Going Green in Winter: Food, Part. 2, Eating Local and Food Preservation.

Continuing my short series on ways that we can "Go Green" in the winter, I'd like to discuss eating locally and give an introduction to food preservation, two things that are tied into one another that if done successfully can make a huge impact when trying to go green, even in winter.

We all hear about the importance of buying local. When I was younger and less environmentally minded, I thought the point of buying local was to help support your local businesses and to therefore put money back into your own community. This is definitely a very important part of the buying local ideal, but it wasn't until the past couple years that I really stopped to think about the environmental aspects of buying locally.

When we go to the grocery store, look at the labels where your food is coming from. Sweet Potatoes from Georgia, Apples from Mexico, Coffee from Guatemala, Rice from India, Quinoa from Peru, Kiwi from New Zealand, and the list goes on and on. All of that food had to get to your grocery store through a long series of transportation vehicles like semi-trucks and planes, all producing a lot of green house gases contributing to our current climate problems. This is done on a massive scale. Food from every corner of the globe is arrive at not only your own grocery store, but at the thousands and thousands of groceries stores across our country on a very regular basis. If you are contemplating riding your bike to the grocery store instead of driving to reduce your carbon footprint, an even more effective technique to use would be to buy local items. There are farmers markets, co-ops, local farms and distribution programs in most areas across the country in which one can get food that was grown within a short drive from their home, and trust me, as someone who works on an organic farm and helps run a stand at the farmers market, we would love nothing more than to be able to help support you on a quest to eat locally. A recent study came out that suggested that 80% of an average American's food can be grown within 100 miles from his home, yet it is far, far more common for people from Wisconsin to buy lettuce grown in California and shipped to them than it is for them to go buy lettuce grown by their neighbors.

But, if you are trying to eat locally, what do you do when the snows of winters come? When the local farmer's fields are barren and the markets come to an end? When the local co-ops stop featuring apples from down the road and start selling apples from South of the border? What is one to do then? Well, it wasn't all that long ago that this gigantic international food system was not in place and super markets did not exist. Before that time, one very important way that people went about eating was preserving the food they had an abundance of earlier on in the warmer months.

Pickling, canning, fermenting, preserving, storing, freezing, drying, they are all options that we still have today and can make use of if we want to be able to eat locally in the winter and reduce our carbon footprint! They are each ways that you can take food grown by yourself, or by a local farmer and be eating it well into the winter. It is currently January 3rd and on my shelf I still have about 20 jars of pickled cucumbers and beets from this season that I canned myself, and if I go in my fridge I still choose from 8 jars of Kimchi I made, and in my freezer you will find frozen tomatoes, corn, peas, berries and a few other assorted vegetables. Each time I make a meal or even a snack  out of one of these items, it's one less meal or snack that I would have had to buy from a grower far away that has been shipped here for me, even in the dead of winter. So, if you take a bit of preparation in the warmer months and buy and preserve an abundance of things, eating locally in the winter is very possible! And trust me, your local farmers will love you if you come up at the end of the season and tell him or her that you want to stock up so you can enjoy their produce all winter. It is also very worth while to investigate and see if there are any places in your area that can local produce and sell them throughout the year. In the next town over from where I live there is a restaurant/store that sells canned goods all throughout the winter that they can from a local farm. So, even if you don't get a jump on it yourself, you may be able to help out a local business and still eat locally in the winter at the same time.

I will expand upon this idea much more in later posts, especially when the farming season approaches again, and I will give a step-by-step on how to do the different food preserving methods that I've used, but for now there are many great books and online sources on that material readily available. For fermenting in particular I'd recommend a great book called "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Katz.

I hope you find a way to keep your spirits warm in the long cold nights of January, and keep thinking of and trying new ways to "Go Green" even in the winter. Next time I'll be talking about something I've been dabbling with for a few years now but which recently I've started to take more seriously; Brewing Kombucha!

 

Going Green in Winter: Food, Part. 1, Eating less meat.

One of the greatest impacts that humans make on our environment is through food production and consumption. The massive uses of water, fertilizers, pesticides, agriculture machinery, the loss of biodiversity through monoculture, the fossil fuels used in shipping food across the globe in our recently developed global food market, the amount of waste that is produced by consumers selectivity about food appearance and buying more than they need, the disposable packaging that food comes in that ends up getting down-cycled or ends up in the landfill, the list goes on and on. It is said that cattle farming along produces more green house gasses than all of the world's transportation (cars, ships, trains, planes, etc.) combined. So, when we think of things that we can do in our daily lives to make less of a negative impact on the environment, perhaps the most logical and effective place to start is our diet. I will give here a brief overview of a couple of actions (or non-actions) that one can take, and will list further external sources for further information and implementation.

One of the biggest things that one can do in regards to their diet to help the environment is to eat less meat. I know this is a confrontational topic, and to most, giving up meat or even reducing their consumption of it is almost heretic. However, I am not here to deliver a moral argument against eating meat, nor am I going to espouse it's benefits to one's health. My personal opinions on the matters will be left aside and I'll simply be talking instead about the environmental benefits.

The very nature of the transference of energy from life form to life form tells us that animals need to consume more than they produce. Using cattle as an example, they produce about 16 times less caloric energy when eaten than they consume when eating food themselves. So, we grow  food in abundance, then feed it to cattle and get far less food from them than we would have had if we would have eaten the plant material that we grew in the first place. So, the energy that goes into planting, growing, harvesting and shipping the cattle's feed alone is a very large and unnecessary impact on the environment.  Another aspect to cattle farming that is damaging to the environment is the amount of water used in raising them. The amount of water that it takes to raise cattle is astronomical. To put it in perspective, it takes 24 gallons of water to grow a pound of potatoes. A pound of beef on the other hand takes 5,214 gallons. So, that's 99.6% more water going into creating an equal amount of beef over potatoes. In times with water shortages and droughts, where we have to be extremely careful to safeguard our resources, it is incredibly wasteful to use 99.6% more water on creating the same amount of food. Another aspect beyond water and energy is land space. It takes a lot of land to raise cattle, because they eat so much more than they produce. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef, for example, and it takes a lot of acreage to grow that much grain when you consider that on average beef cattle weigh 1600 pounds. That's 25,600 pounds of grain going in to one cow. That could feed a hell of a lot more than one person. Also, taking the utility of land debate between food crops and cattle aside, there are areas of the world that are committing ecological genocide to create pasture land for cattle. The Amazon Rainforest is a prime example of this. Between 1990-2000, 80% of the deforestation that occurred in South America, a huge portion of this being the Amazon, was driving by the needs of large scale agriculture, primarily cattle ranching. So not only does it make much more sense to be able to produce far more food on much smaller space, but because the demand for pasture land would go down, the drive towards deforesting places like the Amazon would decrease.

These are statistics for beef production obviously. It is the most extreme example, but the arguments are the same for pork and poultry, just to a slightly smaller scale. It still takes much more food to produce a pound of pork or chicken, it takes much more water than it would to grow the equivalent amount of grains, fruits and vegetables. Fish results in different issues that I'll touch upon in a later post, but that are equally terrible on the environment.

So, if you want to do something to do that would reduce your negative impact on the environment, refusing to eat meat, or even simply eating less meat, will make a dramatic change. It's as easy as choosing something else at the grocery store, or ordering something else on the menu. It's as easy as just making a choice. Plus, tomatoes are pretty tasty too.

So, that is one thing that one can do to "go green", even in the dead of winter. Next we will talk about eating local and food preservation.

Going Green in Winter.

November rains fall at night and soon winter will have turned them to snow. The last of the winter planting has been done in the fields and the few maple leaves who stubbornly attempt to hold onto their mother are sent aloft by the biting winds. The nights come early and grow longer and colder, sending us inside for warmth and shelter. The months ahead will be filled with their own serene and desolate beauty, punctuated by the falling snow as it casts its silent spell upon the world, but for a farmer, an explorer, an environmentalist and a lover of life, the winter brings challenges. When work in the gardens is done for the year and the plants die away, I feel an emptiness. I need to replace it by doing different things that are important to me like focusing on other aspects of sustainable living. So, I will be doing a small series of posts over the next couple weeks talking about a few of those sustainable living practices, such as food preservation, kombucha brewing, growing sprouts, some highlights of a season of organic farming, composting/vermiculture and possibly more. There are so many small steps we can take in the way towards living a more sustainable life that are possible even in the dead of winter. It's hard to imagine how one can "Go Green" in the season when all the green is gone, but we can and will, so I'm looking forward to sharing a few of them with you.

Reincarnation

Reincarnation is an idea that varies in its interpretation likely as much as what heaven might be like. The most basic premise behind reincarnation is that when one dies, they are reborn again as something else. Many believe that this is possible because of some sort of non-physical essence that is our core self.  A spirit, a soul, something that is not limited to the bounds of our physical body and therefore can live on after our body dies, finding a new host. So, that may imply that if one does not believe that we have souls, or anything beyond our physical body, then one could not believe in a concept like reincarnation. I would disagree with this however, I think not only is it possible to be reincarnated without a soul, but I think when looking at reincarnation from a certain point of view, it becomes obvious that reincarnation is a natural and necessary phenomenon.

The first law of Thermodynamics tells us that energy cannot be destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form to another. We are made of energy, we are powered by energy, we consume energy and we produce energy as biological creatures. So, when one dies, what happens to the energy that we embody? Our understanding of Thermodynamics tells us that it cannot be destroyed, it only changes into a different form. When we are buried into the Earth and left in the dark, we decompose overtime, releasing the energy in and of our bodies into the soil, back into the Earth. Perhaps the roots of a tree penetrate the casket, or perhaps insects or worms eat into the flesh of what we once were. A tree absorbing energy and elements from the soil that were released from our body, or a worm being powered by the energy it gains from consuming part of what once was us has in effect combined a piece of what we once were with themselves. In a very real sense, we have become the worm, we have become the tree. It may not be a conscious event, I believe it is likely we lose our consciousness upon death when our brain dies, but we do not need our consciousness to live on. We have been transformed into the wriggling red-worm or the mighty cemetery pine. We were assimilated into the form of another, helping provide it with life. Then soon after, the worm or the tree may die. Perhaps the worm is eaten by a bird, metabolized and turned into the energy the bird uses to fly. The body of the worm is absorbed by the bird and becomes the bird. Or perhaps the tree is burned and it's ashes are sent into the air and are scattered across the ground, eventually mixing in with the soil, or perhaps that cemetery pine was a bristle cone pine that upon being burned, it's pine cones open up and release its seeds that spread on the wind, brining the growth of future trees. When that tree decays into the soil or produces new trees, when the worm is eaten by the soaring bird, what we once were changes and transforms again. The human who died became the tree or worm, became the seed or bird, and the cycle continues on and on, far into the future.

Our story stretches far into the past as well. Our current understanding of the origin of the Universe starts with a singularity, a single point of infinite mass and infinite density that explodes from an imbalance within itself. Energy from that big bang is spread far and wide throughout the rapidly expanding universe eventually coming together to create hydrogen and then helium, and much later forming stars, so hot and dense that in their core creates the heavy elements. That initial energy from the very first explosion, we must surmise is still here today, trillions of years later, for if energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed, all of that initial energy is still with us in some form. If we know that the formation of the heavy elements like iron were created in the center of stars at some point in the distant past and then spread throughout the galaxy during supernova explosions, then we must realize that the iron in our blood, that pumps through our veins, was created inside of a star that died long ago. The star became us, we are made of stardust. The elements in our bodies were the same elements that built The Earth, that drifted in the expanse of space, that burned brightly so long ago and were created from a chain of energy that dates back seven trillion years. It becomes one form, it lives in some way, then it dies and becomes something else, again and again and again until at this very moment, it manifests into us. We are The Big Bang, we are star dust, we are the energy of the entire universe that at this moment, has just happened to take this form after wandering for eons.

We have existed for trillions of years, constantly changing, living and dying, and this life is just one more revolution of that every turning circle and when this expression of ourselves is done we will live on anew in a new forms until the ends of time. The never ending cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. This is reincarnation, this is samsara. We need not a soul, only to have happened and that is proof that we have always been and always will be.

Around the Bend

Hello world.

This is an exploration to capture and express my thoughts and ideals, to share the journeys I go on and what I learn from them, to help inspire anyone who may want to journey anywhere I am wandering or to  partake in any of the things I am passionate about. This will be a manifestation of all I do and hope to achieve on my quest for a fulfilling and adventurous life, and to become a compassionate and spiritual person who hopefully will impact this world in a positive way.

...

Sometimes you choose a path, unmarked and overgrown with nothing more than a hope that it leads to where you want to go. Perhaps the well worn paths you've trodden so many times before have left you feeling empty, and longing for what you thought they would lead to, what you have yet to find.
So you take the path that seems difficult, loose gravel underfoot with twists and turns all along the way. The undergrowth is so thick that sometimes you wonder if you are on a path at all... or if you are lost and you've just convinced yourself that with each footfall you are getting closer when in fact your blind hope has lead you farther and farther away. You continue so long that night falls and the canopy overhead blocks out the faint glow of star light, your last guide.

Yet, you keep walking. For there is still a fire within you that says that each thorn bush cut, each twisted ankle, each moment of exhaustion and each moment of doubt is a test to see how badly you want what you hope the path leads too. You know that if in fact you are to finally find what it is you've been searching for, that it is worth hardship far worse than this.
So you keep walking, guided by faith alone; faith in life, faith in love and faith in the path you have chosen, for if you turn back now, you know that you will always wonder if what you had been longing for, so deeply, was just around the next bend.


This past year I've wandered through heartbreak and through a loved one's terminal illness. I've climbed to the peaks of Rocky Mountains, and went cave exploring by headlamp down into the Earth. I've Kayaked onto the greatest of lakes and farmed food for hundreds from the soil of the Midwest. I've meditated along frozen rivers and done Tai Chi while snow fell on my shirtless body. I've fell into depression, dark and cold, and found my way out of the cave into the light again. I've ran with wolves and cradled a finch in my palm. I've wrote Haiku along mountain lakes and sang mournful songs while working the fields. I've met artists and poets, gypsies and wanderers, Native elders and homeless beggars, lovers and fighters all trying to be heard, all searching for truth. I've done all this on my journey in the past year alone, yet the road goes ever on and my journey has only just begun. In the words of Nahko Bear "I am no master and I know nothing". I am only a wanderer. Let's see what lies around the next bend, shall we?



"Not all those who wander are lost." J.R.R. Tolkien