Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Back to School
Less than a month from now it is all over. This carefree summer of pool parties, midnight conversations with friends, harvesting my own tomatoes, onions and peppers to make fresh salsa, hanging clothes on the clothesline in the sweltering sun while listening to the hens lay eggs in the early afternoon, sewing dresses and mending ripped clothes, sitting in the babies room watching them totter and climb and jabber, reading endless books and watching endless documentaries... and I wonder how will I ever mangage once school starts again to keep up with all I want to do. I contract with the school so I can work less hours. This year the plan is to work 3 days a week only. That is the plan, but we will see. I love my job, I do. I help children communicate better. I talk to kids all day. I play in the floor with 3 year olds and name objects of interest. I teach 7 year olds how to hold their tongue to produce "l" and "r". I explain the difference between rock, rock, and a rock to 12 year olds who struggle with abstract language. It's an awesome job. But I have a responsibility as a mom and a wife that supersedes all else. A responsibility to know what they are eating and to teach them how to produce healthy food for themselves and make good choices about what they buy, to teach them skills and not be dependent on stores or the government, how to manage finances, to teach them what schools don't. But I must go back to work, the savings account, which is almost drained due to Uncle Sam holding on to the refunds of everyone who claimed an adoption credit, will only make so many more mortgage payments, so back to work I go. When will I bake bread, hang clothes on the line, sew up jeans, go to the farmer's market, stand in my yard and stare at poultry? I'm not sure but hopefully I can make it all work. Maybe I can blog about it as I go. Maybe I will go insane and be locked up after I have a nervous breakdown in the middle of Homeland. Time will tell.
What is my agenda?
Real, whole food. Biodegradable diapers. Pastured eggs. Reusable grocery bags. Farmers' Markets. Anti-consumerism. Raw milk. Using less paper & plastic. Thrift stores. Urban/suburban gardening. City chickens. Sewing. Rabbit, the best white meat.
I have a lot of issues I'm dealing with. One of the biggest is food, so I'll address that in a general sense here today. There are days my family complains of starving because there are no processed snacks in the house and nothing they can eat without cooking. I make a point to only have food that must be prepared. The food is food my great-grandmother, born in 1899, would recognize as food. Chicken with bones, raw milk in jugs, lard in jars, garlic, onions, and potatoes in the pantry. Sometimes I think I need therapy. I go in the grocery store in search of items to supplement my home grown, co-op and farmers' market stocked cupboards and find myself lost, confused, and feeling much like an alien. There are so many things I can't buy. Practically everything. Aside from mushrooms that are grown here in Oklahoma and a few other locally produced foods, a few organic items that I can justify to myself, there is not much to fill my once overflowing cart with. I search for olive oil, but I have learned that much of the imported olive oil may not be entirely olive oil. It may be canola and it may not be near as virgin as it claims (Gasp!). California is my best bet. But here in the continental United States can I find some homegrown California Olive Oil on the grocery store shelves? No. Not a chance. Chicken?meat? Nope, negative, big fat NO! I've seen Food Inc., and King Corn and read Omnivore's Dilemma. I will raise my own meat or buy it from a farmer or the Co-op, thank you. Milk, cheese? Same thing. Raw is so much better, full of nutrition and healthy fat and hormone and antibiotic free. Ok... produce section then. Bananas? Uh, uh, I think of an underpaid farmer in Chile barely scraping by and the fuel companies getting rich from the export and import of the fruit. People living in Oklahoma shouldn't eat bananas and that's all there is to it. Nothing is local, but I go for some organic peppers because my bells have been sun-scorched in this 110 degree weather. I grab some Oklahoma mushrooms and head to the check out. Darn, I forgot my shopping bag, but no plastic for me, I can make due. So I leave the store carrying loose bell peppers and a pack of mushrooms and hop in my Ford Expedition that gets 10 miles per gallon and get queasy at the thought. When will my son build that biodiesel machine? Well, that's a blog for another day.
I have a lot of issues I'm dealing with. One of the biggest is food, so I'll address that in a general sense here today. There are days my family complains of starving because there are no processed snacks in the house and nothing they can eat without cooking. I make a point to only have food that must be prepared. The food is food my great-grandmother, born in 1899, would recognize as food. Chicken with bones, raw milk in jugs, lard in jars, garlic, onions, and potatoes in the pantry. Sometimes I think I need therapy. I go in the grocery store in search of items to supplement my home grown, co-op and farmers' market stocked cupboards and find myself lost, confused, and feeling much like an alien. There are so many things I can't buy. Practically everything. Aside from mushrooms that are grown here in Oklahoma and a few other locally produced foods, a few organic items that I can justify to myself, there is not much to fill my once overflowing cart with. I search for olive oil, but I have learned that much of the imported olive oil may not be entirely olive oil. It may be canola and it may not be near as virgin as it claims (Gasp!). California is my best bet. But here in the continental United States can I find some homegrown California Olive Oil on the grocery store shelves? No. Not a chance. Chicken?meat? Nope, negative, big fat NO! I've seen Food Inc., and King Corn and read Omnivore's Dilemma. I will raise my own meat or buy it from a farmer or the Co-op, thank you. Milk, cheese? Same thing. Raw is so much better, full of nutrition and healthy fat and hormone and antibiotic free. Ok... produce section then. Bananas? Uh, uh, I think of an underpaid farmer in Chile barely scraping by and the fuel companies getting rich from the export and import of the fruit. People living in Oklahoma shouldn't eat bananas and that's all there is to it. Nothing is local, but I go for some organic peppers because my bells have been sun-scorched in this 110 degree weather. I grab some Oklahoma mushrooms and head to the check out. Darn, I forgot my shopping bag, but no plastic for me, I can make due. So I leave the store carrying loose bell peppers and a pack of mushrooms and hop in my Ford Expedition that gets 10 miles per gallon and get queasy at the thought. When will my son build that biodiesel machine? Well, that's a blog for another day.
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