Live Green - sprouting and canning

I recently read Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma," which was one of the best decisions I've made in the last few months. He made me think about where my food comes from, and I'm not talking about what store I bought it from, I'm talking about way further back than that. What industries and companies am I supporting with my money when I buy mass-produced food? Do I want to support a system that relies on oil to transport food from places across the world, just so I can eat strawberries in winter? These questions aren't necessarily new for me, but reading the book helped me to organize my thoughts on the subject a bit better. He reports on the process of food production from the soil to the meal, and I just devoured it (tee hee). The most interesting part by far is the farm in Virginia that is based on a polyculture: Different species using the same land, producing more from it than could ever be produced if it were simply a monoculture of corn or soybeans. Here's an article from the New York Times that reviews and summarizes the book better than I ever could. After reading this book I feel re-energized and recommitted to the things in life that I really care about. It's more than just eating local-grown foods (like the veggies from my CSA), it's more like an attitude and life style. What changes can I make to my daily routine or way of living that would cause me to leave a smaller footprint?

I've decided to make sustainability one of the themes of my blog. I'm learning new and exciting ways to live sustainably every day and I really want to share these things with others. In that spirit, I found this great article the other day in ReadyMade all about canning your own foods. In California this isn't a big deal because you can get fresh local food year-round, but back east this could really come in handy. I am all excited about finding a canning kit and trying this out; the kumquat marmalade looks delish. This way I can be more self-reliant; stocking food away in the summer months by jarring and canning it, and buying less processed food during the winter months.

ReadyMade - Canning

I have also taken to sprouting my own seeds for salads or sandwiches, or to eat with crackers and cheese (my top choice). I use red clover; they're not bland like some of the alfalfa sprouts can be, they have a nice green taste. The next step for me is sprouting beans, though I don't really know what I would do with them, probably use them in a stir fry or something like that. Sprouting seeds and sprouting beans are a bit different, so here are the instructions for sprouting seeds (like alfalfa, clover, or broccoli):

supplies:

• transparent jar, cheesecloth, rubber band, seeds

to do:

• you can basically assume that the sprouts will be many many times larger than the seeds once they've sprouted (duh), so I would start by using only a teaspoon or a half-teaspoon of seeds for your first try, then once you get the hang of how many sprouts that yields you can use more.
• put the seeds into the jar and secure the cheesecloth to the top of the jar with a rubber band
  
• rinse the seeds and strain them through the cloth a few times
• cover the seeds with about an inch of water and let them soak over night
• drain them the next morning, rinse (making sure to drain as much as possible), and leave the jar on its side in a place out of the sun
• rinse two to three times a day, placing the jar upright after the first day and harvest when you feel the time is right!

It's so easy and satisfying, I love it. And watching the seeds sprout fills me with as much awe and wonder as if I was still in first grade planting beans in a wet paper towel and watching them germinate. It's wonderful. I will hopefully be learning more great ways to leave a smaller footprint (like recycling my food scraps with the vermicomposting bin I made today - a post about that later), so keep on the lookout for more DIY posts!