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
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As soon as the
weather allows.
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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.