Do you find yourself trying to think "outside the box?"
If so, perhaps food is high on the list? Do you buy organic? Raw dairy?
Local artisan bakery or meat farmer? Farmer's Market, of course!
But, what if these choices are not OUTside the box?
Maybe, even for the very "greenest" of us, there is an aspect of these
choices that keeps us INside the box.
Shopping.
All of the above "green" ideas are firmly rooted in a
money economy. A system that drives us to earn money
so we can shop for what we need.
Consider the following...
Spend 20 minutes earning $10 (assuming a $30 an hour average wage), then
10 minutes going to the bank to withdraw cash, then
15 minutes to buy two baskets of organic strawberries at the store, then
20 minutes driving home, then
10 minutes washing and preparing the strawberries, then
after eating the berries,
5 more minutes washing and drying the cutting board, knife, and plate!
That's 80 minutes.
Well. How about going for a 40 minute walk and eating berries off the bushes?
This humble experience is often lauded as a "leisure" activity...but,
isn't it really quite more than that?
Why don't we see it for having true worth?
In 40 minutes, you get exercise, enjoy a peaceful
walk to nature's rhythm, and eat a belly-full of berries PLUS
you'll probably have some extra to bring home.
Wow! That is such a better conversion of time to food!
Now, of course, I understand the values of a "common currency" system,
and as a farmer with a mortgage, I don't want to bash the "money" economy entirely.
BUT, for those of us that want to think OUTside the box - I think we need
to take a careful look at when we trade time for money
and when we trade time for food. Thorough evaluation is an
important step as we approach a likely global economic transition.
My main point is that it's worth wondering WHY the value of foraging
for food has been so thoroughly dismissed or discouraged!
One things IS a truism. While we don't
all have the same amount of money - we do all have 24 hours in a day.
Hunting & foraging as an economic equalizing force - now, there's a concept!
If so, perhaps food is high on the list? Do you buy organic? Raw dairy?
Local artisan bakery or meat farmer? Farmer's Market, of course!
But, what if these choices are not OUTside the box?
Maybe, even for the very "greenest" of us, there is an aspect of these
choices that keeps us INside the box.
Shopping.
All of the above "green" ideas are firmly rooted in a
money economy. A system that drives us to earn money
so we can shop for what we need.
Consider the following...
Spend 20 minutes earning $10 (assuming a $30 an hour average wage), then
10 minutes going to the bank to withdraw cash, then
15 minutes to buy two baskets of organic strawberries at the store, then
20 minutes driving home, then
10 minutes washing and preparing the strawberries, then
after eating the berries,
5 more minutes washing and drying the cutting board, knife, and plate!
That's 80 minutes.
Well. How about going for a 40 minute walk and eating berries off the bushes?
This humble experience is often lauded as a "leisure" activity...but,
isn't it really quite more than that?
Why don't we see it for having true worth?
In 40 minutes, you get exercise, enjoy a peaceful
walk to nature's rhythm, and eat a belly-full of berries PLUS
you'll probably have some extra to bring home.
Wow! That is such a better conversion of time to food!
Now, of course, I understand the values of a "common currency" system,
and as a farmer with a mortgage, I don't want to bash the "money" economy entirely.
BUT, for those of us that want to think OUTside the box - I think we need
to take a careful look at when we trade time for money
and when we trade time for food. Thorough evaluation is an
important step as we approach a likely global economic transition.
My main point is that it's worth wondering WHY the value of foraging
for food has been so thoroughly dismissed or discouraged!
One things IS a truism. While we don't
all have the same amount of money - we do all have 24 hours in a day.
Hunting & foraging as an economic equalizing force - now, there's a concept!
Very well said, March! I retired a year ago, and worried about how we would survive on decreased income. We are saving money! First of all, no commuting expenses. Secondly, we are able to make many choices like the one you describe, in picking huckleberries. (Huckleberries, of all things! They are tiny.)
ReplyDeleteRe, berries: We put 13 gals of blackberries in our freezer last year, and just finished eating them a few weeks ago. My, they are delicious in Jan!
We freeze them on a tray, loosely. Some of them turn red, no matter how carefully you pick only ripe ones. The red ones go into a "jam bag" for later, as March describes. Then the ripe ones can be bagged, and used as needed.
There are so many of them around, we should use them!