Farm: A Better Way
First, we read the Girl Scout Journey book Sow What? This got us thinking about where our food comes from and how much energy is used in the process. For example, is it better to buy strawberries from a local farm or from a grocery store that shipped them from California? How much energy is used in the shipping process?
To follow up on that, we visited Angelic Organics Farm in Caledonia, Illinois. There we toured vegetable fields and a greenhouse, fed and held chickens, milked goats, and finally made and ate goat milk ice cream.
Before the farm visit, we watched the movie Food Inc. to see how food production has changed over the past 50 years. This documentary criticizes corporate farming and the industrial production of meat, grain, and vegetables, encouraging people to look for alternatives.