It's About Saving Ourselves

It's not just about saving the environment and saving the planet. It's about saving ourselves. Ecology-Economy-Community -Faith! All of these.  These are fundamental pillars of our human lives. We have to keep them all in balance. Yes we have to protect the environment if we want to have a safe, clean, healthy place to live. We do also need to have a working economy, though in our current society we have placed far too much emphasis on this pillar. It has gotten all out of balance as a result.  It has impacted and even threatens to overwhelm and destroy the other three pillars. If this happens it will also destroy us. How can we find the balance? Ironically, it may begin with our economic activities. These behaviors seem to permeate and impact all the other areas of our lives. If we wonder why our society is so sick, why community seems to be collapsing and faith waning, we may need to take a long hard look at our economic activities. Then we need to start asking ourselves some important questions before we flex our economic muscles. 

Before you make a purchase, think about how much life energy it is going to cost you, and ask yourself if it's going to be worth it. Then ask yourself "if I ask myself the same question tomorrow, will I give the same answer?" Next ask yourself how this purchase impacts the environment you live in and also how it impacts the environment of others. Ask yourself how it impacts the economic, social and faith aspects of not only your life, but the lives of the people and the place where it was produced. Often our purchases are controlled more by our current emotional state than by our real needs and in fact even our real wants and goals. At times they are even contrary to our long term wants and goals. Let's live intentionally. Let's keep our long term goals in our minds. Let's ask ourselves the important questions before we make purchases. 

Tiny Steps - Turn Off the TV

How can turning off the TV help? Here are 3 ways. Just for starters. 

1. Saves Electricity

2. Saves Time that you can spend: planting a garden, bartering for goods and services, time banking, sewing your own clothes, fixing things around the house. You name it.

3. The less TV you watch the less you are exposed to the advertisements and images which perpetuate our consumer economy. 

So, turn it off, unplug, tune out and enjoy all the energy, time and money you will save. 

And you will feel better too.

Little Steps

found @ http://blogs.haverford.edu/goinggreen/2008/09/

Good Morning all! I'm taking a little bit of a new tack here. Part of what holds me back from making more posts is feeling that i need to come up with some great topic of significance and then often there is time spent in research and certainly time spent in writing and editing a post. And then there are the pictures. I always feel that I need to come up with a pertinent image and that can take some time to find or generate. As I currently work full time and commute to work, it can be a struggle to take time away from my other home and family tasks to do this on a regular basis. 

It occurred to me this morning that you might just be interested in hearing about the small steps that we are taking toward turning our property into a permaculture paradise in the changable climate of New England. I'm calling these posts "Little Steps".  So whenever you see "Little Steps" before the post title you will know it is one of these. As you saw in Self Absorbed we made some real progress this spring in the food forest. Also in that post I put out a challenge for all of us to make a small change in our lives that can help to reduce our impact. Our 30 days are up so I just wanted to see how we all did. My small change is to stop eating processed snack food in plastic containers or bags. It took me a few days to look at my habits and decide this was going to be my step and a few more to reach full implementation, but I made it within our 30 day window and I'm going to keep it going forward.  I hope everyone was able to find some small thing they could do. Feel free to post and share in the comments. I'd love to hear about what you are doing. 

Keeping it 'little'; I'll sign off by sharing this link from Permaculture Principles about using small and slow solutions.  Small steps really can make a big difference, especially when we are all making them together. 

Vote! Whenever You Get the Chance

My nephew turned 18 last week. I made him a card that said "Yippee you're 18!" on the outside flap. Lifting the next flap revealed the message... "You can vote." And lifting the final flap revealed some cash and the message "So, can a buy yours?" The fact that I should be inspired to give him such a card is a sad commentary on the state of our political system. We talk about clean elections and claim that other countries have more corruption than we do, when the sad fact is, we have simply institutionalized corruption and bribery through our campaign finance laws and supreme court rulings. Perhaps even sadder though was his reaction, and that of his mother. He said "I'm not going to vote," and she said "I'm not voting in national elections anymore." Both feel that they can't make a difference and there is no point in voting. Too many people feel this way now, and perhaps with good reason. 

So how do we change this trend? And how do we change the system so that people feel empowered rather than disenfranchised? Well I'm not going to lie to you. It's going to take a lot of hard work from a lot of people. It is going to take every single one of us getting really and truly involved in the political process, The first thing we need to do is to remember that ultimately the government answers to We The People.  Next we must take up our right and RESPONSIBILITY as citizens to vote at every opportunity, and to be an educated and informed electorate. We need to ignore the TV ads and look at voting records. We need to vote based on what we know is right not just for this minute and ourselves, but for the future and for everyone. 

More people need to start voting with their conscience than their pocket books. We need to be writing to our elected officials and telling them exactly why we are voting for or against them. Perhaps some of those letters should even be shared with the press.   We need to push for congressional term limits to reduce cronyism & the power of wealthy special interest groups. We urgently need to pass a law that will overturn citizens united.. Perhaps we need a constitutional amendment that states the corporations are NOT people and they cannot donate to campaigns. 

I think that only citizens should be permitted to donate and that candidates should be prohibited from know who donated to their campaign.  Any time that a politician is placed in a position to feel beholden to any group other than the citizen constituents of his home district, there is a chance that his policy decisions will be influenced more by the wants of big corporate donors than the needs of his constituents and the nation as a whole.  I suspect we are a long way off from getting these reforms put through. Perhaps many feel that we can never achieve these goals. What I know is that we can never achieve what we never attempt. And these goals are certainly worth working for. 

Most importantly if we want our government to be accountable then we need to hold ourselves accountable for our political action or lack thereof, and then we need to hold our elected officials accountable by exercising our right to vote! If government does not serve the people then it must be served notice by the people. If our elected officials will not exercise the will of the people, then the will of the people must be exercised through their votes to elect new officials!

Self Absorbed

Here I am again after another long absence. I've had a lot of thoughts about the drought in California, about the permaculture principles, about alternative economies, about building community, but I haven't taken the time to sit down and write, because I've been a bit self absorbed lately.  I would love to tell you that I've been very busy with extremely important things. And to some degree I have been. Check out this link to see what I've been up to. However, there have also been evenings when I just came home, and after dinner I flopped down in front of the TV exhausted and vegged out until it was time to crawl off to bed with this nagging feeling that I should be doing more. But each new day comes and I repeat the cycle, like a hamster in a wheel. 

And then it struck me that isn't this a big part of how we have gotten into the situation that we are in economically, environmentally... socially. We have grown accustomed to looking out for number one, of taking the easy way, of doing what seems right at the time, of avoiding challenges, of finding excuses for putting off change. In fact we have grown so accustomed to it that we no longer even realize that we are doing it most of the time. I'm not saying that this is all of us, all the time. Many of us work hard and regularly to make this world a better place for everyone in the future, but as a society in general, we Americans tend to think more about our immediate gratification than of our long term good or the long term good of others or the planet. And the sad thing is, we are spreading this ideology to the rest of the world. 

My challenge to myself and to all of us, is to think of one thing we can do in the next 30 days to reduce our impact on the environment, to implement that goal and to share our success with at least 1 other person. 

From Market and Pantry

So, here I am again the prodigal blogger, back from another long hiatus to report on how our experiment worked out with eating only from our market finds and our pantry for 21 days. In a word, failed. But that is too simplistic an assessment, because we learned a lot from the experiment and in that regard it was a huge success! So what did we learn?

Plan ahead: One of the primary reasons that we only made it to day 9 was because we ran out of a staple (butter) and had to go to the store for it. Once in the store, Hubby saw several other things that appealed to him. He arrived home with 2 full bags.

Plan ahead: Yup, that again, and this time I mean with regards to your meals. Taking some of your free time on a day off to prep a few things ahead that keep well or can be frozen and defrosted quickly will save you from those temptations that occur on the days when meetings run late, traffic is snarled up or for one reason or another you arrive home late and/or exhausted and just don't feel like preparing a meal. This is where we ran into downfall #2 on day 11 when it was my turn to cook and I just didn't have it in me. So a quick pop into a convenience store on the way home yielded a rising crust pizza. I consoled myself with the fact that it was at least vegetarian. 

These next few are going to sound a bit trite, but they are true and applicable. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Don't give up if your attempts to eat local run into some stumbling blocks. This is bound to happen. You may get a sudden urge for pineapple and, after all, who ever saw a pineapple growing in Maine, or many of the other places in the world where you may find yourself for that matter?  Which leads to the next cliche, 'every little bit counts'. If every person ate one locally sourced meal per week we could reduce oil consumption by millions of barrels and carbon emissions by tons! Every week! And also, 'everything in moderation'. There is no substitute for fresh local food in season, but you do have to eat in winter when there isn't much of that readily available, and you also want to develop a lifestyle that is healthy for your body and your mind. If you are driving yourself nuts over all the things that you CAN'T eat or consume, that's not going to be good for you either. It also needs to be something you can sustain and not give up on after 2 weeks or 2 months. So find yourself some Caribbean,  free trade, shade grown, organic, locally roasted coffee and cut back on your overall intake. Enjoy it knowing that this small change in your lifestyle is making a difference to your health and to the health of the planet. 

When you do go to the grocery store read the labels, even on the produce, especially on the produce, and choose from those things which are sourced from as close as possible. If you live in Pennsylvania, cheese from Michigan is at least more local than cheese from Germany. We also learned that groceries, even large chains, are starting to recognize the demand for more local produce and that if 10 people ask the produce manager of the same store to bring something in, they will, because they know that for the 10 who asked there are another hundred who wouldn't ask, but would buy the product. Another thing about shopping in the grocery is avoiding highly processed foods. These foods represent the most food miles, the most processing and the most packaging which taken together result in the most carbon emissions and the least healthful products to consume.

I had promised you recipes, but we have found that when sticking to the market and pantry we make simple, mostly vegetarian meals of salads, steamed and roasted vegetables and vegetable soups and home-made bread which we just whip up without recipes. When we do use recipes, we simply search by ingredient on Allrecipes.com. This is a great resource and ties in quite nicely with a modern lifestyle. It's also great for finding ways to prepare that interesting new veg from the farmers' market like giant kohlrabi. 

To sum it up, I guess I would have to say that the over arching lesson is that when it comes to eating locally, it doesn't have to be an all or nothing approach. That isn't going to get us where we need to be. Because few of us would be able to achieve and maintain over the long haul a lifestyle of 100% local eating, and the alternative of nothing is not an option. We need to find a sustainable lifestyle that most of us can achieve that will result in a large portion of our foods coming from fresh, local, organic sources. In this way we can make a real impact on the overall health of the planet and of course, our own health as well.  

10 Reasons to Eat Locally

Here are 10 great reasons to eat locally provided by Slow Food Seacoast.

1. Taste the difference: At a farmers market, most local produce has been picked inside of 24 hours. It comes to you ripe, fresh, and with its full flavor. Did you know that on average your food travels 1500 miles to get to your plate? Also local food varieties can be bred for taste rather than their ability to withstand long journeys and a long wait in the grocery store before  being purchased for consumption.

2. Know what you are eating: When you buy from the farmer you have the opportunity to discuss what their farming practices are, whether they used chemical fertilizers, genetically modified seeds, Were the animals fed a healthy diet and raised humanely  without pesticides, hormones or antibiotics.

3. Meet your neighbors: Studies show that people who shop at farmers' markets have 10 times more conversations than their counterparts who shop at supermarkets.

4. Get in touch with the seasons: When you eat locally, you eat what's in season. You'll remember that cherries are the taste of summer. Even in winter, comfort foods like squash soup and pancakes just make sense- a lot more sense than flavorless cherries from the other side of the world.

5. Discover new flavors: Ever tried sunchokes? How about purslane, quail eggs, yerba mora, or tayberries? Count the types of pears offered at your supermarket. Maybe three? Small farms are keeping alive nearly 300 other varieties.

6. Explore your home. Visiting local farms is a way to be a tourist on your own home turf, with plenty of stops for snacks.

7. Save the world: A Study in Iowa found that a regional diet consumed 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across country the country. The ingredients for a typical British meal, sourced locally, traveled 66 times fewer "food miles."

8. Support small farms: In areas with strong local markets, the family farm is reviving. That's a whole lot better than the jobs at Wal-Mart and fast-food outlets that the globalized economy offers in North American towns.

9. Give back to the local economy: A British study tracked how much of the money spent at a local food business stayed in the local economy, and how many times it was reinvested. The total value contributed to the local economy was almost twice the contribution of a dollar spent at a supermarket.

10. Be healthy: Eating local usually means more vegetables and fewer processed products, a wider variety of foods, and more fresh food at its nutritional peak. Eating from farmers' markets and cooking from scratch, you'll never feel the need to count calories.

During our visit to the farmers' market today, Hubby and I were inspired to "put our money where our mouth eats" and not make a visit to the grocery store between now and the next farmers' market. We are going to work on eating up the things we canned and froze from our garden, foods we have in the pantry, some of which where gifts from other farmers and wild harvesters and some of which came in our CSA or from our local health food store and local foods market. We are very fortunate to have a market less than 10 miles from our house that sells local produce, meat, and even locally prepared foods such as jams, jellies, granola, candies, coffee roasted locally and more. But even this we will avoid for the next 21 days. We'll have some pretty interesting meals in the mean time, and we'll share photos, tips and recipes.  Tonight:  roasted kohlrabi with old bay seasoning on a bed of greens with local bread from Leaven, falafel and eggplant fattoush from Karimah's Kitchen.

Living on One Dollar

Hubby and I just watched the most amazing movie about 4 young college students who went on an amazing adventure to find out what it is really like to live in a developing nation on 1 dollar a day. What they experienced and the story they tell will move you to tears and to action.

Please watch this video. Please share it with everyone you know. One message you will hear in this film is the concept that there are actually more people in the world who are not poor than there are people who are poor. We are often presented with the image of throngs and masses of nameless poor and we feel powerless to help. In this film you will see individuals with faces and names; children, mothers, fathers and grandmothers that you can help. If everyone who can help, helps just one person who needs help, what a wonderful change we will see in this world.

Living on a Dollar (Movie Link on Netflix)

After you have watched the movie please consider visiting their site and making a donation either to help them continue their work (click on the upper donate button) or to make a contribution directly to the community either through micro loans or educational scholarships (lower/ green donate botton)

Here is the link: Livingonone.org

Thank you and Namaste!

The High Price of Cheap Food

As Americans we are spending less of our disposable income on food then ever in recent history. A Pew study published earlier this year found that from 1970 to 2009 the percent of disposable income spent on food has gone down from roughly 25% to less than 10%. During the same time period caloric intake on average increased by almost 22%! There have been a lot of studies about how all these cheap calories are affecting obesity rates and the health impacts of this increased rate of obesity on Americans. The impact of increased rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes depression, and other health and social impacts upon our society are serious, but only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the high price of cheap food. We have to look into the grain fields in our heartland and the produce farms and orchards of the west coast and beyond our borders to begin to get a picture of the greater price of our cheap food. There are ecological, political and human social impacts of our industrial food system that spread across the globe.

Here are some statistics that start to paint a picture of food prices as percent of income throughout the world. According to an article published by Tree Hugger Americans spend approximately 5.5% of disposable income on food at home while folks in Germany, France and Italy spend 11.4%, 13% and 14% respectively. When we look into the developing world the numbers are even more staggering. Beginning with South Africa at 20.1% and increasing through Mexico (24.1%), Turkey (24.5%) Kenya (45.9%) and Pakistan at (45.6%). This opens up questions about economic and resource exploitation of the developing world by the first world. Many people throughout the world live in areas where more diverse crops can be produced, but over the last  75 to 100 years as the prevalence of large agribusinesses has grown, the habit of growing more diverse crops has given way to monocultures that harm both the environment and the local economy as well as the farmers who depend upon food production for their livelihood.

We have been hearing more and more about the dismal conditions of agricultural workers and farmers throughout the developing world. These workers are being treated very much like indentured servants and in some cases little better than slaves. Farmers in many developing countries have been driven out of business by competition from cheap food imported from the first world as well as by the demanding aesthetic standards of American produce buyers. Further the economic policies followed by many seed producers further victimize the small farm holders in these developing countries. Many have heard that farmers account for 11.2% of suicides in India. Some of the reasons cited for these suicides include stresses from, high operating costs, farm indebtedness, crop failure and pesticide use, among others.  What we haven't been hearing about is that these statistics are similar to those for farmers in other parts of the world. Environmental degradation of farm land is further exacerbating the plight of farmers around the world.

That's a lot of statistics and gloom and doom. So what is the point of all of this and what can we do to change the situation? So many times we feel hopeless and feel that as individuals, there is really very little that we can do to have an impact on these dire trends. The fact is that is the farthest thing from the truth. It is only we, as individuals that CAN have a true impact. But we all have to make the commitment to make a personal change. And what is that change? As with any situation, we can vote with our wallets and pocketbooks. Fresh, local, organic produce is the healthiest produce you can eat. It is also the most economically and environmentally sustainable; because it keeps dollars in the local economy and reduces the amount of green-house gasses used in the production, storage, distribution and sale of factory farmed produce.  And this is only scratching the surface of the environmental impacts of factory farming that can be mitigated by dedicating ourselves to purchasing our produce from our local organic farmers.  The same principle applies to our meat, dairy and grain products.  So please do your part and support your local organic farmer.

Reflections on Giving Tuesday

Today is Giving Tuesday. I think it is wonderful that some folks have come together around the idea that people should take a little time out from their annual holiday shopping to think about folks in need and organizations that could use a hand up. I'm glad that the organizers of this day have made a point that it's not only about giving money, but also about giving of your time and energy. Ultimately when it comes down to it, all that any of us has that is of value is the time and energy that we personally have to give. 

While I think it is a great idea and a laudable undertaking, I also think it might be one more straw on the camel's back at an already busy and stressful time of year. So, how do we fix that? Perhaps we should examine why this is a  busy and stressful time of year. I would like to encourage each of us to examine how we are spending our time, money and energy during this sacred time of year. Are our activities serving our greater purpose? Is there something that we can let go of that could make this a more contemplative and blessed time of year? Perhaps letting go of some of our shopping and parties would allow us to have more energy and funds for blessing others, and we might find ourselves more blessed as well. 

I would suggest reading the book Hundred Dollar Holiday, by Bill McKibben. Whether you are a Christian in practice or not, this book has a great deal of practical advise about bringing the sanity and sanctity back to the holiday. 

To go back to the idea of Giving Tuesday, let us also remember that these organizations that we are ready an willing to support at this time of the year when we are feeling expansive and generous also need our assistance throughout the year. Perhaps this would be a good time to set up a reasonable, affordable, recurring monthly payment to a worthy organization. This is also a good time to recommit ourselves to giving of our time to groups that are building and revitalizing our communities and helping the needy within them. 

However you decide to celebrate your holidays, and whichever traditions and faith your holidays come from during this very holy period of the year, I hope that yours will be more blessed and peaceful this year than in any year before and that they will continue to grow more blessed and peaceful as the years pass. 

Economy, Ecology, Community, Faith

There are four main areas of concern that I write about and act upon. These are the areas of our lives that I feel we need to integrate, for ourselves, for our communities, for our nation, and for our planet. I haven't written much over the last month. I've been busy living life and working toward that integration through getting more involved in my community and my faith. By participating in our transition committee, our community center building committee local art show, a craft fair, and our holiday celebration. I have also been taking stock of the the economic and ecological choices that I make on a daily basis. 

I saw a cartoon recently that showed three cans labeled "trash", "recycle", and "pretend to recycle". This really got me to thinking. There are some packages that we put in the recycling at our house because we believe that they should be recycled and recyclable. Unfortunately we have found from talking to the employees at our local transfer station that many of these packaging materials are not actually recyclable at this time. So for the last week I have been putting those packaging materials into the trash and paying attention to how much our trash is increased. It wasn't an excessive amount, but it was enough to give me pause and to remind me that there are at least 5 Rs to saving our planet (not just three) and the first of these is refuse. Refuse to purchase products that are packaged in packaging that is not recyclable. In fact, why purchase products in packaging? It is far healthier for us, for our environment and for our economy even, in the long run, if we purchase our foods in the packages nature provided them with, their own skin. We should be eating far more fruits and vegetables and far less processed foods and meats. And as important as this, we should be purchasing our food, as much as possible, directly from the people who are producing it. 

This evening I watched a film that spoke to many of these areas of concern, surrounding our freedoms, the production of our food, our communities, our faiths, and our consumer culture and behavior. I can't say that I agree with every word in this film, but I will say that it definitely gives a great deal of food for thought.  I'll share the link below and I hope that you will take the time to watch it and really give some thought to the concepts that are brought forward. I hope you will also give some thought to how integrating the concepts of economy, ecology, community and faith within our lives can help us to regain a sense of balance and security that has been lacking in American society for at least a quarter of a century and probably more. I feel that over compartmentalizing our lives is part of what has lead to the disconnection of individuals from their communities and also the breakdown of our moral and ethical principals.  I think it is this compartmentalization that has lead to the breaking down of society and the increased willingness of people to support more and more antisocial governmental policies: unprecedented exploitation of natural resources within public lands, unilateral military action against the citizens of our own country without due process, and unfettered interference into the affairs of other nations in direct contravention of international law. 

Here is the link to the movie Ethos. I hope you will find it illuminating. 

I Voted - Now What?

On Tuesday we elected the officials who will determine the course of legislation for our states and our nation over the next 4 to 6 years. In that election just over 1/3 of eligible voters nation wide turned out to make their voice heard and their vote count. Shame! Before the election I heard a lot of people talking about how unhappy they are with our government. I also heard a lot of people talking about "what is the government going to do for me." It is a statistical probability that many of the people who complain about the current state of affairs in our country are the same people who are not turning out to vote. I just want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that, as a citizen of a democratic society, voting is not only your privilege but your duty. It is one way that we can stand up against corporate greed and the power and money they wield to advance their agendas. That said, this is not a post about getting out the vote. It's a post about what we do now that the vote is over, and about what we should have been doing all along rather than sitting around waiting for the government to solve our problems.

Folks we have been far too complacent in our lives. We have been far too willing to hand over the reins of control and responsibility to someone else. We need to start taking responsibility for ourselves, our neighborhoods, our villages, our towns, our counties, our states and finally our nation. In that order. We need to join together in small groups, in medium sized groups and in large movements to create the future that we want to see. We can't wait for someone at the top to do it for us.  They don't have the same goals, and to be honest you can't blame them. They don't come from the same place you do.

We can't wait for Washington politicians to solve our problems. We need to start at home and ask ourselves what can WE do to make our homes a better place?  And we need to do it.  Then we need to go beyond our own doors and look at our neighborhoods and ask ourselves, what can  we do to make them a better place, and who can we involve in the process? And we need to DO IT! If we need affordable day care, access to healthier food, better educational opportunities for our children; then we need to form coops,  community gardens and CSA's and we need to go to school board meetings and vote in our local elections for the people who will sit on those school boards. Perhaps we should even run for local office. I understand that we all work hard, but that does not absolve us of our responsibilities as members of society. If we wonder why our society is broken, we need to stop looking to the people in Washington DC and start looking at ourselves. 

The results of the recent election may be disappointing to many, and there may be many who have given up on exercising their right to vote because they just feel hopeless about the outcome and that it wont matter regardless of how they vote. To both of these groups I say, you now have a unique opportunity to show what you can do when you mobilize on a local grass roots level to bring about the vision that you have for the future of your family, your community, and your nation. As Gandhi once said, we need to be the change we want to see in the world. 

Happy New Year Revolutionaries

Happy New Year, and welcome to a new revolution! One year ago today I began One Earth Revolution to see what could be accomplished for our planet in one year along with the help of my family and friends. I will be honest, it has been a slow start. There have been some personal and logistical challenges, but I also have a sense of real progress.  I have seen myself and my family begin to truly live by ethics and principles which we believe will help to sustain our community and our planet well into the future. We have become involved in many groups that are rebuilding the sense of community in our town and are actively working to create a future for our village which is both economically and environmentally sustainable, and not only sustainable but bountiful without being damaging to our ecology. This year has also seen the conversation of sustainability and a post carbon future really making inroads in the mainstream media. While there are still many naysayers and not a few people who staunchly refuse to remove their blinders and see the coming storm, we have begun to see real evidence that people are beginning to awaken  to the real dangers of climate change.  There is so much more to be done!

This weekend Hubby and I have spent two days in contemplation and meditation on our property, on our planet, and on  our personal feelings and goals surrounding both. We spent a day being grateful for the achievements and blessings of the past year and letting go of anything that happened during the past year that we do not want to bring forward with us. We spent today looking forward to the challenges and promises of the coming year. 

This year I finished my permaculture design certification and I'm now saving up for the advanced class. Meanwhile our homestead continues to take shape and we begin to see the real beginnings of the permaculture demonstration sight that we would eventually like to have here. In the coming year we plan to install cold frames, expand the plantings in our fledgling food forest, erect a greenhouse and so much more. Stay tuned for an Indiegogo campaign announcement early in the calendar year. 

And One Earth Revolution? We've got plans for you too. We'll be better than ever with field trips, regular feature pieces on the permaculture ethics and principles, recipe share, farm hacks and so much more. We may even have a podcast in store for you. So stay tuned here and you'll be in the know about everything that's happening on the farm and with The (R)evolution. 

Saving the Environment Starts at Home - Tips for Beating the Take-out Habit

Image from Maple and Spice 

Happy Sunday readers. It's a cloudy October morning here in southern Maine and I'm thinking about breakfast. It's kind of a tradition in our family to have a nice breakfast on Sunday. In the past we have often gone to a favorite restaurant close by our home, and still do occasionally, but lately we've started making that Sunday breakfast at home more often and incorporating things from our own garden and from local farmers into our meal. There are two reasons for this: 1) insuring that we are using local ingredients and 2) reducing the size of our food budget. If you are wondering how these two things tie in to protecting the environment, it is quite simple and comes down to transportation. The more local our food is, the fewer miles it had to be transported using fossil fuel burning planes, boats, trains and trucks. The fewer dollars we spend on food and the more often we eat at home the more we save and the less we commute to earn the money to pay for it. We also save the trip to to restaurant. These reduced trips also reduce wear and tear on our vehicle, further reducing our impact on the planet. 

So as I sat here thinking about breakfast, it reminded me that I had promised you some tips and recipes for beating the eating out and particularly the stopping for takeout habit that is so easy to fall into. 

The first and particularly timely tip is making ahead. Quiet Sundays are a good opportunity to do a little extra cooking that will make meal prep later in the week quicker and easier, reducing the temptation to just pick something up on the way home or hitting the drive through on the way into the office because you rushed out the door without eating breakfast AGAIN. Here are a couple of things that I like to do that are surprisingly helpful. I scramble up a batch of eggs and vegetarian sausage and wrap it up with a bit of cheese in a half dozen burrito wraps and freeze them. A couple of minutes in the microwave in the morning and I have a hot hearty home made breakfast. You could also defrost in the fridge over night and warm it in a skillet if you are not a big fan of the microwave. 

Another thing I like to do on Sunday is making up a pot of rice and a pot of pasta. I divide each into two containers and refrigerate one of each and freeze the others. I then have a base carbohydrate that I can build a meal on with a quick zap in the microwave or two minutes in hot water. You can make mashed potatoes ahead as well, but they are more of a challenge to reheat for those who prefer not to microwave. This generally shaves 5 to 10  minutes off of meal prep which doesn't sound like a lot, but can make a big difference when its late and you are tired and hungry.

One of the most challenging things about making dinner after a long tiring day is deciding what to make. This question taken at the end of the work day can often lead to decisions that we regret later, like the habit of eating a lot of prepackaged frozen food from the super market. This is probably as bad for the environment as the takeout given the damage that industrial agriculture and meat production do.   One way to get around this is plan ahead. While your pasta and rice are cooking, spend a few minutes to jot down a menu for the weeks evening meals. This will save time and frustration later and will allow you to be prepared and be sure that you have all the ingredients you need on hand. 

None of these things are rocket science, and you've probably heard them all before in the context of time management, but perhaps thinking about how these tips can help save the environment is a more compelling argument to get us to start employing them, or employing them more often. 

I also promised you a recipe. Here is one that we found recently that we really enjoyed and was quite simple. Start with leftovers and a recipe of "Quick and easy Pizza Crust". Divide in half and roll into two circles about 7 inches across. On one half of each put some diced leftover veg from your fridge anything like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, etc. works, add some diced tomatoes and Italian seasoning, and sprinkle on some shredded cheese. Now fold the other half of the dough over and pinch it closed. Bake per the dough instructions (you might be able to shave a few minutes off the cook time, so watch them carefully) and voila! you have two tasty filling calzones in just minutes. They are a meal by themselves or pair with a small salad. 

All this writing about food has made me hungry. I think I'll go get that breakfast I was thinking about. And there is the vegan sausage recipe that I'm wanting to try out....

Unveiling the Seeming Convenience of our Modern Lives

These days, with our fast-paced work-a-day lives, we often do things that seem convenient at the time. That is they SEEM to save us time or money or energy. But often that seeming convenience is only on the surface. When we unpack these habits and look at their hidden cost we find a completely different story. This post is number one in series on revealing these hidden costs.  We'll explore various habits, look at the hidden costs and also look at developing new habits that can set us free to live a truly convenient and content life.

The first seeming convenience that we are going to look at and one that I fell into for a time myself some years ago is stopping for take-out on the way home from work. On the surface it seems to save us time and energy. What could be easier? You make a phone call (perhaps from  your cell, from the car), and you run in and pick up the food and you are off home to eat. But what are the hidden costs?

• Added dollars to your food budget (it's much more costly to eat out than cook at home)
• May take you out of your normal route on the way home adding time to your commute and cost of gas and wear and tear 
• Additional cost to the environment of the extra driving and the packaging of the food
• Negative health impact, as most take-out foods pack far more salt, fat and calories than food made at home.
• More hours at the gym to work off all those extra calories, and the cost of the gym membership
• More hours at work to pay for it all.

That take out meal sounds a lot less convenient now. Doesn't it?

Next time. Tips for breaking the take-out habit. 

Wake Up America! _ No More Time to Snooze on Climate Change

I've heard some very disturbing things over the past few days that have just made me want to shout, Wake up America! We can't keep snoozing when it comes to climate change. We need to spend our carbon resources on replacing the systems that use them so that we can have a carbon free future.

Following are some news stories from recent broadcasts that have me deeply concerned. These do not include the stories which directly refer to climate change and other environmental issues which are associated with and can be linked to climate change, such as exploding tick populations increasing moose mortality, ocean acidification and sea level rise, just to name a few.

Americans are considering lifting the ban on oil exports. Their primary motivation? Money! Of course. I'd like to hear more stories that stem from someone whose primary motivation is looking to the future of our planet and the survival of our species for the long hall, not just how fast and how much people can line their pockets so they can live high off the hog today and Devil may care what happens when they are gone!

Maine's governor, Paul LePage supports a proposed federal law which would increase federal control of natural gas pipeline permitting and could result in private corporations having the ability to take private land by eminent domain. This is yet another example of short sighted profit seeking in my opinion and likely a result of the impact of corporate money on campaigns and politicians. While Governor LePage claims he is supporting this to reduce the cost of heating for Maine families, he ignores the fact that natural gas is not a truly green or sustainable answer for the long haul and has not put resources and energy behind finding clean renewable solutions that Maine will benefit in the future.

A so called right to farm bill passes in Missouri. This amendment to the state constitution protects the "rights" of big agra business and is one more example of corporate greed finding a way to legitimize itself through legislation which favors large corporations over small independent businesses. It is a step in the wrong direction in the fight for a more diverse, distributed, sustainable food system in the United States.

A drought in California which has been exacerbated by climate change keeps the fire danger high. Forest fires blaze in California as the drought continues. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, California accounts for nearly half of US grown vegetables, fruits and nuts. This is of grave concern for food security, but also for the environment and for resource management, as with its large population, California is also a top consumer of water resources. In addition to the water woes inherent in having so much of our agricultural capacity concentrated in one corner of the country, this state of affairs also leads to increased transportation costs and a host of other environmental concerns stemming from the construction of infrastructure to the fuel to power the trucks and trains that transport the produce. In addition, there is far more waste in such a system, due to spoilage and damage in transportation; while the food that is produced is not as nutritious as local food because it is picked before it is ripe and then consumed long after it has been harvested. 

I know that this piece sounds like a lot of gloom and doom. And that isn't really what I intend to be. I do believe that there is a lot of hope for our future. We are standing at a cross roads and we have all the tools we need to make a better, brighter more verdant future, if we choose the right path. I had a lot of things to say, but I don't think I can say them any better than Morgan Freeman says them here in this video: (What's Possible) It's more than worth your time.

Local food and Entertainment add Zest to Life

This past Saturday a trip to Wentworth Gardens in Dover, New Hampshire turned into a mini adventure. We went to see the greenhouse and pickup some local produce at the summer market that is held every Saturday from Mid-June to Mid-October. As anyone who regularly attends knows, a trip to the local farmer's market is more than just a grocery run. Our latest market excursion was an educational and entertaining experience.   We spent some time with Karen from Maine Herb Farm, learning about the various healing properties of herbs in her hand-crafted salves and lip balms. while enjoying a concert by Local artist James Gilmore,

Returning home we spent some time in our own garden reaping tomatoes and other tasty treats. A round of canning tomato sauce followed. As we have been harvesting our produce and fruits, putting them up for winter and experimenting with new vegetarian recipes, we have found that meal times are more enjoyable. The fare is more varied and wholesome and there is just a little something extra special about eating food that you grew and prepared yourself. The experience is so far beyond just opening cans or emptying boxes and warming something up. It really does add a bit of extra zest to life. 

Miracle Mushrooms - How Mycelium can Help us Save the World

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of organisms known as fungi. The vegetative portions of the fungus, or the "plant" if you will, are the mycelium which grow in soil and on other substrates such as wood or decaying plant matter. They remain unseen or unnoticed by most of us during the course of our daily lives, and yet, these amazing organisms are some of the largest on the planet. They perform multiple functions within both natural and man-made systems and; they may be one of the key components in solving a variety of environmental issues which are plaguing our planet and putting the future of humanity in question.

As mycelium grow they produce enzymes which help to break down organic compounds. By so doing they help to recycle nutrients back into the food web so that they can be taken up by other plants and organisms. Plants and fungi form symbiotic relationships exchanging nutrients and water. Some studies have shown that plants benefit from and are more productive when growing in proximity with certain fungi. Additionally certain fungi help to protect the plants from pathogens that might otherwise attack the plants. 

Mycelium can be used as both sponges and filters in various environmental protection and clean up efforts. Researches such as Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running, have investigated some amazing and potentially life changing uses for mushrooms, from the digestion of disposable diapers to soil clean up following oil or chemical spills. Mr Stamets has also demonstrated the use of mycelium in the organic control of certain insects pests. 

Mycelium are also being used to replace synthetic compounds in packaging. Companies such as Ecovactive Design are creating a variety of packaging materials and insulation that are environmental, economical, durable and yet compostable. One of the great things about these mushroom based packaging materials is that they can replace styrofoam which is one of the worst culprits in the world of packaging in terms of its negative impacts on human life and the environment. 

And lest you think that mushrooms are just the latest space-age panacea, remember that people have been using mushrooms for thousands of years as both food and medicine. Mushrooms contain protein and other valuable nutrients and some mushrooms, such as the turkey tail mushroom, have been used to fight cancer. But even in the food arena, mushrooms have their space-age applications. Knowing the horrific impact the industrial meat processing industry has on our environment and knowing the abysmal conditions of the animals which are processed through this system has driven many people to seek alternatives which will allow them to maintain a level of texture and variety in their diet that they might not otherwise be able to achieve with traditional vegetarian fare. There is an answer. A variety of healthy, economical and really quite tasty meat substitutes are being made from mushrooms and mycelium. 

The humble mushroom has become a source of wonder and fascination for me. With all the amazing uses we have found for these simple organisms, one wonders how many more we will discover and what other positive impacts they might have for protecting life on this planet. 

North Berwick Farmer's Market - Visit the Market - Check out the Raffle

Hubby and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit the North Berwick Farmer's Market on Friday. We don't often get the chance these days, due to our work schedules, and any chance we get, we consider it a blessing. Thanks to the long holiday weekend, we were both released from work early and, of course, we ran straight to the market. We enjoyed visiting with all the vendors, who are so friendly and willing to share their farming expertise, picking up some wonderful organic garlic, and taste testing the sumptuous feast of heirloom tomatoes from Sweet Thyme Farm. 

We also stopped by the SNAP booth and donated several copies of Cool Cuisine for the raffle. So, if you are going to be in North Berwick on a Friday afternoon in the next few weeks, please stop by the market, support your local farmers and take a chance at the raffle. The market runs 3-6 pm every Friday through October. It't always worth the trip.

Market Basket Madness

Delicious and made from local veg and dairy

This whole fiasco with Market Basket grocery stores being virtually shut down for more than a month has taught me to be very thankful for my garden, my pantry, and the farmer's market. When the whole thing first started I was concerned because my first thought was, "It is going to cost us so much more for basic food stuffs and things are already tight." But as the feud between the Demoulas cousins continued and we had to be more creative about where, what and how much we bought (because shopping at Shaw's or Hannaford was not an option I would take), I became very thankful for the wide variety of things my husband planted in the garden. I'm even thankful for the kolrabi and okra. They provide variety. We even started looking at the things that often get tossed on the compost pile, such as cauliflower leaves, as greens that can be steamed or put into soups. Our diet actually got more varied, interesting and probably more healthy. Particularly because we know that our garden is pesticide and chemical fertilizer free.

For the other things we need such as flour, rice, butter, milk and fruit we go to, the farmer's market, Nature's Way or  Fiddlehead Farms Market, or to the natural food store. To be completely honest I'm finding not fighting the crowds in the grocery store very refreshing. I also find that I meet more people and have actual pleasant social interactions in the smaller shops. Shopping this way feeds my mind and soul as well as my body. Because of this, and because it is one of our personal goals to support local businesses, we had already greatly reduced our reliance on Market Basket and my initial worry was really unfounded. We probably spent a little more on butter, milk and flour. But other than that I would say there were no great added expenses. 

Now that the crisis is over and the shelves are filling up again, we are taking stock of things and deciding if it makes sense to shop at the chain grocery store or if it makes more sense to continue to spread our patronage among smaller local businesses.  We are also thinking about steps that we can take to become even more self reliant. This was a minor blip. It's summer and we have our garden, our pantry was well stocked and after all, there are many other stores. If we really had to get something, we could. But what if....? What if this crisis was caused by war or disease-quarantine, or some other natural disaster that prevented supplies from getting delivered to our area at all, or kept us from getting out? What if it was winter and a blizzard? There would be no garden then. At that point I would be glad for summer's bounty that we had put away in canning jars and the freezer.  I'm not a paranoid person who thinks that you need to keep your basement stocked with 3 years worth of canned goods. But I do think it makes some sense to consider how we can make our lives a little less dependent upon the vagaries of the markets and the whims of the elite. I believe that having the ability to take care of your own basic needs, particularly food and water, is a wise investment in your time and money. 

People in our area are very fortunate. We don't always stop and think about these things. We have rarely seen shortages of food and other essentials of life that are more common in cities and in poorer nations. Shortages that can lead to deprivation, unrest and even violence. 

So I'm glad this little skirmish has ended, and I'm glad that it has made me think more deeply and in different ways about the issues of food supply, shortage, poverty and many other things that are tied up in taking care, not only of ourselves, but of others. For our part, we are planning to take a trip to our local Market Basket this weekend to purchase some food for the local food pantry. After that we'll see. I think likely we will still go there occasionally to stock up on butter, flour and sugar, but for the most part, it will not be our primary source of groceries. I think we will also double our canning and freezing efforts, taking advantage of all the resources that nature supplies during the summer, from the wild, from our own garden and from the gardens of local farmers who serve our community so well.