more on that 100 mile diet thing...

i think i wrote about the idea of the 100 mile diet earlier. somewhere around thatnksgiving..an apprpriate time to be writing about food i suppose. but now may be even a better time. it is SPRING. we shoudl be planting our gardens, and thinking about what we want to can/freeze/dry/and other wise preserve for the comming winter. think of the fall and winter and next spring and what we'll want to be eating. and how can we grow some/a lot of that starting now. now is a great time to be planning and begining a more local, if not all local, diet.

in the middle of november it's a little more difficult to find local foods to make your thanksgiving meal, so start planning now. greg and i decided to have a local meal for thanksgiving. we (i pushed it really) decided this in mid november. and can i just say that the meal was, well, not too great. we had pinto beans with a tomato base flavored with herbs and onion. and we had some collard and mustard greens. and and apple pie, sweetened with local honey. ...and we made an exception for salt. so i guess it wasn't awful, but darn, it sure would have been better had we started planning in spring.

so this year, i'm starting my planning now. i am organizing seed packets. getting my parents involved. and thinking of what foods will lend themselves to being nicely preserved. mmm, i can't wait!

and here's a little article about Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon whom essentially started this 100 mile diet new way of life. apparently they've put out a new book. might be an intersting read. and i also just finished omnivore's dilema...what i learned the most from that: every meal we eat is a political statement. every single one. a simple act that can have so many implications, on our taste buds, our health, the economy, the enviornemnt, the local food movement, immigration policies, oil exploration...diet really connects it all together.

Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon chew the fat on their 100-mile diet By Kate Sheppard Grist Main Dish 24 Apr 2007

my thoughts go out to them

my heart is saddened. my thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the tragic events at virginia tech. i cannot understand what causes people to do such harmful things. i hope people affected feel the love the world sends them as they try to begin to heal.

on small changes

my wednesday afternoon-evenings are usually spent out on the trail, mountain biking with my dad and a couple of his buddies. most of them are in the housing/development/construction/painting/etc business. they are all nice guys, and hard workers and have great families and like to talk about their bikes and harleys and grandkids and babecues and sports. last wednesday, on the way back from a gorgeous ride, my dad's friend asked me when i was going to upgrade my dilapidated tercel to a prius. "well, we're getting a prius next" he said. "if it's just a little thing we can do, well, then i guess that's a good thing. i'm not worried about saving money on gas, but if can help out with our health then that'd be good. like taking the cardboard downtown to be recycled or something." in typical guy-dad type fashion, that was all he had to say about it. not more, not less, but just enough. it's amazing how, while trying not to judge people, we usually do. and chances are, we're wrong. and that can be very refreshing and hopeful!