The Plan:
Day 1: Rigatoni with homemade pasta sauce, Frozen fruit smoothie
Day 2: Ground pork with apples and cabbage
Day 3: Homemade pizza
Day 4: Root vegetable hash with fried eggs
Day 5: Grilled ginger sesame chicken chopped salad with Napa cabbage
Day 6: Eggplant parmesan, Orange slices
Day 7: Beef stroganoff, Braised garlic daikon radish
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
- Homemade pasta sauce (frozen in fall in zip top bags)
- Apples (stored in spare “cellar” refrigerator)
- Green cabbage (stored in spare “cellar” refrigerator)
- Carrots (stored in spare “cellar” refrigerator)
- Beets (stored in spare “cellar” refrigerator)
- Sweet potatoes (stored in root cellar)
- Daikon radish (stored in spare “cellar” refrigerator)
- Ground pork, beef stew meat, and chicken from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share
- Eggplant parmesan (frozen in fall in an aluminum pan, ready to pop in the oven)
Into Storage:
- Dehydrated orange slices
Notes: Avocados
Love your avocado toast and guacamole? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you may be eating peanut butter toast and salsa in the near future instead!
The U.S. just banned imports of avocados from Mexico due to threats from the Mexican Drug Cartel to an American Agricultural Inspector. (I feel like this is a plot line straight out of Ozark!) Since Mexico is the main source of avocados in the U.S. you can expect shortages on grocery shelves or extremely high prices.
So, for all those avocado fans out there, what can you do?
One option is to hold off on eating these delicious fruits (yes they are fruits, not vegetables!) and wait for the California season which typically starts in spring and runs through summer.
Another option is to take this time of scarcity and reexamine if you want to continue eating avocados on a regular basis.
There are a lot of aspects to growing an avocado that you may not have considered. For instance, it takes an average of 60 gallons of water to grow 1 avocado! This is 3 times higher than apples and 18 times higher than tomatoes. This is a concern in California where there has been a persistent drought for most of the past 22 years. Additionally, avocado farming in other countries has been associated with illegal deforestation, water disputes, and unfair labor practices. And if a US inspector is receiving threats from the drug cartel, imagine the scary conditions for the farmers. Yikes!
Still don’t want to give up your daily dose of avocado? Try looking for brands that are ethically sourced, like Equal Exchange which is certified Fair Trade. At least you can be sure that they are grown using organic practices and pay their growers a fair price.
Knowing where your food comes from is so important. Eating foods that are local to you makes this a lot easier. Local produce generally take less water to grow, less carbon to transport, is healthier, fresher, and just tastes better.
I think I’ll save the guac for Cinco de Mayo!
