Salad Days: Following One Woman's Quest for the Simple Life

perhaps the world ends here

2008-12-03T14:27:00.002-05:00

i havn't written here in forever. it's been a crazy few months. my dad passed away in august after a very long illness, in september i went back to school, and in november i moved! as for school i'm doing a certificate in food security through ryerson university which i am really enjoying. its all online though which is sort of weird, i wish i had a classroom to interact in. anywawy once exams are over i'll post some of the paper's i have written this semsester. they include one about a local rural community kitchen, escaping the global food system with the creation of foodsheds, and women and the industrial food system.

anyway the other day i came across this poem and thought it was really lovely.

Perhaps the World Ends Here
by Joy Harjo

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what,
we must eat to live.

The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table.
So it has been since creation, and it will go on.

We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the
corners. They scrape their knees under it.

It is here that children are given instrictions on what it means
to be human. We make men at it, we make women.

At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.

Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around
our children.
They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put
ourselves ack together once again at this table.

This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.

Wars have begin and ended at this table. It is a place to hide
in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate a terrible victory.

We have given birth on this table, and have prepared
our parents for burial here.

At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of
suffering and remprse. We give thanks.

Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are
lauging and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

great article on meat and the envrionment

2008-05-17T12:07:00.004-04:00

i just read a really great article on eating meat and the environment over at a blog called "weight of the evidence" here it is. http://weightoftheevidence.blogspot.com/2008/04/solar-powered-plate.html

i like this part the best where she compaires high density feedlots, and pastured cattle

"While the [cattle] industry calls these practices "efficient" - they're anything but, and I'd say are part of the problem we're trying to solve. The equation looks sort of like this:Synthetic Fertilizer & GMO Patented Seeds [$] ----> Pesticides [$] ---> Feed [$] ---> Cows [$] ---> Building [$] ---> Electricity [$] ---> Pharmaceuticals [$] ---> Manure Lagoons [$] ---> Transportation [$] ---> Food

On the other hand, properly raised livestock is solar powered food, it's equation looks like this:Sun [free] ---> Grass [free] ---> Hay & Silage [$] ---> Cow [$] ---> Food & Organic Fertilizer"

as for my personal life things have been all up in the air. my mom's house goes on the market next week so we've been getting it all ready, i'm waiting to hear about a really exciting job in peterborough that i had an interview for, if i stay in ottawa i'm going to have a bio-intesinve garden at bronson and laurier! which is exciting. anyway winter is a good time for reflection and staying in, but i'm glad the sun is shining. time to soak up some vitamin D!

a finished object

2008-03-16T11:57:00.001-04:00

i've been working on this baby blanket for my cousin and his wife since october! it's FINALLY finished. i'm really happy with it.

the pattern is theHoover baby blanket from Knitty . it was hard to get good pictues of it on my carpet, it is actually rectangular not all wonky. i used 2 balls of pattons canadiania in oatmeal and 3 balls of pattons canadiana in winter white. i just think acrylic makes sense for a baby blanet.

SNOW!

2008-03-11T10:27:00.002-04:00

there is SO MUCH SNOW in ottawa! it's unbelievable. a few buildings have collapsed from the weight of all the snow. it's had me thinking a lot about climate change. everyone talks about it as if it's something in the future but really it's happening all around us.

here's a photo out my front door. note the lamp post!

and here is my back deck. ugh.

it's funny, there was a woman on the news who said "i hate the stuff, but if you tried to take it away from me i'd fight you tooth and nail" i agree. as much as i hate snow i don't think i could live without it! but i'm desperatley looking forward to spring.

Glorious Seeds

2008-02-01T15:19:00.000-05:00

i am so bad at updating this thing. mainly because i havn't been doing much except applying for jobs (as usual).

i'm trying to write a cover letter at the moment but i'm easily distracted and have turned my attention to seeds. i've been ordering seed catalogues! i can't wait to look through all of them. i guess looking online is more environmentally friendly but i can't put posted notes in the internet like i can a catalogue. also most of the websites don't have pictures of the veg whereas the catalogues do.

where i am going to plant these seeds is unknown. i plan on getting a community garden plot somwhere in the city. i should start looking into that too. of course i could get a job in a different city. who knows. i'll probably try to do a bio-intensive to maximize space...

its snowing like crazy here so it's nice to dream of hands in warm soil and a big haul of fresh tomoatoes.

new blog for y'all

2007-12-04T21:03:00.000-05:00

check out this blog! im adding it to my links aswell.

http://seasonalontariofood.blogspot.com/

Composting Toilet Poem

2007-11-10T15:06:00.000-05:00

i'm reading "the self sufficient life and how to live it: the complete back to basics guide" by John Seymour and in it he has a poem about his composting toilet which was just too hilarious. all joking aside this is a really great book!

Our Marvelous Thunderbox "Loo"
now the human being is a very strange beast with capabilities good and bad
not frightened of nature, no not in the least our follies are often quite mad
the toilet that flushes fills our souls with glee
a brainwave by Thomas Crapper
mixes shit with clean water and pours out to sea
as if the dirt did not matter

out of sight, out of mind, much shoots down the pipes
an incredible fabric of magic
squandering food for the soil as the water we spoil
it's a tale that is terribly tragic

but all is not lost for at a marginal cost
another solution comes easy
the composting loo; yes that's our riposte
and your tummy need not feel to queasy

the vent goes up high, sending gas to the skies
and the lid fits snug so no entry to flies
two years it will take, our compost to make
and our river's not sorry the flush to forsake
no water, no tricks--it's all built with bricks
the shit and the kitchen waste too
all go together making food for the soil
in our marvelous Thunderbox loo

Perfect Soup Stock

2007-11-05T19:28:00.000-05:00

soup is pretty much my most favourite thing in the world and making stock from scratch is super easy and basically free. take your bones/carcass (you can even save and freeze them and then make it when you have time!) put bones/carcass in a large heavy bottom pot with onions cut in half (skins on) and carrots cut in large pieces (skins on). drizzle with olive oil and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. put the pot on the stove top, add pepper corns, bay leaf, salt (if necessary) and fill the pot with water. bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. simmer for a few hours. put the stock through a strainer. pick any meat off the carcass and put aside to use in soup. let stock cool overnight and skim fat off. make soup as usual or freeze for later use.

Current Goings On

2007-10-12T17:46:00.000-04:00

Here's what I've been up to lately!

reading: so many books is ridiculous. I'll post some reviews once I'm done some. mostly are farming/homemaking books
knitting: a baby blanket for my cousin and his wife's little fetus. will post a picture when it's finished.
fermenting: I'm venturing into the world of fermenting vegetables with some beet sauerkraut. I'm taking pictures so expect a step by step tutorial!
job searching: yawn. i did get offered an interview but the job was going to Africa for 6 months to teach people how to make websites. a) i know some html code but am in no position to TEACH people how to make websites b) is not being Internet savvy really the most important issue when it comes to people in Africa? seriously? websites? id go to Africa in a second to do AIDS education or build wells or farm but websites? no.
stripping: wallpaper that is. my mom is getting her house ready for sale next summer so I'm stripping the old wall paper in the guest room.

xo liz

Back to Life, Back to Reality

2007-09-26T07:49:00.000-04:00

sadly my time at everdale has come to a close. yesterday i arrived back in Ottawa to organize my life and get things going. i feel pretty lost and heartbroken at the moment. i miss the farm and everyone there so much. my life in Ottawa is pretty ridiculous. i opened my closet and i have so many clothes. i have so much STUFF. i need to pare down to the basics.

with everything I've learnt this summer i feel pretty unstoppable. i feel like my dreams are achievable, i just need to figure out how to get from here to there. i want to have a small off grid strawbale cabin with solar/wind power. i want to grow all my own food. i want to bake and preserve. i want goats and chickens. i want a supportive network around me of like minded people without living on a commune.

people keep asking me if i intend to farm and a keep saying "no" because i just want to farm for myself but then i think about how ridiculously happy farming makes me and maybe i should farm for a living. humans aren't meant to work in an office doing menial tasks that have no direct results. as Cam, on of the everdale interns said, there is direct truth in the tasks we do as farmers. when vegetables are active so are we, weeding and harvesting. when they are dormant we curl up by the fire and plan for next season. if farming is in the cards for me than a proper internship is probably a good idea, otherwise I'm not sure.

stay tuned,
(farmer?) liz

Ruminations

2007-09-12T16:04:00.000-04:00

Every week in the Everdale newsletter "Gifts from the Field" a different apprentice writes a reflection. they asked me to do one this week even though I'm not an intern. here's what a wrote:

When I arrived here at the beginning of July I never expected to be sitting here over 2 months later. My name is Liz Charles and I am one of the many volunteers that have made their way to Everdale this season. Unlike the others I never left. I decided to come to Everdale for 2 reasons. Firstly, because I had finished my degree in Environmental Studies and spent 4 years talking about organic farming and food without having any practical knowledge. My second reason is that I am striving to live a sustainable life and to be as self sufficient as possible. The hands on education in organic farming as well as sustainable living that Everdale offers to its interns and volunteers seemed like the perfect match. My time at Everdale has helped me connect with my food, the environment, and my community. Being able to see food go from seed to table is so amazing and makes every bite even more delicious because of all the hard work that went into it. I am truly grateful for every meal. Being able to see how a farm can give back to the environment and enrich the soil and water rather than devastate it is also a wonderful thing to witness. Most importantly I’ve found a group of people here, with the staff, interns and volunteers at Everdale, that are truly committed to sustainable living and are not only inspiring me but are also amazing friends and co-workers. If someone a few months ago had told me that the happiest day in my life I would be covered in mud, fish emulsion, baking in the hot sun after 10 hours of work I never would have believed them. Thanks to my time here I am so excited about my future, knowing that sustainable living is not only better for the planet, but also makes me unbelievably happy. ~Farmer Liz

On Death and Dying

2007-09-02T20:48:00.000-04:00

So one of the folks who lives here had some people up for the long weekend. one of their dogs got to one of the chickens that had escaped the coop. in short i watched a chicken die, it squirmed and shook violently and looked like it was in a lot of pain before she closed her eyes and went limp. then i carried her limp, warm body down to the forest to bury her. i wish i had an axe to put her out of her misery but there was nothing i could do but watch her die. it wasn't sad or disgusting it was just life... or rather death. all i know is that if i were a chicken i would rather die quick and relatively painlessly by the hand, or rather axe, of the farmer that cared for me than by a dog or weasel or some other sort of long drawn out death. i hope i'm here when we cull the hens. i hope i get to kill some chickens, but do so with all the love and respect that these birds deserve. i hope their death is swift and kind.

The Farmer in the Grocery Store

2007-08-26T12:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday a bunch of us went into Georgetown and had to run into the grocery store to get some bitters so we could make Manhattan's (hey farmers like fancy drinks too!). Anyway it was my first time being in a really huge obnoxious grocery store in months. We started looking at the produce, the conventional produce was all shipped in from the states even though it was mostly in season here, and the produce was so ugly. The beets were cracked and dry and shriveled, the garlic wasn't processed properly and was all split at the top (probably due to mechanization), our organic produce was even comparable in price with a lot of the conventional produce. The organic produce looked better but ours was still cheaper. Thats because we don't sell to a distributer, we retail our own food and skip the middle man. I hope next season to find a CSA near Ottawa so i can get local, organic, well priced food and that i can support my local farmer. it would even be better if I could find a CSA that would allow me to work a day a week in exchange for a share. I'm also hoping to get a community garden plot in Ottawa to start growing my own. This winter I will begin planning my bio-intensive garden and probably making many tripped to Lee Valley!

Winter Food

2007-08-21T16:42:00.000-04:00

following my recent post about meat, some of the interns and i at everdale, were talking about winter eating in ontario and we came up with a pretty achievable, nutritionally rounded, totally local, winter pantry.

storage fruit + veg (to be stored in root cellar, cool basement, or spare room without much heat/light):
-beets
-carrots
-parsnips
-potatoes
-squash
-cabbage
-apples
-dehydrated fruit + veg (everdale has a solar dehydrater, super easy to build. i hope to have one eventually)

green vegetables:
-kale and spinach can be havested until early december if you are lucky
- sprouts, sprouts and more sprouts!
-brussel sprouts

grain + legumes:
-basically all grain can be stored. wheat, rye, etc
-stored dried beans and peas
-most of these can also be sprouted to get some green into your diet

fat and protien:
-butter
-milk
-cheese
-eggs
-meat especially cured meat which is suited for storage

other:
-pickles and preserves

the really exciting thing about this is that a fridge is almost unnecessary. i think i could manage quite well with a small, energy efficent, bar fridge. this is the place that i hope to be at in 5 years. free from the grocery stores, self sufficient even when its -40 below.

goaty goodness

2007-08-16T16:39:00.001-04:00

here is our recipe for home made raw milk goats cheese. when using raw milk you must be extremely careful about sterilization, the health of your animal, and the the cleanliness of your milking area/kitchen. raw milk is illegal to buy so unless you own your own goats consume at your own risk. all equipment shown has been sterilized by spraying a solution of 1 capful of hydrogen peroxide to 2 cups of water onto instruments and then washed off with hot water.

this is cinnamon and ali, the everdale goats!

step 1: get milk. i'm not going to write out how to milk a goat. that's something that needs to be taught "hands on" but i will say this, it's super fun!

here's the 4 litres of milk that will become cheese!

strain the milk through a milk filter, we pick these up where we get the rennet and other cheese supplies. this filters out any hair or debris that may have gotten into the milking bucket.

you need 1/4 of a drop of calcium chloride for ever liter of milk. how do you get a quarter drop? put 1 drop into 4 tablespoons of room temperature water. then for ever liter add one tablespoon of calcium chloride/water mixture.

next add 1/16th of a teaspoon of bacterial starter for ever liter of milk. let starter sit for approximately 3 minutes on the surface off the milk to dissolve.

mix starter in using 20 bottom to top strokes, bringing milk from the bottom of the pot to the top

mix rennet in the same proportions as calcium chloride and add 1 tablespoon rennet/water mixture for ever liter of milk. mix again with 20 bottom to top strokes. place a lid on the pot and put in an area where it will not be disturbed for at least 12 hours.

12 hours later the curds should have separated from the whey and your cheese should look something like this!

using a ladle take small chunks of the curd

ladle curd into a colander lined with butter muslin (very fine cheese cloth). colander should be set on a large bowl to catch the whey

tie the two left corners and two right corners of the muslin together in a double knot

hang curds off an s-hook in the fridge allowing whey to drain out into bowl for at least 12 hours. it's best if you have a fridge solely for cheese making as other flavours in your fridge will invade the cheese and make it taste off. once finished your cheese can be put into an air tight reusable container. if desired cheese can also be flavoured at this point with herbs, salt, fruit, honey etc.

whey can be mixed with grain and fed to chickens or pigs or can be used to bake bread!

thank you ali!!!! <3>

best bread recipe ever

2007-08-16T16:21:00.001-04:00

one of the interns here at everdale has this book "the forget about meat cookbook" by karen brooks. anyway it has pretty much the best bread recipes i've ever used. here is her basic bread recipe which is so good and surprisingly fluffy for 100% whole wheat. give it a go!

3 cups warm water
3/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons yeast
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon salt
8 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

-dissolve honey and molasses in warm water
-add yeast and let sit for a few minutes until yeast begins to bubble and look spongy
-if yeast does not activate do not continue! either your yeast is dead or your water was too hot or cold.
-if yeast is fine add in oil, salt and flour
-mix with hands until flour is well incorporated
-dump dough out onto a clean, floured breadboard or counter
-knead bread until it becomes soft an elastic
-put bread in a clean, oiled bowl, pour a bit of oil on top and cover with plastic wrap and a clean dry tea towel
-let bread rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour) somewhere warm and away from drafts (a good spot is in a cold oven with the oven light turned on to create a small amount of warmth)
-once bread had risen, punch dough down and let rise again
-shape dough into loaves and place in greased bread pans, cover with plastic wrap and tea towels and let double in size
-bake bread in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes
-take loves out of oven and place on cooling racks for 5 minutes
-remove bread from tins and let cool completely on cooling racks, covered in a clean tea towel

Carl's Foot Print

2007-08-12T19:18:00.000-04:00

hey just a quick note to everyone to check out my friend Carl's blog Carl's Foot Print. Carl would be my soul mate if he weren't 16. He's great, how many other 16 year olds would give up a summer in Toronto to farm all summer? His blog is super interesting. Expect a rebuttal on his farming/defense post here on Salad Days in the near future!

Meat Eating As Environmental Activism?

2007-08-11T20:30:00.000-04:00

I admit it. I am an ex-vegetarian. For 8 years i was a vegetarian, 3 of those years I was vegan. Now i eat meat. Some folks think this is because i gave up on my politics or sold out. the truth is that meat makes sense to me. in my attempt to eat local food i began to realize how stupid it was to be eating highly processed soy from Asia, when i could be eating sustainably, ethically raised meat from nearby farms. here are some of the arguments for vegetarianism as an ecologically friendly choice and my rebuttals. these are taken from goveg.com a PETA site. these are similar arguments to the ones i used to make as a vegetarian.

We feed more than 70 percent of the grains and cereals we grow to farmed animals, and almost all of those calories go into simply keeping the animals alive, not making them grow. Only a small fraction of the calories consumed by farmed animals are actually converted into the meat that people eat.

this is in industrial factory farming where cows are fed grain they aren't naturally supposed to eat, because it is cheaper and faster to fatten cows in feedlots on corn than to allow them to roam free and be fed by the pasture. in sustainably raised beef cows eat only grass and hay, something humans can't eat given that we don't have 4 stomachs. sustainably raised meat maximized land use, not takes away from it, because it stores energy grown in grass, in meat so humans can benefit from said stored energy.

Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the United States, and since factory farms don't have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil, and contaminating our air

again, this is a problem with industrial factory farming. on small scale, environmentally mindful farms, waste is not waste, its part of the system. often chickens are pastured along side the cows. the chickens eat the pathogens in the manure and essentially make it clean and help turn it into compost. the compost then goes into the pasture and fertilizes the grass that the cows will eat. the manure is also composted to go on farmers fields.

Vast tracts of land are needed to grow crops to feed the billions of animals we raise for food each year. According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute, much of it to create more room for farmed animals.

if everyone was a vegetarian we would have to start trucking in vegetables from all over the world (not that we don't already but in a perfect food system we wouldn't have to). massive areas of land are inhospitable to vegetables because they are too hilly or arid or have poor soil etc, are prefect for raising livestock. why do you think certain cultures have high meat diets? because their climate is suited to raising livestock and not produce. if these areas were used exclusively for livestock it wouldn't be wasting land, it would be putting it to its best advantage instead of throwing chemical fertilizers/herbicides/pesticides on it to force vegetable production.

i agree with this critique of industrial farming but there is another way. there are farms that aren't evil, there are farmers that truly care for their livestock and provide the best life possible for them. there are farms that are virtually entire ecosystems, not monocultures. i believe eating free range, pasture fed animals in moderation is a great act and I'm proud of my decision to eat this way.

i don't mean to knock vegetarians. i know what a sacrifice it is and applaud those who are trying to make the world a better place. i just urge people to think critically. westerns eat far too much factory farmed meat and maybe, because of vegetarians, we aren't in a total crisis because they balance out the equation.

xo,
the compassionate carnivore

A First Time for Everything

2007-08-11T18:15:00.000-04:00

hello Internet. this is strange for me. I've been blogging for many years although i suppose it is more like an online diary. I've never blogged with a theme or expecting anyone to actually read it. I'm super excited though! this summer I'm volunteering at Everdale Organic Farm and Environmental Learning Centre in Hillsburg Ontario, about an hour west of Toronto. my time here has been wonderful and i have learnt so much about organic farming, alternative energy, and myself. i was to live sustainably and i want to be self sufficient. I'm not sure how i get from here to there but this blog will be a place for me to work out all my ideas. to dream and scheme about everything from straw bale construction to heirloom tomatoes!

the goats and chickens need feeding (and I've been working since 6am!) but expect posts on my thoughts on meat, and step by step instructions to making raw goat's milk cheese!

xoliz