My Current Dilemma

by tyler

I had big plans for the kitchen yesterday. I was going to make some granola for the week and try my hand at making homemade pita bread (both will get their own posts soon). So yesterday morning I rode my bike down to the coop to buy everything I didn’t have in my pantry: cherries, almonds, coconut, maple syrup, as well as a few other staples to get me through the week: eggs, milk, bread, spinach… you know… the staples.

So, after I came home and put everything in its appropriate place, I set out to start making granola. Well, I forgot the maple syrup (this wouldn’t have been a problem if Devon didn’t finish the last bottle of syrup in her coffee the other day). Since I couldn’t make granola, I thought I could get a start on the pita bread. However, when I started for the flour, I realized I had used the last of it when I made pancakes days before. This meant that I lacked the ingredients for the granola and pita bread—how frustrating.

I didn’t have enough cash on me to go back to the coop, so I submitted to the idea of shopping at the local Associated market. Its not that I’m against shopping outside the coop, rather I can’t afford the price of organic products at retail prices. At Associated I bought 2 yellow onions, a bag of flour and maple syrup. The only option I had for both the flour and onions were non-organic. I bought Gold brand flour rather than Pillsbury. As I was standing in front of the maple syrup, I was confronted with an array of choices… organic/ non-organic, grade A/ grade B, Vermont/ Canada and real or artificial. Did I want to pay 10 dollars for an 8-ounce bottle of Vermont organic maple syrup? Of course I want to, however, I just don’t have enough money for that. Well, I did anyway.

When I got back home, I was able to make my cherry-almond granola completely organic, however, the pita bread would not be. This was the first time I really had some anxiety about not buying organic. While the bread dough was rising, I took a look around my kitchen to assess what was on the shelves. The only non-organic products were fish sauce, wheat germ, and red curry sauce. My chocolate, tea, grains, spices… all organic. My eggs, cage free, organic; milk and cream, grass fed organic; and my butter… this is the real dilemma.

So I just switched butter. I had been buying Organic Valley butter for quite a while now. However, when I was at the coop a couple weeks ago, I noticed Kate’s Homemade Butter. Instead of buying Organic Valley, I went with Kate's. However, Kate’s is not organic. Sure they don’t use artificial growth hormones, yet their cows are not on a grass fed diet nor are they fed organic grain. I thought it would be nice to support a small, butter-specific company from Maine rather than support a rather large, prospering, widely available farmer coop. So that is my question, while I think both are worth supporting, which should get my dollar? For now, I think I’ll continue supporting Kate’s—the consumer in me is really drawn to the packaging.

Side note: I hope I don’t sounds like an elitist by “bragging” about my need to buy organic. It’s just that I feel that small farms and independent food producers need as much help as they can get, and I want my dollar to be used wisely.