June 10th, 2009 by Jess

gardening, locavore, My Project, wordless

June 9th, 2009 by Jess

So I missed World Oceans Day.

I did not go to the ocean.  I did not think about the ocean.  I did not eat anything from the ocean.  Oh wait… that one is good!  While I meandered around my land-bound house, not thinking about the oceans, the eco-blogosphere was filled with seawater.

GeekDad had some great suggestions on how I could have been enjoying World Oceans Day.  The Monterey Bay Aquarium had a photo contest (the new official iconic ocean image will be announced June 18th).  And the nice folks over at Treehugger taught us about jellyfish, the other seven biggest ocean issues, the Great Barrier Reef, and why we hope the oceans will stick around until August so they can see how much we really love them. And nude bicyclists. But I don’t think that one had anything to do with oceans.

I did end up participating in World Oceans Day in two ways.  First, I spent the evening trying to catch the special World Oceans Day fish on a crazy FaceBook fishing game that I play.  Second, I forwarded my skepti-dad some links about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

To be honest, the oceans are something I really struggle with.  I love the ocean.  I feel intrinsically connected to them, probably due to generational memories of living on sailboats passed down from my maternal grandfather.  If I could live anywhere in the world, I would live by the ocean.  Any ocean.  I love everything about them.  Including sushi.

This is where I run into trouble.

I don’t eat very much meat.  It’s not good for the environment, my budget, or my health.  I am a social meat eater, and a deliberately occasional meat eater at home.  When I do eat it, it is usually in the form of a hamburger, because that is one comfort food I’ve had a hard time giving up.  But sushi is a different story.  I could eat sushi for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

So I was thrilled when the Monterey Bay Aquarium released their pocket guide to sustainable sushi. Until I looked at it.

I wish I lived in San Francisco.  San Francisco has Tataki. But in contrast to what this article from the Center for American Progress says, I haven’t found it easy to eat sushi sustainably in the average sushi restaurant.  Maybe it is true that in high-end sushi restaurants, the chefs on staff can tell you exactly where the fish is coming from.  The sushi restaurants I visit are not like Nobu – chefs resisting customers’ pleas on behalf of the oceans and continuing to employ virtually the least sustainable menu choices possible.  But for the most part, my attempts at verifying the origin of my salmon nigiri have come up short, either because of a language barrier or because they just don’t know exactly where their salmon came from.

So where does that leave me?  Right now, it leaves me trying to eat sushi more rarely.  And I think it’s important to keep pulling out my pocket guide and asking, because even if they don’t know the answers, they know that at least one of their customers cares.  If more of us ask, if more of us care, hopefully we’ll start to see more sustainable choices enter the mainstream.

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Nobu, overfishing, seafood pocket guide, sustainable sushi, world oceans day

June 8th, 2009 by Jess

I spent a couple hours on Saturday morning watching The Future of Food, a documentary about genetically engineered foods.*  I generally consider myself fairly educated about environmental and health issues.  I try to be an engaged citizen and consumer.  And I like to rant about things to my skeptical family, which means I have to be pretty careful about my facts.  But this movie got me.  I didn’t know all of this.  I barely knew any of it.  Which makes me think that most people probably don’t know about it at all.

Just a partial list of some new-to-me facts:

• 97% of vegetables that were grown at the beginning of the century are now extinct.  That’s just scary.  What would be saying if it were 97% of animal species lost in a century?
• The right to patent living things was deliberately left out of the Constitution.  Maybe they had a good reason?
• Monsanto vs. Schmeiser.  This is just unbelievable.
• Transgenic corn has been genetically engineered to have BT, a bacterial toxin, in each cell.  This kills not just harmful insects, but beneficials as well.
• BT corn is not FDA tested, but is GRAS – “generally recognized as safe.”
• 25 countries require labeling of GMOs.  We are not one of them. We could be, if the bill ever makes it out of committee. (It will need to be reintroduced this Congress.)
• In ten years, all of the food in the world could be controlled by six companies, one of which will be American.  Any guess as to which company?  Walmart.

This film reminded me again that politics is in everything.  “The personal is political.”  And the political is personal.  We wouldn’t allow companies to patent our bodies, would we?  Why are we allowing them to patent other living things?  When they patent our food, it is personal.

Patents do not protect traditional knowledge.  Rather, they limit the process of passing on traditional knowledge.  Traditional knowledge is key to building resilient communities over generations.  How much has been lost in the last two generations?  There is a whole community forming today around relearning and revitalizing skills that we could have learned from our grandparents – growing and preserving food, and even basic cooking.  The more we allow companies to limit access to things no one person should own, the more we risk losing these fundamental skills.

Now let me clarify that I am a capitalist.  I really do believe in capitalism.  But I do not trust a corporation to self-regulate food safety and nutrition.  Corporations are designed to maximize profit, not nutrition.  The FDA exists for a good reason.

In order for corporations to continue doing what they do best (providing what consumers want), consumers need to be able to choose what to buy.  And in order to exercise choice, we must have access to information.  If genetically engineered foods aren’t labeled, we cannot choose.

We also need to start paying attention to who is running our government.  In The Future of Food, they narrated a long list of Monsanto-government crossovers throughout the last decade.  Just one – Michael Taylor, who was responsible for GMOs bypassing FDA testing in the early 90’s, previously represented Monsanto as Senior Counsel at King & Spalding.  In the best of worlds, there would be no such thing as a conflict of interest.  But Washington is not and has never been the best of worlds.

Do you take your children personally?  Do you take their food personally?  If so, now is the time to start taking politics personally.

* The Future of Food website does not appear to include the Hulu link.  If there is not a screening near you, or if you are lazy like me, you can watch the film online.

FDA, food safety, genetical modified organisms, genetically engineered food, GMOs, Monsanto, organic food

May 29th, 2009 by Jess

Last Saturday, I  headed over to the West Seattle Edible Garden Fair to see the sights and learn some stuff.  There were booths, food, and even goats!  And, of course, tons of plants.  If I had been more prepared, I would have brought some home with me.  Probably way too many, so maybe it was a good thing that I had nowhere to put them.  And that my boyfriend went along for the ride to be a force of reason in the face of my over-enthusiasm.

The best part of the event was definitely the panels.  The event included a full day of panels and presentations on everything from gardening in small spaces to raising goats, bees and chickens (I wasn’t allowed to go to this one – we don’t need any more furry family members!).  One presentation was especially exciting for me, since I got to be a blogger fangirl for the first time ever!

Two of my favorite bloggers were there, giving a presentation on small space and container gardening.  And what a topic for them!  In case you are not familiar with them – and you should be! – the Shibaguyz are a pair of guys with a pair of dogs who are doing some amazing things with urban and community gardening in Seattle.  Once you take a look at their Jungle, you realize that you have no excuse to not grow things.

I came out of the day’s presentations reinvigorated and inspired to come home and take on My Project.  Time to stop writing about everyone growing their own food and actually put my shovel where my keyboard is.  But then we pulled into the driveway and my excuses sounded more like reasons again.

You see, while we are not technically “small space” gardeners, we are rental gardeners.  I can’t put a big square bed in the back.  I can’t build raised beds because it will kill the grass.  And we don’t know how long we are going to be here.

But what is most relevant at the moment is that our house has stood vacant for a year.

We inherited this.

And this.

And also this bed over there (notice the neighbor’s pretty beds in the background).

I know there’s a juniper in there.  I think that other thing may be a very unhappy rose bush.  That third thing – who knows?  Plus lots of clover, grass, dandelions, and those big tall spiky weeds.

We’re not short on space.  I just somehow have to take it back from the weeds.

community garden, edible garden, seattle, urban garden

February 1st, 2009 by Tisha

Now let’s make some estimations about how long this will last.  Some of this is based off of hard-core evidence (as evidenced by my stomach and energy levels), and some of this will be estimated where we can later look back and see if we were close on our estimations.

1.  Frozen Raspberries: $2.69 – 3 Servings (hey, I am eating healthy here, NOT like two raspberries at a time)
2.  Dried Fruit (Dates): $5.14 – 8 Servings (I don’t like dates as much as raspberries)
3.  Frozen Spinach: $2.99 – 20 Servings (HA, just kidding, this is just 2 Servings)
4.  Frozen Sweet Potatoes: $2.99 – 2 Servings
5.  Carrots: $1.79 – 5 Servings
6.  Blackberries: $3.45 – 3 Servings

TOTAL = $19.05 for 23 Servings…looking like $.83 per serving (HOLY…..)

1.  Canned Tuna: $1.79×5 = $8.95 – 10 Servings
2.  Eggs: $3.65 – 6 Servings
3.  Almond Butter (Processed Food): $5.49 – 10 Servings
4.  Bulk Kidney Beans: $3.74 – 10
5.  Bulk Black Beans: $2.20 – 10
6.  Walnuts: $5.49 – 5

TOTAL = $29.52 for 51 Servings…..$.58 per serving

1.  English Muffins (Processed Food – pack of 6): $3.59×2 = $7.18 – 12 Servings
2.  Crackers (Processed Food) $3.85×2 = $7.70 – 5 Servings

TOTAL = $14.88 for 17 Servings….. $.88 per serving (Hello Bread Machine, Kimberly, do you have a recipe for Crackers?)

1.  Yogurt (Processed Food): $3.25 – 5 Servings
2.  Cheese (Processed Food): $4.58 – 5 Servings

TOTAL = $7.83 for 10 Servings…..$.79  per serving (I really didn’t need the calculator on that one….right?  AGH!  My brain is going to mush – save me fruits and vegetables!)

1.  Butter: $3.99 – 20 Servings (Butter really is in its own very sacred food group)
2.  Almond Oil: $5.69 – 20 Servings
3.  Olive Oil: $5.49 – 20 Servings

TOTAL = $15.17 for 60 Servings…..$.26 per serving (and trust me, this is NOT cheap fat)

1.  Shampoo: $10.99 – 30 Uses
2.  Conditioner: $10.99 – 30 Uses
3.  Soap: $4.99 – 14 Uses
4.  Face Wash: $9.99 – 30 Uses

TOTAL = $36.96 for 104 Uses…… $.36 per use

Grand Total: $123.41

Now, if I am eating the way that I probably should  (that means not starving myself or filling my hungry tummy with coffee or wine), then a meal would entail: two fruits/vegetables, one protein, one dairy, one grain, and one fat.  NEVER EVER EVER listen to my diet as a reference or a guide as to what you should be doing because I really don’t know what I am doing other than eating foods that make me feel good.

Fruit/Veggie: $.83×2 = $1.66

Protein: $.58

Dairy: $.79

Grain: $.88

Fat: $.26

Cost of Tisha’s Meal: $4.17

Cost of Tisha’s Cleanliness: $1.44 per day (and we are NOT skimping on this folks)

3 Meals a Day Plus Maintaining Natural Cleanliness: $13.95

30 Days per month COST: $418.50

This is NO CHOCOLATE, NO ALCOHOL, NO EATING OUT.  And, this is for ONE PERSON.  We are going to have to work on this.

cost, costs, Food, grocery bill, serving, size

January 25th, 2009 by Tisha

Let’s examine the damage:

1.  Frozen Raspberries: $2.69
2.  Dried Fruit (Dates): $5.14
3.  Frozen Spinach: $2.99
4.  Frozen Sweet Potatoes: $2.99
5.  Carrots: $1.79
6.  Blackberries: $3.45

TOTAL = $19.05

1.  Canned Tuna: $1.79×5 = $8.95
2.  Eggs: $3.65
3.  Almond Butter (Processed Food): $5.49
4.  Bulk Kidney Beans: $3.74
5.  Bulk Black Beans: $2.20
6.  Walnuts: $5.49

TOTAL = $29.52

1.  English Muffins (Processed Food – pack of 6): $3.59×2 = $7.18
2.  Crackers (Processed Food) $3.85×2 = $7.70

TOTAL = $14.88

1.  Yogurt (Processed Food): $3.25
2.  Cheese (Processed Food): $4.58

TOTAL = $7.83

1.  Butter: $3.99
2.  Almond Oil: $5.69
3.  Olive Oil: $5.49

TOTAL = $15.17

1.  Shampoo: $10.99
2.  Conditioner: $10.99
3.  Soap: $4.99
4.  Face Wash: $9.99

TOTAL = $36.96

Grand Total: $123.41

Now some ideas that I am formulating as I examine my now empty pocket-book, is that I may be able to save enough money from MAKING my own: bread, yogurt, cheese, and beans (i.e. buying in bulk, and cooking myself), to justify the time spent on such tasks.  We will see.

cost, costs, Food, grocery bill, total

January 17th, 2009 by Tisha

Let’s create our grocery list:

FRUITS/VEGGIES

1.  Frozen Raspberries
2.  Dried Cranberries
3.  Frozen Spinach
4.  Canned Green Beans
5.  Bananas
6.  Frozen Sweet Potatoes
7.  Carrots
8.  Blackberries

PROTEIN

1.  Canned Tuna
2.  Eggs|
3.  Almond Butter (Processed Food)
4.  Canned Kidney Beans
5.  Canned Black BeansWalnuts

GRAINS

1.  English Muffins (Processed Food)
2.  Crackers (Processed Food)

DAIRY

1.  Yogurt (Processed Food)
2.  Cheese (Processed Food)

FATS

1.  Butter
2.  Almond Oil
3.  Olive Oil

BEAUTY

1.  Shampoo
2.  Conditioner
3.  Soap
4.  Face Wash

Food, groceries, grocery list, list

January 10th, 2009 by Tisha

Like I said in the initial rant for Sustainability, I am going all the way this time folks.  For YEARS I have collected my natural grocery store receipts in high hopes that one day I would compile this data and be able to show people that you CAN eat natural/organic and save money at the same time.

Now that I am putting myself on an actual budget, I can really test that optimistic theory, because to be honest, I do not know if it is really possible or not.

There are several constraints I am going to put on myself for both financial and nutritional reasons.  Those are as follows:

1. Every week, I must purchase enough fruits and vegetables to be able to be consuming eight portions of fruits and vegetables every day, and that these eight portions must come from the RAINBOW of Produce (thank you for the chart Dr. Davis, N.D.): Red, Dark Green, Yellow and Light Green, Orange, and Purple.
2. I must limit my processed foods to 5 items per week.
3. I must source produce locally whenever possible.
4. I must source meat and protein sources locally (minus fish and legumes).

With that, I will also be keeping track of the natural beauty products that I use, including: Make-up, Face Wash, Body Soaps, Shampoos & Conditioners, and miscellaneous paraphernalia that I (and many others) use to attempt to make ourselves feel pretty (and I stop there as to not digress).  And I will also be keeping track of the various supplements that I take, i.e. Vitamins, Minerals, and Herbs.

So with that, I will start anew.  Today is a Sunday, a perfect day for grocery shopping.

budget, diet, finances, financial, Food, healthy, natural, nutrition