How I Made Al Gore Happy...and Got Some Exercise

Today I walked to the grocery store.

It's maybe half a mile away (maybe less,) on the other side of a huge mall, then across a wide, busy street, and at the far side of a big shopping center.

I pulled one of these with me. Only mine is a $2.00-garage-sale-bought granny cart and it doesn't have wheels on the front. I didn't notice that it would be a problem on the way there. Empty and folded up, it was a breeze to pull the cart. It was just the right height.

Opened and filled with $80 worth of groceries, it's about six inches shorter and much, much heavier and harder to steer. I had to walk home hitched to one side, trying to keep the cart from dumping my $3.50 organic, cage-free brown eggs.

Speaking of organic. I bought all organic food. My local store is Vons, which is owned by Safeway, which distributes O Organic foods. I was able to buy three...yes THREE items of fresh produce at Vons (spinach and carrots from O and apples.)

In retrospect, I think I'm going to go back to shopping at Sunflower Market for all my food. I like the idea of supporting smaller manufacturers. I especially like Seeds of Change. They make their food from produce they grow themselves, organically, in New Mexico.

I wish I could eat locally. It's impossible. I can do my best to eat more locally though. Like eating food that's produced in the West, instead of the East. (No New York salsa for this girl!) I'm lucky to be so near to California, where so much food is grown. I'm trying to talk my sister into eating locally, because she's near Boise and tons of food is produced in Idaho. She says that in the summer lots of houses just had signs in front advertising what they had for sale (tomatoes, eggs, etc.)

New Mexico is 650 miles away or so from Las Vegas. I'll be happy when the CSA starts up in March. I have a personal goal to not supplement the veggies with store bought. She doesn't sell much fruit (only melons, and apples and pomegranates in the fall.)

So I think I want to buy one of these soon. That granny cart is the pits!