Composting, Co-oping, and self-sufficent living in Utah..

Believe it or not, there comes a time when you realize there is such a thing as too large a shoe or purse collection. Follow me here, because I don't think I've completely delved into delusion yet. I'm not necessarily sure if I've fully reached this point in my life, but I certainly have started to look for something more significant and sustainable. I received a gift card for Christmas, and like any self-respecting woman would, immediately jumped onto Amazon.com to look at shoes (you can't blame a girl for trying).. and yet, nothing resonated.
For some reason, I looked up from my keyboard, and found I was looking at tumbling composters... Really Cassandra? Tumbling composters? Wow. How the mighty have fallen. A few years ago, you would have bought a pair of designer sunglasses and called it a day. What is happening to me? Wait, did I just ORDER that composter? AND a book?! The joys of composting? Oh God, it's a downward spiral.
I'm excited to embrace a more sustainable lifestyle. Where did this come from?   I'll be honest, some of this came from living in Utah... but I place most of the blame on my future mother in law. Year after year, she pumps me full of ridiculously delicious homemade canned goods from the farm. Wait--You mean I can just go out to the garage and grab beans, fresh from the farm? In December with 3 feet of snow outside?  Organic beef that I know every single step of how it was raised, and how it made it's way onto my table? Corn so sweet and delicious, having never been touched by a pesticide? Oh my God... I'm a farm-fresh junkie. Give me the good stuff. Give it to me now, and no one gets hurt. If slow food is a drug, my mother in law is my pusher man......
So. Now I've certainly been bitten by this bug. I want to know where my food comes from. I want to spend my grocery budget supporting local farmers and businesses, and people who are interested in keeping food local. I want to dabble in this through food co-ops and composting to make my garden this year great. I found a great link through the Slow Food Utah page, "http://bountifulbaskets.org/", and will be trying it out this weekend.

My composter arrives next week, and I've picked up a few books to help get me started:
"The Urban Homestead" by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen.
and
"Your farm in the city" By Lisa Taylor.
I'm filling my cranium with as much garden knowledge as humanly possible in the desperate hope that this years bounty will resemble more of a bounty, and less of a morsel. Admittedly, ending the season holding the single, small pumpkin I managed to grow, up to the sunshine with tears in my eyes, (tears of joy.. thank you very much)... was probably not my finest moment; but a learning experience I truly needed. I learned that a garden cannot grow on love alone.. and that sometimes you honestly, truly just need some crap.

=)