Recipes and Remedies
For those of you who are accustomed to a different look on these pages, you will find all my recipes and new ones on the Naturally Simple blog.
A few words about food production and consumer responsibility...
The term "simple living" implies strict frugality to some people, however there are other issues to be considered when purchasing food. Despite the fact that organic food is more expensive, the environmental and health benefits of cooking with organic food far outweigh the extra expense.
Our family has chosen to minimize this expense by growing as much food as possible. There are families that grow much of the food they need in a year on rooftops of apartment buildings or in container gardens on patios. It can be done regardless of how little space you have. Composting, which is a huge component of organic gardening, also significantly reduces the amount of waste a family sends to the landfill.
Another issue to consider when you buy food is the issue of whether or not the food is locally grown. Environmentally speaking, the transportation of food items creates staggering amounts of energy consumption. So much so, in fact that I am unsure which of these issues is more important. Ideally, locally grown organic food from your Farmer’s Market or a local CSA farm is the smartest purchase for the environment.
A third concern is determining which segment of the population profits from your purchases. 91 cents of each dollar spent at traditional food markets goes to suppliers, processors, middlemen, and marketers; only 9 cents of each dollar actually goes to the farmer. Supporting small family farms reduces your environmental impact and helps them to earn a living wage.
For those items which cannot be obtained locally such as coffee, sugar and chocolate it is important to make sure that that the items are fairly traded to ensure that farmers all over the world are able to feed their families and work in reasonable conditions.