Although this is my designated week “unplugged,“ I’m making an exception to participate in the 5th Annual Blog Action Day.  I’m proud to say that this is my third year joining bloggers around the world in posting about the same issue on the same day.

I was a brand new baby blogger the year I wrote about “Climate Change”–a steep topic for someone without a science brain; while last year’s focus on”Water” flowed more easily; and this year’s topic”Food” taps my roots–in Vermont.

I remember the first time I set foot in the Co-op. My doctor made me do it. I tentatively strolled down each unfamiliar aisle, past all the unfamiliar packaging–no Kellogs or Kraft or Keebler. Worst of all, some of the food had  scary labels, saying: “organic.”

I skipped over those items.

Eventually, the Co-op became part of my shopping routine, and soon after, I became a member. Over the years, I watched as more and more items were labeled organic–and later “local”–and slowly it all began to make sense. In this way, the Co-op taught me about food and about the connection between my purchases and my health and the wellbeing of the land and the water and the air.

That journey began 17 years ago. I’ve had two sons since and they’ve grown up in the Co-op. They’ve helped stock shelves and served food at fairs and have organically learned about the relationship between what we eat and how we grow it and how that shapes the world around us.

It was my cousin out in California who brought it all together for me. She told me that her water was polluted because of all the pesticides used on grapes, and after that “organic” became personal. Each time I picked up a bottle of wine, I thought about Deborah, and how my choice, 3,000 miles away, affected her life in such a vital way.

Kelly Salasin, Blog Action Day, October 16, 2011