Becoming Crunchy

I also want a van like this! Image via Wikipedia

Because it’s a new year, I’ve been thinking about all the things I’d like to have/do in 2012.

There’s nothing set in stone and I have no idea how much of it will actually come to pass, but there’s nothing wrong with a little wishlist, right? And if you can’t share your random thoughts and wishes on your blog, where can you share them?

So here goes…

The idea of living sustainably/independent of mainstream corporations, etc. is a hugely fascinating one for me (though it’s something I still have a looooong way to go on).

But in that spirit, here are some of the things I would like to own/do to began attaining that goal:

• A dehydrator. I have dreams of making jerky, fruit roll-ups, etc. and keeping my family in healthy snacks at every need.
• Canning supplies. Because my gardening efforts were such a success last year, I have big plans for expanding this year – and I want to be able to preserve all that yummy goodness! Of course, this will also involve learning how to can things without giving us all botulism.
• An indoor herb garden (plus lots of herbs outside!). I planted sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, lavender and mint last year. The sage and thyme are actually still growing (outside!) and I continue to use them frequently. Thus, I want to do bigger and better this year – and make sure to dry and preserve those herbs as well (I’m afraid I was pretty crap with that this past year). Now I just need to find some space inside that won’t be destroyed by my daughter/dog/cat. Hmm….
• A juicer. My husband loves juice. And no matter how much I tell him how worthless it is and how much it’s all sugar and how it’s not even real even when it says it is, he persists in drinking it. So I would at least like to make him real juice. And I admit I wouldn’t mind putting together some veggie juice concoctions for myself. So this is one of the wants on our list.
• More cast-iron/glass/stainless steel. We’ve begun the process of converting all our cooking stuff to these materials, but we’re not where I’d like to be. It would be great if 2012 could see us there!

As these are mainly all to do with kitchen/cooking/food stuff, I’ll throw in a few goals I’d like to put into action this year. We’ve had great success with going paper towel free and become pros at separating our garbage, compost and recycling, but there’s still a lot more we can accomplish.

I think the biggest problem continues to be waste – mainly in Ziploc bags and food. I’ve been pretty decent in the past with washing those bags out and using more reusable containers and planning meals so food doesn’t get tossed, but we started slacking big-time when I went back to work. I don’t want this downward spiral to continue, so it’s something that’s on my list to work on for 2012.

Continuing with the wishes…

Gardening

• I want my garden to be HUGE this year! I want it to take up my entire back yard and some of my front yard. I will definitely be planning to use straw bales again, and in my mind’s eye I see rows and rows of awesome produce growing already!
• I would like to be totally organic this time around, which means more research into fertilizers (we did not use pesticides, but did use conventional fertilizer). I’ve already gotten some good tips and plan to implement them.
• I’d also like to see what I can do about getting organic seeds and starting my plants indoors. This will be totally new territory for me (have I mentioned how black my thumb is?) and we’re fairly limited in space/sunlight inside, so I’m not really sure how it will go, but I’m going to see what I can do.
• This is so not going to happen, but I would LOVE to have chickens! And I can put whatever I want here because this is all about wishing, right?

In the spirit of all this gardening stuff, I would love to be one of those families that never goes to the grocery store. I don’t know that it’s really going to happen this year, but it is a long-term goal for us.

In the meantime, I have to give a shout out to the Real Canadian Superstore & the PC Brand. They have hugely expanded their organic selection over the past year and I am always pleasantly surprised – especially with the selection of hormone/antibiotic free meat they have. Now, I don’t really know anything else about the corporation or whether it’s good, bad or ugly, but in this area they have my respect – and the proof that voting with your dollar really does work!

One last thing on that – I’d like to learn more about foraging/edible plants, etc. I was first introduced to the idea by Luschka at Diary of a First Child and thought it was so cool – even acted on it a little bit with my experiments in making Dandelion Tea. Would definitely love to get into it more.

Now back to wishing…just a few more things!

Books

• Barbara Kingsolver – I want The Lacuna, really want Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and wouldn’t mind checking out Last Stand, America’s Virgin Lands
• Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
• Anything by Ina May that I don’t already own, plus more birth/doula books

I’m sure I could easily come up with a million more books if you gave me 5 minutes, but those are at the top of my list. 

And talking about Nourishing Traditions reminds me – I’d like to learn more about making cultured foods and start incorporating them more into our diet. This is a tough one for me – I really don’t like many cultured foods. But I’ve managed to change my tastes around quite a few things over the past years, so this is one of my new goals around that.

The other problem is the time. I love, love, love sourdough, etc. and would love to make all those starters and make all the breads and everything else, but I probably just won’t find/make the time to do it. But a girl can dream, right?

Well, it’s not all-inclusive, but all these things are at the top of my Crunchy Wish List for 2012.

And if we can finally get around to starting to use family cloth, it’ll just be the cherry on top. (Yes, I’m weird – and I don’t care!)

What’s on your crunchy wish list?

PS – Please know – these things are things that I want – not that I have/do already. I am not that cool and hope I’m not coming across as thinking I am. And if these kinds of things don’t interest you or you don’t do them, please don’t feel that I judge, because I so do not. Disclaimer now over.

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