It is time for a confession.  I didn’t send a single ‘thank you’ note for any of my wedding presents.  I know it is terrible and I felt awful about it.  There was good reason that I didn’t, considering that life kind of took a difficult turn around ‘thank you’ card writing time.  Then, the more time passed the better those ‘thank you’ cards had to be.  It was too much.  So, after 3 years of being married I finally threw that list and burden out.

However, I knew that I did not want to be a repeat offender when it came to sending thank you notes for my baby shower.  This time around the ‘thank you’ cards were not only existent, but they were timely, handmade, pretty awesome, and sustainable.  We made postcards by block printing onto an old Gwen Frostic calendar that I cut down to size.

Want to see?

It was a tag-team effort by me and Kendall and I love the way they turned out.

Lately, I have found myself struck by the curiosity of the global system we have created regarding the exchange of goods.  (Well, to be honest I started this post two years ago, so…by “lately” I mean on and off for the past couple of years.)  We have so effectively integrated the global trade of goods into every aspect of our lives that most of us have lost the knowledge of what can actually be produced locally (from start to finish) based on the raw goods that our surrounding environment can naturally produce.  Besides food, much of what gets stamped with the “local” label is only referring to the assembly/production of the good, but, not that its entire constitution is comprised of that which was locally sourced.

I am currently reading, The World Without Us.  In it, Alan Weisman makes a comment regarding the cessation of human nomadic behavoir, “Food now migrates to us, along with luxury goods and other consumables that never existed through most of human history.”  Before we developed the practice of agriculture we had to travel to food, then we lived side-by-side with food, growing and then harvesting it.  It is only relatively recently that we have been able to bring food to us and yet, the majority of people living in a developed country now daily eat a diet of “fresh” food that travels to us from hundreds to thousands of miles away.  This is not to mention that processed food/drink has made its way to practically every corner of the world: The Coca-Cola Company’s 2008 Year in Review shows that per capita consumption of their beverages is up for each of their highlighted geographic regions (Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Pacific).

I am not naive.  Well… I am, but not completely.  There are so many things that I would have a hard time changing (uh-hmm, shampoo.  I am not sure how my already difficult and frizzy hair would react to homemade shampoo) or completely giving up (mmm…chocolate) if Kendall and I ever decided to take a “live off of our land” approach.  While, we currently have no land to “live off of”, there are things that I could give-up that, as of right now, I have chosen not to.  And to be honest, I can’t see myself ever going 100% local, but over the past couple of years I have been working towards educating myself to the origin of what I buy and choosing to buy local, especially when the option to do so is available.

The decision to buy local is not just about the gas miles, although that is an important aspect of it. For me, it has more to do with being connected. I have talked about this before and the more I begin to live my life this way the more convinced I am of its truth. Time and energy is spent debating standards, certifications, and labels and I understand why this has become necessary and why in many ways it is or can be good.  However, I have decided to use standards, certifications, and labels as a place to begin the conversation. Going out to farms, volunteering, and talking with farmers about their values, ideology, and practices tells me more of the information I want to know than any label can.  The chocolate I buy is made by Theo Chocolate here in Seattle.  It is “the only organic, fair trade, bean-to-chocolate factory in the United States”.  When my parents were in town for the shower last month we took a tour of the factory and I feel like I know so much about the company, their values, the locations they source their cocoa beans from, and the artisan methods they use to produce the chocolate.  Standards, certifications, labels, and terms point me in the right direction but they don’t always get me to where I want to be.  Doing research and interacting with people and companies is usually what ends up making the biggest informational difference.  I should note, that it helps that for the most part these are small, local businesses that I am interacting with.  I should also note, that one of the things that makes this process a little more difficult is that I am trying to find local businesses that use sustainable practices.

For those of you interested in taking this step here are a few suggestions to get you on your way:

1. Pick a starting place.  Prioritize what area of your consumer life that you would like to begin to “localize”.
2. Food is usually the easiest place to start buy local.
3. Try to find organizations that already focus on local products.  Farmer’s markets and Grocery Co-ops often sell more than just local produce.  Often you can find meat, dairy products, eggs, pastries, soap, and many other local artisan crafts at these places. These organizations have already done the work of gathering local goods for you, take advantage.  If you are looking for something in particular you can ask around at these places and you will often get a very helpful, knowlege-based response, even if it is not the one you want to hear.  Consignment stores are also a great place to find local goods.  I have found that independently owned, local bookstores are usually owned and staffed by people involved in the community around them.  Go out to places that you will find locally-minded people and you will often find people that already have a wealth of information that they are more than willing to share.
4. Talk to people in your community.

I also wanted to provide you with a few books as resources.  Most of the books I found are focused on food; so, I tried to find some that were not about food that were at least close to the topic of local.  If, anyone has other books to recommend please let us know in the comments.  Also, there are a lot of eating local cookbooks out there for those of you interested.

Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets

Eat Where You Live: How to Find and Enjoy Fantastic Local and Sustainable Food No Matter Where You Live

Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally

The Hundred Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

I bought this book about 10 days before I found out I was pregnant.  There has always been this deep need that regularly manifests itself to me, through daydream, to have a simple place of my/our own to retreat to.  A place of solitude.  Of simplicity.  And of nature.  At the time we were looking for land to buy that could meet my desire for separation from the world and Kendall’s desire for running water.  I would go to the library and read through every issue regarding green, prefab buildings hoping that within a year or two we would be able to plop one down and call it our place of rest.  So, it is no surprise that after reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food and loving it, that I put A Place of My Own on my wishlist and bought it for my birthday.

However, a couple of things transpired at once resulting in my daydreams of a place near a river, in the woods, with running water having to be put on hold.  The biggest event being news of the pending baby.  This also meant that the second bedroom that had been Kendall’s office for so long, which, he had recently vacated after getting the opportunity to rent a space with a great community of guys, and which, I had begun to transition into a studio that would function as a room of my own where I would create, write, and relax would now be needed for baby.  This room of mine, which I had been so excited about, was such a big deal that it was often the one of the first things that people remarked about when finding out I was pregnant.  Yet, the realization that I was going to have a baby only served to reinforce the fact that having a space of my own was important and from the beginning I decided that me and Baby would share that room.

With the swift reality of my “place” being significantly downgraded to “space” (still a luxury I know), compounded with my morning sickness making reading anything but out of the question, it is only now that I have picked up and read A Place of My Own (and that only at Kendall’s strong encouragement).  It is curious then, given my new circumstances, that I quickly came to feel, even while still in the midst of the preface, that this book may be more timely for me now than it was when I bought it.

It’s a book about significant turnings in the season’s of one’s life.  It is about the need for that which is concrete and tangible.  Pollan needed a physical structure in which he could work out his internal stirrings.  He needed a place to daydream.  For, “[w]ithout its daydreams, the self is apt to shrink down to the size and shape of the estimation of others.”  As someone with a very active internal world, this connection between the intangiblity of thoughts and the reality of the physical made sense to me.  I need a physical space that provides me with the freedom to mentally explore and one that also has the ability to reconnect myself and my thoughts to the physical world when I come back down.

In mid-July my sister, Kathryn, threw me the greatest baby shower.  It definitely did not/would not fall into the traditional baby shower category, but that is part of what I loved about it.  She made it custom.  Just for me.  I love that what mattered most to her was that I felt comfortable, loved, and celebrated and not that the shower follow an etiquette that she knew was not important to me.  Over the years I have found that to be known and cared for by someone does not happen easily or often.  Therefore, when someone in my life takes the time to invest so steadily and deeply as my sister has it really means the world to me.

A huge part of who I am, as you may have gathered from this site, has to do with my desire to live my life in a way that hopefully leaves the world at least a little better than I found it.  This means caring for the Earth and the people living in it.  Since, Kathryn managed to put together something very special that, more than anything else, made me feel cared for and known by incorporating my values (including these ones) I wanted to share a little bit of the day with you.

For those who like stories:

The shower was a relaxed picnic that took place at my favorite beach here in Seattle.  The day before, she and I headed out to the farmer’s market to pick out fresh, local and organic fruits and vegetables.  We left the market, our bellies stuffed with all sorts of delicious samples, bags of fresh produce, and some cherries that were gifted to us by a farmer.  Kathryn then transformed our loot into a delicious spread that we all enjoyed at the shower with the sun over head, grass under feet, and a beautiful scene of Mt. Rainer and Lake Washington before us.

In the evite, Kathryn requested that the presents come unwrapped because babies love trees too.  This also served the double purpose of keeping me out of the gift-unwrapping-spotlight.  What unfolded next was so much better than the usual formal unwrapping of presents.  It casually began with someone wanting to show me what they brought and ended with all of us sitting under the shade of a tree, exploring and passing around the various gifts.  We then lazed around chatting until friends dispersed and then we packed up and headed on our merry way.

For those who like lists:

Here is a list of the ways that Kathryn made the shower an event that treaded lightly on this Earth that we are trying to protect for our little one so that he can play freely and safely.

1. The table center pieces were potted plants from a local nursery (which I got to take home!).
2. We used real silverware.
3. The napkins were square pieces of fabric that she cut out using pinking shears to keep them from fraying with the idea being that I could then sew them into a quilt for our baby boy.  (I thought this idea was genius!!!!)
4. For glasses we used cleaned out mason jars.
5. We used serving platters that we had around the house.
6. Saved glass milk jugs with corks served to hold our drinking water.
7. The food was bought from local, organic farmers.
8. Invitations (which were adorable) were sent using evite to save on paper.
9. Presents came unwrapped and I loved that those who couldn’t bear to bring a gift unwrapped they brought it in a reused gift bag or a reusable grocery bag.
10. Finally, my own little tip:  we registered using alternative git registry which really allowed us to customize what we registered for to fit our lifestyle.  For example, we were able to register for used or organic baby clothes, give a few suggestions for where to get them, and add the quantity we needed.

Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make this day special; and a very special thank you to Kathryn.

I am often asked why people should compost.  My general answer has been because it is better for the environment and then I usually say something about how organic materials do not break down well in landfills.  My attempt to find a better answer to this great question led me to the book Garbage Land written by Elizabeth Royte.  I want to first disclose that while I made my way through the majority of the book, I was unable to finish it before it was due to return to the library.  I will however share with you what I was able to learn from my limited reading.  Care to hear?  Well, to get your mouth watering, your mind turning, and your hands eager to make change I present you with a brief (and by no means thorough) list of reasons WHY:

1. Limited Space:  So, when your garbage leaves your possession–as it does with your neighbors and their neighbors…–it eventually makes it way (after a few stops) to a landfill.  Now the current system encourages the public towards an out of sight, out of mind approach to garbage.  Sanitation workers come by weekly to remove garbage from our presence and after that occurs we no longer have to think about it, and because we do not have to, we don’t.  For this reason we have no comprehension of the vast amount of garbage we individually and collectively create.  We have, as a group, become disconnected from the waste process. Let us try to get reconnected. To do so we must think.  1.  If everyone produces as much or more waste as you do AND 2.  All that waste gets put in landfills AND 3.  We know that even organic matter will not break down in your lifetime or even in many lifetimes (The book goes over why organic material doesn’t break down in landfills.  It basically has to do with the vacuum that landfills create, keeping out oxygen, a necessary component of decomposition) AND 4.  There is a limited amount of land space then, what is going to happen?  We will run out of room and the out of sight, out of mind mentality will no longer be a possibility or our means of disposal will need to be more creative.  This leads me to the next reason….
2. Poor neighborhoods get stuck (or are paid to get stuck with) the stink.  So, it turns out that not everyone has the luxury of not being impacted by garbage.  Once, it gets put in the bin and placed on the curb it becomes public property.  Yet, it does not become the burden of all.  It often becomes the burden of those already marginalized and/or in need of financial assistance.
3. Large amount of gas is used as fuel-inefficient sanitation vehicles transport increasing amounts of material (garbage).
4. Fossil fuels are used to make fertilizer when compost could be used.  5.5 gallons/acre of land (p. 125)
5. Organic material gets mixed with toxic material and goes from having the potential of being nutrient rich soil (see #4) to being polluted by toxic substances that are also being deposited in the landfill (such as, that bottle of nail polish remover you threw out).  In some cases, depending on the design of the landfill, apples have been found intact decades after finding a “resting place” in a landfill.
6. AND….my contribution to The List…..the cycle of life.  This is not to be taken lightly, especially given the fact that it has existed since life on Earth began.  A perfect example of this is the Amazon Rainforest whose rich biodiversity depends on the “life –> death –> decomposition –> life” cycle.  (A side note:  the soil of the Amazon Rainforest independent of this cycle is actually not all that nutrient rich.  When parts of the Amazon Rainforest are clear cut for timber and/or cattle ranches within a few years the soil is becomes dry, depleted of nutrients, and thus no longer is able to produce much vegetation.)

There you have it.  A few reasons to begin composting your organic waste, as well as incentive to decrease the amount of overall waste you produce.

As for Garbage Land, I would definitely recommend giving this book a read.  Be aware (but not discouraged) that this is no easy book to process as it is packed with information–history, research, studies, interviews, book references, etc., but Royte does a applaudable job presenting it in an interesting manner.

I really want to write about this book (isn’t the cover pretty and Parisian?), but I have not been sure about whether this is the right “space” is for me to do so.  But, I decided to do it anyway because this is my blog and I can.  Also, because I figured that Molly Wizenburg is a local Seattle writer and this space supports and encourages, supporting and encouraging that which is local.

As of right now I am 18 weeks pregnant (about 5 months in non-pregnant terms) and I have for the entirity of that time had a particularly ugly strain of morning sickness.  After a few weeks of acupuncture I have finally arrived at the point where I am regularly able to keep some food down.  I am now also able to read without getting sick.  These two pieces (which many individuals take for granted, my former self included) are essential when wanting to read and enjoy a book about food.  This is exactly what I have been doing.

I wish I could tell you the recipes are good.  But.  I can’t.  However, this is only because I lack experience of eating them and not because my experience tells me that they are not.  While I have arrived at a place where food and having to eat it to survive is no longer the worst part of being alive, the recent improvements have not included the blessing allowing my diet to stray far from tomato sandwiches and apples without consequences.  I am still hopefully waiting for that to be bestowed.

For now, I daydream.

Kendall and I were hooked after reading the introduction.  So much of what we enjoy doing together includes creating meals, sharing food with others, and eating.  Food has always played as big a role in our life-memories as anything else.  This is probably why we loved this book.  This book gets us, and we get it.  It is an autobiography that uses food to help better tell the story.  As a bonus, Molly shares the recipes which will, only naturally, become folded into our story.

I have read the book from start to almost finish (I have only a few pages left) and I have enjoyed it deeply.  In the process, I have learned that I ought not read this book before bed because it ends in me talking Kendall’s ear off about all the foods I miss eating and all the new ones I cannot wait to try.  It especially makes me miss my dad’s stew, the one he serves with mashed potatoes, some good bread, and usually a salad with homemade dressing.  There is also the spaghetti sauce that my mom made when we were growing up and that I continue to make.  This is a pasta that has to be served with spaghetti noodles.  I will eat it no other way.

Soon, me and food will get caught up and it will be glorious.  Until then, I will finish reading Molly’s book and daydream.

Today I am sharing with you a video that has repeatedly challenged and inspired me.

In Praise of Self-Deprecation

The buzzard has nothing to fault himself with.

Scruples are alien to the black panther.

Piranhas do not doubt the rightness of their actions.

The rattlesnake approves of himself without reservations.

The self-critical jackal does not exist.

The locust, alligator, trichina, horsefly

live as they live and are glad of it.

The killer whale’s heart weighs one hundred kilos

but in other respects it is light.

There is nothing more animal-like

than a clear conscience

on the third planet of the Sun.

- Wislawa Szymborska

There is a weird rabbit guy at the Farmer’s Market and by weird rabbit guy I mean, the guy who sells honey that has the Flemish Giant rabbit. I have heard so much about this rabbit and I have never even bought honey from the guy or even gone up to his stand to peruse his goods.  I love honey, especially local honey, but I so d.r.e.a.d. getting stuck in a conversation about his giant rabbit that I am completely deterred from approaching his stand.  Thus, it was to my surprise that last Sunday as I was walking through the market the sound of his voice caused me to slow my steps (yet, despite my curiosity, habit would not allow me to bring myself to a full halt).

It was the content of his words that caught my attention?

What in fact caught my attention was that his voice which carried farther than one might hope was talking not about his rabbit, but about bees.  The sentence that almost-stopped-me-in-my-tracks-but-not-quite was, “In the past two years I have lost $91,000 worth of bees.”

What is causing the disappearance of bees?  Have you heard this question being asked?  Sitting here at 1am, the question has the feel of a Steven King movie.  Unfortunately though, it is true.  The bees are disappearing and so are backyard birds though not necessarily for the same reasons.

The bees first:

The disappearance of bees is officially called colony collapse disorder (CCD).  The peculiarity behind this phenomenon is that bee researchers don’t know what has happened to the bees, although there has been speculation that it is the result of pathogens.  However, the only known is that colonies are abandoning their hives and disappearing, leaving no trace of dead bees anywhere.  In this process the adults are leaving the hives, while the queen bee and a few younger bees in the pupa stage are left behind.  To add another puzzling clue to the mystery is the fact that no pests or other bees are invading the hives affected by CCD.  Bee losses are between 30-60% on the West Coast, while on the East Coast and in Texas there are losses of up to 70%.

The loss of honey bees does not only present problems for our honey supply.  Honey bees are a vital part of our ecosystem, particularly as pollinators.  Without bees to pollinate fruit crops we can have no fruit.  According to the USDA about 1 out of every 3 bites we consume is dependent upon honey bees for pollination.  In addition to the foundational loss of honey and food that we rely on, the structure within which those products are traded will also be negatively impacted.  Unfortunately, the decline of honey bees will cause the global economy to suffer.  While honey bees are not completely gone, the $14 billion worth of seeds and crops pollinated by honey bees annually in the United States alone will certainly be affected.

Some possible causes of the disappearance of honey bees are: pesticides, stress put on the bees by a shorter off-season, stress of having their colonies transported across the country, mites, insecticides, or a yet unidentified pathogens.

The Birds:

Audubon’s unprecedented analysis of forty years of citizen-science bird population data from our own Christmas Bird Count plus the Breeding Bird Survey reveals the alarming decline of many of our most common and beloved birds.

Since 1967 the average population of the common birds in steepest decline has fallen by 68 percent; some individual species nose-dived as much as 80 percent. All 20 birds on the national Common Birds in Decline list lost at least half their populations in just four decades.  National Audubon Society

Some of the reasons that are thought to be causing the decline in a wide range of common backyard birds are:

• urban sprawl: the habitats of these birds (grasslands, forests, and wetlands) are being destroyed as an increasing amount of vegetation is destroyed and replaced with homes, non-indigenous landscaping, strip malls, parking lots, highways, and energy development.  The ecosystem that these birds once thrived in has been transformed, in no time at all, into an inhospitable environment.
• Climate Change: climate change is changing the seasonal calendar.  The internal clocks of the birds have not been notified of this shift.  Thus, if Winter lasts a couple weeks or a month longer than they biologically anticipated then the birds and their chicks are unable to sustain themselves without the nourishment provided by Spring.  Additionally, in some northern climates:

Greater Scaup and other tundra-breeding birds are succumbing to dramatic changes to their breeding habitat as the permafrost melts earlier and more temperate predators move north in a likely response to global warming. Boreal forest birds like the Boreal Chickadee face deforestation from increased insect outbreaks and fire, as well as excessive logging, drilling, and mining.

• Intensification of Agriculture: farming in general has a negative impact on animals, including birds, as land is stripped in order to grow crops and again, as tractors sweep through to harvest.  As the demand for food rises with the growing population more land is needed to grow food.  Although all farming has its animal casualties, industrialized farming is especially harmful.  The single production of crops has a negative impact on the ecosystem as it limits biodiversity.  Additionally, the enormous quantities of pesticides and herbicides that are used in this form of farming are devasting to the life surrounding the farm.  Birds (and other animals) will invariably ingest these toxins which are incredibly harmful to their health and life.

Image courtesy of cgfan’s photostream

This is a somewhat philosophical post that I have been wanting to write for awhile. We have moral obligations to not take advantage of injustice when at all possible. I began thinking about this in detail when I first started being aware of fair trade coffee and the rights of workers.

Coffee gave me something that was really easy for me to get my head around because there is no situation in which this would ever fall under the category of a need. Never, in any sort of seriousness, could I say that I needed coffee. It is a luxurious want. Because I view it as such, there would never be any circumstance in which I could justify supporting any company treating their workers badly and paying them an unlivable wage.

This is where people begin to object to this argument. Two common objections are:

1. I am not supporting anyone. I am just buying coffee.
2. It is better that “they” have this job that pays “them” very little than no job at all.

To the first objection I say this, we do not live in a world where we are just individual islands that have no positive or negative effect on each other. We are individuals who are connected–we affect and are affected by each other. We live, operate, and spend money in a market economy.  If there is a demand for a good (coffee) by the consumer (us) then the seller will continue to sell the good that is being demanded so long as it is profitable.

The second objection presents a false dilemma.  The options available to us are not support slave labor OR abandon those who are slaves to their current situation.  Those are two options, but in addition to these there is at least one more: help change the harmful structures to which people are bound.