Bolton Orchards

I apologize to my 21 fans (Google Analytics is so cool) for the delay in posting. Two of my three munchkins have been battling one hell of a cold and the weather has not been cooperating. We had one inch of snow on Friday and school was canceled. Wimps. I'm sure my parents are loving the irony of my new-found hatred for the "snow day". I have managed to find a few brief minutes though, due to the fact that my 7 month old has been awake since 5:30 AM and despite my repeated request that she drift happily off to sleep again, here I sit posting to you. So what's new?

The other night we had a 50% local dinner. We ate the pork chops and local MacIntosh applesauce from Balance Rock Farm, and organic corn as well as peas with pearl onions that were from California, not Belgium! I'll admit this meal is way short of mission, but it is a start. And thanks to the comments posted on this blog I have a whole list of resources to pursue.

One little store I've been meaning to look at, Bolton Orchards, is only 3.3 miles from my house. I've been in there before but never really paid close attention to their products, other than the obvious prevalence of apples. After dinner last night I realized that we were in need of milk and eggs, and at 6:30 PM on the Sunday of a holiday weekend local beggars cannot be choosers. I knew I could get these things from local sources at my large grocery store, but I assume that supporting smaller, locally run stores is really more inline with my mission. Since the baby had been awake for 5 long, sniffling, sneezing hours I figured a trip out would provide her a much-needed car nap. It was a great plan until my 4YO insisted he should come along.

Those of you with more than 1 child know that any time you get to leave the house with 1 less child then you have produced, it's like a tiny vacation... usually.

"Oohhh, I want some of those small oranges!"

"Those are apricots," I replied. Local? Well, yeah if you live in South America.

"I want some!"

"You don't even know what they are. What if you don't like them? Let's get some apples!"

"I will, I will like them. I promise! Please!"

• 3 Chilean Apricots, check.

"Peaches!"

"Apricots are enough, honey."

"Please! Please! I promise I'll eat them!"

• 3 Chilean Peaches, check

I turned to peruse the vegetables and was fairly disappointed until I came across a bag of locally grown potatoes. I was beginning to wonder if Maine was the closest I'd ever get.

• 5 lb bag of potatoes, local, check

"Ooohh, nuts! Can we get some nuts?"

"We still have nuts leftover from Thanksgiving."

"Not these nuts," he said, excitedly scooping a heap of mixed nuts.

"Yes, those same kind of nuts."

"But not THESE nuts," he emphasized, as if those mixed nuts were so obviously different from our current batch of mixed nuts.

"We don't need any more nuts." I wonder where all these mixed nuts are from, anyway. (Hee hee, I Googled it and someone actually posted this question: "Where do Brazil nuts comes from?") I tried to meander through the store in my search for local goods.

"Mommy, I'm going to look at this candy."

"We're not getting any candy."

"I know! I'm just going to look at it."

"Come on, let's go look at these great apples. Which ones should we get?"

• 1/2 peck of apples, local, check
• 2 dozen eggs, local, check
  
• Cabot Farm butter, VT, check
• Boar's Head bacon, somewhere in the US, check
• Oakhurst milk, somewhere in New England, check

"Mommy! Mommy! Marshmallows! Can we buy marshmallows? I love marshmallows. Marshmallows are so yummy! Can we buy some? Can we bring them home and have them in hot chocolate? I love marshmallows in hot chocolate. Can we get some?"

I can honestly say that I've never bought marshmallows before. How do kids find out about these things? "Sure," I responded distractedly. I was scanning the freezer section hoping to find locally grown frozen produce. Someone had to carry it. There was a buzzing sound in the background as I shopped, it sounded something like this:

"Yay! Thank you mommy. I am so excited. I love hot chocolate with marshmallows. I can't wait. When we get home we'll have hot chocolate and put marshmallows in it. Mommy do you like hot chocolate with marshmallows in it? I do. It's so yummy. I can't wait. Can you?"

I hope you don't mind, I paraphrased.

I looked down at my crazed 4YO. "What happened to you? Did you have like 5 teaspoons of sugar before we left the house?" We rounded the corner. A woman was standing in front of a whole wall of locally jarred jams and jellies. She was close to tears.

"I'm so excited," she said, "I think I'm going to have to go home and have hot chocolate with marshmallows."

• Bag of jet-puffed mini-marshmallows, made in the USA, check

"Can we go home now? I want to have my hot chocolate and marshmallows."

"Let me look at these jellies first." There were a large variety of flavors and they all had the Bolton Orchards label on them. The address on the back was that of the store I was in. How do you determine local-ness on products like this? It's quite possible that the jarring was done here at the orchard, but it's highly unlikely the grapes are local, so does it count as a local product? I mean, it must be more local than the Polaner All Fruit I normally buy, but I suppose if I want to truly be local I need to switch from grapes to something like strawberries that at least has a chance of being picked and processed locally. I think I can make that change. Next time.

• Grape "fruit spread", local?, check

Well, it wasn't my worst outing, I don't think I accidentally picked up anything from the UK this time. Out of my 10 purchases, 6 of them are at least from my tri-state region. Clearly my 4YO is a bad influence on my shopping habits, though. But I do have to admit, as we sat together as a family sipping hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows floating in it, taking turns lobbing them across the table and into each other's open mouths, I am kind of glad I brought him along.