So in my first post I thought I'd do a little explaining about those two (so far) links over there on the right.
The Benkadi Project
Every year, my drum teacher Helen Bond spends three months in Guinea studying with her teacher, Famoudou Konaté. Conditions in Sangbaralla, Famoudou's village, are not the greatest so Helen and Famoudou started the Benkadi Project to help out. Benkadi is an African word which translates, "To live together is very good." So far, they have built a school which already needs expansion and they are starting on medical services.
The 100-mile diet
Last spring, my sweetie and I bought a CSA (community-supported agriculture) share. From May until November, we received a weekly box of locally-grown organic produce. It was some of the best food I have ever had. For what worked out to around $20 per week, we ate like royalty. The quality of the food got me thinking and reading. I learned that the average bite of food eaten by the average American traveled an average of 1500 miles to get from field to fork. Maybe I'm envious that my food might be better-traveled than I, but it seems to me that using all that fuel to get all that food to its various destinations simply cannot be good for the food, for the people who eat it, or for the environment (especially when one also considers the amount of petrochemical fertilizer used to grow that food, too).
Eventually I stumbled across an article about locavores. They are people who eat only what is produced in a 100-mile radius of their homes. The link goes to a site which explains more about localvores, and challenges people to spend 3 months, 6 months, or a full year on the 100-mile diet. I have not tried the diet yet myself, but I'm being more careful at the grocery store. I may try the diet next summer, though I'm not sure about giving up coffee or tea. I read about one man in New York state who planted a coffee bush in his yard. Since I am an apartment-dweller, growing my own coffee or tea isn't really an option unless I figure out how to do so hydroponically.
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2 comments:
Tony and I have been talking about joining a cooperative farm for some time now. I will have to follow through with the research and membership!
We've also begun consuming products made closer to home. I am continually surprised by both how much easier it is than I expected, and by how much of what is available at the grocery store is from South America.
What I was not expecting at all was how much more expensive it is to eat locally. I almost gasp audibly every time I go to purchase milk. After watching 'The Corporation,' we decided to buy a brand of milk that was not only local, but also hormone free. It is easily twice as expensive as the major brand at the grocery store.
...coffee in the back yard, not a bad idea!
I'd be interesting in seeing how locavores respond to winter. It's hard work to put up your own food, drying and canning as you go. (I admire that kind of devotion, and hope to be up to it myself one day.) I'll have to take a look at the link.
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