So I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. My friend Julie passed it on to me last summer, saying that she did not think she could come anywhere close, but of all her friends, I was the one most likely to. No further explanation, I had to find out for myself. As described in my last post, the past 6 months my life has really turned upside down, so reading time was a bit limited. Prior to that, last summer/fall I seemed to have had a lot of people loan/give me books and I still haven't gotten through them all, despite being a voracious reader. I did not pick it up until last week.
The book describes Barbara Kingsolver's family's year of eating local and organic. They live much further south than I do, however in a state that still has winter, so though the season is longer, it is not California or Florida. She even took a trip to Montreal and describes us as a city that is well set up to eat locally.
I understand why Julie passed it along. It is a powerful book that makes you realize just how many of our consumer habits are so destructive. That was not a collective "our", that was a personal one. As I finish off the end of the not free range, not organic eggs which I bought exceptionally for Passover (with 5 dozen eggs I was not paying top dollar!), squeeze non-organic lemon on my cuke and tomato salad (my cukes and tomatoes plants are two months away from fruiting), I realize just how much my summer habits of eating really local contrast with the rest of the year. Barbara Kingsolver brings home in technicolour detail the impact of "mainstream" eating habits.
Just to be clear, I am someone who does not believe in guilt. Guilt is great as a way of signalling to you that something you are doing is not working for you and a need for change. If you do not think you need to change, then get over the guilt and move on. Reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle triggered my guilt. This past year especially, with my finances being precarious and being single suddenly, I have found that I have been shopping with my priority on cheap. As for treats, my kids love avocados (very local, right), bananas, raspberries. All healthy, but with the exception of raspberries from July to October, not local. I also have been shopping at my local oriental grocer who had great, cheap and varied fruits and vegetables, packaged in styrofoam and probably loaded with pesticides, shipped across the world using ridiculous amounts of fossil fuel. Yes, I do righteously garden a few months of the year, but the rest of the time (and even during the season) I have not always been consistent in respecting my own beliefs and values. Barbara Kingsolver has convinced me that "saving" money on buying conventionally grown produce that is shipped across the world is ultimately pushing the costs forward onto our children who will grow up in a world where soil is heavily depleted by industrial agricultural techniques, and the increasing impact of overuse (and overextraction) of fossil fuels for the transportation of off season produce put our planet at immanent risk.
A few years back, I had a discussion with my mother about organic farming, and she argued that there was no way that the population of our planet could be fed using traditional organic methods, and that industrial farming techniques were the only way to ensure high production. Without either of us doing extensive research on the subject, her logic seemed reasonable. After all, if we did not spray to eliminate pests, we would have a smaller yield, right? Barbara Kingsolver did the research and the logic is completely flawed. Furthermore, she is not a vegetarian, and argues that industrially grown soy imported across the country does far more damage than rearing turkeys and chickens in your own yard and eating them. I can respect her position, but I am not ready to raise chickens in Cote des Neiges. So I am sticking to tofu for now.
So I find myself in the grocery story, reluctantly paying top dollar for organic produce. I was happily surprised to see a much better selection of higher quality items than in the past, even at Walmart. Yes, I bought groceries at Walmart today. I went to pick up soaker hoses, which they didn't have, but passed the grocery section and noticed they had a decent sized organic section. I got bananas (imported of course, but at least organic) and tofu, sweet potatoes (something in the book about potatoes concentrating toxic pesticides, have that with your order of fries), carrots, lettuce and a few more items. They did not have regular potatoes, and as the end of my last bagful sprouted and just went into the garden, I bought conventional for now. I am wondering how much pesticide in my conventionally grown seed potatoes will stay in the organically grown plants in my back yard? Or in the green onions grown from the ends of the last bunch I bought at my local IGA? How organic is my garden? Despite my coyote pee dispensers, hay mulch, compost and composted manure? There were no organic red peppers, so I tried for local. I am reading the signs more carefully. My oriental grocer does not advertise the source of the produce, but IGA and Walmart do. The peppers were marked as from either Canada or Holland. Sure, that helps. At least the stickers on the peppers were a bit clearer, but I only found the ones from Holland. So I find myself googling distances to Holland vs Mexico, and Canada is pretty big too. The prairies and the West Coast are not local either. In the meantime, the only things ready to eat in the garden are a bit of early lettuce and some green onions that went into my Japanese Soba noodle salad today. Nothing more for while. Back to the organic section, avoiding the early corn which is definitely not from this neck of the woods.
I have been trying to get this blog out for a while. I have been busy, with a summer intensive course (masters of education), finishing the semester, getting the garden planted which means tackling the mess of weeds I never finished last summer after spraining my wrist (a big thanks to Olga for digging with me! and dealing with end of year concerts, projects, end of year stress, time with my dad. You can see a before/after comparison of pre and post weeding. On top of it, my beautiful camera has become obsolete suddenly with the death of the screen of my ancient yet compatible computer. I tried my son's screen instead but it did not work, even though I can hear the computer still humming along. I am afraid to turn it off, and once my neighbour finishes renovating his kitchen I will ask him to take a look. In the meantime, I am using my crappy phone to take shots of the garden for the record but they are oh so unsatisfying!
I was asked by Olga to speak on gardening to a group of immigrant parents who meet weekly in a volunteer run program. It was a fun experience. I acknowledge that I am not an expert, but I have learned a few things on my journey that I am happy to share.
