It's finally been beautiful out here for most of the week. We've been out in the yard quite a bit prepping for our garden. The dogs have been enjoying it immensely. We also joined the local CSA (community supported agriculture). You can look here to see if there's one near you. CSA's are generally small community run farms where you can buy in and for a relatively cheap amount of money get fresh local produce during the seasons it is available. The average cost for us per pound of organic produce is $1.50 -$1.75 which is much cheaper than buying organic produce at the grocery store. And best of all the farm is local, in our case less than 5 miles from our home, just a few minutes past Sarah's house. Not all CSAs are organic, and our food is not certified organic, but produced using organic, sustainable methods with no chemicals, etc... Frequently CSAs also have a work-share program where you can work off part or all of your share, which is great for people who may have some time, but not much money. Anyway, all in all we are really excited about it. We are making our own garden also, but don't expect to be incredibly successful, since it will be our first attempt. If we are super successful we have plenty of friends/family we can share all our extra produce with. We are going to be doing square foot gardening.
In other news I'm thinking of going vegetarian, or at least mostly. The reason behind it is that I don't feel like I should be eating meat if I can't bring myself to kill it myself. Thinking about adding chickens makes me question it a lot more. I like the eggs idea, but I don't think I could snap a chicken neck or behead one either, sooo... yeah. It's easy for most people to not think about what the animals go through before they become your lunch or dinner, but it's not something I can get past. I've been buying free range, antibiotic free meat for a long time, but I don't think even that's sufficient anymore. It's obviously a personal choice, and I don't think I'm giving up fish, and I'm not quite sure I'm ready to give up chicken either, but we'll see. I think I'm done with beef and pork though.
In other dietary news, I've been wheat, soy and dairy free for a couple weeks now, and have been feeling a lot better. I didn't realize I had a soy problem. It was the last thing I cut out of my diet, and it made a big difference. We've been eating almost entirely fresh foods. It's so wonderful. Oen and I have both been spending a lot more time in the kitchen cooking. I like it a lot. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to eating a lot of processed foods, even organic processed foods.
I wanted to talk about victory gardens a little bit. After and during WWI and WWII, the government encouraged people to plant victory gardens. With the way things are headed now, with the food crisis, rising fuel costs, etc... the more growing each person can do on their own the better. It's not that hard and can be done almost anywhere. People in apartments can grow in containers on patios, people in NYC grow on rooftops, etc... It's something really cool and rewarding to do. So if you are so inspired jump on board. : ) Did you know that most food travels 1500 miles before it gets to your dinner table? Isn't that just insane? Think about how much you're paying for just the transport alone? Ick. Much better to have local produce and even more satisfying if you've grown it with your own hands. The path to freedom is growing your own food.
So I guess that's about if for now. If anyone is so inclined, this is the movie I've been recommending to everyone this month: Manufactured Landscapes. What a cool movie. I want to thank Jenntopia so much for recommending it, Oen and I loved it and have been spreading the word to everyone.
Again, I'm sorry for being so depressing, I just look around and see everyone ignoring global warming, and I know its difficult to change, but the fact of it is, if we don't change fast there will not be a hospitable planet left for our children. We need to re-frame global warming, and view it not as a sacrifice, but as a great opportunity. We have all the answers we need, we just need to act, and we need to do it now.
I leave you with some cool US gov't victory garden posters.
No comments:
Post a Comment