Michael and I decided two years ago...we were going to make realistic food changes.
I had this LONG, rambling post about our food goals. In the end, we're trying to grow what we eat/eat clean foods/eat humanely raised & slaughtered animal products.. as much as possible. It needs to make up 90% of our diet.
There. I saved you 15 minutes of blather.
Food things that did NOT work out as easily as I thought:
Eggs. Someone had a sign for fresh eggs stuck at the end of their driveway. JOY! 5 minute drive from my house! Joy turned to horror when I saw the hens milling around junked cars and garbage. I'll pass on the motor oil and God-Only-Knows in my eggs. Finding someone in WV who did NOT include junked cars and old couches in their chicken pen plans? Nearly impossible. Way to carry the WV stereotype, folks!
Beef. Finding minimal confinement/humanely slaughtered beef within a 3 hrs drive. I shudder to think of our carbon footprint from driving all over the eastern seaboard finding this magical beef.
We just found a source for exactly what we want, and I'm having a hard time not weeping in gratitude. The farm is 20 minutes away. If I get any more grateful, the farmer is going to get a restraining order.
I had dreams of wandering through my garden bounty...dinner from God's hand to our plates. I spent hours drawing up garden plans, deciding on crops and dreaming of our productive backyard garden. For some reason, I was always barefoot and wearing flowing skirts during these dreams and there was gentle sunshine and soft breezes.
Reality:
Hours of backbreaking labor and enormous insects and 100 degree temps with 90% humidity.
3 inches of rain just after I planted carrot seeds.
Cargo pants that smelled like manure tea and were stained with bean beetle guts.
Barefoot? HA. Accidentally squash one tomato horn worm between your toes and you'll never go barefoot again. Ever. Even in the house.
Chasing a raccoon through the yard with a rake...at 2 am..wearing a Tshirt, underwear and the above mentioned muck boots..because that bastard just mangled the only watermelon you managed to grow out of 20 seedlings.
(Explaining to husband why he was woken by you screaming across the yard in your underwear..with a rake..is a whole 'nother post.)
This is our third year with a garden large enough to sustain 2 people for most of the year. I'm starting to enjoy it more...I've lowered my expectations and developed a sense of humor.
The Zen state some people experience while gardening? We call it exhaustion and resignation. ;)
Hahhahahahha...OH funny. You and I both experts at wielding a stick through the middle of the night...I so hear ya! Glad to know I ain't alone;)
ReplyDelete(Now I may need to do the resignation thing this year....a very good idea:)
love it! restraining order from one beef rancher in your future... :)
ReplyDeleteyou're just funny!!! love you!
Good for you!
ReplyDeleteI buy all my meat from a local guy who personally sources animals that has been raised locally and humanely, without hormones. My eggs come from my dogs' groomer, who also keeps chickens. My veggies come from two local community assisted farms. So, I don't do great with growing my own food but I do support the local farmers. Baby steps, right?
Dawn, if we were neighbors no raiding animals or burglars would stand a chance!!
ReplyDeleteT, I'm glad our chaos and insanity isn't just funny to US. It makes me feel less nuts ;)
J, I don't think those are baby steps..those are HUGE steps. I see nothing wrong with buying locally if you don't want to/can't grow your own. You're making a huge difference to family farms.
If I had better local access to clean foods I would be buying more and growing less!
Sounds like a nightmare to me...
ReplyDeleteWell, I can say our chickens live the green life in happy pastures. If you lived closer I'd give you some eggs!
ReplyDeleteI hope our garden turns out this year. I wouldn't even mind if I stepped on an icky horned worm thing - so long as we had fresh veggies!
It sounds like a humorous experience. We have blueberry bushes, and some blackberries that the birds "planted" for us. That's pretty much the extent of any gardening that goes on around here. The rest of it is all ornamental — and not like prissy ornamental. We're not exactly weed free, let's just say.
ReplyDeleteConserving and sustaining are fine ideas (as almost anything is a fine idea) as long as you're actually invested completely in doing to work — which you will generally find comes with sometimes humourous anecdotes of personal experience.
We have apple trees and cherry trees, but we don't bother to spray them so the fruit just gets eaten by the birds, the bunnies, the occasional groundhog, raccoons, skunks, deer, etc. We live in front of a farm: there will always be critters. Plus we have bird boxes, so, the backyard is often just ceded to 'nature' as it were.
Best of luck : )
I'm still trying to get our garden plowed with all of the wet weather. The raccoons drive my wife crazy also. Though not to the point of chasing them through the garden in her underwear....she makes me do that :).
ReplyDeletehahahahaha i am soooo sorry but i just CANT stop laughing!!!!
ReplyDeleteSoo soo Sorry!
I think your efforts deserve a ten, but i just had to laugh!
Leontien
Oh the joys of trying to grow a garden! lol My husband was able to finally plow our garden today after days of rain! Yeah! Not only did he plow one garden but he plowed up two gardens for this year! One behind the house and one across the road where the tobacco alotment used to be. I hope that we don't go into a drought again this year after such a wet Spring!
ReplyDeleteTruly enjoyed your post! Very easy to visualize, that's for sure! We must keep our sense of humor about things like the terrors you have experienced in your endeavors to get back to nature and natural foods!
ReplyDeleteAre you always this light hearted? I need to check out your other posts!! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this today!
ReplyDelete