What with all the scary news from China and even the U.S. about our food supply, it's more important than ever to know where your food comes from. Who handled it, where was it grown or raised, and how long has it been waiting before you take it home to eat it? "Local food" is the new term to know about these days, even giving rise to the term "locavore" for someone who eats most of their food from local sources. That certainly is more likely to give you first-hand knowledge of the food source. But who has time to source every last ingredient on their table?

So here to the rescue is the Web site Eat Wild. It's a central listing of facts on grass-fed basics, from animal welfare, to farmer benefits, to environmental aspects. You can search by state, and the listings for California are extensive.

They include Copeland Family Farms, who raise goats for both human and pet food (no weird melamine additives!); NFR Natural Beef in the Sierras, with both grass-fed and grain-fed beef; and Tawanda Farms, who raise both beef and lamb and also sell their sheep fleece.

You can also find listings for eggs, dairy, and kitchen supplies on the Eat Wild site, plus a list of stores, restaurants, and farmer's markets that carry these natural foods. And look for the articles and scientific references (linked from the left sidebar) in case you need to convince someone else that eating humanely raised, natural meat is better than wondering where that burger-like thing came from.