Consider this post a little food for thought.

Last night, the local Sierra Club held its annual Environmental Forum and the focus was on local and sustainable food.

How we choose to produce, purchase, and consume food has a major impact on the environment, said Sierra Club member and event emcee Peter Debes.

Sounds sort of dry, right? Not really.

First off, I want Michael Warren Thomas's garden - from the sound of things it takes up his whole yard. He told the crowd that he has some 50 different edible plants on his city property and that his roof alone has 30 different types of tomatoes.

"Part of the whole idea is to have fun with gardening and to get people excited about it," said Thomas, who hosts several local radio programs devoted to food.

His overriding point was this: anyone can garden and grow food, you don't have to spend a lot of money doing it, and it's more satisfying and environmentally friendly than just having a yard.

The next presenter, Peter McDonald, talked a bit about meat. He explained the operation of his farm, which produces chicken, beef, lamb, turkey, pork, and eggs. The animals are allowed to run free and graze in the pastures. The chickens, for example, run around in a field, eat what they find, and then poop, which fertilizes the pastures.

"They have great food, great water. They have an omnipotent despot looking over them" and scaring away the weasels, McDonald said. "They have one bad day."

He advocated for clean food, treating animals well, and giving them a good life before that "bad day" - the slaughter.

But his overriding message is a good one. McDonald was talking about buying meat, but really it's

applicable to fruit and vegetables as well: he urged the audience to ask questions about their food, and to ask multiple levels of questions. Here are his examples:

• Where did the livestock come from?
• What did it eat? (He later explained that cows, for example, should be 100 percent grass-fed.)
• What breed was the animal?
• What shots did it have?

"Local is great, but geography has nothing to do with the quality of food," McDonald said.

I couldn't stay for the final speaker, Elizabeth Henderson from Genesee Valley Community Supported Agriculture, though I wish I could have.