good food is pricey

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Choosing to commit to organic foods (in addition to the real foods we already mostly eat) is pricy. Especially now that I’ve been laid off and my severance pays out after this next paycheck. Ugh. By my calculations, our food budget will have to increase by 20-35% to accommodate organic staples (flour, sugar, eggs, cheese, juice). We’ve been buying organic produce as much as is practical for a while and our CSA share helps us keep our veggie intake up.

At the Hazon Conference, I really started to think about food justice too. A topic about which I knew NOTHING beyond Cézar Chávez and the grape/tomato picker strikes that I remember somewhere in the back of my mind but don’t really remember affecting me.

Anyway, today I’m making peach jam. Yum. And waiting for and babysitting the repair man. Our fridge is busted, thankfully the freezer part is still OK. We figure that the condiments are still eatable, as are the fruits, eggs, un-grated hard cheese, and veggies, but not the milk, yogurt or cheese. Ugh. At least we only had to toss maybe $20-30 worth of food, but that’s still $20-30 we don’t really have (again, I’m not working right now and Ben doesn’t make a whole ton of money).

Does anyone out there in the blog-o-sphere want to trade stuff for peach jam? Plum syrup? I can also offer canning lessons, challah making lessons, simple knitting lessons, and maybe help you with rearranging your home furniture or something? Trading my time for your stuff seems like a good deal for me since I have more time than money. Stuff… how about eggs? We could use some good eggs!

I’m totally babbling, bored and lonely. Ugh. Sorry, thanks for reading all the way to the end.

PS- at the conference I met some of the people behind the Real Food Challenge, they help students take back their school dining halls and encourage real, local, and organic food consumption from midsize local producers.

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food is important

Food is important, not just at weddings but for living! It’s one of the most basic things we need to live: food, shelter, water, and friends/love.

I’m kinda going through a personal discovery with food, learning that I want to make the food I eat be as good for both me and the planet as possible. I want to eat as sustainably, locally, and healthfully as possible. I have to admit, I’ve been completely sucked into Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Now I’ve even applied for a scholarship to attend Hazon, a conference on living sustainably with a Jewish focus.

Ben’s been away since last Wednesday and will be back on Friday. In the mean time I’m keeping myself busy by cooking (a lot), walking (all the way to Bonai and back!), and my unfortunate habit of shopping (nothing awful and all on sale). Oh, and I noodled a little on my viola a bit too, so I ordered a new A string. I might end up returning some of my new purchases, but I’m happy with most of them and have used some already.

I’m starting to sound like a product placement, but woohoo for my new Camelback! It’s a bit small (and cute!), but my torso is too short for the grown up sized bags and the kids ones are all 40-50 fl. That’s only enough water for 1-2 hours. The good news is that there’s enough room in the big pocket for a 1 liter (that’s another 40 oz), I just need to remember to freeze it first.

What else is going on this week? There’s a talk on Wednesday about bees at Bonai, Thursday is grocery shopping and CSA pickup, and Ben’s back on Friday evening. Oh, there’s a company potluck on Friday for lunch at work; I’m making dessert. Now I just need to find a way to keep busy tomorrow that doesn’t involve any shopping!

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