No matter how much wishing and wanting you might do, remodeling projects take longer than the best laid plans. Looks like another night at the Best Western for the three of us.

Tom Philpott has another good read up at Grist. This weeks “Victual Reality” hits home. I am trying to make as many changes in the food we purchase as I can. I have taken to checking labels regularly for country of origin info. Call me a local food convert, but the only imported foods I try to purchase are cheeses and wines with an occasional olive oil…And to think five years or so ago I didn’t know the difference in any of the three. Anyway go check out Tom’s column while I try to get comfortable at the Best Western…

How globalization is smothering U.S. fruit and vegetable farms | By Tom Philpott | Grist | Victual Reality | 30 Aug 2007

Earlier this month, President Bush roiled U.S. vegetable farmers by announcing a crackdown on undocumented workers. Last week, industrial-meat giant Smithfield Foods goosed the hog-futures market by inking a deal to export 60 million pounds of U.S.-grown pork to China.These events, unrelated though they seem, illustrate a common point: that despite all the recent fuss around local food, the globalized food system, far from losing strength, continues to gain traction.