Comments on: You ate the bride’s bouquet?!

By: amadea

amadea — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:23:33 +0000

I can't remember whether I told you the bit where I was carrying the huge long stalks around the market and this woman came up to me and said “What do people DO with those? Do they eat them, or…what do people do with them?” and I said “I'm gonna use 'em for my bridal bouquet, I dunno what other people do with them!” I tried not to get too sucked into all the I-win-at-bride-moment madness, but that was definitely an I-win-at-bride monent.

By: Sierra

Sierra — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:16:10 +0000

You can haz blog!! How did I miss this? Yay!

Also: would love to talk to you about the sustainability factors in things like local flour.

By: Sierra

Sierra — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:13:12 +0000

That story about the farmers market is pure magic. And kind of the point about folding this stuff into the fabric of your life. I will think of you always when I see flowering kale.

By: Seonaid

Seonaid — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:49:56 +0000

Well. I got chickens this year. I grew onions from seed for the first time. I expanded the garden, and I'm trying to learn to preserve the harvest with minimal energy (root cellar, ideally, but I don't have one).

The biggest problem I have is that local eating around here *does* come with a sense of deprivation. For example, we can get rhubarb, berries and apples. That's it. That's fruit (oh, let's add in pumpkins). And really, if I don't grow it myself or cuddle up to the right farmer, we can get apples and blueberries. I can only get raw milk (any other local organic dairy products) by cuddling up to the aforementioned farmer, thus breaking the law... or getting my own cow. (I really don't have enough land for a cow, and even the understanding men I live with are drawing the line at daily milking and mucking out.) There IS local milk and butter available, but it is 'conventionally' farmed and I have issues. It's a problem. (but now I'm whining, so on to the question of the hour)

For the next year, we are working on developing substantial greenhouse growing and indoor sprouting so we don't go nuts with root vegetables. It's the zero-mile diet. I am also experimenting with some legume and grain crops on a VERY small scale next summer... if the women in Africa can plant and harvest sorghum with baskets and brooms, I can darn well figure out how to shell some lentils (or whatever you do with them... seriously, where do lentils come from???) I've also gone back to eating small amounts of fish - since I'm on the coast, and when I'm considering impact I need to recognize that my nuts and legumes are coming a LONG distance, and the mackerel comes from Billy-the-fisherman down the road.

It's really the focus of my 'lifestyle', though, and I can see that this comes at a cost. I'm starting to miss the city (sometimes). My potential for community is severely limited in the very traditional small place where I could afford the land to try this out. I miss poly-pagan radicals and social justice conversations and meeting new people. And I'm watching the handful of people in this community who are interested in activism of any kind burn out slowly, mostly from loneliness. Tell me there's a better way?

By: amadea

amadea — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:56:49 +0000

oh, hurrah! I have to say, though, you give me way too much enviro-credit on the cut flower thing. It's more about sentimentality than sustainability (though one could certainly discuss the connections between the two) – it makes me sad to watch them die. Watching (and hearing about) the devouring of the bridal bouquet made me the opposite of sad.
(And of course, it is our commitment to sustainability that led us to the farmer's market in the first place, where I saw the kale after weeks of agonizing over do-I-just-carry-a-bunch-of-confetti-or-what and said: “There. That.”)

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:45:05 +0000

I did more preservation this year than I ever have before, including learning to operate my possibly-possessed pressure canner. This year, I'm looking to source more staples (flour, vinegar, herbs) locally.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:03:42 +0000

By: amadea

amadea — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:23:33 +0000

By: Sierra

Sierra — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:16:10 +0000

You can haz blog!! How did I miss this? Yay!

Also: would love to talk to you about the sustainability factors in things like local flour.

By: Sierra

Sierra — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:13:12 +0000

That story about the farmers market is pure magic. And kind of the point about folding this stuff into the fabric of your life. I will think of you always when I see flowering kale.