I hope all of you have a fantastic Fourth of July! Lately my mind has been on the garden a lot. Watching it spring up with food is exciting! I am ecstatic to harvest, eat and can much of what is in the garden (especially at the prospect of pickled stuff). Homegrown veggies and fruit all year round sound pretty spectacular! With Eowyn and I both at home most of the time, it has been nice. It has turned into crafting (and blogging) central around here.
I appreciate Eowyn because she is just as motivated (more so really) to make a lot of things from scratch. This applies to food, body products, gifts, and general household items. She inspires me to dig in and get proactive too. The other day a friend was over to teach us how to make our own soap. Eowyn and I also sat down and made our own deodorant a couple days ago. However, I’m still testing the deodorant out, I will let you know how it goes!
There has been a lot of attention towards become more self sufficient about making our own items and buying secondhand when possible. This has been reminding me of the World War II ‘Victory Garden’ campaign. When growing your own food and not wasting resources was considered patriotic, not to mention part of the war effort. In light of that patriotic proclamation, I am honoring Independence Day by featuring some of the wartime effort posters.
There is so much movement on the home front of people Guerilla Gardening, enlightening stories of Urban Agriculture, the popularity of Farmers Markets seems to be increasing. From a grass roots level, I am excited at the potential. Some research points that this is happening because of the recession, others say that the average person is becoming more informed and wanting to take control of what they put in their bodies and wanting to help the planet.
After reading books like The End of Food, Forks Over Knives and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved (one of my favorite books), then combine that with a number of documentaries I have watched like Foodmatters and Food, Inc., I found that my outlook on things in the food industry has changed, a lot. I recommend picking any one of those up at your local library, on Netflix or for your e-reader. You will find it definitely makes you think about what you are eating, where it is coming from and if it is sustainable over time.
With the internet at our fingertips, there are so many solutions to growing your own food, even a tiny garden on your back patio is possible. Consider this a challenge, try and grow some food, preserve some food or glean some food this summer. Many fruit trees and berries go to waste because no one harvested them. Does your neighbor have a fruit tree that they never pick? How about a berry patch near one of your favorite walking paths? What opportunities do you think you could take advantage of?
~Kera
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