Monday, May 3, 2010

kermit lied - it IS easy being green! :)

ive been reading this wonderful book (that i HIGHLY recommend) by barbara kingsolver called animal vegetable miracle. its about a family that moves from arizona to the appalachians and decides to eat nothing but what they can get locally or grow themselves. its incredibly interesting, with short essays from her children, recipes, and tons of facts about the current food industry in america. which is a lot more appalling than you would think. ill tell ya, reading the first few chapters alone has me wanting to do the same thing. unfortunately, i like living in columbus too much - i am not a farm girl lol.

fortunately for me, thanks to firefox's handy dandy StumbleUpon feature, i just found this amazing website - 66 things you can grow at home without a garden! im surprised at just how many different foods can be grown in containers; before i found this site, i thought you could only grow herbs, and maybe tomatoes if you have one of those topsy turvy things (which i would totally have, were it not for the fact that our balcony gets zero sunlight). but yes, i am super excited about this find, and i plan on eventually having a great deal of this list growing in our little apartment :) i also need to find some good farmers markets in the area, to supplement what i dont end up growing. i also plan to visit my cousins pick-your-own strawberry farm regularly. i want to buy local organic produce (and meat and dairy if available) whenever possible. not only will it be cheaper, but it will taste about a million times better. i mean really, have you ever had a garden-fresh tomato thats still warm from the sun? it is AMAZING. makes those impostors you buy in the produce section of your grocery store seem absolutely flavorless and boring. thank god my dad had a small garden while my siblings and i were growing up. those tomatoes have spoiled me, i wont settle for less than the best now. and the best means local, organic, and fresh.

2 comments:

Christine said...

Mmm... now I want a salad!

You're the second person recently who's warned me about the food industry in America...

brenda said...

im tellin ya, you gotta read this book.