Well, I think this is going to be my last Independence Days Challenge post. While it's been a fun and useful exercise, these days I feel that my updates are too rote. I could almost copy from one week and paste to the next. I don't need to be doing things as time or blog fillers. I choose to do things because they help me in obtaining my goals, and I blog about them because I want a record of them and think they will be of interest to like-minded readers.Will I do it again next year? Probably not. But it has helped me in my efforts to develop a garden record keeping system. Last year I tried a garden journal. It's still online here, but was abandoned as too time consuming, plus I wasn't entirely satisfied with the way the information was organized. Now I'm thinking that garden records could be recorded with my monthly garden updates. I'll have to give that a try and see how it goes.
Would I recommend the Independence Days Challenge to others? Absolutely. The biggest participation obstacle seems to be in thinking everything has to be accomplished every week. That isn't what's encouraged however. The idea is to do at least one thing every day, or every week. It's amazing how quickly the little things add up. And it's encouraging to see them recorded in a format such as this.
The categories that were most useful to me were the plant, harvest, and preserve something. It's nice to keep track of when I did these things one year, so that I can better plan for the next. Other categories however, waste not and want not for example, are a lifestyle for me, and I just don't think about them, let alone have the time to write it all out every week. Copying it again and again isn't useful to me. I did enjoy reading others lists however, and got some good ideas.
Building community food systems was something I'd never thought about though. Not that I haven't appreciated the local buying trend, but I never really thought about its whys and wherefores. Nor it's implications. As I read what others wrote for this category, their updates seemed to cover mostly teaching, offering workshops, and such. I wasn't doing any of that, just blogging about it. I visited foodie blogs with long discussions about buying locally and seasonally. I read everyone else's 2¢ and put in my own, but it wasn't until I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
that the whole concept came together for me. I have read similar content elsewhere, but that book really brought home the reasons why. One obvious problem with a global food system is that it's not energy efficient. It takes fuel to transport all that food. And, as the cost of transportation goes up (obviously directly related to the price of oil), so does the price of food. Buying locally addresses those concerns. It also supports our local economies, as well as local food producers, who are gradually being squeezed out by agribiz. Local food production also offers a food supply safety net, in case of crop failures elsewhere. I realized that I can help build community food systems simply by buying from local food producers.
Eat the food seems like a no-brainer. Yet I understand that this addresses certain problems with food storage. For example, keeping track of what one has, keeping it rotated so the oldest gets used first, and addressing the tendency to hoard. Hoarding is storing but refusing to use. I think it probably stems from either insecurity or greed. The whole point of food storage for a self-sustaining lifestyle however, is to eat what is produced, always having enough for year round consumption. I confess that I have a tendency to hoard out of insecurity, so this helps me address that. As a weekly challenge category, it too became rote for me, though it did help me analyze our food usage and goals, (those here and here). That was useful. It's also a good place to pick up a few new recipes on other peoples' updates.
All that said, here's what I've been doing for the past couple of weeks:
1. Plant Something
- cabbage plants
- green beans
- okra
- tomatoes
- cucumbers
- cantaloupes
- watermelon
- eggs
- milk
- Swiss chard
- black turtle beans
- buttercup squash
- watermelon
- elderberries (just a few)
- dill seed
- rosemary
- oregano
- sweet basil
- catnip
- thyme
- sweet peppers
- pumpkin
- sunflower seeds
- made and canned cucumber relish
- canned green beans
- froze okra
- dehydrated tomatoes
- froze eggs
- canned Swiss chard
- froze cantaloupe
- dehydrated cantaloupe
- drying herbs
- made & canned sweet pickles
4. Waste Not
- Same 'ol, same 'ol
- Food preservation
- Herb drying
- Seed saving
- Planning for my winter bulk food order (mostly grains)
- Buying canning supplies as they go on clearance
- Picking up an extra can or two of things we like such as black olives, tuna fish, or mushrooms.
- Found an area food co-op. Will visit soon and hopefully join.
- Blogging about it
- Tweeting about my blog posts
- All our own fruits and veggies
- Am holding off on preserved foods until after the summer garden is done.
- Eating our potatoes
- Eating our eggs
- Eating our chicken about once a week
Riley begged to see what I had after I finished some cantaloupe, so I gave it to him. I thought he would give it a sniff and walk away, but he started licking.
And licking.
Katy didn't get it.
Yes, he was actually taking bites and eating it.
© September 2010 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/
by Marc Rogers. I mentioned this book last year, when I showed you how it taught me to save cucumber seeds (
