Shortly after I woke up I got Hungry. Dinner was at 6:30 last night and nearly 15 hours later I was ready to EAT. When I peered into the fridge I saw Tate had left me the bottom of his bowl of oats to work with. He headed to work before I woke and it appears he overestimated his breakfast needs this morning. Lucky for me, Tate eats his oats super plain so I had a blank canvas with which to work. I added peaches from the freezer, walnuts (and a rogue almond), flax seeds, cinnamon, ground ginger, a sprinkle of salt, and another few spoons of raw oats (there was barely half a serving left). The result was delicious and I promptly scarfed it down. I also ate the last bits from the yogurt container with more cinnamon, I love how cinnamon brings out the natural sweetness in plain yogurt.
Time to go grocery shopping! When we are out of eggs, yogurt, and veg around here a trip to the store is eminent. At the Harvest Fest on Saturday we learned about this grocery company, Relay Foods, where you shop online and have your loot delivered to your house (additional fees) or to a weekly drop-off spot. The company has paired with many grocery stores (Whole Foods, Rebecca’s Natural Foods, etc.), local bakeries, and, this is the best part, farms. For the most part the products are priced the same as if you were to buy them in-store. Their trucks run on bio-diesel and they seem to be making every effort to be a green company. When I learned about this company I really wanted to love it. Time efficient, energy efficient, cost efficient, what’s not to like? Problem is I really like grocery shopping! The other problem is that, as far as I can tell, you can’t read the labels. I think we will give it a try though, you get your first home delivery for free and we also received a $5 off coupon at the fest so we can’t go wrong, I will just order products that I know are free from junky additives.
So we saw Ralph Nader speak at UVA last night. I was all ready to be inspired and I suppose I was but it is a mild sense of inspiration. I felt like he was all over the place a little bit and not the most charismatic speaker ever. I have a lot of respect for him and his determination and outspokenness but overall it was the 14th century Chinese proverb he opened with that resonated with me and not his own words.
“To know and not do is not to know” -Loa Tzu
One area of my life where this rings true is putting my money where my mouth is. I believe in organic and yet I often still cheap out when I am faced with two choices at the store. I wrote out my dirty dozen and clean fifteen crib sheet last month and have gotten better at referring to it and choosing to pay more (not ALWAYS the case but usually) or not purchase.
I want to bring your attention to grapes in particular. Imported grapes are on the dirty dozen but U.S. grown are not, so it stands to reason that imported wine is also really high in pesticides. DRINK LOCAL! This is also an environmental choice, wine bottles are heavy and take a lot of fuel to travel from Argentina, Italy, or France. Just another reason I am excited to live in Charlottesville, wine country! I am thinking this weekend may call for an excursion in that direction…
The house is coming along, it has gotten to the fun decorating point rather than the OVERWHELMING stages of last week.
It has been fun to unpack some of our goodies that were stored away since December ’08, like this wall hanging we bought on our Asian honeymoon in 2007
And wedding pictures, of course
And a salad bowl I bought while living in Peru
Tate and I were on the hunt for a hutch since we decided to buy the house (our kitchen is rather small and we needed more cabinet space), and low and behold, we found one in my papa’s shed! It was a bit rough when we spotted it but after some sanding and painting I think it looks pretty good!
And it fit perfectly!
We are looking for a wine rack to fit in the bottom.
I finally have a home for my mother!
My kombucha mother! This little lady has traveled with my since we left my sister’s in Portland mid-July. I thought I may have killed her by leaving her in the hot moving truck but the women at the Fermentation Station at the Harvest Festival reassured my that it is quite resilient (like all mothers!) and should be fine. Today I will brew!
Have an amazing Tuesday!
Hi Faith. I wish local grapes had fewer pesticides, but unfortunately it’s not so. Virginia grapes, especially, get huge amounts of fungicides and pesticides because the area is home to just about every known grape pest or disease. Many European (especially French) wines are organic, but they don’t necessarily say so on the label, so you have to do some snooping to figure it out (good wine sellers generally know). There is a “natural wine” movement right now, but I think it’ll be a while before it comes to Virginia. Will has all sorts of ideas about growing grapes naturally around here, but it’ll be years before we know if any of his ideas pan out. 😉
Thanks Rebecca!
Why is it than that the pesticide lists always mention that imported grapes are “dirtier”? Is it because most imported table grapes are from Chile and Chile has serious pesticide usage?
Yes, I think you’re onto it. I definitely avoid South American wines (unless specifically organic) because of the contamination.