The other day Zoya asked me what I thought about not buying any meat at Safeway and only eating meat that we harvested ourselves. With my love of frozen pizzas, sauages, and good steaks on the grill in mind, I think she thought I'd rebel at the idea. Instead I loved it.
The next day, Zoya admitted to going to the Taco Bell drive through and wondered if the no-meat idea was crazy...especially after she enjoyed the order of Nachos Bell Grande with the kids. But by then, I'd really embraced the idea, and it had evolved a bit in my mind. Rather than treating meat and vegetables differently we'd try and examine the source of all our foods. Local is better - off island is worse. Industrial meat production and industrial agriculture are both bad while small, local farm production is always good. Whether it's organic or not only comes into it marginally. In my excitement I re-invigorated Zoya about it too.
Know your sources will be our new mantra. Things we will consider about our sources: the amount of fossil fuels used to get our food to the table, whether or not the plant or animal lived a good, natural life before harvest, and the amount of packaging the food comes in. We also hope to cut back on meals at restaurants.
We will not get militant with the new diet - I think mystery meats in restaurants or at other people's house is fine. And hell, we need bell peppers even if they are grown on industrial farms in California and shipped at great cost to Kodiak. But I do plan on foregoing the frozen TV dinners with mystery meat included. Perhaps I'll still buy a free range turkey every now and then, and maybe even some grass fed lamb mmmm... But no pork breakfast sausage or California Strawberries from Safeway. I think you get the idea.
So what are we going to do about getting more food locally? I think I got the hunting and fishing thing down - meat or fish will not be a problem (and local seafood even if we did not catch it is fair game). I do plan on stepping up the garden a bit, but I actually already do pretty well there now. What I really want to do more of in the next year is gather local plants. When I'm in the field doing archaeology we routinely eat nettles, fireweed, dandelions, lambs quarter, fiddleheads, seaweed etc. They are all great tasting, plentiful and free. Best of all, they are available when our garden has not yet begun to produce.
So watch out when you come to our house for dinner - it might be Mountain Goat tenderloins, with garden potatoes and dandelions from the lawn.
Photos: The three local options, cooking nettles gathered from the field, digging potatoes from the garden, and butchering deer on the mountain. Patrick
6 comments:
Bravo! This is an important way of viewing what we consume. Making conscious choices is always a good idea, although - I do love cheese and that's a hard product to source well. Thanks for the great post!
Yeah, cheese, butter and oils - really fats in general, are all pretty hard to produce locally. And fish oil - at least the cod liver oil I remember as a kid Yuck.....Perhaps on my next goat hunting trip I'll try milking a nanny. Patrick
I've never had a bad meal at your house and for the most part I think we normally eat stuff you've killed or grown so I'm in complete support! Maybe someday I'll get motivated to put in a garden ....
Right now, in FLorida, I would be living on strawberries!
Well said!
When our family was younger and larger we ate a lot more of what we "brought home", rather than what we bought for home.
Now we are looking at that one acre farm we could use. I grew up eating what we grew. Granted on the island gardens are a challenge, but they are possible. We are also looking at a small hen house with some layers and some area aside for meat birds. Less lawn and more garden.
All these things will amount to more fresh and healthier food. However, they also constitute more time.
That is where I believe we run into the conflict. Time is the greatest challenge that homestead and subsistence living face.
It is to often more convenient to run to the local "whatever" to feed the family.
In reality one must choose to trade chasing the dollar for harvesting the fruits of labor.
Difficult these choices can be, but the greater reward is worth it.
More and more Alaskans must justify their desire for the subsistence lifestyle. Not because it is outdated, simply because the rest of the country has lost the ability to maintain that lifestyle.
I applaud any one who chooses to be less dependent on the consumer mentality this nation has developed.
Keep it up!
Peace
Thanks Griff! And time is a big factor. That's why I include subsistence in the entertainment part of the budget. Hunting is both entertainment/exercise and bringing in the groceries. Drive out the road for a family time hike - and pick up some lamb's quarter while you hike. I think too many people - especially down south - get the gym membership separately. Everything has an alloted time and there is less overlap (the kids to soccer practice mentality). Patrick
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