To watch it is to desire to do more with what you have, to strive not to take anything for granted, and dog-gone it — to go out and garden.

It’s a film about a family. A family that is close and caring and devoted to each others’ well being. It’s about the Dervaes Family. They have created a small, organic farm in Pasadena, Calif. It’s not in the outskirts of the city, either. It’s in the heart. They live off the grid, use bio diesel for their car, and are able to harvest 6,000 pounds of produce on a piece of land maybe just a bit more than 1/5 of an acre.

What may be the best thing about “Homegrown” is that it will make you feel warm and fuzzy. This is how feel-good movies should be. Thank goodness we get to experience it in such a nicely thought out documentary.

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1. Employee Art Show

I’ll be continuing this blog-writing gig for a while. To keep you’all apprised of what I find going on in our local food scene while I’m out searching for good things to eat.

After a month of trying (not so hard), to eat more locally during the BriarPatch Eat Local America! challenge in August, I thought that I would be relieved when I could once again, without guilt, eat whatever I wanted… local or not.

So, without the ‘challenge-pressure’, I’ve gone back to adding non-local ‘old-favorites’ into my meals.  No, Stephanie, I’m not going to reveal what my ‘old favorites’ are … wouldn’t be that interesting, keeping in mind that I’m not much of a cook (Annie’s mac & cheese). But, I’ve been surprised each time by my disappointment with my dinners.

Each time I put a non-local (Wolfgang Puck frozen pepperoni pizza), or even a non-homemade (rotisserie Smart chicken) entrée on my dinner plate, it seems to kind of overpower the veggie-medley from my garden… and I have to keep eating those veggies to keep up with the ‘harvest’ that is covering my kitchen counter!

You’d think I would catch on!  But, I guess I’m a slow learner.  I keep doing this over and over, then leaving an unfinished portion of (insert your own subliminal ‘old fav’ here) store-bought-imported-something-or-other on my plate.

I think I’m afraid of the obvious… I’m going to have to spend more time preparing my meals carefully and thoughtfully, even though the challenge is over.  Bottom line:  I need to learn to cook.  Ugh.

Stir-fried garden veggies will keep me fed for a while, but soon the season will change, the garden harvest will thin out.  This challenge thing may become a long-term way of looking at my food!  Hey, now I’m catching on.

Read along with me.  I’ll be here every week, relating my adventures with food, and with the local people who provide us with food.  Should provide some tasty stories!

And, to start off the tasty stories – next up:  my first cooking lesson on “subtle additions to the veggie medley” – with Jim Gates !

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