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.