Demeter's Garden

“The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in conciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.”  -Albert Einstein

• The Red Book by Sera Beak! More on this later, I’m still devouring it! Thanks to Gala Darling for recommending it! Are you a human being? Then you should probably read it!
• This adorable organic dress. I need to get one before summer!
• Baby goats! Mountain Farm in North Carolina is having BABY GOAT DAY on April 11! I wish I could go! They have some other cool events coming up this summer, I hope I can visit sometime!
• R. Thomas Deluxe Grill! Everyone can eat here! Vegetarians, vegans, raw foodists, gluten free folks, and even plain old omnivores. I’m hoping to attend a Raw Food meet up on Sunday afternoon, anyone else going to be there?
• Hugh Jackman! I think Wolverine is going to be great!

As I try to eat healthier food, I find myself going to multiple stores to get some of my favorite things. Here are a couple stores I have been visiting a lot lately.

One of my new favorite stores is Natural Foods Warehouse. They have two locations in the Atlanta area, the one I visit is in John’s Creek. If you’re looking for natural and organic foods and bath products they have terrific prices! They carry grocery, refrigerated, frozen, supplements and bath and body items. Some of my favorite things to buy there are Vegenaise (I have shopped around, I believe they have the best price in town), Larabars, herbal tea (they have any kind you could possibly want) and natural/organic soaps.

Another one of my new favorite stores is Super H-Mart. It’s grocery store geared toward the area’s huge Asian population. You’ll find tons of Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indian specialties here. They don’t tend to have a lot of organics (and don’t even bother looking for locally grown, some of this stuff is quite exotic) but if you need Thai chilies, persimmons, or even durian (yes, they have durian!) this is the place to go. They have the best prices on conventionally grown produce and tofu. It’s also a great place to try something new that you’ve never had before. Love rice? You can buy it in huge quantities here. Along with the Gwinnett International Farmer’s Market and the Dekalb Farmer’s Market, it is a really cool place to go if you want to expand your culinary horizons.

I love organic foods. Although I know that a lot of conventional foods are probably perfectly safe, I always have this gut feeling that I should put as few unnatural chemicals into my body as possible.  I know that organics are good for the environment. There is just one problem, I can’t always afford them.

You’ve probably noticed the price of food going up at your local grocery store. I’ve almost completely stopped going to Whole Foods because of the prices, but I do go in once a month or so to get Vegenaise, a vegan mayonnaise that I can’t get at Publix. On a recent trip, my husband and I noticed that several things we used to buy regularly had gone up in price. We aren’t the only ones who have cut down on our trips to Whole Foods. Alternet has a story about how the chain is losing customers who are trying to save money. Another article from Newsweek mentions that even core organic customers are cutting back on their grocery purchases.

Luckily, if you want to avoid pesticides, you can prioritize your produce purchases. The Environmental Working Group has a guide that will help you decide which produce to buy organic if you can’t afford to go all organic. They rank produce based on the amount of pesticide residue typically found. They’ve got a pdf version, so if you’ve got a smart phone, save it so you’ll have it with you at the grocery store!

I do have one place I can still get tasty vegan and organic food at a decent price.  This week I went to a co-op grocery store in Atlanta called Sevananda. They had good prices and an amazing selection of vegetarian fare. I’ve been looking for a place to buy things like herbs and grains in bulk, and they had everything I was looking for. It’s not close enough to go once a week, but I will be stocking up on some things next time I go.

A lot of people have started growing their own food at home as a way to keep their grocery costs down. I would love to be able to do this, unfortunately I live in a condo and I don’t have a yard! I do have lots of herbs growing on my balcony. I’ve discovered I’m not a very good gardener, but I’ve gotten a lot better and I now have about eight different things growing. Some folks have even gotten miniature cows to provide milk for their family. Mini cows aren’t cheap, but for a family that wants a steady supply of organic milk, they might be worth it. I got to visit a farm that raises these mini cows recently, they are really sweet animals! Home gardens are also making traditional skills like canning and preserving important again.

As much as I’d love to have mini cow, I can’t drink milk and I don’t have a yard so I’ll be clipping my coupons, looking for great sales, and prioritizing purchases to keep the grocery bills down without giving up on nutrition and fresh foods.