Sutainable sustenance

I would like to start by saying I am a meat eater. An unabashed meat eater. I love meat. I would drink meat flavored soda pop if it were available. So now that we have that fact established lets get on to the "meat" of the subject.
Sustainability--I think I define this by what it is not. It is not:
Walmart plastic vegetables
Feedlot Beef
Dairy that is shipped across the country for sale.

The way I look at it, if you can, grow your own! I grew up on a farm in south Mississippi. We grew a garden of all our vegetables. We raised our own beef, poultry and swine. We hunted and fished to supplement our table fare. It was a good life!

I know this isnt possible for all but even now as an "Urban Dweller" I particiapate in the neighborhood garden program and grow alot of my own vegetables.

So if you cant grow your own (Most landlords have a problem with indoor bovine pets)! What do you do? BUY LOCAL!!!!!
I was reading an article that stated that only a dime of every dollar spent at stores like Walmart remain in the community. Besides the economic there are the "green" issues. Walmart trucks its good from across the nation for your consumption. Why contribute to this waste of fossil fuel and pollution when you can get better products locally. And do it now while you still can get them locally before the conglomerates force local farmers out of business. This has already happened in my area with dairy farms. Walthall county MS was the "cream Pitcher" of Mississippi until the 1980's. Now there are fewer than a dozen dairies left. All the milk in our area except for a very few exceptions comes from California. Yeh, those happy cows in California....WHY??? Why would I want old milk from across the country??

For your meat selection try talking to local butchers about where they get there beef/swine/etc. Drive out to the country and visit farms. Since my family no longer raises animals, we often go together and buy a side of beef from a local farmer. Much better quality. And you know the history. I had a chef make a smart remark about my comment that my cut of steak I was served was quite nervy and just not as good as I expected. He said "Well, you may not be familiar with fresh grass fed beef"
I replied that the last steaks I had I knew the steers name!

So there it is......Just my 2 centavos!
Grow it!
Buy it local!
Help the enviroment and your community!