Where is the wisdom when we need it?

As I get older, I am beginning to be more appreciative and more possessive of time, even though I know that no one really possesses it.  I have slowed down not because I am slower, but because I was going too fast.  In the 11 years that we have had our granddaughter, the time has passed so quickly that when I see her my first feeling is sadness that she is growing so fast and my 2nd feeling is joy that she is growing so fast.  Ambiguous feelings about time.  As each season passes, I can't help but ask myself 'what can I do to make this time special because how many do I have left?'  I know my children think it rather morbid, but I see my parents aging and know that I will not have them forever and also seeing myself in them 25 years from now is rather sobering.  Makes you want to sort out and devote yourself only to those pursuits that are very meaningful which also makes you realize how trivial almost everything really is.  There are very few truly important things in life and it is very sad for many of us to realize that years have gone by that may have been largely wasted.  I think of the books I still promise myself to read (or reread), books I want to write, people I want to talk to, gardens I want to grow, bread yet to bake, socks to knit, rugs to weave, pickles to make, stories to hear from my parents.  Why do we become so wise 2/3rds into our lives when we could have used the wisdom a long time ago?--a very bad trick to play on humanity.   Robert Frost is such a good poet to read now. 

Perhaps We Could Grow Rice!

Of all the years that I have gardened, I have never seen such a wet spring!  It is so wet that yesterday my husband called me into the barn to show me that a crayfish (crawdad, etc) had burrowed a hole into the dirt in the barn floor.  It's that wet!  Of course our CSA customers are still waiting for that first taste of spring vegetables because it took so long to get the plants into the gardens and now we all have to wait.  While we wait, of course, the weeds aren't waiting and that means triple work when we finally get out of this swampy period.  My only consolation is that all are in the same boat.  Most of the corn and beans in Indiana have not been planted and it is Memorial Day.  People just THINK that food costs a lot now.  Here is how it goes.  The price of corn is at record high right now.  If it becomes a shortage this fall from lack of ability to plant in the mud, it will go up double.  Interesting times coming.  I am not sure how many chickens we can keep with feed so costly. 
     I am keeping busy, though.  I have taken a quasi-vacation week to work on the gardens, but since they are too wet, I am doing the spring cleaning that I never get around to because of the gardening season.  Vacuuming, curtain washing, window washing, cleaning out cabinets and drawers and cupboards.  It does give a feeling of satisfaction after it is done.  How do we possibly accumulate so much!
    Luckily, before the last huge downpour, I did get my plants put in my kitchen herb garden.  Will offer basil noodles for sale along with the regular ones as soon as basil large enough to use.  My tansy has prove to be a handy ant repellent in the kitchen.  Both Mom and I have been using a lot of the leaves. 
   Sprayed for poison ivy and thistles this a.m.  While we hate using any weed killers in our little corner of the world, I make a big exception for poison ivy.  As I walked the perimeter of the property, I found that old piece of grape vine that the former owners thought they had destroyed (cannot for the life of me figure out how people can tear out a source of basically free food) will be bearing a rather large crop compared to former years so we should have enough juice and jelly for the year.  My new grapes are coming along fine.  Peach tree will be bearing like crazy as well as the cherries.  Apples did bloom this year, but I am not sure if they will bear yet given their age.  I have planted 3 gooseberry bushes for pies. 
     Really excited about our new internet service--Omnicity.  Now we have lightening fast service and no threshold (like we had with HughesNet).  AND it is 2/3 the price.  Wonderful.  I will definitely be offering my handmade knitting items online beginning this fall.  I have socks for everyone, baby blankets, neck warmers, fingerless gloves, hats, scarves, etc. etc.  and the only market I have for those right now is word of mouth and the farmers market.  I am also beginning rag rug weaving on the frames that I have. 
    So much to do with so little time..........................................

Every year, the United States wastes 40 percent of the food it produces!

 

 
 
 
Couldn't resist re-copying this great article that I found at FoodDeclaration.org. Great web site. Look at this great WWI poster......... This poster is about 100 years old but its message is no less pertinent. Why? Because every year, the United States wastes 40 percent of the food it produces. That's enough food to fill the Rosebowl every day.

The U.S. Wastes 40 Percent of All Food Produced Per Year. How About We Stop Doing That?
  by Allison Arieff

Jonathan Bloom, whom we introduced you to earlier this year, has been obsessing about that stat for a long time. Indeed, his book, American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It), points to food waste as one of the larger threats to our food supply.

Since the book's publication Bloom has been increasingly focused on reporting not just on that mind-boggling amount of waste but what we can do about it. I (Arieff) caught up with him at a brown bag lunch presentation at San Francisco's 18 Reasons earlier this week (where nary a sandwich crumb was left at the end). He suggests that there is legislation that could help stem the flow of food waste, by including language on food donation in the new Farm Bill, for example, or to streamline the tax deductions for food donation.

But, as Bloom points out, there are incredibly simple things we all can do to break the cycle of throwing out an average of 15 to 25 percent of our food annually per household (and the $1300 to $2200 we spend on it).

1. Shop smarter. Make a list to reduce your purchase of unnecessary items, plan meals, bring less food into your house. Since 25 percent is wasted, commit to buying 25 percent less food.

2. Focus on sensible portions. Portion sizes have increased as have the diameter of dinner plates. Pay attention to what's on your plate and think about equating value less with quantity than quality.

3. Ignore expiration dates. OK, so don't ignore them but approach with a fair amount of skepticism. If something is spoiled, you'll know it by the way it looks or smells not by the date on its packaging.

4. Love your leftovers. Don't just save them, eat them.

5. Befriend your freezer. It's a waste delayer.

And of course, there's always canning and preserving. For more tips including 17 Uses for Stale Bread, or to share some of your own, visit Bloom's blog, WastedFood.com .

Image from Library of Congress hington, D.C.

New Year's rant 11 DUMBEST GROCERY STORE ITEMS THAT YOU CERTAINLY DON’T NEED TO BUY

SOAPBOX TIME. Ok, it’s the first month of the new year—you know, where we look back at the past year and wonder how in the heck it came and went so fast. Also, people seem to do the ’10 most……..’ thing and I finally couldn’t stand it so I decided to harp on one of my 'I can't believe we do this' subjects.  Yes, I find both hilarity and sadness at the grocery store. Not only are the items below filled with preservatives, they don’t really save time, they are expensive and downright lazy. Also, I do realize that I have 11 items listed, not 10.  Believe me, I have more.  So here is my


11 DUMBEST GROCERY STORE ITEMS THAT YOU CERTAINLY DON’T NEED TO BUY

No particular order, you can decide on that...........................
Dumb Item #1 Cornmeal mush in a plastic bag ready to cut and fry (really, really hard to make at home, cornmeal, salt and water)

Dumb Item #2 Congealed sausage gravy in a plastic bag (ready to squeeze out and reheat.  Yum, yum —wouldn’t your grandma be proud!)

Dumb Item #3 Seasoned bread crumbs (won’t even address this!)

Dumb Item #4 Pre-cooked bacon that costs as much for 2 oz as it costs for an entire pound of unpre-cooked bacon (ok, so the ones who are buying this spent thousands on a gourmet kitchen?)

Dumb Item #5 Individually wrapped potatoes (potatoes last a long time in the kitchen, no need to buy just a few—this is just wrong and certainly expensive)

Dumb Item #6 Pre-made pie crust (another difficult problem, flour, shortening, salt, water and a little practice)

Dumb Item #7 Tiny carrots in a bag (these are not baby carrots which would be a waste of garden/field space, these are large carrots sanded down to small carrots –lots of waste, people. Do we really have to have mini-carrots—Come on!)

Dumb Item #8 Already mashed and refrigerated potatoes in a butter tub (two things—container waste and how hard is it to buy instant potatoes – oldest form of food preservation—if you really can’t mash your own?). This also applies to macaroni and cheese in a tub.

Dumb Item #9 Already mixed cinnamon and sugar in a shaker (speechless)

Dumb Item #10 Tomatoes on a vine (you really want to pay for the vine while buying transported tomatoes that taste like water?—needless eco-miles. Grow your own if possible and don’t eat these out of season. The anticipation of really good tomatoes in July through October is worth it!)

Dumb Item #11 I am a big fan of crockpots since I work outside the home but Crockpot meals (frozen in a bag, just add water) are just plain expensive and just silly-- (is it that difficult to put a piece of meat/whole chicken, some veggies, seasoning and water in the crockpot?--takes 5 minutes in the morning as you get ready for work) My husband found me almost hysterical in the store aisle.  Imagine how interested I was in finding out that you can also buy crockpot liners--another piece of stuff to recycle!

There's a lot more.  I could go on and on and on and on, but you get the message!

Yes, we should be very, very embarrassed. The foods (and I use the term loosely) that I have listed above don’t really save time and we certainly don't really know what is in them. Don’t tell me that no one really buys them because this is America and our business is making money and those products wouldn’t be there unless someone is buying them. Most of us have refrigerators, stoves, etc and half a brain. Indeed, some of us actually have kitchens to die for, but SOMEONE is buying this stuff! While we talk about ecology and eco-footprints, we go to the store and forget everything regarding packaging and eco-miles and things we can do for ourselves. Is it any wonder that the rest of the world thinks we are greedy, self-serving, and lazy with no regard for the planet?