Millarville Market and a Summertime Challenge

That's the name of my favorite farmer's market. Yes, I have a favorite...and, to be honest, I would have to say that I also enjoy the one in St. Albert as well, but there it has to do mostly with bumping into old friends and feeling at home. You know what I mean? Anyways, I have been neglecting my blog lately and thought that I would let you all know that Millarville Market is my favorite. We will go there on Saturday to get all of our vegetables, fruit and meat for the week. It is a great way to eat locally--and sometimes, organically(especially meat)--and have a fun time while doing it. Eating locally is good for you and good for the environment as I have mentioned before, but just think about what it does for the local economy as well.

For me, summertime is all about going to the market and throwing your favorites on the BBQ. Strange considering I haven't been back on the meat bandwagon for all that long--and I still don't really eat a lot of meat. But lots of things taste great on the BBQ. And, so...since it has been a while since I threw out a challenge, I'm going to throw one out there. It's a big one if you live in Southern Alberta...drumroll please...EAT LESS MEAT. So, try to make one meatless meal a week. Eggplant Parmesana is good(although little bit messy to put on the BBQ). My neighbour put squash on their BBQ yesterday...or how about Tofu. Gasp. Tofu on the BBQ! I think that this might be against the law in some parts of Alberta...we do it all the time. Try marinating it first in a mixture of olive oil, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. It's great on sandwiches! If you take it to work, you get a fabulous mixture of responses when you announce what you have in your lunch. Just ask Bob.

So...head out to your local market and feel better about the way you are feeding your family and your community. Support your local farmers. What would we do without them?

Ok, ok...so I have been busy this week so there has been little time for me to sit down and 'blog' about my green living attempts. Excuses, excuses, but in reality when you are a full time mom you can always use the 'busy' excuse and no one will ever question you. I have a new challenge. A simple one this time. Don't worry, I didn't forget about my last challenge...on the contrary, I just ordered the 'eco-conversion kit' from Melaleuca and it should arrive next week giving me lots to talk about then. But, until then, I thought I would put out another challenge. Something that I already do. Well, ok, I am supposed to be already doing, but to be totally honest I actually suck at doing it, so it is one of those 'resolutions' that I am constantly trying to achieve. I thought that by putting it out there as a challenge it would motivate me to get better at it. Drum roll please...use reusable bags when shopping. I thought that I would quote from Al Gore's book "An Inconvenient Truth" to give some background on the whole plastic bag thing:

"Americans go through 100 billion grocery bags every year. One estimate suggests that Americans use more than 12 million barrels of oil each year just to produce plastic grocery bags that end up in landfills after only one use and then take centuries to decompose. Paper bags are a problem too: To ensure that they are strong enough to hold a full load, most are produced from virgin paper, which requires cutting down trees that absorb carbon dioxide. It is estimated that about 15 million trees are cut down annually to produce the 10 million paper bags we go through each year in the United States."

So, enough statistic babble...you probably get the point. Not a bad idea to use reusable bags. So, for myself, I have been keeping them in my front closet with the intention of taking them with me whenever I go get groceries(or shop period). Well, in the commotion of trying to get myself and two kids out the door without a temper tantrum, those bags are almost always forgotten. For Christmas, at one of those crazy gift exchange things, Bob got the book "It's Easy Being Green" by Crissy Trask. In it she suggests...and here comes the big compact fluorescent in my head coming to full brightness...keeping a set in your car. Brilliant! So, now I'm going to go out and buy like 8 of them(I only currently have 3) for both vehicles. I am also committing to not using them as 'garbage bags'. I'm cutting back on my plastic consumption. I know that they can be recycled, but recycling is not always the answer.

And, in the spirit of this conversation on plastic bags, I am going on the hunt for a beautiful shoulder bag that I can carry with me now that I no longer need a diaper bag. Al Gore suggests the website www.reusablebags.com and I've checked it out and I think I actually might place an order with them. Of particular interest to me were the reusable produce bags. And, I like the heavy duty grocery bags that are kind of square as they will carry my groceries better. There were also these really cool shoulder bags made from recycled rice bags which I thought might pass as cool enough for me. We'll see. I'm off to the grocery store...well, as soon as my coffee kicks in!