You've got to break a few eggs....

I knew today would come; I was biding time against the inevitable. Still, I was crushed and shocked when I drove to Pete's Produce on my weekly run and found it boarded up tight for winter. No bright chrysanthemums lining the porch, no piles of sunny pumpkins along the entrances. It was like going to visit a friend and finding she's moved, the house dark and furnitureless and eerie.

I had seen the writing on the wall: a dwindling number of late summer vegetables like zucchini, spinach and green beans, the end of October raspberries, a domination of winter squash in the bins. But now, nothing.

What will I do now? There is a great produce market about 20 minutes away, but I don't know how much of what they sell is local and/or organic. Plus, it is not on my regular path. Is it worth the gas to make a special trip there?

The nearby grocery stores have organic sections, of course, but few organic items come from local farms. If the foods have traveled a long distance from farm to store, the fossil fuels used in transit diminish my efforts at carbon-footprint reduction. And a lot of the organic items are very expensive.

I'm certainly not denigrating the organic offerings in conventional markets. We are lucky to have more and more organic foods available to us, reducing the pesticides and chemicals in our diets. I'm a believer, I promise. However, as a practical matter, few shoppers I know can afford all organic items all the time. The dilemma: where is the line of cost-effectiveness?

In the weeks to come, I will attempt an informal analysis of organic foods available to me. What is worth it for the money? What works in my budget? Stay tuned.

There is one happy note to offset my mourning over Pete's hibernation. A sign at the road advertises "Self serve eggs, 9-4 Monday through Friday." Local eggs, which I have been looking for! Outside the desolate market stands an old refrigerator. You put your four dollars in a box, honor system style, and take a carton of organic, local, fresh, perfect eggs!

In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollen describes an organic egg farmer selling his wares to fascinated chefs. He cracks an egg into one hand and tosses it from hand to hand, illustrating its firmness and integrity. They cook it, noting the beautiful intense orange yolk, which sits up rounder and taller than any grocery store egg. The rich flavor thrilled the finicky chefs. My farm fresh organic egg was equally impressive (although I skipped the hand-to-hand test). I will let that be my sunshine, my consolation prize left by Pete's, to remind me of the benefits and delights of local foods until spring.

These eggs cost twice as much as grocery store eggs. But they are special enough to make an omelet or baked eggs seem like a special dinner. So use your easiest, simplest recipe for scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, or quiche, and appreciate the flavor or some fine, local, organic eggs.