Side benefit to growing food

https://food-hub.org/files/resources/Food%20Miles.pdf


I found that winter blueberries tasted great till I found out that they fly them here in cargo planes from Chile. Now the thought of the carbon footprint of eating them (read an article once)jumps into my head and when I see imported veggies I try to rationalize how much I want them to see if the pollution required to get it to me is worth it.

I am not a "long haired hippie freak" who radicalizes every purchase to determine if my purchases will kill the planet (nothing against long haired hippie freaks). However I do read and pay attention, and I try to choose a logical path for me.

That is why today I realized that the carbon footprint of my gardening efforts amounts only to one thousanth of the amount needed for the blueberry jet to fly half an inch, if that. Just one more benefit to growing your own stuff. The only carbon is the emissions of my huffing and puffing.

​I am contemplating what to plant next. I'm thinking of winter-what freezes well. So the next trip to stop and shop, I'll walk down the frozen aisle and see what they sell. If they can freeze it, so can I.

I am planning on canning tomatoes for the winter sauce. Never did it before, but i can do it! Did you ever read the label on the sphagetti sauces? The label picture looks so healthy yet it's loaded with high fructose corn syrup and various chemicals and sugar. Ever since I saw that, I stopped buying it and bought the canned crushed tomato stuff and made my own. TASTES BETTER. CHEAPER! Hopefully I can do the canning right.

I just found out from June, our earthy perennial expert that Amazon.com sells a tomato-masher-skin-remover-prepare for freezing-device that enables people to prepare tomatoes for freezing directly and eliminate the time consuming boiling process. When I have the info, I'll put it up here.

Eat healthy, save money, reduce emissions, get exercise... looks good to me!

Two unknowns in my garden now- collard greens and okra.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!



http://m.extension.illinois.edu/veggies/okra.cfm