Support Our Local Farmers May 23, 2008

Kate is sleeping so I’m taking a break for once. It occurred to me that I need to take breaks when she is napping.

We get up at 6 or 6:30 am every day. And she doesn’t go to bed until 7. So that’s a 12-13 hour day! Plus then I still have to get dinner on the table and do the dishes and clean up the kitchen.

I don’t know how some of you moms out there do it. The ones who are homeschooling and cooking traditional foods and doing all your own cleaning. I guess if you have older kids, you can put them to work doing chores. But it is a lot of work. I commend you.

It’s a rainy overcast day today. Cold, like winter weather. Bizarre, since it was blazing hot all last week.

Kate and I went to the Japanese market this morning to get sashimi for dinner. Seth eats a lot — so I bought $30 worth. This GAPS diet is expensive. We used to be able to save money by eating more rice and beans and other things. But when all you are eating is meat and vegetables, you need more meat to fill up.

I only buy the wild-caught sashimi — so I got tuna and albacore and some snapper. All the salmon was farm-raised which I refuse to buy. I’ve also got some bonito broth simmering on the stove for miso soup. And I’ll make a seaweed cucumber salad.

I dug out some grass-fed ground beef and bison heart out of the freezer for tomorrow night. Gonna make taco salad. I’m going to grind up the heart and add it to the mix. Hopefully Seth won’t be able to taste it!

Here’s some exciting news — about a week or so ago I dumped some cut up potatoes into a big pot outside. And guess what? They already sprouted. There are green leaves coming up out of the pot! Isn’t that exciting? These were just potatoes that we didn’t get around to eating (since we went on GAPS).

See, this is the thing. People are getting all worked up about food prices and how there’s going to be a famine. And yet it is so easy to grow food! I mean, I literally just dumped those potatoes into the pot, added a little soil and water — went out and watered them a couple of times — and that was it. People need to get out of the grocery store and get into the backyard.

I was listening to Joel Salatin’s lecture at the last WAPF conference. He said an interesting thing. “In America today, there are twice as many people in prison than there are on farms.”

Doesn’t that blow your mind? Is it any wonder why so many people are incarcerated? Why so many people are dealing drugs?

We used to be able to live off the land and support ourselves. Now we are forced to work outside the home and leave our families for 8, 10, 12 hours a day. We are forced to drive cars to work since everyone is so spread out. And most families have two cars — 50 years ago, most families had one car if they had a car at all.

It’s ridiculous the way we live. Most of us are stressed out all the time, working way too many hours, not spending enough time with our kids, and yet we have huge homes with five TV sets and two cars and fancy gourmet kitchens we never cook in.

How did this happen?

Joel Salatin said something else in his lecture. He said, “Over 50% of all meals are eaten outside the home.” Isn’t that incredible? And restaurant food is not only bad for you, it’s very expensive!

Salatin said, “Try just making one homecooked meal a week.” It’s a good goal.

Here’s another statistic I heard today: 30 million people — oops — that’s supposed to be 300 million people in the world are malnourished. The person who said it said it was due to industrial agriculture and monocropping.

We need to take back our land. Even if you don’t have a backyard, you can grow something. Even if you only have room for pots on a patio — you can grow potatoes! Or herbs. Or lettuce. I remember when I was single, living in San Francisco, I used to grow baby bok choy in a pot on my tiny little postage-stamp sized deck.

If you can’t grow anything, you can support a local farmer. Local organic farmers take care of the soil. They don’t monocrop. They don’t spray poisons on the food. Go to your local farmer’s market and buy as much as you can from the local farmers. You can still go to the supermarket to get other things.

Daily Photo: New Clotheslines April 25, 2008

I finally got some clotheslines rigged up in the backyard. I found some rope at the local hardware store — I just tied it to some trees. Nothing fancy — but it works. They had clothespins at the store, too.

These are Kate’s cloth diapers and cloth wipes. The sun really does bleach out the stains.

Gimme Green March 12, 2008

I’m watching a really great documentary on the Sundance Channel about American’s obsession with green lawns. It’s called “Gimme Green”.

40-60% of the water in the US is used for lawns.

Isn’t that a shocking statistic? What a waste.

It’s our obsession with green lawns that require massive amounts of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and water that is one of the biggest causes of our water shortage — which is getting worse and worse every year.

Meanwhile, according to xeriscaping expert Andy Wasoski, natural landscapes do fine with rainfall. So if we just ditched our stupid lawns and let our yards go back to natural xeriscapes, we wouldn’t have to waste all this water. Nor would we have to spray toxic chemicals which leech into the water supply.

“The wars of the 21st century will be fought over water, not oil.” — Andy Wasowski

Did you know that due to water shortages, people in Las Vegas are being paid $1 per square foot to remove their grass?

Sadly, the people living in Vegas are not putting in natural xeriscapes — they’re installing artificial turf.

Freegans March 4, 2008

I’m watching Oprah from a couple of days ago. They are talking about “freegans” — people who are dumpster divers. They go through dumpsters and eat what they find. Many of these people are former executives.

I think it’s kind of cool. Of course, I am way too picky about my food to become a freegan. I need grass-fed, raw, organic, etc.

But still… it’s nice that these folks are eating what otherwise would have gone to waste. It’s good — they are making people aware that they don’t need to consume as much as they do.

One good point they are making –

SHOP LESS
CONSUME LESS
and you get to WORK LESS!

Hello! Makes sense, eh?

It’s also cool that they are not spending money and going into debt. And they are focused on saving things that don’t need to go into landfills.

They are saying that grocery stores are throwing away $30 billion of food per year.

Good for them. Yay Freegans! I think this is a step in the right direction. People are waking up!

I think I’ll do my part now — and dive into some raw milk ice cream that’s been sitting in my freezer for months.

Food Not Lawns March 4, 2008

I got a new book from the library. It’s called “Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard Into a Garden and Your Neighborhood Into a Community”.

Here’s what the author writes about her upbringing:

For the first twenty years of my life I never thought about where my food came from; nor did I question the deeper workings of the food system or society as a whole. Though marginalized by my half-Mexican blood and low-income status, in many ways I was just like any other kid in the suburbs: I struggled to fit in, I fought with my parents, and I ate sugar and industrial meat almost every day.

Public school taught me to obey authority, and that words are more important than actions. Television taught me to buy my way to happiness, and that I should starve myself and keep my opinions to myself so I could find a husband and make babies. My family taught me to tolerate abuse in the name of love, and the mainstream workforce taught me that my time isn’t worth a living wage.

She tells how she rejected her upbringing and moved to San Francisco at age 21, started riding a bicycle, canvassing for Greenpeace, and stopped watching TV.

I can relate! I moved to San Francisco at 18. When I was 24, I worked as a canvasser for an environmental group, raising awareness for curbside recycling.

Some amazing facts from the book (and I am only on page 14!):

The average urban lawn could produce several hundred pounds of food a year.

Today 58 million Americans spend approximately $30 billion every year to maintain more than 23 million acres of lawn. That’s an average of over a third of an acre and $517 each. The same sized plot of land could still have a small lawn for recreation and produce all the vegetables needed to feed a family of six.

The lawns in the United States consume around 270 billion gallons of water a week — enough to water 81 million acres of acres of organic vegetables, all summer long.

Lawns use 10 times as many chemicals per acre as industrial farmland. These pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides run off into our groundwater and evaporate into our air, causing widespread pollution and global warming, and greatly increasing our risk of cancer, heart disease, and birth defects.

The pollution emitted from a power mower in just one hour is equal to the amount from a car being driven 350 miles.

I LOVE this book!!! Those facts are absolutely staggering to me. Doesn’t it seem ridiculous that we have all this wasted land that requires maintenance — and for WHAT? We spend money to maintain lawns, when we could be SAVING money by growing food!

It’s absurd that many people say they can’t afford organic produce. Do you know how easy it is to grow things? I have lettuce, all kinds of herbs, tomatoes (we ate them on our salad last night). And I barely have anything growing yet. Just wait till this summer! (I’ll have to post before and after pictures of the garden.)

You know what else I keep thinking about? Community. When you have a garden that bears fruits and vegetables, you end up giving a lot of them away. It would be so cool to be able to share vegetables with neighbors. Barter for eggs and chicken and milk. Some people could make honey, others goat cheese, others wine.

And we would share seeds — ha ha, Riana and I are already sharing seeds long distance — and she is in France! Sharing seeds and saving them from year to year makes so much sense to me.

It’s the same thing with fermented foods. You share your starters. They proliferate so it makes sense to give them away. And it’s also insurance — if you ever lose a starter, you can just get another one from a friend.

There is something so wonderful about a real community where people share with each other. And something so liberating about not having to buy a huge cart full of food from a supermarket. It’s so freeing to be able to grow your own food in your own backyard.

Plus gardening is so fun and it’s such good exercise. I love being outdoors, soaking up the sun and breathing fresh air. The truth is, there is so little work involved. Organic gardening is a lot less work than maintaining a lawn.

More to come from this book — I have a feeling I am going to learn a lot!

Drying Clothes on the Line February 25, 2008

We are back from vacation and I’m excited about a new idea (okay, an old idea!).

Drying clothes outside on a clothesline.

The bottom line assuming a 5,000-watt unit is 50 cents per hour. And while this might not sound like much, it really adds up over the course of a month. Heat-producing appliances always use surprisingly large amounts of electricity and they’re the first things we should cut back on in an effort to become more environmentally responsible. Most people are surprised to learn that using your clothes dryer for one hour consumes the same amount of electricity as a 100-watt light bulb burning for 50 hours.

(Home Envy)

I’m not saying we won’t ever use the dryer. I’d just like to use it a lot less. I think line-dried clothes smell wonderful. And the sun naturally bleaches stains.

I already spoke to our housekeeper, Carla, about my idea. Since she’s been with us, I’ve made so many changes — switching to all-natural cleaners, using natural detergent, switching to cloth diapers, etc. I hated to tell her that I had another scheme brewing.

She was unfazed. She said, “In my country, we never use the dryer. We always hang our clothes outside.”

I think I’ll order an outdoor clothesline and an indoor one as well — for sweaters and things that you don’t want to hang outside, and for those rare times that it’s raining in southern California.

What We Can Learn From Saving Trash February 15, 2008

I can’t stop thinking about the guy who saved his trash for a year.

I read about him a while back but it didn’t really gel with me until now. I guess because all of this stuff is cumulative. You do one thing and it leads to another and another. It’s actually become a hobby for me now. Okay, not just a hobby. An obsession. (But it’s a good obsession!)

I want to respond to his post on what he learned from saving his trash for a year:

1. The vast vast vast majority of trash comes from food packaging. Packaged food is less nutritious, on the whole, than fresh food. Packaged food, ounce for ounce, is often more expensive than fresh food. I’ve learned that making less trash, by consuming less packaged food actually makes me healthier and wealthier. I’m in the best shape of my life right now and I can see first hand that it is related to changes in my diet that have come from this project.

I have noticed that we have a lot less trash since I have been cooking traditional foods. We stopped eating most packaged foods thanks to Sally Fallon and the WAPF — for health reasons. Avoiding packaged foods also helps the environment.

Some examples:

I used to buy yogurt. Now I make filmjolk and kefir. Just add milk and leave it on the counter. No more plastic yogurt containers.

I used to buy iced tea and soda. Now I make kombucha and beet kvass. No more cans and bottles. I’m also starting to make kefir soda pop (more on that in a future post).

I used to buy most of our vegetables from the grocery store. Now I buy most of it at the farmer’s market. They fill a plastic bin, which I carry home with me and then bring it back the following week. There are no plastic bags on any of the produce.

I’ve been making pickles, sauerkraut, and mayonnaise from scratch, reusing glass jars. I am going to learn how to make ketchup, salsa, naturally fermented soy sauce, and mustard. (By the way, ALL of these recipes are in Sally Fallon’s cookbook, “Nourishing Traditions”.)

Seth still likes fancy Italian mineral water. I’m looking into buying one of those seltzer makers. However, he is drinking a lot less since we started drinking kombucha.

We are also still buying distiled water. Soon we will buy a water filtration system and eliminate the need for this.

I still have to buy milk in plastic jugs. That is the way they come from Organic Pastures. It would be nice if they could someday go to a delivery service with reusable glass containers. Maybe I will write a letter to them to ask about the feasibility of this.

We are using less paper towels. A cloth rag works fine.

2. When I ask people to put prepared food in my own containers it disrupts their flow and makes them think. Some people like this. They enjoy the momentary distraction from monotony and the novelty of the experience. Others get pissed off. It makes they have to pay attention, it takes more energy. I don’t know what to do with this information yet I just know I’ve learned this.

I have noticed this, too, when I bring my cloth bags to stores like Target. I usually get a whiff of frustration. I’ve noticed it even when I don’t have a cloth bag and just tell them I don’t need a bag. They usually look at me like I’m crazy and try to foist a bag on me anyway.

I had to actually INSIST that I did not want a bag recently at Office Max. The guy REALLY wanted me to have that bag — even though I kept telling him I didn’t want one. “I’m trying to save the planet!” I said.

I have also had to stop people at Whole Foods from putting paper bags on my wine bottles so they don’t break in the cloth bags. “It’s fine!” I say, giving them back their bags. “I’ll be careful. I’m not going very far.”

3. Saving trash leads to increased consciousness of what I consume. I cannot purchase a single thing without wondering about all of the energy that went into manufacturing it, the resources use to ship, how far its component parts traveled until it was assembled, how far it then traveled to get to the store where I purchased it, the thousands of miles it may travel before finding its ultimate home in a pile of other unwanted manufactured souls.

I am thinking about this, too. If I have to buy foods and other products that come in packages, I would rather buy things that come in packages that can be composted.

Example: Buying detergent that comes in cardboard boxes (they can be composted) instead of plastic containers. This is an easy switch!

Another example: When I buy meat from Whole Foods it often (not always) comes wrapped in compostable paper. Unlike at Trader Joe’s where it is wrapped in plastic.

Another example: I am using my egg crates to start seeds. I can reuse them for this more than once — or compost them.

4. Recycling sucks. There, I said it. Of course recycling is a powerful first step in becoming more aware of what one consumes and it’s better to recreate something out of something than it is to gather up more raw materials to make something new. That said, recycling still sucks. It takes enormous amounts of energy and clean water to produce plastic bottles and containers, glass bottles and jars and cans of all kinds. It take enormous amounts of energy to collect these items at curbsides and ship them to recycling facilities. It take enormous energy to recycle items and ship them somewhere to be remanufactured. Almost all recyclable materials come from food or health and beauty products – both unnecessary items we have grown addicted to in our modern world. Less recycling also means fresher food. Health and beauty products is another conversation and I’m not sure we’re all ready for it yet :o)

I’m ready for it!

I stopped wearing deodorant. Corn starch (which comes in a cellulose bag) works GREAT!

Many of you know of my “no poo” experiment. I have been using Terressentials hair wash but after one of my readers (thanks, Rachel) suggested trying a little baking soda mixed with bentonite clay (I got some from Mountain Rose Herbs), I find that it works great on my hair. I’ve been using a little vinegar in my rinse.

I’ve stopped using moisturizer on my face; I use coconut oil now.

I’ve stopped using makeup (never really used much anyway — I put a little powder on on occasion). I just can’t be bothered.

I’ve stopped using tampons and now use the Diva cup and a natural sea sponge. Cloth pads and the Japanese toilet seat are next. (Shhh don’t tell Seth about the Japanese toilet seat.)

I’ve stopped using disposable diapers and now use cloth. Cloth wipes are next.

As for the recycling issue, I agree! If we can avoid buying these packaged foods and other products in the first place, that is the ideal scenario.

5. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference. If I can do this, someone else can do this. If two people reduce their consumption radically, 4 people can do it to, so can 8 people, 16 people, 32 people, and so on. Change is much easier and much more readily available than most of us are taught to think and lead to believe.

This is so true! It’s all the little things that add up. And if we all try to do little things, it will add up to making a big difference!

6. Trash sucks. 100 years ago most of the trash we produce now did not even exist. It did not even exist. Now it is at the center of a worldwide economic system that is lopsidedly built upon mass consumption to create huge profits for the few at the physical and environmental expense of the many many many. This makes me sad.

It makes me sad, too. Let’s change it!!!! If we stop buying it, they will have to stop selling it. The power really is in our hands.

7. Changing is fun, much more fun than it is stressful.

I agree!

People keep telling me that they are impressed that I am doing all of this stuff.

The truth: I can’t help it! It’s so much fun. It’s actually addictive.

8. Cleaning out food packaging takes time and is necessary to get rid of odors and to ensure bugs and rodents are not attracted to it.

I’d rather reuse glass jars and stick in the dishwasher. Or compost paper. I hate buying anything in plastic.

I also want to say this:

Blogging and the internet has really spurred me on in this endeavor. I have learned so much from people online — all the wonderful people on the Discussing NT Yahoo list and from blogs like Save Your Trash and These Days in French Life (just to name a couple).

Thanks, everyone. Let’s keep encouraging each other!

The Guy Who Saved His Trash For a Year February 15, 2008

This guy saved his trash for a whole year. He even brought back 16 days’ worth of trash from a trip to Hawaii.

He is an inspiration to me.

I know, it seems wacky. But global warming is happening, folks. If you haven’t seen An Inconvenient Truth, please watch it. It will change your life.

And if you did see it and haven’t yet changed your life, maybe there are some simple things you can start doing to make a difference.

Recycling some of your trash is good — but it’s not enough.

You don’t have to save your trash for a year. But maybe you can start by composting.

Or start using cloth grocery bags. And don’t just use them at the grocery store — use them at Target and the drug store and the mall.

Switch to cloth diapers. And cloth wipes! (I’m making some now.)

Use cloth rags in the kitchen instead of paper towels.

Get some reusable take-out containers.

Stop using toxic chemicals on your lawn. Go organic!

Or a reusable coffee cup for that Starbucks latte you get every day.

Make kombucha at home instead of drinking soft drinks.

Boycott food from factory farms and eat only pasture-raised, grass-fed beef and dairy. (Animal feedlots and factory farms are one of the biggest causes of methane gas which causes global warming.)

Buy a paper shredder and compost your junk mail.

Buy a Japanese toilet seat or bidet so you can use less toilet paper.

Get a Diva cup or a natural sea sponge and/or some Glad Rags or other reusable menstrual pads.

Stop taking the newspaper (read it online).

Use a pooper scooper to pick up animal waste — instead of plastic bags.

Stop buying chemical household cleaners and make your own or use an environmentally friendly brand.

Limit the number of packaged foods you buy.

Maybe just one little thing.

Remember, it’s not for you. It’s for your children. For your grandchildren. And for their children and grandchildren.

Because if we don’t change our ways drastically, there won’t be a world for them to enjoy.

I just read the other day that polar bears are about to be extinct.

You can save them. We can do it together.

Maybe you could just do one little thing. Maybe you could start today.

Insta-composting! January 25, 2008

There’s no need for a compost heap when you can just compost directly in your garden bed!

Here’s my easy composting method:

Just bury your kitchen scraps directly in the garden.

You don’t have to dig very deep. Just barely enough to cover the scraps with dirt.

Do not use any meat scraps or anything from animals — otherwise you will have pests in your yard.

If you have worms, they’ll go at this right away and it should break down completely within a matter of a few weeks. If you do not have worms in your soil, add some. You can buy them at any garden store.

I’m just adding new mini-compost holes in between in the plants in a line along the garden in my side yard. To keep track of your holes, just leave the shovel standing where you left off — then you will know where to make your next hole.

When your good rich compost is created, you can dig up a little and pat it around the roots of your plants.

A good book to read (one of my all-time favorites for organic gardening): Lasagna Gardening by Pat Lanza.

Her lasagna method is even easier because there is no digging. Just lay down some wet newspaper and do layers of scraps, peat moss, hay, what-have-you. You can plant directly into it. I’m going to do this in my vegetable bed.

PS: I’m till going to do a real compost heap because I have a lot of yard and grass clippings that I need to put somewhere other than the city yard scrap recycling bin.

Twenty Ideas for Healthy New Year’s Resolutions December 30, 2007

Christmas is over.

We are still on vacation, though, visiting family. It’s cold in Seattle, but it’s wonderful to be with our family.

I’m thinking about goals for the new year.

1. My first goal is to lose the extra 30 pounds of baby weight by her one-year birthday, April 13th.

2. I also want to get all my finances and paperwork in order (nothing short of monumental).

3. And get out of debt. This one is totally do-able. (I mean for all my credit card debt. The student loans don’t count.) And once I’m out of debt, I get to start investing in real estate, which I am really excited about.

4. Spring cleaning — I want to sell all of the accumulated junk in the garage on eBay and the like.

Those are the main things. I have lots of other smaller goals. Like expanding my vegetable and herb garden and composting and making more of my household cleaners…

Here is my question to you… Do you have any New Year’s resolutions that are related to your health and the environment? No?

Maybe you could add one or two. Here are some simple things you can do that would make healthy and/or green resolutions for 2008…

1. Stop eating high fructose syrup. It’s industrial corn soaked in battery acid. Read the labels and stop eating this.

2. Use cloth shopping bags. You can get them for a coupla bucks at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. I take them with me everywhere in my car these days — and I even use them at Target.

3. Stop eating soy or vegetable oil. It causes heart disease and cancer. Cook with butter, lard, coconut oil, palm oil, and/or olive oil (make sure it’s real olive oil — not the faux olive oil you buy at Costco or Trader Joe’s).

4. Start taking probiotics. Take a supplement. Drink raw milk. Make your own kombucha or kefir or kvass or sauerkraut.

5. Use cloth diapers. It’s really not so hard. I made the switch; so can you. If you don’t know how to do it, email me and I’ll post all the tricks.

6. Limit bread and refined flour. If you want bread, eat any of the following kinds:

whole grain (like Mestemacher German rye breads: http://www.germandeli.com/mebr.html)
sprouted (like Ezekiel or Alvarado St. Bakery)
REAL sourdough bread
best of all, freshly milled, soaked and sprouted homemade whole grain bread.

7. Eat grass-fed beef and dairy products. Grain-fed cows are sickly and pumped full of antibiotics. Grass-fed cows live 3-4 times longer and live happy, full lives.

8. Eat raw dairy products — NOT pasteurized! Pasteurization exists mostly to mask bad milk from unhealthy cows. Buy raw dairy products from trusted dairy farms. They are healthier and much more nutritious, since they have all the enzymes and probiotics intact.

9. Make your own cleaning products. All you need is Borax, baking soda, white vinegar, some Dr. Bronner’s, some essential oils, and some citric acid. If you don’t want to make your own, buy the healthy kind at Whole Foods.

10. Try to buy local. Is it really necessary to buy that foodstuff that comes from New Jersey when you live in San Diego? Think about all the miles traveled, all the wasted gas and energy. Buy local for the environment.

11. Join a CSA. It’s great to buy organic produce but when you join a CSA, you are actually making a pledge to the farm. Letting them know that they can count on you to support them for the next season. I believe everyone in America should be supporting a local farm through a CSA subscription. To find a CSA near you, go to http://www.localharvest.org.

12. Start taking cod liver oil. Dr. Oz called it the supplement that everyone should take. I agree. Not only does it prevent osteoporosis but it also prevents — and even reverses — cavities. I started my baby on cod liver oil when she was 5 months old. (Not all cod liver oil is the same. We buy ours here: http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/)

13. Avoid genetically modified foods. Yes, this means most packaged and processed foods. You should give them up anyway because most of them contain soy oil and high fructose corn syrup and other toxic crap you don’t want in your body.

14. Buy non-Monsanto seeds. See my blogroll to the right for sources of seeds that are not tampered with by Monsanto.

15. Eat more organ meats. Don’t like liver and onions? Have some foie gras. Or take cod liver oil and desiccated liver tablets. But make sure you get your organs.

16. Stop eating soy. It’s an endocrine distrupter and seriously messes up your thyroid. It can make you infertile. Stop now.

17. Make bone broths. Beef broth, chicken broth, fish broth. Simmer in a big stockpot and freeze for later use. This is one of the healthiest things you can do.

18. Reuse and recycle. Don’t throw away plastic yogurt containers. Or glass mayonnaise jars. Or paper bags. Reuse them for something else. And recycle everything you can.

19. Stop brushing with toothpaste. The fluoride and glycerin are giving you cavities. Use Tooth Soap or Dr. Bronner’s — or sea salt.

20. Filter your water using a reverse-osmosis water filtering system.

Enough for now. That should give you some ideas. (The ones on this list that I have not done yet I am committed to doing in the new year.)

The Future of Food December 14, 2007

I just read my friend the latest post on my friend Louisa’s blog:

http://constantstateofflux.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/the-future-of-food-life-stuff-and-eveything-else/

After I read that, “coincidentally” (not), someone else on a newsgroup posted a link to this video about the history of genetically modified food:

This is just an intro; I want to buy the whole video.

The scary thing is that pretty much everything you buy in the grocery store is now manufactured by companies like Monsanto. Everything is sprayed with pesticides and most things are now genetically modified. Anything with soy oil or vegetable oil (which is mostly soy oil). Anything with industrial corn or soybeans. It’s hard to know what’s what because the way they label it, you can’t tell.

For example, did you know that when you buy a food product at the store and it lists “spices” as an ingredient, that can contain anything? It usually (almost always) contains MSG.

It’s disgusting that Monsanto is going out and suing small farmers for saving and reusing seeds. It’s disgusting that there are only FOUR varieties of potatoes grown today. It’s disgusting the way huge corporations have driven small farms out of business.

I’m not buying seeds from catalogs anymore. Why? Because it’s all seeds from Monsanto!

“Virtually every large mail-order garden company in the United States uses a seed broker to supply them with stock.”

“The American nursery trade is a 39.6 billion dollar a year industry. With the purchase of Seminis in January of 2005, Monsanto is now estimated to control between 85 and 90 percent of the U.S. nursery market. This includes the pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer markets. By merging with or buying up the competition, dominating genetic technology, and lobbying the government to make saving seeds illegal, this monolith has positioned itself as the largest player in the gardening game.”

“Monsanto holds over eleven thousand U.S. seed patents. When Americans buy garden seed and supplies, most of the time they are buying from Monsanto, regardless of who the retailer is.”

http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2006/02/garden-seed-monopoly.html

I’m going to step up what I’m doing to change the future of our food. I’m going to join a seed saver organization and start growing all my vegetables and herbs from seed.

http://www.seedsavers.org/membership.asp

Here’s another place to buy seeds:
http://www.rareseeds.com/

Of course everything I grow is organic. But I want truly organic non-Monsanto seeds in my garden. I’m going to rip out everything that’s in there — it all came from Home Depot. Which means it’s all from Monsanto. UGH! It makes me sick that even people who are growing their own food are still unknowingly buying seeds genetically modified by this evil corporation.

I don’t have a lot of land but I have some and we live in sunny southern California — I can grow food all year long.

This is my first New Year’s resolution! I’m excited to start planning my garden. It’s a small step to take, but if more of us do it, it will impact the planet.

The Story of Stuff December 5, 2007

This is truly eye-opening and inspiring:

The Story of Stuff

So much so, in fact, that — I’ll admit it — I cried a little bit at the end.

It’s just so OBVIOUS! And so sad. That treadmill we are all on. Work, watch TV, consume.
But at the same time, it offers hope. A way out.

Actually I think this is better than An Inconvenient Truth. I’m not knocking An Inconvenient Truth. That movie did impact me.

I’m now using cloth diapers, buying my produce from a local organic farm CSA program, and thinking about getting my car converted to a plug-in electric (actually that one I owe to Who Killed the Electric Car?).

And the further down the rabbit hole I go, the more inspired I get to make even bigger changes. A place in the country with a cow and some chickens. And alternative energy sources. Maybe homeschooling. Definitely organic vegetable gardens.

Who needs TV when there’s chickens to feed and butter and cheese to be made?

Speaking of TV, this reminds me of that PBS show I loved. It was a reality show on PBS that came out in 2002 called Frontier House. It was such a good show. The story of a few real American families who were chosen to live in 1883 on the frontier.

What struck me most about that show was, as hard as life was, many of the people missed their frontier days after it was over. They wanted to go back.

As I get older, I find that less really is more and there is such beauty in simplicity. For relaxation, I enjoy reading and cooking and going for walks and breathing clean air and taking a nice bath. I can’t remember the last time I was in a shopping mall. And there is less and less on TV that appeals to me.

Anyway, watch The Story of Stuff. It takes 20 minutes. And it could change your life.