relativity

It blows my mind that I've gone 6 days with not a single post. I think my mom has finally gotten around to reading my blog so now I get things like " Marcel the need to get goinggggg".
"maaaam, I knowwww. I've got Angelina baking me bread right nowww"

We're past the halfway mark. Time flies like an arrow fruit flies like a banana.

Well the farmers market opened, and let me tell you there are not many nicer places to be than the farmers' market on a balmy summer morn. I bought some carrots, and took the initiative to ask my mom if we needed any thing (local). I still haven't decided on whether or not it makes sense to buy a farm share when we are so close to places like Greenstar and the market. The less driving the better, although  I do want to meet more local farmers. Either way you better believe bountiful harvests of lush home-grown food is soon meeting my belly. Just to comment on not eating much local food in the winter, or eating locally in general-- there is no one size fits all for eating locally, and before I preach I have to admit I have yet to try on any size. Don't worry I will.
Eating local, seasonal, home cooked meals  may seem like more of a hassle than it is. There are some sacrifices-- maybe not buying those strawberries that have 10 calories each but required something like 70 calories to ship-- but it makes for becoming more in touch with your food system.
On the topic of food, I am signed up with my mom to do crop mobbing-- working on a farm for a day once a month in exchange for a hearty meal and companionship.
moving on...

I revisited a book, that I hadn't previously payed much attention to. Living the Good Life is funny, insightful, and all around an ideal read for me at this point in time. Linda Cockburn chronicles her family's 6th month, live without spending and eat 100% home grown food from suburban backyard turned garden journey. Her style of writing is enjoyable-- vibrant and witty. And her husbands occasional rants about why he eats meat crack me up. Their kid's a cute bugger.(they spent 5 years just preparing to do this FYI)
 Just a couple things I learned from reading today---

(Australian book so everything is in metric)

• A litre (3.7 litres in a gallon) of gas contains around 33,000 kilojoules of energy. To put in perspective it takes .5 kilojoules to bench 150lbs (first time I've used physics outside of class). So the energy in one slice of bread will fuel a car for a journey of 380 meters. On that same energy a person could walk 3 kilometers or bicycle 14 kilometers. In comparison the bike is 97 per cent more fuel efficient than a car. Every litre of gas burned creates 2.4 kilos of greenhouse gas. Each litre of gas took millions of years and 26 tons, tons!, of plant matter to be produced. Taking into account all C02 emissions in early 2000, each year we use 400 times all the plant matter that now grows in the world.Everyone knows this but to grasp the scope of such a oil feast lets compact the presumed lifespan of the earth, 4.5 billion years, into one year. First signs of life would not appear until march 29. the first fish would not appear until December 7th. Dinosaurs would be born on December 15 and die on December 26. Humans would arrive on December 31st at 6:17 pm. The oldest person alive today would be born within the last second. Also during that last second we used 2/3 of the Earth's resources, including the majority of it's oil. We would love to think we are giants, supreme rulers of the world, that we can take as much as we please because we are the world. Greed disregards that we are just a blip in time 

• My computer took around as much energy to produce as that of a car

•  For every incandescent lightbulb I replace with a flourescent I make $100 over the life of the bulb.We call it saving, but it's an investment, with guaranteed returns, that's a profit to me.