Archive for October, 2011
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18 October 2011
CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)
These beautiful veggies came from a farm close to us that is set up as a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You buy a share in the CSA at the beginning of the season, and you enjoy a box of local, organic, seasonal vegetables each week. The first time I had garden-fresh broccoli (so sweet!), I was completely sold.
In a time where we get apples shipped from New Zealand, broccoli shipped from California, and zucchini shipped from Mexico, we have become disconnected from our food sources and the people who grow it. These are all foods that grow in Canada, and if we are able to find local produce and shift our diet to be more seasonal, we can enjoy fresh delicious food that was ripened by the sun in the fields rather than by chemicals en route.
CSA’s were developed to bring farming back to a local and economically viable level. Because produce is purchased directly from the farm, the farmers get a fair price for their efforts, and the consumer gets fresh veggies at very reasonable prices. In a CSA, the members buy a share at the beginning of the season and get a share of the weekly harvest. Members share in the risk that farmers take with the weather, risks which have pushed so many small farmers out of growing food. A bad weather year could mean an average harvest, but the CSA’s we’ve been part have usually provided us with so much food for our share that we’ve been able to freeze some for the winter. They also offer recipes to help find ways to use the variety of heirloom organic veggies, and some help foster a sense of community and connection with potlucks or an option to help with the harvest in exchange for a reduced share cost.
It’s also been an amazing experience for our kids to see firsthand where their food comes from and how it grows. Broccoli reallys grows like a small bush! Snow peas are really better than candy just out of the garden! And my kids have consistently chosen a fresh baby carrot over any other choice of food. Who could beat that?
If you want to learn more, here are links to the CSA’s we’ve been part of:
http://soilmatters.wordpress.com/
http://crookedhornfarm.ca/
~Raina
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11 October 2011
Good Old Fashioned Clothes Line
We put up a clothes line this summer at our new house, and I just had to take a photo of it. How nostalgic as well as environmentally sound is a clothes line!? I love seeing the kids’ clothes lined up together, reminding me of how quickly they grow. And hanging the laundry not only gives me satisfaction because I am reducing electricity use, it also gives me a little space in the day for a peaceful (yet practical!) meditative activity.
Our modern culture has bought into an idea that everything needs to be sterilized with antibacterial soap or bleach, both of which cause harm to our health. Yet the sun is the original disinfectant and brightening agent, and it is free and easily accessible. Hang out dish cloths that have started to smell, hang cloth diapers that have staining, and hang clothes that you don’t want to shrink in the dryer. And best of all, the old saying is true that sheets which have been hanging on the line smell divine when you lay down to sleep at night.
There are some sub-divisions and condo or townhouse units that don’t allow “unsightly” clothes lines. I say it’s time to challenge that, since clothes lines are valuable tools for this time of declining oil reserves and rising fuel costs. And they help remind us of those childhood times when slower life gifted us with so many sweet moments.
~Raina
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4 October 2011
Tiny House – Creative Small Space
It may be unfathomable to most people in Canada or the United States how someone could choose to live in a 144 square foot house. We are accustomed to an average detached dwelling being more like 1200 to 2000 square feet (not including the basement). In a smaller house, just where would we put all of our “stuff”?!
One creative way to make a small space work well for you is to use all of the height in your home to benefit. The photo shows high shelves in this tiny house, keeping books up out of the way and reducing floor space needed for bookshelves. You can also overlap uses of the same space by keeping the floor plan open. A kitchen island can be a food prep area, an eating area, or an space for kids to get homework help. A day bed can be a couch, a guest bed, or your own bed if you have a truly small house. There are many small home ideas for maintaining a high quality lifestyle in a compact space, and once you decide to downsize, you may be surprised at how much more time and extra money you have to enjoy!
Living in 144 square feet isn’t necessarily practical for a family, but you could consider a house under 1000 square feet, or create a rental suite in a larger house so that more people would be housed in the same square footage. Besides rental income and reduced heating and cooling bills, this could bring more of a sense of community to your family’s life.
Another strategy for making a very small living space feel comfortable could be downsizing our load of “stuff” to only what we actually need on a daily basis. A large house would feel empty and start to echo if we didn’t fill it with more furniture, old projects we mean to get back to, recycleable materials we “may use someday”, and momentos. Having a shed for seasonal gear and letting go of anything we haven’t even looked at or thought about for years will free up space and help you feel lighter and more organized.
