Cultivating My Inner Tree

And what does your food really cost? I found a nice video online that shares some of the stats and points around why eating locally is a growing concern in our oil-dependent economy. You could read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Delimma or his other books. Or, just watch this quick video slideshow to understand some of the basic points.

I found the information sheet on the tomato that I’ve grown indoors this winter and about which I wrote in an earlier post. The cultivar is called ‘Red Robin’, and it is designed to handle low light conditions. I found a bit more information online from another person who grew it indoors. It seems as though you should be able to find seeds from most retailers.

So can we all agree that the tomatoes from the grocery store, especially in winter, just don’t live up to our expectation of what a tomato should be? If you agree, read on.

I’ve always wondered if it were possible to keep annual vegetables going indoors, in the dreary, sunless Seattle winter. This fall I met a gardener at my local farmer’s market who promised me his tomatoes would grow and produce fruit all winter if cared for properly. So, the gardening experimenter in me had to give it a try. I bought one of his sand-mix planted determinant tomato plants for less than $20. When I bought the tomato plant in September, it was already blooming and had small fruit forming on it. Honestly, I figured I’d get a few tomatoes and end up with a leggy mess if my cat didn’t eat the plant. Well, I was wrong.

Twinky the cat left the plant alone. He didn’t even try to taste it. And, the plant produced and ripened fruit nicely all winter. During the shortest, darkest days, the internodes became quite long (read: it got leggy), but it kept blooming and fruiting. Some of the fruit was tiny, smaller than an M&M. But, some was quite robust.

The grower said I needed to use his special worm tea to keep the plant going, but I declined to purchase it. I’m not a fan of bottled compost teas, but that’s another topic for another post sometime. The grower also suggested that after the plant stopped flowering and fruiting that I cut it back hard, down to the last couple of nodes. He expected that would happen by early winter. Well, it hasn’t happened, and it doesn’t look like it will happen.

Truly, this is a spectacular cultivar. All I have given it is water and lots of sunlight and a few trims to clean off dead foliage, which opened the plant up to more air and light circulation. It is receives sunlight from sunrise until sunset in a south facing window. It gets some indirect bottom heat from a nearby furnace vent. I have given it no fertilizer at all.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of the cultivar, but I will find out next time I see the grower. As well, I’m thinking of taking cuttings to see if I can root this plant to create starts, which is a novel way for me to get my tomato plants going. Next winter I may purchase several. Although this plant has produced fruit, it doesn’t create a lot of fruit, so more plants would be a good idea. Also, the plant retained its distinctive summery foliage scent for months. Now that scent is waning. However, the fruit tastes just like you’d hope — like a little bit of summer sunshine!

 And yes, the photo above is of my tomato plant with ripening fruit. The photo, as you may be able to tell, was taken on a snowy mid-January day. Now that I have the picture, I may eat the fruit!

My cousin sent me this link. I thought some of you might be interested in seeing what Men’s Health Magazine had to say about the worst foods you might be ordering. Link.

I just read a not-surprising and very interesting story on the status of U.S. food safety departments. I’ve been reading a lot about our food production industry in other books and articles, especially in the last year. This article gave me further pause.  It’s a quick read: link  

Hi friends. Its been days since I’ve been anywhere that my cellphone works let alone my internet connection. We’ve been travelling on the California coast by car. We stopped for a few days in a very crunchy area - Mendocino. Along highway 1 we saw many ambitious bikers who were pedalling away with camping gear in tow. Bob and I agreed that neither of us aspires to that kind of vacation. However, chasing Shiloh on the beach as she played retreiver pulling huge sea kelp on shore and then “killling it” and swimming in mountain streams (or at least wading) did count in our minor vacation exercise program. We ate fairly well, hitting health food stores for cooler snacks as often as made sense. Tonight, however, was a real eye-opener for me.

Bob and I rarely eat fast food. We almost never eat at chains. But, tonight, after a long day in the car, we were faced with limited restaurant options. So, we went to Applebee’s for dinner. I knew this was my last night of eating crappy, so I gave in and got a bacon-cheese burger with onion rings. Realizing I should have something green, I ordered a side salad imagining lettuce, tomato and carrot –nothing fancy. What arrived made me realize even more the dietary challenges middle america faces.

The salad did have lettuce, tomato and cucumber — no carrot. But, on top of all that was croutons, shredded cheese, crumbled egg and a mountain of bacon. It looked more like a full order club salad than a simple side salad. After I scraped the cheese, egg, bacon and croutons aside, very little “salad” remained. I was fairly appalled. What if I were on a diet trying to lose weight and this were set in front of me? Would I realize the problems consuming this entire “small salad” would really mean to my diet? Would I have the will power to resist? Would I really want to pay for something that turned out so skimpy?  What if I were a vegetarian? Neither the menu nor the waitress warned me that this was the meat-lover’s salad.

Oh, I did love the greasy fried onion rings & what greenery was offered in the salad was fresh & tasty. I peeled the bacon off the burger; it really wasn’t necessary. And, I only ate 1/2 the burger. I did drink an enormous lite beer, which may be why I’m correcting so many typos.

Tomorrow night we’ll be home to Seattle. I hope we’ll find lots of fresh tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers thriving in the garden. I also hope I don’t pop one of my tight hamstrings when I return to yoga on Saturday morning.

I love food. I love healthy food. I love junk food. As long as its tasty, I probably love it.

And…

I’m weak. I’m surprised as I child I wasn’t lured into a scary van by somebody offering candy. Today, if there had been a van involved, I’d probably be on an Amber alert by now (wait, do they do those for grown women?)…

I ran to the market to pick up something for dinner & some road food for our long drive tomorrow. No, I didn’t give in and get twinkies and 3 Musketeer bars, but I will admit to some junk (to go along with the healthy sandwiches, GORPesque mix, vinegared green beans, and jugs of water). But my weakness appeared each time I emerged from an aisle, right by the registers where I wouldn’t be able to avoid them in the end — free cupcakes.

Yes, my local market is celebrating a birthday. And they’re asking me to join in by eating free cupcakes. How could I not? Maybe if I had any self-control, I’d think back to the free pizza I ate last Friday & came to regret. Or maybe I’d just avoid the luscious cake with creamy frosting just because I’m strong. But, ultimately, like the father who passed me at the table only to return when he was overruled by his 4(ish) yr old, I caved.

Oh, and yes, the cake was good. I dumped most of the icing, which was very sugary. Now I need a gallon of water to wash it down!

“Hi, I’m Robin & I’m not a 100% sustainable. Where’s the coffee?”

 If you’ve been reading my blog this month, you know that I signed up to try to consume locally produced food for the month of August. If you’ve been reading consistently, you know that I tried pretty hard in the beginning and learned a lot. You also know that as time passed, I caved into the pressures of a busy life, laziness, addiction to bread, enjoying eating out with guests — all of which lead to me failing to make my pledge. And, really, I’m okay with it. Usually, when I set out to do something, I just do it. So, why am I okay with my failure on this diet?

First, I know that I live a fairly sustainable lifestyle. I garden heavily, raising lots of vegies in our non-rural garden. I also spend a large part of my time educating others on how to garden and how to do it sustainably. I buy local first, organic second, and junk last of all. I dove into this pledge and studied what I eat, and came to recognize what I would be missing if I had to eat locally.

If I had to eat locally, I would miss grains. I love bread, oatmeal, crackers and rice. But, what I realized after a couple of weeks of trying to live without them in my diet is that I don’t have to live without them! Sure, I could if i had to, but I don’t. So, I decided not to.

I did continue to grow vegetables and fruits, which I share with friends and neighbors. Rather than let all our peaches go to waste, I bought sugar and made peach preserves. The sugar isn’t local, but the peaches are. So, is that 50/50?

Let’s think about the things that I buy that aren’t local. Grains, tea, coffee, oil, salt, sugar — these are all things that have been imported across oceans and continents for hundreds of years. I suppose if oil disappears, we’ll continue to find a way to import them. The cost of the goods may change and access to them may become more scarce, but I believe we’ll find a way to make them available.

I took on a client this month who purchased some pastureland east of Seattle. They are building a new house and need help creating their farm where they hope to be mostly self-sustaining. Thing is, they don’t know much about it. I’m there to help them understand how to develop their land in a sustainable way. How to designate the right areas for the right usage. How much area they’ll need to grow the volume of food they’ll need for a family. What kind of livestock will help them clear land, make good pets, eat mosquitos, create aquatic ecosystems. I’ll help them identify desirable native edibles (and non-edibles) in the forested portions of their property. And so much more. I admire them for pursuing this lifestyle and I look forward to helping them over the years ahead, but I don’t really want this life for myself. I like living within the city. I like supporting local farmers — year-round mind you.

And thinking of sustainable, what about non-food items?

For instance, I like my car that isn’t a hybrid & isn’t completely fuel efficient. I considered trading it in for a new hybrid or an electric, but I realized that the amount of energy & resources that would go into building an entirely new car, plus the disposal costs of my existing car wouldn’t be a sustainable practice. I mean think about what it takes to build a new car — steel, plastic, glass, rubber, leather, wood, electronics all come at a cost. Does the production of this entirely new vehicle outweigh the environmental cost of the emissions my existing car produces? I doubt it. Steel, for instance, is one of the most environmentally costly manufactured items today.

Along these lines, Bob has been in touch with someone who does hybrid car conversions. He still drives a CRX high fuel model that his parents gave him as a college graduation present. We just can’t bring ourselves to sell it; its a great commute car. And, as it turns out, its a prime candidate to convert to a hybrid. This would improve its efficiency and continue to use the steel, etc…that went into creating it. Perhaps this will happen someday….

I know that my #1 contribution to the sustainablity of the planet is my choice to not have children. Don’t get me wrong. I love kids. I love families. My role in this life is to be an awesome Auntie, not a mommy. I don’t judge anyone for their choice to have or not to have children. I celebrate each new life as it comes into this world. That said, I know that the human population is growing at rates I can’t really even fathom. I know that my choice not to have children will impact the future more than my choice to eat toast this morning.

Electricity is another item that we consume in a less than sustainable way. We have computers running 24/7 in our house, which isn’t sustainable. We do leave security lights on through the night, but at least we use efficient bulbs. We are good about running the full dishwasher in the middle of the night. Our heat is gas, so consumes very little electricity. We turn off lights when they aren’t being used, and we use energy efficient light bulbs & some timers. We don’t have air conditioning. We do need to replace our drier to get it on gas from electric; same with our ancient stove. But, with each of these, I have the same questions as I do about replacing the car.  We have plans to add solar panels to our south-facing roof in order to feed back into the grid. This is on the list along with about a million other home improvement projects.

And what about water? We have rainbarrels, which are used more to divert rainwater to plants in the garden that want high volumes of water than they are as storage. They can’t hold enough water to really work as good storage devices. We have low flow heads on our sinks and shower. Our clothes washer weighs the clothes to determine minimal water requirements. And, I have an irrigation system in the garden, which I run in the most efficient ways I know.

I guess in wrapping up my thoughts on this diet, I’d say more than anything it really made me think about sustainability in a larger way. I hope by sharing my thoughts on the diet and related items that I’ve done some good in the promotion of sustainability. Obviously, it is something that interests me, but I did not find myself wholly consumed by it. I’m a foody who likes to consume a diverse diet, and I will until a day comes when that’s just not an option anymore.

Attended Weds evening restorative yoga. It was a nice class with a sub. I really had wanted “the usual”, but knew I wouldn’t get that going in. Still, very nice, relaxing class.

 After, I prep’d a dinner of local grilled steak, purple potatoes, cucumber/onion salad, and yellow & green beans sauted with pinenuts & garlic. Aside from a bit of salt ‘n pepper, olive oil & pine nuts, dinner for 3 was on the 100 M diet. The wine was a merlot from L’ecole, which is in Walla Walla — not quite w/in the diet, but nearby & delicious!

Mom had spent the last couple of days in Bellingham where she visited a city garden called “Joe’s Place”. She brought back a giant shallot, flat beans, garlic & a cookbook for me. As well, she went blueberry picking, so we have loads of those to enjoy as well.

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 08/15/2007
• Time: 17:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Often I find myself searching online for something to cook. I have a few favorite sites, like Epicurious.com, which I’ve used for many years. Recently, I’ve been finding some great options at Recipezaar.com, and what I like a lot about this site is it does a nutritional information panel to go with the recipe. No kidding! You can get info on your calories, salt, cholesterol, sugar, vitamins and more to go with your recipe. Sure, the exact details will vary as much as your ingredients vary, but its a great way to get an estimate of what’s in your dinner! If you’re counting calories, sodium or are just curious, this can be a great tool!

My dinner tonight? Halibut tacos (sorry kids, no recipe for this one) and Mexican black beans from recipezaar.com. Um…from the 100 mile diet…well, the fish is wild USA, the garlic and jalepano are local, and I did find a salsa made locally. The rest, well, not sure. Too hot to think right now. I know the cold beer isn’t local. Oh well.