This principle applies to almost everything I do. I believe that being married and staying married is the best way to raise children. I am committed to that, and I am actively demonstrating it to my children. I try as much as I can to live according to my values, with
integrity, so that when I say something, I can say it with conviction, and not have a little voice inside reminding me that it's not 100% true.
Well, I spent tonight reading all about people who are "farming" on their city lots, producing a significant proportion of their own food, often with a surplus to sell or share with others. One of the solutions to dealing with "peak oil" and dwindling oil supplies and skyrocketing prices is to become self-sufficient. If you can grow most of your own food, and you have solar panels and solar ovens to provide your energy needs, and composting toilets instead of plumbing, then there isn't very much that you really need. You certainly don't need a job that pays $80,000 a year. You are self-sufficient.
One of the biggest problems for people living in poverty is food insecurity. They don't earn enough money to pay the rent and to buy groceries. If people were able to produce their own food, it wouldn't matter so much. I remember talking with a co-worker of mine, describing his life growing up on a farm. He said that they never had any money to buy things, but there was always food to eat. On an Alberta farm, there were always steak and potatoes and vegetables,
bread and jam and milk and eggs. They never went hungry.
Well, all the reading and thinking that I am doing leads me to believe that becoming more self-sufficient and less environmentally destructive IS the right way to live. What this means for me is that I need to figure out how to do it so that I can model it for my children. I want them to grow up experiencing a good way of life, a sustainable and healthy way of life, an abundant and rich way of life. Gardening is definitely going to play a part in that.
4 comments:
If you come across anything on how to garden when your backyard backs onto a freeway, let me know! We had originally thought we would put a garden in, but after our first winter in this house and seeing the absolute filth on the snow due to the freeway behind us, we've since decided differently.
I suppose there's always some sort of indoor gardening that could be done. But where?? And would we get suspected of having a grow-op. lol.
I should maybe add: gardening when backing onto a freeway and not being able to put in a ... serre-chaud. Sorry, can't come up with the English word at the moment.
Are you thinking of a greenhouse, Daisy?
Greenhouses don't have to be super-fancy, just half a shed and some leftover glass.
I've thought about a little greenhouse beside my garage so that I could have tomatoes and lettuce from May through October, instead of only in July and August.
Yes, yes, greenhouse. (It's sad that English is my first language, isn't it?)
We do not have a suitable yard for a greenhouse, not without some serious work to flatten it out. It's almost entirely sloped.
Although, I suppose even if that could be worked around, I'm quite sure dh would not like the idea! :) And frankly, at the moment, I'm having a hard enough time keeping on top of everything else, I don't think I'd be a good gardener. I think I have to try to figure out a way to start with some container gardening.
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