavement — and right into your car. You now have a nice dent in your driver’s-side door. Dent Craft Paintless Dent Removal special- izes in a quick and relatively inexpensive fix to just that kind of everyday mishap. Utilizing specially designed steel rods with a variety of tips, Mike Cmelik can take dents out of your car without having to do any paint or body- work. Because there is no need to match paint and apply it, the turnaround for repair is short. Most repairs take less than an hour, and most come in less than your deductible. The Dent Craft process can take care of dents and dings up to about the size of a bas- ketball. Scuff marks can be buffed out —as long as the paint is intact. And now Dent Craft can also provide small damage repair for the inevi- table scars and dings left by driving in Sisters Country.
