Sweet rewards
Rain, blessed rain. I never thought the day would come when I would say such a thing.
As I’ve said, we dug a garden from scratch this year (with the permission of our landlords, of course – they had room to spare on the four acres of land). We weeded, had a very nice man till it for us, and planted it full of all sorts of vegetables – carrots, peas, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, and a few jalapeno pepper plants just for fun.
Then it came time to water it.
For the life of us, we could not find a faucet on the outside of the house to connect the hose to. So, while we waited for our landlords to tell us where it was, we hauled watering cans of water from the house to the garden – 9 trips each evening.
Well, they got back to us. No faucet. Beautiful house…but no faucet.
Le sigh.
We’ve had a rainy few days and so far have a few more rainy ones forecasted. For the first time ever, my sore arms and pregnant belly are grateful for the rain, as every shower saves me nine trips of lugging a heavy watering can to the garden.
Ah, but how sweet the rewards will be – homegrown vegetables…and nicely toned arms.
I feel loved
Spring? What spring? It went straight from winter to summer here in about a week. I’m not complaining! The boy and I have been going for long walks and playing in the park – well, to be more accurate, we’ve been sitting in the park. My beautiful little non-walker has issues with touching both the grass and the sand which he has yet to get over. I guess I should count my blessings – in time I’m sure I’ll wish he would stay in one spot for even a few seconds!
Anyway, this warm weather has finally brought the return of yet another wonderful summer event – the organic farmers’ market.
Granted, ours is a year-round market, but unfortunately I’ve been car-less this winter (my husband takes our car to work on Saturdays) and just couldn’t convince myself to make the cold trip by bus. So I slightly shame-facedly started shopping at our local grocery store again, still buying organic and avoiding processed foods whenever possible.
Did our grocery bill ever jump! Apparently I am an impulse shopper and am not safe anywhere that offers more than the farmers’ market does. What’s that, lemon meringue pie? Why, don’t mind if I do! Brownies? Toss ‘em in! Sugar-filled juices and iced tea? Heck yes!
Well, today I decided that it’s warm now, I have no excuse not to take the bus to the farmer’s market each Saturday. I kinda-sorta-justalittlebit hoped it would rain, but alas, it’s another beautiful day.
After making a mad dash to the ATM to pick up cash, we caught the first bus, my son cuddled on my front in a mei tai and my denim bag loaded with plastic bags. We got off one stop too late, ending up on the wrong side of the road…and missed our transfer by a few incredibly irritating seconds.
Harumph.
We walked part of the way, then sat at a bus stop and waited so as not to miss the next bus too. Finally we made it to the nearest intersection and walked the rest of the way, stopping on a patch of gorgeously green grass to move the boy from my front to my back.
First stop, the fish the lady. She remembered us! She commented on how big the boy is now, then sold us our usual salmon. We worked our way through the market – raw crackers for munching, sprouts for wraps and fake sushi, kale for green smoothies, apples, potatoes, and soup – then went to get the rest of the meat (yes, we’re still very happy meat-eaters, and my husband just reminded me the other day that he fully intends to stay that way).
The beef man and lady remembered us! We picked up a few different cuts of beef along with the obligatory whole wheat cinnamon bun.
The chicken man remembered us! We picked up chicken breast and pork chops.
I felt so loved.
And I forgot what a great atmosphere the farmers’ market is! Everyone offering to help you with this or with that, grinning at your kid instead of giving you a weird look for wearing him, smiling and talking cheerfully – and all sorts of guilt-free deliciousness just waiting to be snatched up!
After downing a glass of delicious green juice, we headed back to wait for the bus. All in all, a very successful trip and for about half the price we’d been spending at the grocery store all winter. Going by bus turned out to be no problem at all – looks like we’ll be resuming our weekly trip to the farmers’ market. Ah, summer. How I love thee.
Do you know your local farmer?
So I’ve been working on improving our eating – and shopping – habits for a while now. I had been buying nearly all of our food from a local organic farmer’s market, but unfortunately when the deep winter hit I just couldn’t keep it up anymore. Back to the supermarket (and, consequently, higher food bills) for us. Le sigh. I still tried to buy as much organic and unprocessed food as I could. I was thrilled when our supermarket started stocking “free from” meat, which claims to be raised without antibiotics, etc etc. I can’t say I have a huge amount of faith in it, but it’s an improvement nonetheless.
I’ve been reading as much as I can on nutrition in the meantime. I am amazed at the power of a simple change in diet to completely turn around one’s life, particularly in children. So much of what is currently labeled as attention deficit disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, learning disorders, and just plain misbehaviour could be entirely “cured” by a few changes in the way the child eats. It’s sad to think how many children are put on medications instead.
One excellent book I’ve read recently is Grub (they have a website here), which really drove home for me the importance of not only eating organic and whole, but also local. As such, I’ve been scouring the local farmers’ webpages looking for a steady source of meat, dairy, eggs and produce. I’ve been considering Community Supported Agriculture, but I’m not entirely convinced as that would only get us through the 17 week harvest season, leaving us with 35 other weeks during which we would have to find another supplier. I would prefer to find one or two farms and buy from them year-round.
Eating local would also mean eating more of what’s in season and less of what is not. Up here in frozen Canada, that’s not so much fun. I’ve been having long, drawn-out fantasies of moving to California and having an abundance of great produce “in season” year-round. But for now I live in Canada, not California, so the winter months will require a fair bit more creativity.
My priority right now is eating whole foods, mostly organic, and, when possible, buying local.
Aside from whole, organic, and local, I’ve also been working on eating more raw foods. I’m not (right now) interested in going 100% raw – I’m not even interested in becoming vegetarian or vegan – but I know that adding more raw foods is definitely a step in the right direction. And so I’ve started having a “green smoothie” for breakfast or lunch each day. My current favourite is (roughly) a cup of frozen sliced strawberries, one and a half bananas (my son gets the leftover half), a big handful of spinach leaves, and a half cup of water. Delicious.
Frozen blueberries with banana and spinach is also good.
And, just for fun, last night’s dinner – crock pot carrots, potatoes and chicken. Yum.
Baby Steps
The other day I picked up a spray bottle from the Dollar Store, mixed together 1 cup water and 1 cup vinegar, and cleaned my bathroom.
It’s not much, but it’s a start. When I was done, I was able to go pick up my son without worrying about my hands being covered in chemicals. The house didn’t smell like harsh cleaners. I wasn’t worried about what my family was inhaling.
Baby steps.
I’ve also been faithfully going to the organic farmers market every Saturday to pick up meat and produce for the week.
This week marked a milestone – it was the first week that I didn’t need to make a second trip to the grocery store to pick up additional groceries that I couldn’t get at the farmers market.
When I first started buying more organic and less processed foods, it seemed horribly expensive at first. But now that we’ve been doing it for about a month, I find that I’m actually spending less on groceries. I think mainly this is due to less trips to the grocery store, where all sorts of extra foods always mysteriously make their way into the shopping cart. Now, if I have to go, I go only to pick up a few very specific things. Our meals seem more well-rounded and definitely healthier now.
My fridge and freezer are satisfyingly full. We have fish, chicken, and beef. We have potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers. We have strawberries, blackberries, blueberries. We have eggs, cheese, and orange juice. (We also have milk, but it is admittingly not organic. I just can’t bring myself to pay the same amount for 1L of organic milk as I would normally pay for 4L or non-organic milk. I just can’t.)
What more could we need?
Tonight I’m making a salmon and fruit salad. Grilled salmon served on top of lettuce, cucumbers, strawberries, mandarine orange slices and a sprinkle of blueberries. Perfect for a gloriously warm Labour Day weekend.
Last night I made banana bread. Yum.
The night before, we had soft tacos for dinner. We made our own soft taco shells. They tasted so good, much better than store bought ones.
So that’s our progress so far. They may just be baby steps, but they’re still steps forward.
hippiehousewife