Archive for October, 2005

October 31st, 2005 - Carrots

Although rather short, the carrots from my garden are sweet and delicious. I’ve put off eating them since they will be gone in 2 or 3 servings, but finally brought them to work today. I can’t wait to grow more next year!

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October 26th, 2005 - Senate panel OKs oil drilling in Arctic refuge

Senate panel OKs oil drilling in Arctic refuge. It’s a sad day.

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October 25th, 2005 - Underground Green House, kid-friendly

Treehugger: Update: Alex Michaelis’ Underground Green House There’s a link to the original article, but it’s yet another link from that page to the photos, and Treehugger has the photos in the blog entry. Anyway, the house even includes a SLIDE next to the stairs. How cool is THAT????

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October 25th, 2005 - Treehugger: McDonalds Recognized for Social & Environmental Efforts by Ceres

Treehugger: McDonalds Recognized for Social & Environmental Efforts by Ceres. I don’t know exactly who/what Ceres is, but I certainly don’t trust them to tell me who’s green anymore! Ceres press release.

Okay, and Ceres is supposedly “a national network of investment funds, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working to advance environmental stewardship on the part of businesses. ”

On the other hand, maybe McDonald’s will use this to actually become more sustainable and healthier.

yeah right. Who’s next? Wal*Mart?

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October 25th, 2005 - fibermom’s own post on food costs

Having read her comment, I checked our her own blog and came across a lengthier commentary on food costs that I think does more justice to her point than her short comment did.

I still maintain that eating organically costs more, but I do concede that buying unprocessed can cost less. I don’t tend to think in terms of buying lots of processed foods because I never have. My favorite food groups are bread, dairy, and fresh fruits. In fact, that’s about all I ate when on my own in grad school. The only cereal I truly like is my own homemade granola (I do eat boxed cereals, but very rarely, and can’t stand sugary kids cereals–Thanks Mom!!!). I’d do very well with a vegetarian husband to cook for me….

Posted in Food | 1 Comment »

October 24th, 2005 - Speaking of being able to afford to eat

A North Jersey reporter spent a month living below the poverty line. There’s a section about halfway through about eating. He doesn’t point it out, but I did notice strong two strong disadvantages he had: A) no access to fridge or kitchen and B) no energy to cook anyway. I suspect he had more energy than his pal Julio, who worked 78 hours/week. Both situations, more common among low-income wage earners than those who are rich, make eating whole and unprocessed foods (except fresh fruits and veggies) much more difficult.

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October 24th, 2005 - Food costs (and missed comments)

I just remembered that comments are back on the blog, and discovered that I have to moderate all of them. Have to remember to do that more often so that people other than my brother have their comments show up right away! (He’s an admin on this blogging system so his show up without me having to do anything. Wish I could figure out how to get the spam ones to delete themselves automatically….)

Anyway, Rebecca wrote “It may be the case that in a direct comparison of two items, the cheaper one will be the mass-market one. But that is an artificial comparison. If you compare what I spend by buying produce and honey and such at the farmer’s market and growing some in my garden, buying whole grains and legumes in bulk at the health-food store, buying small quantities of local meat and chicken at the meat market, and also choosing healthy foods carefully at the grocery store — with what an average mom spends on mostly processed foods and carry-out, then you will see that healthy eating doesn’t cost more. Cooking your own fresh foods is cheaper than buying mostly cans and boxes. I try to buy as much locally-produced stuff as possible, but when I cannot (tea, for example), I make a point of buying from companies that make efforts to be socially and environmentally responsible.”

I have to disagree that it’s an artificial comparison (unless you count health care costs!). A bag of Tostitos costs less than a bag of organic tortilla chips. A bag of carrots from California costs less than a bunch of carrots at the farmer’s market. A pound of potatoes or tomatoes costs less at the store than at the market. (I’ve been amazed at the cost difference!) Organic milk is twice as expensive as non-organic. Even something like dried legumes are more expensive from the organic section (although if you buy them from the regular store section, they are less expensive, I believe, than buying processed foods, I’ll grant that.) Apples direct from the farmer’s around here are about $3 for 2 pounds. I can find apples on sale for 89 cents at the store; not on sale for $1.29. And meat….I can find meat under $2/pound, but the cheapest cut at Cattlana is $3.49 for ground beef.

I’m also comparing whole foods to whole foods, not to buying take-out. But, even then, you can buy a cheap burger and fries for about $2 (or even less; it’s been a while). It’s hard to buy organic foods to make dinner at only $2 unless it’s just beans and rice. I’m sure the produce prices are even higher in big cities, but McDonald’s has the same prices everywhere, don’t they?

I definitely agree with her that growing your own foods is a grand way to save money on organic food and cut your grocery bill! (Oooops…until you decide to buy organic seeds and heirloom plants and then you start to wonder if you are saving as much. And when you put in a $500 fence to have a larger garden. But I’m sure it does work out to be cheaper in the end. At least I sure hope it does since the fence went in this morning.)

Rebecca also mentioned socially/environmentall responsible buying. I’ve never seen a fair trade item that cost less than a non-fair trade item. Again, those who are rich are much more able to afford such foods.

I wish I could compare my grocery bills from the last few years to see if we’ve spent more or less since watching SuperSize Me and reading Fast Food Nation. Unfortunately, the advent of Maggie has threw off our diets last winter (we bought a lot of convenience foods to my dismay) and has changed our grocery bills (she eats more food from the Red Radish than we do). Maybe I can get a little sense of it at least…. Also, we stopped buying much meat at all since I thought it was too expensive at the grocery store already and Cattlana’s prices are even higher. So, we aren’t eating the same foods to compare properly.

Posted in Food | 2 Comments »

October 24th, 2005 - Tibetan Monks

We are so blessed to have a baby who is fascinated by the world around her in a quiet, thoughtful way. Today, instead of a lunch break, I took Maggie to see the Tibetan Monks who are in town for a week creating a mandala at the Paine Art Center. We spent about 45 minutes watching the process as well as walking around the Center (an 1800s mansion). Maggie was only fussy when we got back to the car and she had to get in her car seat! She watched the monk working for quite a while without being distracted by others in the room (no much anyway).

Unfortunately, not a lot happened while we were there. Although I suppose that’s part and parcel of a sand mandala–it’s a very slow process. Most of the work the monk did was drawing out the upcoming designs. Some larger sections (maybe 2″x2″?) had been colored in. He used the tip of a protractor to draw outlines for the designs. While that was interesting to see, seeing it done for 16 squares wasn’t as fun as seeing and hearing the sand being placed. We did get to see a little bit of that, but not enough to satisfy me.

Today was a free day at the Paine. I’d love to see the finished work on Sunday, but I don’t think I want to pay $6 to see it (and to see it dispersed when it’s done). Maybe if Maggie were along, but she’s going on vacation with Daddy.

I missed the oncampus chanting that was at the same time. But there’s another one scheduled later in the week. I also plan to attend an educational session in the library one day. There’s a whole series of events around town during their visit.

Posted in General, Kids | No Comments »

October 18th, 2005 - Food and class

From Grist, the article Food and class points out a problem I’ve already noted in my own life: buying local and organic food is not for the poor it’s for the rich. Mass produced and poorly produced food is much more expensive than food that is actually good for you, the local economy and the environment.

As the author notes, “Historically, people of limited means have tended to scrape by on what’s locally available, while the wealthy have used their resources to draw in fancy food from far away. Now, that situation has turned upside down.”

Posted in Money, Food | 2 Comments »

October 17th, 2005 - Garden down for the winter; flower garden in for the winter

Over the weekend, I finished up the garden. The primary task was to pull carrots. I was sorely disappointed (and am again now because I forgot about them yesterday and today for snacks!) because they were so small. I planted two types–Thumbelinas were supposed to be small, but the others were regular carrots. And not a single one is longer than 4 or 5 inches! They are regular size around, at least. I had brought out a 5-gallon pail for them…and they fit in the little sand bucket I had for the Thumbelinas. With plenty of room to spare. I had meant to store them for the winter, but there’s little point. I’ll just snack on them this week and dry a few this weekend (as a test to see if I want to do it with more next year).

I also pulled the rest of the plants that hadn’t produced much of anything–peppers, squash, and cabbage. I left the ground cherries just in case a few more would develop enough to reseed. And finally, I planted the garlic. I purchased some Music pink garlic from Seeds of Change, my first organic/open pollinated purchase for the garden! woohoo! The cloves are enormous, compared to what I’m used to from a store. I just hope I planted them deep enough–directions say 1-2″, but the cloves were over an inch long themselves! They also took up a lot of room. I sure hope they grow; we’ll have plenty of garlic for next summer/winter if they do!

And I finished the front flower garden, in between the front walk and the driveway, about a 9×12 area. Eric dug up most of the grass a couple weeks ago, but the bulbs hadn’t arrived so we delayed finishing it. Well, they arrived last week, so I dug in and got the rest of the grass out and laid out my flagstone border. Then I went to Menards to get some bone meal (for under them) and wood chips (for over them)…and decided to pick up a few more bulbs on sale. From Breck’s I’d gotten alium, mixed tulips, and crocus. At Menard’s, I got more tulips (all red–no mixeds were left) and Puschkinia (never heard of them before, but thought they’d go well with the crocus). As I got started, I counted the number of bulbs I had–I had over 100 holes to dig! Amazingly, it didn’t take me as long as I’d thought it would. Later, I planted iris (from Breck’s) on the other side of the stairs. I’m really looking forward to a flower garden next spring! (By the way, this was quite far from simple and inexpensive. I spent nearly $90 just on the flagstones, and over $50 on the flowers. But I plan to enjoy the flowers and the stones for many, many years.)

Posted in Garden | No Comments »

October 17th, 2005 - Cheese

Wow, it’s been a while since I wrote regularly here. Sorry about that. September was a busy month at work, and October is flying past (it didn’t help that I was out of work most of last week).

A couple weeks ago, I tried something new: I made my own cheese! First, I signed up for a cheesemaking class through Extension. But it was cancelled. So I looked around the web and found a cheesemaking kit for the same cost as the class. It’s a bit more difficult that I’d thought it would be, so I’ve only done it once so far. I made 1-hour mozarella. And indeed, it took only an hour to make. It came out a little dry, and I don’t know why. But I’ll try again this weekend, I think! We use mozarella almost every weekend on homemade pizza, so it will be fun to do.

I also now know why cheese is so expensive: For firmer cheeses, it takes about 1 gallon of milk to make 1 pound of cheese! So if milk’s over $3/gallon, cheese should be too! Softer cheese make more, but even the mozarella took a gallon of milk. Plus there are other ingredients (enzymes, salt, etc.) and the time. I’m surprised cheese is so inexpensive!

Posted in Food | 3 Comments »

October 16th, 2005 - Comments are Back

The blog has been upgraded, the default look is (hopefully) temporary, and we think the comments are somewhat safer, now.

Hopefully safer now. But there’s no arguing with a spam-bot.

Posted in administration | No Comments »

October 6th, 2005 - Can scratch cards save the planet?

From BBC News, some towns are trying new methods to encourage recycling.

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October 6th, 2005 - Find solar pro in your area

I don’t know if solar electricity will even work well for our house, but I definitely am interested for the future. FindSolar.com will help you find solar installers!

Posted in General | No Comments »

My Adventures in Simple Living

Archive for October, 2005

October 31st, 2005 - Carrots

October 26th, 2005 - Senate panel OKs oil drilling in Arctic refuge

October 25th, 2005 - Underground Green House, kid-friendly

October 25th, 2005 - Treehugger: McDonalds Recognized for Social & Environmental Efforts by Ceres

October 25th, 2005 - fibermom’s own post on food costs

October 24th, 2005 - Speaking of being able to afford to eat

October 24th, 2005 - Food costs (and missed comments)

October 24th, 2005 - Tibetan Monks

October 18th, 2005 - Food and class

October 17th, 2005 - Garden down for the winter; flower garden in for the winter

October 17th, 2005 - Cheese

October 16th, 2005 - Comments are Back

October 6th, 2005 - Can scratch cards save the planet?

October 6th, 2005 - Find solar pro in your area

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