Lamb and Frog

A long time ago, over on Jon Taplin’s blog I was scolded by no less a person than T-Bone Burnett. He told me “People don’t consume music; they listen to music.” Well, a recent article by the Cornucopia Institute brought that back to my mind just now. With apologies to Joan Cutuly—it seems there might be a parallel to be drawn here: “You don’t consume food, you eat it.” T-Bone’s point was (I think, I’m routinely scolded for my lack of comprehension of matters musical) that, purchasing decisions aside, music is there to be listened to because it nourishes your soul. My point is that, purchasing decisions aside, food is to be eaten because it nourishes your body (and sometimes your soul too—ask Proust).

If you are eating food and the results are going to have a direct impact on your body and soul, wouldn’t you want to make the best choices you possibly could? Why waste your time and money eating, watching, listening to garbage? I mean, sometimes a little garbage can be OK. I will admit a weakness for Pillsbury orange rolls in a tube and Hellcats. But long-term garbage generally has piss poor long-term effects—on your mind, your waistline, and your dental enamel (among other things).

What’s my point? Well, unless you’re growing/raising your own, before you eat food you have to buy it. And some big corporations are spending serious time and money to thwart your efforts to make informed purchasing decisions. Recently a California ballot initiative to require labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) failed because of their work. (Such labeling is common in the European Union and other countries around the world.) As you can see from the chart (above right) many of these companies own popular (and large) organic brands. Source: The Cornucopia Institute

Here’s another Cornucopia Institute chart that shows “Who Owns Organic”. If you can’t read it and want to I highly recommend taking some time to browse the Cornucopia Institute’s site or to “Like” their Facebook page.

The same companies are most likely the ones trying to make it legal to use non-organic synthesized nutrients in food bearing the organic label (the article that started this Crazy Train of thought).

I’ve mentioned before that I think it’s important that people make mindful purchasing decisions; decisions based on their own values (priorities), tastes, and budget. For example, one of the reasons I buy much of my produce from local or regional growers (whether organic or conventional) is because of the energy costs involved in trucking food from ‘far far away’—both in terms of the price of gasoline and greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately for me, I live in an area with abundant local farming and in a region where, when willing to eat ‘in season’, I can get almost anything my little heart desires. Maybe for the size of your family your budget doesn’t allow for organic food. Or maybe you simply know you won’t cook or eat it. I get it. Trust me. I . Get. It.

What’s important here is not me (or anyone else) passing judgment on someone else’s food (or music or TV) choices. Rather, it’s your ability to make an informed decision. These (highly profitable) companies are using a lot of big excuses (cost of compliance is always one of them) to deny you your right to know what you are putting in your body (and your kids’ bodies if you’re doing their shopping and cooking). I encourage you not to let them.

For now, in addition to the links and information in this post, I’ll give you this: “What do PLU codes say about your produce?” It’s a link to an article by Consumer Reports magazine that tells you how to tell if your produce is commercially or organically grown or if it contains GMOs. As noted in the article, PLU codes aren’t mandatory, so companies can label GMO-containing foods as ‘conventional’. Also, the food industry routinely fights efforts to appropriately label food with GMO ingredients. For example, most commercial corn contains GMOs. So anything you buy that is made with corn or corn oil probably contains them (Fritos, Cheetos, and even food that is marketed as ‘healthy’).

The problem with GMOs (besides their link to Monsanto—the company that makes the pesticide Round Up) is that there is no data on the long-term effects of consuming them. And by the time such data are available and have been validated through proper use of the scientific method, we may have a really big problem on our hands (more likely on our arses or in our intestines).

It was only recently that the problems with trans-fats and high-fructose corn syrup (both chemically altered foods) became widely acknowledged. It makes me wonder if recent increases in lactose and gluten intolerance as well as many other food allergies (many, many more food allergies are now being reported) have their root causes in food that has been messed with (usually good intentions with unintended consequences, but sometimes it’s just greed). Allergies are one way our immune systems respond to threats. Food shouldn’t be a threat. Immune responses to food should be rare. They aren’t.

Anyway, food for thought (pun intended). As always be mindful, but don’t stress yourself out (that doesn’t do you any good either).

I asked The Duck, who seemed sad when he came home from school today.

“A kid called me a white boy.”

“Well you are a white boy. I’m sorry that’s being used as an insult though.”

“So I hit him with my lunchbox.”

“Did you get in trouble?”

“No, the teacher wasn’t out there.”

“Well, I’m sorry he called you that, but you can’t hit people when they say something you don’t like.”

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

That was easy. Really, really easy. Wordpress, you guys rule my world!

So, I like my keyboard, I love my keyboard. I want to write. But pictures? Much easier to take them with the tablet and post them. And much more likely to result in blog posts. Keep in mind, however, that blog posts originating on the tablet are subject to really weird typos thanks to the stupid touchpad.

I’d love to stick around and wax philosophical, but I have yarn to wash (and photograph and write about)!

Did I mention that tax season is over? Wahoo!

I’m blogging from my tablet!

Well, I’ve been looking at old blog posts and realizing how much I miss writing (although I occasionally post short, funny stuff on FaceBook). At the risk of sounding like everyone else…I just haven’t had the time. Or, quite frankly, the urge.

I have been knitting, and crocheting (Tunisian even!), and spinning. I have been cooking. I have also been grieving.

The big hiatus that began in September 2010 and that was punctuated only by blips in 2011 was caused because it was on October 31, 2010 that my mother lost her one-year battle with breast cancer. It’s been rough. Rough losing my mom. Rougher losing my children’s grandmother. I am an only child and my boys were the only grandkids my mom was ever going to have and they lit her world; they were her world. And every time I think of how little time she got to spend with them it makes me really, really angry.

I also gained. My mom lived and worked in Nye County, Nevada. She owned a business and had three employees. For those of you who don’t know, Nye County has been one of the hardest hit counties in the country since the economic catastrophe that commenced in 2008 (and in my opinion still isn’t over) began taking its toll on the working and middle class of this country. When Mom died I had a choice—take over the business or shut the doors and put three people out of work and two more empty storefronts in two small towns. If you know me at all, you know there was no choice. I picked up where mom left off. I got a new job and three employees!

In the process I’ve had to learn a new business, learn more about bookkeeping and payroll than I ever wanted to know, and learn how to do tax returns as a paid professional (instead of as a really competent layperson). I’ve paid bills, and filed reports, and filled out countless forms. And all my grief was delayed because, dying when she did, I had to muddle through the 2010 holiday season and then will my way through the 2011 tax season by the (granted, reasonably large) seat of my pants.

And I lost again. In all that I’ve learned and done, I realized I could not do everything and something had to give. For the short term it was the blog and all but the minimum on the house and the fiber. For the long term it was, for better or for worse, my 20-year career as a technical writer, which came to an end when my final contract with my largest customer expired last month. I made the difficult and bittersweet decision not to renew it and to devote my work-day energy into running Mom’s business, even though at times it really doesn’t seem like my calling in the same way that technical writing did.

So here I am, facing the end of my second tax season and a the beginning of what I hope will be a successful second career selling insurance, doing taxes, and (I hope) becoming a Certified Financial Planner. The kind of person who helps people live well on what they earn and make good decisions on how, how much, and where their money goes.

I plowed through the first six months on sheer willpower. I had some time to deal with my grief after that. I’ve been putting a lot of mental energy and a lot of labor into the business since February and now I’m back to a place where I feel like I can return to my writing (and I have returned to my spinning). Just because I haven’t been writing, doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading. I looked and realized I hadn’t updated the book page for over a year. Of course I read during 2011. I read tons. I won’t be able to remember it all, but I will try to do a summary table of what I can remember in the near future.

So, I’m back. And I’m happy to be here. And life is still beautiful and every day is still a gift. And, as always, I’m really looking forward to Earth Day.