Sacramento Farm Region Blessings to All!
One of the blessings of living in the Sacramento region is the year-round availability of local, wholesome grassfed meats. Eating grassfed meats supports sustainable agriculture, which provides environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. Check out www.highsierrabeef.com for beef availability. High Sierra Beef produces meat in a way that is good for the animals, good for the land, and goof for consumers. Best of all, grassfed beef not only tastes good, but, it has substantially less fat than grain-fed meat. In addition, the omega-3 and omega-6 fats in grassfed beef are more beneficial and there is more beta-carotene, vitamin E and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) “good” fat. Another great resource to check out: www.preferredmeats.com
I challenge you to find grassfed meat wherever you live. If your farmers market doesn’t have anyone selling grassfed meat, ask some of the growers whether they know someone who does. Ask them where they buy their meat.
To buy organic or not to buy…..that seems to be the question these days! Mixing both organically grown and locally grown produce and meat in your recipes is fine. Both work well and are delicious. Both are locally grown and fresh from the farm. Experience tells us locally grown food is usually grown without the chemical regimen of traditionally grown foods. Most small, local farmers pride themselves on being good stewards of the land, and on living as lightly as possible upon this earth. Bluntly put, small farmers simply cannot afford expensive chemicals, so tend to use less, if any at all. Many practice organic methods, but haven’t taken that last step to be certified organic since it can be costly. The great thing about buying from farmers markets is the farmer/grower is usually the person selling the food and you can simply ask how the produce was grown. Produce that holds a lot of water, like strawberries and raspberries, also tends to hold a lot of chemicals, so buying organically growing berry fruit whenever possible is a wise choice!