old

...

on my birthday i explored an old river bank garbage dump.  

and a friend of mine bought an old farm with a house which needs some work.  

here

"Why it is that an industrialized system, deeply dependent on fossil fuels and chemical treatments, is promoted as viable, while a much less damaging one is rubbished and condemned as unfit for purpose? The reasons lie in the anomalies that exist behind the scenes."

*note that in the foreward to the excerpt is a link to the speech in it's entirely

nyc

click the image to view larger. isn't it a stunner?  image is by cyrus dowlatshahi for brooklyn grange.  i found it here via the remodelista newsstand.

and i'm heading down to manhattan tomorrow for a few days.  secret mission.  i'll miss you.  see ya on the flip side.

liane

choose your food

 

went to a talk by ben hewitt last night with my oldest boy ethan and farmer bob.  i just cracked open this book last night for a minute before bed but as i get into it i will share impressions.  i'm not proud of it but i tend to space out when i read anything with science and with statistics.   but i'm challenging myself to read this book through and to really absorb the information.   will report back. 

here's a short excerpt:

"In Making Supper Safe, Ben explores past, present, and likely future of our nation’s response to pathogenic bacteria in our food, and how it impacts both our health and our right to consume the foods of our choosing. He argues that the greatest danger in our food is not the acute illness caused by bacterial contamination, but rather the systemic arrangements that have consolidated our food supply and hidden its inner workings from view. And he considers the crucial interplay between bacteria and the human body, a field that is exploding with new research and insight."  (emphasis mine)

i came away from the presentation knowing that i can get lulled into making ill-informed food choices and i give up personal responsibility for what i eat especially when i am busy and stressed.  and it's real important for me to keep in touch with these ideas and with people who make them a priority so that i keep my priorities and my ideals in the front of my mind.  does that make sense?  it's not important unless i make it important.  and i want to take responsibility.

i don't think the problem is that people make a conscious decision to support factory farming.  it's that we accept the status quo without much probing. 

here are some related links you may want to check out:

farm forward

factory-farming

eating animals

alternatives to factory farming petition

this weekend i want to try to get to the movie theatre to see midnight in paris.  and it's raining here again but i also want to get my tea garden and tomatoes and basil into the ground finally.

fondly,

liane