Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Dean" <andeanfx@midrivers.com>]

Liz, your point is well taken.  Due to a health crisis I had a few years ago 
and the years in themselves, I don't get as much done as I would like or 
need to get done including learning how to do more things should the need 
arise.  Consequently, I have taken the approach of learning how to do some 
things the hard way but not necessarily doing them yet as it would take too 
much time and energy away from learning more.  Much like you stopping by to 
grab a burger rather than cook.  There are some of the modern conveniences 
that I rather like and intend to keep on using them as long as possible but 
will continue to relearn the old ways in the mean time.

This is a bit of a side bar but since it really does not justify a thread of 
its own I would like to mention it here.  My dad passed away about 6 years 
ago and about that same time we started getting back into gardening.  We had 
a problem with a garden pest which I mentioned to mom who immediately told 
me what chemical dad would have used to take care of it.  We of course did 
not use the chemical but now when I remember the hours and hours we spent 
fighting weeds in the garden as I grew up I can't help but think of the 
relief it must have been to dad when chemical means of weed control came 
about.  We now know how horribly wrong it was but things really do look 
different when looking back through the other end of the pipe.  Dean

Keeping Your Memories Alive while
Creating Family Keepsakes
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Liz" <liz@allslash.org>
To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" 
<livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp 
Recipients


> At 01:04 PM 5/27/2008, you wrote:
>
> > This woman is obviously trying to do what she can with her
> > disability, but it's not enough. Maybe more cash-strapped people
> > would be hitting the farmers market if they knew how to cook from
> > scratch and bake - and realized how much cheaper they could feed the
> > family. Shredded cheese? Bagels? Yogurt? Crackers? Salad dressing?
> > Potato chips? People think these things are cheap but they're all
> > processed and packaged, and they pay for the processing and
> > packaging. And get plenty of empty calories and little nutrition.
>
> Yes, I noticed that too. But I have to point out that it is sometimes
> very difficult to balance a job, raising children, figuring out a
> budget on an ever decreasing amount of money, and dealing with a
> medical condition, and still make all the meals from scratch, or even
> nearly so. There's a reason that "convenience" foods were so
> enthusiastically received, and it's not because people are too lazy
> to use anything else. In many cases, it's because there just isn't
> the mental energy to take on one more task.
>
> Speaking from personal experience, I have a stressful and strenuous
> job, plus I'm the only caretaker for this property, responsible for
> everything that must be done, and the sole caregiver for a disabled
> relative. I feel sometimes as though I'm living two people's lives,
> because I have to do everything I would do for myself, and everything
> he would do for himself if he were able. It's like having an adult
> toddler that has to be bathed, dressed, fed and led. And medicated.
> There are times when I yearn for my dryer, when I've come home with a
> week's worth of two people's laundry, exhausted from a week on the
> road, with a huge pile of paperwork to do before the work is actually
> finished, and it's raining so I can't hang the laundry outside.
> That's one reason I just gave the dryer away, because I know there
> are times when I'd say the hell with the energy usage and run it all
> through the dryer.
>
> Same thing for some of the other things that I usually do the "hard"
> way, making bread, pasta, mayonnaise, cheese and yoghurt, etc. There
> are times when I don't have the mental energy to take it on, much
> less the physical energy. So I know how this woman feels, and I don't
> even really have money problems. I have to work hard for what I get,
> but it's a relatively secure job, and my housemate has a good pension.
>
> Convenience foods and today's stress are a vicious circle. One just
> reinforces the other. You come home from work too tired to make a
> nutritious meal, so you grab whatever can be prepared in the
> microwave (I gave that away too), and the next day you're even more
> tired and stressed out. The whole system has to change.
>
> Sorry, didn't mean to carry on about myself. Just wanted to point out
> that it can be really difficult for a person who grew up with
> processed junk food to break away from that, especially if their
> lives are stressful in other ways. I grew up with good, home-prepared
> real food, and I know how to make it myself, and I'll admit that
> there are times when I just stop and get my housemate a burger so I
> won't have to cook a meal when we get home.
>
> But the whole system is on the verge of change, anyway.
>
> Liz in SW VA
> http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com
>
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