On Becoming a Locavore!

That's it, I'm joining the latest green campaign, I'm going to become a locavore! What the heck is a locavore you ask? It's the new environmental movement to eat produce from within 100 miles of your home.

I already grow my own produce, so I'm within the 100 yards rule! I make my own pasta sauce, pickles, salsa, pickled beets and for fruit, frozen raspberries and raspberry wine, all from my backyard! That should keep us over the winter. For protein I will have to send my husband out deer hunting, if not deer, we have plenty of rabbits in the neighbourhood, so it's all good.

Now that I have joined the locavores, I want to push all my soul mates to expand the list to include more than just produce. Why restrict the 100 mile rule to only locally grown produce? I want all goods and services bought to be produced within the 100 mile limit! That rule includes AVON products, seeing as they are trying to be so environmentally friendly.  Some of the products environmentalists will be happy to see on the list are vehicles, oil and gas, energy, lumber, steel, clothes, shoes, furniture and appliances, computers....really the list is endless.

Seeing as capitalism is so bad, this should totally destroy those capitalist pigs! We know how Walmart buys most of it's products from China, so this rule would stop them in their tracks. Only people in southern Ontario would be able to own cars, but they can't get any gas within 100 miles, so that takes millions of cars off the road. Flying over the 100 mile limit would not be allowed, so get those bikes out and start heading to the next eco-party in South Africa...make sure you have a sailboat waiting when you reach the ocean. Remember, no oil or gas unless it's produced within 100 miles of your location, you could close the "dirty" oilsands down within days.

This will reduce our carbon foot print in no time.  I think I'm on the right track....but seems to be a really bleak dismal existence, maybe I'll rethink my becoming a locavore.

The 100 Mile Limit? Fess Up Whole Foods!

Whole Foods doesn't want to use Alberta oil. Well I have news for you, Ontario doesn't get their oil from Alberta, neither does Quebec, they get blood oil from the Mideast. The oil gets shipped over the ocean, in huge oil tankers that pollute the ocean and kill fish like seals and tuna and dolphins and whales. Nice.

Whole Foods is going to move into the GTA, because people living in condos want organic close by. Good for Whole Foods, only problem is that organic products are not within the 100 mile limit that eco-nuts have imposed on lefties.

Whole Foods to double its GTA footprint

“We looked at the longer traffic patterns of our customers, and that is when you start forming ideas of where to put a store,” she said.

“There is a growing awareness of where food comes from, and a growing need or desire for organic products. People know we are not an average grocery store.”
...
“There has been a migration to the 416,” said Ms. Evans. “With more people moving into condos and downtown living, these people want to have easy access to grocery stores and not have to schlep their groceries too far.”

But she says Whole Foods’ decision to turn to the suburbs is comparable to a more standard grocery chain’s decision to move downtown. In both cases, they are targeting areas underserved for their product.

“They had entered the urban market, that was their first store. They are looking at pastures that hopefully will be greener for them. The suburban customer really doesn’t have access to Whole Foods,” she said.

Growing awareness of where food comes from??? Are they kidding me? Hello urbanites, do you understand that food needs CO2, you know that POLLUTANT! Yikes, you better stop eating.

Here is a quick lesson. Our farmers plant seeds that sprout into plants that take in CO2 and give off oxygen. They grow better with more CO2, fertilizer and water. Then, to get rid of those yucky bugs, the farmers sometimes spray chemicals that kill the bugs but not the plants (or people), the plants can then continue to grow and end up on your plate. Now, for a veggie to be truly organic, no chemicals can be used, so watch out for the caterpillars in your cabbage and aphids on your herbs (they especially love dill, so watch out for those dill pickles you buy). Seeing as you are "growing aware of where your food comes from", don't be squeamish if your organic veggies contain the occasional slug, they really like lettuce.

Most concerning are the frozen dinners you buy because you have no time to actually cook anything from scratch. Read the labels. My rule is, if I can't pronounce it, it can't be good for you. Try it for one week, then you will see how stupid you are to pay extra for "organic" food, when you are stuffing your face with chemicals in all the frozen meals and canned goods you buy.

So, forget about the 100 mile limit. It's another scam just like global warming!

'Buy local' campaign is no help to environment

More heresy on the environmental correctness front.

The Montreal Economic Institute published a report today arguing that buying locally-produced food "is a poor indicator of a product’s impact on the environment and is thus not a valid way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

The authors, Pierre Desrochers and Hiroko Shimizu, write that there are "perfectly legitimate reasons" to buy products raised close to home, but, says Desrochers, “the supposed environmental benefits of buying locally just aren’t there.”

If you knew what a "free range" chicken ate, you wouldn't eat it. Better yet, really get with nature and go out to a farm and help kill a chicken for your meal, oh and you need to pluck it, and clean it too. Good luck with that! HA! While you are on the farm, why don't you muck out the barn (compost material), and feed the livestock.

Oh heck, that probably sounds like too much work, and it's disgusting too. But you idiots will pay twice as much for something that is labeled "organic" and Whole Foods knows that, they are playing you for suckers with their we won't use "dirty oilsands" but our food is organic so you can feel better by paying 2 times more for the same carrots. Try planting your own garden then you can observe the 100 foot rule and you can feel really really special because you grew it yourself.

Next time you go into Whole Foods ask them whether the strawberries you are buying are within the 100 mile limit, ask them that same question for every single item you buy there.

It's time for Whole Foods to fess up, I bet they do not observe the 100 mile rule.

100 Mile Rule? How About 10 Blocks?

I tried an experiment today to see if people are buying into the 100 mile rule for fresh produce. I put out a basket with fresh leaf lettuce in it and added a sign saying "Please take". As of 10:00 tonight, only two out of six bags has been taken. Guess people aren't as green as we have been told!

Off on holidays for a few weeks. Going to Kelowna, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, back to Kelowna and then home. We have booked a cabin on the island and also a 5 hour salmon fishing trip. Yumm! We are going to catch and eat!

After a week of untimely deaths and riots, I want to leave you for a few weeks, with a post that will calm your souls. Nothing calms mine more than gardening and gardens. This year everything is at least 3 weeks behind thanks to global cooling. By now my baskets should have been overflowing with flowers, maybe in the time we are gone they will pick up the pace. Thankfully I have a wonderful neighbour who watches over my baskets for me.

The journey so far:

The sprouts, still being coddled inside.


What I did with them when I booted them outside:

1. Moss baskets, they take a long time to put together, but they are much more natural than plastic baskets.


2. A homemade fountain and various pots surrounding it.


3. This is a very busy place. My old wagon crashed on the rocks, and was abandoned by all but the gnome. The fountain has attracted all manner of animals, from ducks to frogs to ship Captains. It seems everyday I find something to add to the pond.


4. Another gnome has found a home on our bench along with some baskets that are just starting to bloom.


5. I go to garage sales to get my baskets. It just so happened that I collected some baby furniture, and it makes great planters and a fun theme for one corner of the yard.


6. Remember Rigger not being allowed into the veggie garden when we were planting it?


7. Well, this is the garden now, the potatoes are flowering and I am hoping that we will have beans (green and yellow) by the time we get back. New baby potatoes and fresh beans with salmon....Yummm!!


Those are not weeds in the garden, that is dill, and I am taking 32 sandwich bags full of it to my family in Kelowna. It is easy to freeze and it retains most of its flavour even frozen. Dill and salmon and lemon...hungry yet?

Take a break, relax, forget about politics. I will be back soon, hopefully with a picture of a huge salmon I caught!