Tuesday, April 2, 2013

That garden I talked about starting?

Not happening.

But a young family from our church is starting a CSA this year. So we will buy into that and have the benefit of fresh, seasonal, local, probably mostly organic vegetables, while supporting local agriculture. Those are two of the four reasons I would want to have a garden for myself anyway. The other two are because

  •  It seems like fun
  •  I want my yard to look more... nourishing. 

The other good reasons for going with the CSA instead of a garden are:

  • I don't have to do shit to grow the veggies unless I WANT to go get sweaty out in the country.
  • I have no idea how to garden and they do.
  • Our yard is probably full of toxins. 
  • Our landlord probably doesn't want me to dig up the lawn only to abandon the project whenever we move.
  • I was a little nervous about putting a lot of work into a yard that doesn't have a fence, and that all the people and dogs around here apparently think is public property.
  • It takes a couple years to get a garden going strong enough that you seriously don't have to buy any vegetables.
  • The CSA's success will help more people than my garden.
  • We can go on vacations. It will be easier to persuade my parents to help us eat all the produce from the CSA than to come over to water and weed our garden.
So the CSA wins.

I actually do like the idea of going out to the farm to help them work, and trying to make my thumb a little greener for next year's imaginary garden. And I will still do some herbs in the kitchen window, and try to plant some flowers in the yard. But I don't have to grow all my food myself THIS YEAR. Geez.

Now, if Wendell Berry were here, he'd tell me to barter with my CSA friends instead of giving them money. But I don't have any barterable skills except teaching, and their kids are too young to start Latin and Greek. So I'll give 'em cash.

The other thing that didn't end up happening in Lent (so far) is giving up coffee. Now, as I said, that was a prediction, not a resolution. My theory was that I love cream so much that I just didn't even want coffee without it. But I adapted pretty quickly. I'm definitely drinking less, though.

And the shrimp broth worked out pretty well. I'm sad that it tastes so fishy. Sally Fallon recommended cooking the shrimp for a long time in oil to avoid the fishy flavor, so clearly my problem is patience.

2 comments:

  1. In Everyday Saints, there's a great story about a super-ascetic old monk who would only wash himself with buckets of cold water. When asked why he didn't take a shower:

    "Taking showers is almost as bad as eating chocolate!"

    ReplyDelete