Food, Inc. ~ A Second Look

We saw the documentary Food, Inc. about two years ago and tonight we watched it again. I noticed this time I found myself wishing it went into more detail about each of the topics. After reading, discussing, researching, and learning a lot these past few years I realized the film barely scratches the surface, covering only a tiny fraction of the stories that can be told about the ways we grow, choose, prepare, and eat food.

But I realize it's a documentary aimed at someone who is just starting to be curious about where their food comes from and what sustainable agriculture even means. I suppose it would take a series of documentaries, not to mention a large budget and many years of filming, to really capture an in-depth discussion of the challenges and joys of food today in America.

Remember the lady raising the chickens for Purdue? Her frustration and disappointment with industrial chicken methods were evident in the film. I've often wondered what became of her story after the documentary and now I know ~ she's happily raising free-range chickens!

One of the things I enjoyed during this viewing was the opportunity to pause the film and talk with our kids about many of the topics that came up, as it was the first time they've seen it. We talk about health, nutrition, and gardening a lot at our house so naturally food is a frequent topic.

I like to play the devil's advocate sometimes because I don't just want them to absorb information, I want them to think about it, ask questions, and realize there is usually more than one side to a story. It's easy to paint the world as black and white, but the reality is much more complex. We tend to think in terms of  "us versus them" but that is a subjective notion and the list of those who are with us or against us often depends on the current social climate and, of course, personal perspective.

People need to think about how we got into the mess that is our current food system and learn from our mistakes so we can move forward with insight and experience. We can be part of the solution. This is what I want my kids to understand.

The other thing that I came away with from this second look is how much we've changed our priorities since the last viewing. At the end of the film is a list of things folks can do to help move in a better direction in regards to our food system. I was surprised at how many things we are actually doing now. We are often looking for ways to do better and to educate ourselves, but when it's slow going sometimes it easy to feel like we haven't made any progress. Seeing the list this time reminds me that we've accomplished a lot more than we've given ourselves credit for. We've slowly but surely shifted our energy, time, and money into things that are quite meaningful to us and that feels awesome.

Gathering Free Compost For The Garden

Today we had a very lazy afternoon, which we fully agreed was much deserved, having had a challenging day yesterday ~ car trouble and a pet emergency, not to mention heavy work schedules. So we lounged about, browsed online, had some refreshing homemade strawberry mint tea (mmm, tastes like summer!) and sat on the porch, listening to the sounds of the birds and people going about their day.

Then we decided it was time for some healing earth therapy (i.e. time to play in the dirt) so we went to my sister's house to dig up a load of compost. We have those beautiful heirloom tomato plants sitting in our den, still in their seedling cups, just begging for some deep, rich soil to grow in. But we currently lack the funds to buy all the ingredients we like to put into the new garden beds, especially the rather expensive organic compost we priced last week.

A limited budget means we have to get creative with solutions and often we'll end up with a better plan than we originally thought of. Fortunately, my sister has a large field next to her house and she used to keep horses there. They would frequently stand in their favorite spot next to the gate, awaiting a treat and a friendly nuzzle, and she fed them hay there during the winter. They would graze and wait for her to come home, leaving behind their deposits. This area also collects a lot of leaf litter during the fall when the winds whip through the field and pile large mounds of fallen leaves into the corner of the fence line.

The combination of all these activities (hay, leaves, and manure) has resulted in deep layers of natural decaying material. The horses have been moved to another field so now it's a huge area of fully cured compost. The soil is rich and black, loamy, and several inches deep ~ perfect for the garden and best of all it was free for the taking.

The soil had not been worked in over a year so we loosened it up first and then shoveled a large load of this compost onto our trailer. As we turned over the compost we found dozens and dozens of our friends, the red wiggler earthworms. This was a very happy find because we have just decided to start vermicomposting again. Now we have a fresh batch of earthworms to get things going.

Based on the towing capacity of the van and the typical strain we notice when we haul a half ton of wood pellets, we think we got about 1300 pounds of soil. That's not a precise measurement, but give or take a hundred pounds, we clearly have lots of compost to play with now!

Avocados ~ Selecting The Right Ones

Choosing avocados at the grocery store may seem intimidating, but there are a few simple ways to make your selection easier. First, decide how soon you are going to use the avocados. Then check their ripeness using a gentle squeeze test and by examining the color of the skin.

Photo via UmamiBomb.

When are you going to use it?

• Immediately, today ~ choose fully ripe fruit (4 or 5 on the chart). These are very dark green, with black or even purplish tints. They will yield to gentle pressure when pressed or squeezed lightly. Fruit that is squishy, appears withered, or has dented skin (bruising) is probably overly ripe or damaged.
• Within a few days ~ pick avocados that are still somewhat firm with a dark but slightly green tint (2 or 3 on the chart). I often try for this level of ripeness because it allows me more flexibility. If I want to use them sooner I can stick them in a paperbag overnight to ripen them quicker. If I want to keep them longer I can place them in the fridge to slow down the ripening process.
• In 4 days or more ~ select the greenest, firmest ones you can find (1 on the chart). If there are none that meet this description you should try again later when a new shipment arrives or plan to use the avocados sooner.

This selection method is suitable for the Hass variety, which is the most popular and common type of avocado in the country. Other varieties may not change color during the ripening process or may be naturally softer or firmer than a Hass, so the particular qualities outlined above may not be as useful when judging ripeness for other varieties.

Video Tutorial
I like visuals so here is a video by "Your Produce Guy" demonstrating how to judge the level of ripeness so you can pick out a perfect Hass avocado.

The Empowered Consumer
Fortunately, the avocado has a wonderfully thick skin that does a great job of protecting the delicious fruit flesh inside. Many pest and disease issues are treated through use of hardy woodstock and biological control, such as the release of beneficial insects, although some chemical treatments are used as well by some growers.

Organic avocados are quite a treat and can often be found on sale for less than $2 a fruit. Conventionally grown avocados have generally been green-lighted as okay to buy ~ they are frequently on the low end of the pesticide residue list.

Avocados ~ Where To Find Them

Many people tend to think of avocados as a tropical food but, although it does like warm climates and many cultivars come from Mexico, most of our avocados in the U.S. come from Florida and (especially) California. Avocados also grown in a few other states, like Hawaii and the Southwest, such as Arizona, Texas, etc.

Mature avocados growing on the p. americana tree. Photo by avlxyz.

If you live in these areas you may be able to find an avocado grove nearby or pick them up at your local farmer's market. If you're really lucky you might have these prized fruit trees growing in your own backyard.

Not in one of these areas? Well, although they won't be "borrowed" from your neighbor's tree, you can find them for sale at almost any grocery store.

The trees require specific growing conditions (ample sunshine and well aerated, deep, saline soil) and the fruit doesn't tolerate frost very well, so they are unlikely to grow well (or at all) in areas that have cold weather, lots of cloudy days, or different soil properties. This means that most of us will have to get our avocados shipped in from other areas of the country. Although avocados are grown in the U.S. we also get imports from Mexico, Peru, and Chile.

The flavor of imported avocados are often similar to those grown in the U.S., especially Hass varieties, but shipments have farther to go and may be delayed at at customs, resulting in avocados that are near their peak of ripeness by the time they reach the store. In my experience bins of overly ripe avocados become a pretty common issue during winter months.

If you want to stay "country-local" look for California or Florida-grown varieties (or buy Hawaiian-grown avocados if that's where you live). This may be harder in the colder months, when U.S. production slows down.

Can I Grow It?
Unless you live in one of the regions mentioned above, probably not. While it's easy to sprout the seeds to start a plant indoors on a sunny windowsill, don't expect to grow your own avocados in your kitchen. The tree rarely produces fruit when kept as a houseplant.

Avocado plant grown at home from seed.
Photo by axlape.

Of course, if you've got a green thumb and you're determined you can always give it a try ~ keep it happy with a proper soil mixture, use good watering practices, plan to re-pot it frequently as it grows, and set it outside in the sunshine during the warm months. Just be aware that it takes require 4-6 years of growth to begin producing fruit and it will probably need other avocado trees nearby for adequate pollination.

Also, if you are able to coax an avocado from a tree you started from seed, it may not resemble the fruit you'd expect. Typical propagation of avocado plants usually involve growing rootstock seedlings and the use of grafting methods to ensure high quality fruit. Needless to say, this involves a bit more skill and dedication than growing a plant on your kitchen windowsill.