Ebony's Pearls

With all the recent news about salmonella in the peanut butter, e. coli in the greens, and contaminated grain in the pet food, it's getting harder to trust either food manufacturers or the government that supposedly regulates them.

Some people are calling for more stringent governmental regulations.

I don't think more laws and rules and regulations will work. All these things will do is drive up the prices on the foods and drive some food manufacturers out of business because they can't afford to comply with all the record-keeping such increased regulations will demand. The paperwork is a real pain - and it can be easily falsified so the business can stay in business.

Besides, more onerous regulations will create businesses that can sell "pollution credits", except, in this case, it could be "biodiversity credits", or "pesticidal credits" or some other applicable "credits" that are essentially meaningless.

I don't know about all the rest of you, but when it comes to food, for myslef or the critters who depend upon me, I want to know what's in it, where it all came from, and how it was made.

Yes, that means a little extra work and a little extra expense.

I have to spend time finding reliable, trustworthy basic food sources: wheat, rice, salt, sugar, honey, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, greens, radishes, chicken, kohlrabi, parsnips, buffalo, elk, venison, plums, oranges, trout, catfish, celery, rutabagas, peas, green beans, rabbit, lemons, pig, turnips, beans, apples, and more. I have to spend time growing some of this myself. I have to spend time finding people who can and jar and butcher and smoke and otherwise preserve much of this harvest, or do it myself. I have to find bakers I trust to bake my bread without slipping in soy or other enhancements - or do it myself. I have to spend time finding the harvest dates so I can eat seasonally, and prepare for the months (only 2 or 3 in my area) where fresh foods are scarce - or grow my own indoors or in a small greenhouse on my property.

It's not just food, either. I have to spend time either finding a source for soaps, shampoos, and cleaners that are neither allergy-inducing nor toxic or I have to make them myself. Ditto for clothing - did you know some fibers are now spun from soy? Imagine what that does to unsuspecting people with soy allergies! And for inks in the printer and fuel for vehicles - all now containing soy.

I'm a lucky person in that I know how to spin fibers, dye, weave, and sew cloth, make non-toxic and effective household cleanres and pesticides, make soaps, shampoos, and assorted other personaly hygiene and care products, garden, make my own medicinals, cook from scratch, forge my own ironwear and knives, hunt, butcher, and preserve meats, brew up my own sodas and ciders and wines, build my own furniture (not pretty, but sturdy), nurture sourdoughs, and so on and so forth. Not everyone has had the desire to learn these things, not even a portion of them. It took me decades to acquire the skills I now have.

Not everyone has the same options I do, and there are plenty of people who will say they lack the same options I do because they don't want to spend the time finding out they have far more options than they give themselves credit for having. These people are the victims of modern advertising and schooling, where they are taught they can't do things and have to depend upon others to do for them. Others will moan that they lack my options because they'd rather watch TV or surf the internet than to spend a bit of that time either learning the skills to make their lives better or to implement those skills. Then there are the few people who really do lack the options I have or ones similar to them.

Still, even those of us with the least options still have some way to ensure their food supply is safe and healthful without resorting to governmental regulations.

It's called the power of the people. It's a power many big businesses fear, and it's a power our government fears mightily because they, better than anyone else, understand they have power only for so long as we let them.

We can write letters, visit with our legislators in person, make phone calls, engage in active and vocal boycotts, picket, and band together to do for ourselves what big business and governemnt can't (and I say shouldn't) do for us. The dollars in our pocketbooks are a loud voiced we neglect to use artfully and meaningfully in society.

Even the people who don't want to spend time seeking out healthful foods and other necessary products, or acquiring the skills to make their own, will have the time to pen a letter, to make a phone call, to join groups that are doing these things and use their money instead of their actions to speak for them. None of these activities take longer than a commercial break on TV and some can even be done while tending to bodily functions for those who can't tear themselves away from the internet for anything short of a full bladder. Those who commute or have long drives for work have even more opportunities for activism while on their drives - through phone calls, recording messages, etc. And thos on the internet can click to donate funds to groups (they've investigated thoroughly to be sure goals and methods are shared) they wish to support.

You can buy organic foods through the internet, even order local foods and products through the internet and pick them up at a near-by location on the way to or from work or on a weekend.

Ultimately, the only person we can trust to take care of us is ourselves.

And all of this reminds me the orders for my local food coop are open and I need to place an order before it closes.

I built 2 SFG plots today, but can't fill them because the wind is too strong to make the Mel's Mix.

I have already purchased some new plants for the plots, and have seedlings ready to be transplanted in.

Last year, I resorted to mixing up the Mel's Mix in the laundry room in a wheelbarrow, and I may have to repeat that experience this year.

My redbud has converted from buds to leaves, and the Zombie Maple is sexing up the neighborhood with lots and lots of seeds. I'm on my third harvest of mints, dandelions, and lemon balm; second harvest of rosemary, sage, and violets; first harvest of rose petals,lavender, dill weed, basil, and baby lettuces. The strawberries, raspberries, nasturtiums, honeysuckles, jasmines, and tomatoes all have blossoms. Soon, very soon, I will be harvesting them. The radishes are up, along with the peas, carrots, and cucumbers.

Normally, we have winds of 10-15 miles an hour unless there are storms coming. I can mix the soil in winds like that. Habit, because we always have winds like that. Today, the winds are 25 miles an hour with gusts up to 35. That's a bit too strong to mix soil.

I'll see how tomorrow is, and if it's still this windy, it's the laundry room for mixing.