Local Eating 2008
It's a most wonderful time of the year when the seed catalogs start arriving!!! If you don't have your favorite ones on their way, scroll down the sidebar on the right, and click on the plus sign after Agriculture and Gardening Arts. You'll see lots of links to the best seed companies with gorgeous catalogs to peruse...and dream...and sow...
Speaking of sowing, one of my goals this year is to get local, more, wherever we travel. I've been glancing at my Square Foot Gardening book and googling some container ideas. Have you made it a goal? If you haven't started eating more local harvests, then get started by going to the 100 Mile Diet site and get up to speed. Then you can call yourself a locavore, the Oxford Dictionary's 2007 Word of the Year.
And Path to Freedom has now taken the baton and run with it! Their burgeoning 100 Foot Diet Challenge is a remarkable idea based on the victory garden/edible estate idea. From the PTF website:Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil "morale booster" — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. - wikipedia
Make at least one meal a week from only homegrown items. Sounds good! Get over there and sign up and snatch one of those handy dandy buttons too!
I'm going to be doing some local menus and meals here on the blog too, showing how much more tasty and nutritious foods are that are locally produced. Care to join me?
Shalom,
Shalom,
Carla Lynne
2 comments:
Thanks for the heads up! For me, it's not so much a political or enviornmental statement, but a response to our quickly souring economy. For many people this coming year, a garden won't be just a relaxing hobby, but a very necessary source of decent, healthy food.
You know, Carla Lynne,the other night at supper I looked around and realized that EVERY bit of our supper was home grown. It's often that way.
My sister grew the black-eyed peas, raised and butchered the pig, smoked the meat (no nitrates)...don't usually eat pork but this was a gift...grew the greens, the mint jelly for the corn bread was made by a friend and the corn grown and ground by my parents.
I didn't do anything, because we moved this year in August, but it was still all home grown.
Generally, our extended family grows/raises so much of our own things. This is just how we live, have always lived. I just thought that people "did" this. It's foreign to me that we even have to encourage people to "eat local." At first I laughed. That's the frugal way to do it, right? But I'm beginning to realize that most people DON'T do it this way - and so it is good that there are those who will encourage others to "take responsibility" for their own food.
Thanks for spreading the word....
Holly
www.seekingfaithfulness.wordpress.com
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