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Sunflower Sister

Sunflower Sister is about my family’s experience transitioning from a diet of packaged, preservative filled food to a ‘back to basics’,  local and preservative free lifestyle.

I want to share this journey with you - as imperfect as it will be.

Many people believe that life comes full circle and you end right back where you started.     (I’ve always thought that held true for folks who live long enough because you start with someone wiping your rear and if you live past the prime of your body, you end with someone wiping your rear.) But I never thought I would see so many remnants of my childhood in my mid-life.

This project, now dubbed Sunflower Sister, began as a quest to find products made in the USA. What it has become is a bit of the past and a hope for the future.

Early in 2011, I began scouring the scouring the grocery shelves to find food which had been manufactured in America. I did it because of the reports about tainted apple juice from China and I wanted to protect my family. I did it because I wanted to support American jobs and American Industry. I thought it would be a no big deal. This is, after all, the breadbasket of the world. What I discovered was a far different.

I discovered that a significant number of products I purchased on a regular basis did not come from the United States; that many of the ‘trusted’ labels I relied upon, were produced in Mexico, China or some unknown country of origin - ie: “country of origin printed on neck.” Where’s 5107? or 4212?

Without “Made in USA” stamped across it, I began bypassing foods I counted on as staples in my kitchen. I started substituting with other products or making my recipes fully from scratch.

For most people, this would not be that big of an issue, but for me, who really never liked cooking or domestic duty, it’s an issue. I once wrote in a column that I didn't understand "why anyone would spend time canning corn when there were perfectly good cans for sale at the grocery for only $.59."

To say that I never spent time in the kitchen is not an exaggeration. I am a person who once purchased a house without stepping foot in the kitchen. Most women would be appalled, but I relied on my brother who said, “It’s got a great kitchen.” To which I replied, “Does it have a fridge and running water?”  That was all I needed to know.

My new rules were not without significant grumbles from my family. Complaints like, “But I don’t want to slice my own cheese,” and “These cookies taste different,” didn’t deter me. I kept to my convictions and found a substitute or did without.

Not all the conversation was bad. My teenage son who is a health conscience, hearty eater liked having ‘real’ meals and not relying on pizza rolls or frozen lasagna from a box.

His influence led me to the next phase of this experiment - becoming a preservative-free locavore. When he asked me to edit his paper on the positive economic impact of being a locavore, I asked, “What’s a locavore?”

As I read his research, I realized that while I was buying American products, I was far from helping my local farmer. And why shouldn’t I? I‘ve helped small locally owned businesses for years. I led the anti-Wal-Mart campaign in two different towns. My previous occupation as a newspaper editor depended on local products and small merchants. So why wasn’t I doing more? I was shopping at the local farmers market, but instead of fitting my recipes to what was in season, I would buy what I could, then head to the supermarket.

Shortly after reading his paper, I was staring at the beautiful shined apples at my local big grocery chain and realized that the apples I knew in my youth were far from anything like these. They were mostly small and dull, but amazingly delicious. So were the all vegetable meals my mother made when her garden was in full bloom.

At that moment, I decided my children needed, deserved that same type of food - or even better.  I left the my cart, heading off in a new direction.

“What’s for dinner?” my husband asked me that evening. “Vegetables,” I replied and I showed him the seed packages I had purchased from a local seed supplier.

And so, our journey back to the past and into the future began.

Susie Stivers stays busy running an active household, making granola and home-cooked meals, doing laundry, experimenting with new products in the kitchen, taking care of chickens, cows, four kids and a hungry husband. She runs her own blog Sunflower Sister where she shares helpful hints and recipes.  Visit www.sunflowersister.com

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