A "green" update

For those of you that have followed this blog since its beginnings...or for those of you that have know me (Jamie) well for some time, you know that I am always on the look-out for ways to "save the earth"! It all started when I lived in Costa Rica for four months (1996) ; I was amazed that there was so much publicity surrounding the care of the earth (ie. recycling, reusing, reducing waste, purchasing less). I was enlightened to the abusive, wasteful ways of my North American culture, and astonished at the dichotomy that posed for Latin American Christians, "How can one worship a God they believe is their creator and care-giver, and not take care of his creation?"

So I have tried my hardest over the years to be mindful of how I am "using" the earth. I have tried to educate myself more and ask myself the hard questions about how I am choosing to live. I have been so encouraged by the steps our city is taking as well to making it easier to do good things for the earth. I have posted weekly "green ideas" on the blog in the past. Most recently, I have tried to take steps to lessen my impact on the earth by purchasing food that is grown within a 100-mile radius (thus reducing the gasoline used to get it to me, and being able to know that the food was grown and harvested in a fair-trade, sustainable way).

If you are still reading (and interested), please know that I never say these things to pat myself on the back. I just like to share, and hope that others will be inspired by how easy it can be to make a big difference in our world!

So here's what's been happening on the "green" front at the Mack house...

January 1st I stopped buying anything new for myself (reducing waste and combatting consumerism)...clothing, make-up, "toys". I made it to our anniversary (June 28) when I decided to buy a new shirt, pants, and matching eye shadow for our date night. Although I haven't gone back to my previous buying frequency, I decided I needed a new challenge for myself.

So starting July 1, I decided that I would purchase/cook with only items grown and/or raised within a 100 mile radius for the entire month (inspired by the book, Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and One Raucous Year of Eating Locally). Hard to do? Actually, easier than you think. I purchased my milk, cheese, and butter from the Fresno State Farm Market (in the middle of the FSU campus), as well as all my meat (beef, pork, sausage, bacon, chorizo, etc). All my fruits and vegetables came from farmer's markets nearby (easy to do in the summer with all the peaches, plums, tomatoes, zucchini, cantaloupe, etc) or from my "box" that I receive from T.D.Willey Farms in Madera each week. My kids did miss bananas and carrots (already out of season). And yogurt from 100 miles was never found either. But on to the biggest challenge...grain! There are no commercial producers of grain on the west coast; most grain comes from the Midwest. So here was my catch...I allowed our family 3 things outside the 100-mile radius: (1) grains (bread and cereal primarily), (2) anything in my pantry I'd purchased before July 1, and (3) coffee. I didn't "stock up" before, as some of you may think. I made do and rationed. I only had a few cups of flour and sugar each, so baked goods were few and far between. When making a dessert I used 1/2 sugar, 1/2 honey (from Farmer's Market) to make do.

Although I did buy flour and sugar again the first week of August, my experiment helped me reflect on my eating habits, how many items I purchase without thinking twice about where it comes from or how it was grown, raised, or harvested and how that translates into a feeling of North American superiority (follow me here..."I can purchase and consume any item, in as big a quantity as I want no matter how the farming, harvesting, cultivating, and processing affects the land, the field workers, farmers, or animals."). It goes hand in hand with those notions that so permeate our culture, "I'm worth it.", "I deserve it.", or "I have the right to it."

But I digress. Since the first of August I have started thinking towards "stocking up" for the winter. Fruits (especially) will be out of season here in the valley; so, what to do? Well, picking, peeling, slicing and freezing about 150 pounds of apples is a start. Our friends, Max and Karen Bowser, have been gracious enough to share the fruits of their labor (literally) with us for the past few years in the form of apples every September. So, for the cost of a 40 mile round-trip to Biola (about $8 of gas) my friend Christa and I (with Violet, Charlotte, and Levi) filled 10 bags of apples and came home to make apple sauce and freeze apple slices for later as well. We also bought a crate full of peaches to do the same (peel and dice). We froze some, and also made fruit leather with pureed peaches and blackberries (picked by hand from Jessica Harper). YUM! Last week I made my own ricotta cheese with local milk and buttermilk. And last night I made my first batch of yogurt, also with local milk and honey! It all does take some time, but the trade off on the earth is well worth it...not to mention I'm saving good money on groceries (homemade ricotta and yogurt are both 1/2 the price).

Well, if you've read this entire post I commend you! I rarely take this much time to share so many of my personal thoughts...I'm usually more like a reporter of Mack family events. Which, speaking of, check back soon for pictures of Audrey and her huge recent accomplishment (no hints)!