In our small town local producers count on the local population to buy their eggs, meat, dairy and produce. Many here on Wright’s Mesa raise and make their food organically, sustainably and responsibly, with respect to their animals, available water and with local products.
In the three blocks that is downtown Norwood, you are sure to bump into producers, storefronts and restaurants and wholesalers such as the Fresh Food Foundation the local co-op featuring local, organically produced and grown food; The Divide Restaurant , which features American-style cooking and the Lone Cone Saloon, who has brought her high-quality organic ingredients to the recently reopened Saloon on Grand Avenue; the local five-star Dark Sky Pizza or the upscale groceries and Davina’s pastries, cookies, cakes, quiche and pies of Mesa Rose Kitchen and Grocery. And although it hasn’t a retail storefront in Norwood, Blue Grouse Bread keeps the residents and visitors to Telluride, Norwood and Ridgway supplied with it’s top-drawer, organic artisan sourdough breads made with locally produced wheat. Make sure to call before setting out to any of these businesses as the hours for most are customized.
Conscious cooking also means being in the moment with food and managing what you have and what you need based on your schedule. Do you cook too much and have to throw out leftovers that you never get to? Do you have things in your fridge that you buy at the market and then never use? Wouldn’t it be nice some nights after work to get home and just pull one of your delicious, homemade meals out of the freezer and heat it up?
We’re in no hurry some days…Would you like some long simmering meals destined to make your life more delicious? What do you substitute for the item asked for in a recipe when you’re under the gun and have to get a meal completed? Is there someone in your house who needs to eat but doesn’t have an appetite? Someone who’s a fussy eater?
And FFA likes beautiful, simple things such as hand-dipped, beeswax candles, secondhand furniture and the other accoutrements of life that complement our culinary efforts: cute china finds, table cloths, etc. that puts the meal together.
With a little planning, and by staying in the moment and paying attention to what’s going on around you, you can become a conscious cook in all spaces, create food people want to eat and enjoy while saving money and cutting down on waste.