I was going to write a special Independence Day blog about food independence – i.e. growing more of our own food (like my on-board beansprouts!) in order to avoid genetically-modified Frankenfoods, excessive food miles, and supporting environmentally damaging agribusiness.
However, I feel like I am taking my life in my hands by writing this blog at all, so I’m going to keep it very short, and leave it to you to make up your own Food Independence Day resolutions.
Further to the big wave that coshed me last night while I was writing my blog, conditions have continued much the same. I cut my shin on a seat runner this morning when a boatfiller well and truly got me. Then, this afternoon, I decided it was too dangerous to be outside and retreated to my cabin.
I am minimising time spent anywhere other than safely strapped to my bunk. To where I am now returning.
Happy Independence Day to my US readers.
And to my British readers, thank heavens we got rid of those darned colonials….! 😉
Quote for the day, relevant to me retreating to the Purple Palace: “Better a live donkey than a dead lion.”
Sponsored Miles: Special Appreciation to Wolfgang Stehr, Mary Kadzielski, Curtis Zingg, Nick Perdiew.
Food resolutions: I had fresh strawberries for breakfast. I would like to believe I make and have been making food choices with a mindful heart – eating meat in small amounts – always organic – free range – I used to raise chickens for meat – its easier being a vegetarian. 🙂
Food consumption has never been a topic for me. I eat to live not live to eat 🙂
Before reading Roz Savage’s blog entry, I too was thinking about food independence because the most nutritious produce is eaten shortly after it is picked. In the U.S. much of our produce travels long distances or may have been stored decreasing much (if not most) of it nutrients. I’ve been buying local through a grocery store (Bristol Farms) and more recently adding farmers’ markets. It’s fun asking the farmers when the produce was picked, if they spray, and how to cook something I’m trying for the first time. Also, I’ve thinking vegetable gardening again. Most of my yard is shaded, so I’m thinking raised beds and containers. I would appreciate any tips from more experienced gardeners.
Roz, I wish you safe and productive travel. Thanks for your blog post about food independence.
Roz, I wish you safe and productive travel. Thanks for your blog post about food independence.
Don’t have much land, living in an apartment, but I started a balcony garden this year. It’s fun (and my snap peas are prolific!), though the startup cost was been much more $$ put in than the veggies are worth. Next year I’d like a worm bin! My biology teacher in high school used to make the best fertilizer (worm tea) with her bin.
Also of note is that Metro Vancouver has begun collecting kitchen scraps separately from normal garbage and recycling now, so it can be composted. Cheaper for the cities, actually, and more earth friendly too. It hasn’t been implemented for my apartment building yet, but hopefully soon.
Wise choice, Roz. Hopefully the boat bangers will subside soon.
My family grew all of our own food when I was growing up, it takes a lot of dedication and a lot of land. Boy, did I hate having to weed that garden and feed, water, and clean those animals. It took every minute I was not at school and full time in the summertime! Canning the vegetables and apples was a lot of work in the fall – we had a huge pantry, a cellar, and two large freezers – necessary for 6 hungry kids! If we did not grow it and store it we would not have been able to survive. Dad also got a deer every fall, food for a growing family. Whatever mom made for our meals and dad put on our plates, we ate, because there was nothing else. No seconds, and nothing was ever left on our plates. We also had milk from a neighbors cows, warm right from the cow. Even with all the work, I did enjoy eating the results! Chicken fresh from the barnyard and plucked for Sunday dinner was a treat. We were skinny strong kids – all five of us boys are over 6′ tall and still healthy.
What we had would be hard to replicate on a large scale, each person eats a lot of food in a year, very few homes can store that much! Much less do homes have the land to grow it on! And space needed for the barn – we had few neighbors and they had animals too, so the odors were not a real problem.
Good luck Roz with your weather, I hope the wind it is helping you along! Cuts are hard to get to heal when they are constantly being washed by ocean water, but I know you are taking care of it. Be safe!
Stay safe out there, Roz!
In the words of Peter Pan, “Hold on everybody, here we gooooooo”
Thank you for bloging under those conditions. I used to tell friends they could save the cost of snow skiing by throwing themselves down some stairs. I figure I can simulate the Purple Palace with a commercial washing machine. Wish me luck.
I hope those cuts and bruises are not making you miserable Roz. Be safe.
The trend in local groceries towards food more locally grown in a sustainable manner is increasing. One of the small chains in Colorado and the southwest US that supports these ideas is always crowded with people. They still bring in food from California, but are expanding their own farms here in Colorado. An added benefit is their prices for organically grown food is often as good as the prices for non-organic from the large chains.
It has always seemed ridiculous to me that chain groceries import food such as apples from other states, while apples grown in Colorado are sent to east coast states. So, I try to buy as locally as I can.
This is in lieu of my growing much myself. While I am sure a lot can be done on small plots, I do not have a green thumb. Recently brought home some thyme in a small pot, and killed it within days 🙁
And, as for us colonials Roz, you cannot get rid of us! We continue to support you, no matter what. 😉
We can’t grow much because the hillside consists of hard red clay and broken rock, much of it due to the gold and silver mining. However, the alluvial valleys are rich with soil washed down by the hydraulic mining and we subsist on locally grown foods, both animal and vegetable. There are lots of small farms that take subscriptions – we pay a lump sum at the start of the season and get a weekly box of whatever comes up. We bought half a cow for the freezer; I’m not sure whether it’s the left or right side but it is all from one animal. And we have chickens and late geese (late as deceased, in the freezer). Water comes in from a well and goes out to a septic system. Perhaps I’ll start my own blog instead of cluttering up Roz’s. Sorry, Roz.
Lettuce and turnip greens in a salad and fresh strawberries all from the garden in my front yard as part of July 4th festivities. It feels good to eat so close to home.
We are spending the day with friends at our cabin on Priest Lake in Northern Idaho. The lake is still 2 feet above normal summer levels due to the large snowpack this year. Highest runoff here in the last 35 years. At night when all the boats go home it is quiet and peaceful. Not so much during the day with water skiers and personal water craft darting around – one lone soul out in a canoe braving the onslaught of fossil carbon power. Maybe I’ll take the canoe out after the lake quiets down at dusk.
But even those waves are nothing compared to the ones you are facing nearly every day, Roz. Keep safe and thanks for the good wishes. Now if you could only get rid of those pesky Canadians. (We have three visiting us here this weekend, so I’d better be careful.)
Row on Roz, Row on.
Since I have the oposite of a green thumb I go to farmers markets a lot. The local grown produce tastes way better than big chain grocerie stores. And it’s more fun too.
Hi Roz! I have watched you Row for the past 2 years. But why does it appear as though you are rowing in the opposite direction you need to be going in?? Makes me think about all the wacky stuff that happened to Amelia and I just hope you are safe and where you are supposed to be. Sorry to hear about your chin, hope you are able to tend to it properly and it heals quickly. Keep an eye to the night sky if you can, Love and Light. My 21 year-old son has planted his own vegetable garden this year, so far all is growing so wonderfully!! We have enjoyed lettuce and radishes so far! It has been a family project to wake up to the craziness in the world and get back to basics. Teach our children to love the earth and become less dependent on “Store bought goods”. Be Safe, Stay Strong, and Keep up the important work!! Your Friends in the U.S.
Brenda, I am puzzled about your remark that Roz is rowing in the opposite direction – she is moving generally west, and north when the conditions make it possible. You are probably aware that we are not showing her actual progress anywhere, because of the threat of pirates in the Indian Ocean. That may change as time goes by. Wait and see . . . .
Rita, I am aware of the mention of not showing her position due to security reasons, but I was able to locate some, and it appeared as though she was moving in a southwesterly heading.?* But I am not a sailor nor a nautical expert, just a concerned follower. Sorry for posting.
-Better still a live Lion.
Take care Roz
Ha, ha! Loved your remark about the Colonies! lol AND so sorry about the shin injury as there just isn’t much protection from the blow and Ooh the pain! ………. Mater and some others starred today as “look a likes” in our local Parade! I drove MATER and he made lots of kids happy! ‘Drive safe” Roz!!