Soyagera journey into healthier living

…that will take DECADES for Americans to even wrap their heads around.

I recently read the following article in UTNE Reader mag and it made me think more about WHY this concept of granting the Earth constitutional rights (I know–sounds funny. Read the article!) sounds, well, sounds funny to Americans.  Hubs and I were discussing animals, creatures of this Earth like us, and how many people fail to see spiritual and emotional similarities between humans and animals. Hubs conjectured, “most people don’t understand things unless it’s in their face. ..” Mistreating or disrespecting animals isn’t something they can comprehend because it’s not affecting them directly. “It’s the same reason why people aren’t concerned with genocide or bombings,” he said, “they care only if it’s happening directly to THEM.” Ah, my wise husband, right again.

And it’s the same with the Earth. A dog craps on someone’s lawn, he’s angry about it. A power plant dumping toxic substances into natural waterways? Fuh-get-about-it!  Whether it’s apathy or ignorance, it’s annoying and enraging, and part of the reason I get frustrated living where I live. The majority of the population is in the “fuh-get-about-it” category. Or, more appropriately, the “I ain’t care” category.

George Orwell says in 1984, “the hope lies with the Proles…” Where do we go from here?

Check out this article: The Emancipated Earth

Nothing is more exciting and, truly, invigorating than getting the first big bag of fresh veggies from the CSA to which we belong. Where we live, year-round produce beyond eggs and certain lettuces just isn’t possible. (And at some point, the lettuce doesn’t grow and we don’t eat eggs so…) When those full, bountiful bags start rolling in, we’re ecstatic and we know it’s summer! This week, we picked up our harvest at a local farmer’s market so we got to sample other farmers’ wares.  We ended up with only a beautiful bottle of herb-infused vinegar, but I think that as the summer wears on we’ll find more to please us. Our CSA picks this week included: red and golden beets, lettuce, arugula, salad mix (with beautiful edible yellow blossoms!), sugar snap peas (mmmmm), broccoli, and carrots. We were honestly in heaven sitting down before dinner to a plate of just-picked veggies sprinkled with herbed vinegar. FANTASTIC.

Eating food that came from the Earth (not a lab or greenhouse), farmed with good energy, sunlight, and water (not pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers) and picked by someone’s good hands (not ripped out by a machine) is one of life’s blessed experiences.

I had some computer malfunctions and password losses for a few weeks, but now I’m back in blog business.

As I approach the summer months, I will find myself with oodles of free time. My job allows me incredible vacation time in the summer in exchange for parenting 150 teenagers for nine months of the year. It’s a pretty good gig most of the time, but I definitely look forward to the vacation. Generally, in the summer, I do a lot of cooking. Fresh, straight-from-scratch cooking and baking. I’m talkin’ fresh breads, organic CSA veggies, and delicious wheat-meats. Mmm-hmmmm!  Anything that takes longer than thirty, forty-five minutes tops during the school year just ain’t happenin’, especially as I see the light at the end of the cement-block tunnel. Hubs and I have been taking Kashi microwaveable meals for lunches the past few weeks because we’re just so…. SPENT. As I stand in line for the microwave at lunch time, with all the other microwaveable meals, leftover pizza slices, and take-out in styrofoam boxes, I think, “My god, how will I eat well when I have kids? How will I do this for the remaining—gag—twenty-five years of my career?  ” I know I can do it, but honestly, am I up for the challenge?

You know, eating well on a small time schedule is no simple feat. And just shut your little yappy mouth before you start to form the words “Rachael Ray.”  One, ol’ Rach has a team of people to come up with ideas, and two, when in doubt, she adds cheese and butter and it’s all easy-peasy-cheesy. The quickest meal I’ve conjured is: grain (rice/quinoa/cous cous) + veggie burger (Dr. Praegers or Sunshine) + seasonings (curry paste/olive oil/tamari/mirin/whateverislayingonthecounteratthemoment) + microwave = quickest meal ever. But there’s that microwave which I don’t believe adds any value to food. It’s most likely zapping my mind so I forget the password to my blog admin.

And so, I’m nervous. Quick, easy food is never the best for the body. Did I also mention that I’ll be on the road for much of the summer in a cross-country excursion? Hubs and I KNOW how to cook easy meals for camping and such. But, in most cases, it’s still chock full of sodium. Or sugar. Or (shiver) soy protein isolate. The good stuff goes bad, and the good stuff ain’t great for road trips or crazy weeks when my students rebel against me in a fit of pirate-like mutiny because of a computer error on their progress reports or when Hubs’ students get arrested for drug traffiking (again). True story.

So, what do you do? I can’t eat pasta or veggie burgers every night for the rest of my life. And I refuse to be one of those tater-tot and “chikin” fingers moms in the future. Oy.  I need ideas.