Monthly Archives: November 2009

Nov 29 2009

Fall Garden Surprises Under the Pine Needles

I was a lazy gardener this fall, especially neglecting my tiny vegetable garden. My garden disappointed me this year, I think because of the increasing shade of my neighbor’s maple tree. As the days grew shorter and the sun fell lower in the sky, I came to expect less and less and turned my attentions instead to keeping up with my endless bounty of CSA vegetables.

Today I took advantage of the late November sunshine to do some raking and to prepare the little garden for winter. It didn’t take long, and garden rewarded me with some surprises, hidden under the pine needles.

I found a few late bunches of bok choi that I had missed, somehow.

Bok Choi

And the sweetest little carrot…

And a little volunteer pea vine, somehow thinking it might have a chance.

Next weekend, I’ll spread the last of the season’s compost over my little garden, and say goodnight to it for the long, dark months ahead.

For now, I need to find a suitably special recipe for that bok choi. (Charlie and Ginnie already enjoyed the carrot.)

Nov 27 2009

Giving Thanks…Creating Health

The announcement of yesterday’s annual Thanksgiving round of “what I’m thankful for” prompted some good-natured groans around the table that quickly gave way to willing participation. We shared with lots of laughter, thanks for food, family, good health, the baby in our midst and more. In total, these quick expressions of thanks represented the most basic things in our lives. Although some were resistant to being nudged to come up with something on the spot (or maybe the resistance is part of the tradition, too?), there was no shortage of offerings. After all, that’s what Thanksgiving is all about.

A couple of weeks ago, I paused while pulling out of my driveway on a miserably cold, rainy morning and looked back at my little house. I was struck by how warm and welcoming it looked, and was overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude. Simple gratitude for having this house to shelter me and my dogs on that particular dismal November day. The feeling was strong and clear and actually brought tears to my eyes. I thought about the feeling often throughout the day and mentioned it to a friend later. Oddly, it had felt good, like I’d been missing something important for years and had suddenly seen it very clearly for the first time.

Can that kind of feeling of gratitude improve your overall health?

I woke up this morning to an NPR story about a recent study on this topic, and all indications are that, yes, expressing gratitude is good for you. According to the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness from the University of California, Davis, people who found ways to cultivate gratitude and express thankfulness in their daily lives were more likely to:

  • exercise regularly,
  • report fewer ailments,
  • have more energy,
  • have a better chance of achieving their goals,
  • feel more connected to others,
  • be helpful to others in their community,
  • place less importance on material goods and
  • even sleep better.

The study recommends the practice of keeping a gratitude journal. In the context of a holistic approach to health, this practice makes sense. It’s fascinating how this simple routine could open doors to other ways for the body to take care of itself. In short, although the annual Thanksgiving round of thanks is a fine tradition and an appropriate public affirmation of our collective gratitude and thanks, there’s much to be gained by doing the same throughout the year. A private routine of recognizing what I’m grateful for seems both manageable and uplifting.

Today, I’m grateful for the connecting of the dots that this year’s Thanksgiving exercise provided for me.

And, of course, for the Brussels sprouts, easily the best vegetable of all.

Sandwich, New Hampshire

Nov 26 2009

‘No Packaged Food Rule’ Needs Exceptions, I Think

Giving up food that comes in packages seems a tidy line to draw. It’s a line that I can easily remember and can justify with all kinds of reasons related to benefits to my health and to the environment. But is it best for me? Really?

I first moved away from packaged food for migraine reasons, to avoid food additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG) in its many forms. After lots of mishaps of missing ingredients that I should have avoided, either out of ignorance or laziness, I realized how easy it is to simply buy and cook fresh food. I can be sure I’m never adding MSG by mistake, or extra sugar, salt–and I’ll always know where my food is coming from and how it’s being prepared. After some time, the no packaging rule became my way of making a political statement around my food purchases by choosing not to purchase mass-produced foods from multinational corporations. The rule is not easy to live by.

There’s that occasional treat, like a gluten-free ginger molasses cookie from Liz Lovely in Vermont, a great little company making artisanal vegan cookies and offering a delicious gluten-free line. They’re doing important things in their community with jobs, organic/sustainable agriculture and environmentally conscious production and packaging. My enjoyment of this two-cookie purchase every now and then translates into supporting this good, local food producer and maybe that’s a worthwhile act unto itself. Perhaps that’s an exception to the packaging rule that I could live with?

I’m sure there are other exceptions. In fact, living the all-or-nothing life has never done me any favors. Taking a more thoughtful approach to the questions that pop up in the gray area might actually help me–in this case, to clarify my criteria for choosing foods that come in packages and my values around food purchases in general.

A package of two Liz Lovely cookies now and then seems like a good, and delicious, compromise.

Nov 22 2009

Hunger, Homelessness and My Own Rotting Veggies

I was raised to believe that hunger was a problem that happened somewhere else, probably in another country.  It’s true that 852 million people are hungry every day throughout the world, but the Concord Monitor stated in an editorial earlier this week that, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), one in six people in this country is hungry. That’s 49 million Americans. The USDA counts those individuals who experience “food insecurity,” that is, people who don’t know or aren’t sure where their next meal will come from. The Concord Monitor editorial tells us that most of these people, in New Hampshire, are single mothers with hungry children.

During the past few weeks, I’ve eaten in two different large hotels while attending one conference and then working at another. I really hate hotel food and work hard to avoid it if I can, by finding local markets that offer healthy options and packing in a few snacks to get me through. It’s hard not to notice the heaping buffets, huge portions, and endless trays of untouched food that return to the kitchen after conference luncheons and banquets. Where do hotels find those blackberries the size of small strawberries, anyway? And who decided that the fruit salad I ordered for lunch, beautiful as it was, should be big enough to feed three people? (Yes, I finished it.) It’s a helpless feeling to participate in such a huge, wasteful industry, and it’s amazing what a challenge it can be, especially in a strange city, to avoid participating.

Every year, 350 billion pounds of edible food is wasted in this country by restaurants, hotels, retailers and consumers (www.commondreams.org). Meanwhile, organizations like the New Hampshire Food Bank struggle to raise donations of both food and cash to supply the many food pantries that depend on them to feed the hungry. The five out of six New Hampshire shoppers who are lucky enough to have money to head to a large grocery store choose from a dizzying array of more than 50,ooo items. And those same stores end up tossing much of the outdated or rotting food away, while the one in six remains hungry. (In fairness, New Hampshire Food Bank is doing a great job working with the big grocery chains to reduce waste and redirect tons of food to those who need it, but there’s much more work to be done.)

When I walked into my local grocery store today, I was greeted by a man taking donations for homeless veterans. Although I think a lot about homeless people in New Hampshire, especially in the winter, I’ve never given a thought to this particular subgroup. I am not by any definition an activist for veterans’ causes but something about this man, along with the combination of the two issues of homelessness and veterans, got me thinking. I asked him how many veterans in New Hampshire are homeless right now, and he told me that the best estimate is 400. That seems like a lot for a small state like New Hampshire. A lot of people to be facing a cold winter, probably depending on local soup kitchens and food pantries to feed themselves. Can’t we take care of anyone?

I don’t have to worry about finding my next meal or keeping warm for the winter, and for those important things I’m grateful. My weekly challenge is to use up my CSA vegetables–my beautiful, organic, locally grown veggies–before I consider buying any other food. If I can’t use them before the next week’s share is ready, I sometimes make delicious vegetable stock for the freezer and for soups I’ll dream up later. If I’m really overwhelmed by vegetables, or away too much, I sometimes face the disappointment of something rotting in the refrigerator (this week, a bag of peppers) and the compost heap receives the remains. I’m lucky to face this challenge. Maybe I can challenge myself to find new ways to share my personal good fortune more frequently with the one in six.

I’m up to my ears in carrots and onions right now…tomorrow, I’ll share some of each at work. My coworkers may or may not be some of the one in six, but it’s a start. There will be plenty of weeds for the compost heap.

Nov 14 2009

Intentions

My decision to start a blog relates to a desire to connect with other people who share my interests in food, sustainability, gardening, healthful living and, sometimes, cooking. I intend to explore these interests through my posts and those of other bloggers, with occasional detours into other interests (like dogs). I hope to find nourishment in my own writings and in the words of others I meet along the way.

As I write today, I’m cooking beef chili for my elderly neighbor. He very sweetly cleared the leaves and pine needles from my front lawn with his tractor, after having been worried about me for a few days while I was away on a trip. He’s the first neighbor in my sixteen years of living here who has noticed my absence and called to let me know he was worried. I was touched. Chili (with beef) is not tops on my list of things to cook on a Saturday, being a “98 percent” vegetarian these days, but I’m doing it happily. I’ll accompany it with a pan of cornbread made with organic Whole Grain Wapsie Valley Cornmeal from the Nitty Gritty Grain Company of Vermont. I can’t wait for that.