BlogHer - Australia, NZ & Oceania - Comments

Quite unique, no?

snigdhasen — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:06:13 -0500

BlogHer is run by some really smart women here, and I am happy to be part of this family :)

Good to see you here, Raj. Yes, indeed, this is a serious crisis. But I am hoping this will spur the world community to action.

Sixty years of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan in India has achieved precious little for our farmers. Indian agriculture needs to get top priority in the country's agenda.

Food, I guess, is entering a new phase in the modern era.

This is a serious crisis

An alien earthling — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:20:27 -0500

Thanks, Snigdha. BlogHer is quite different from the other blogging platforms!

I agree with your analysis of the crisis. Just a few hours ago, I watched a news report that mentioned food prices are going to be high for about a decade. The less said about fuel, the better!

Poor countries in Africa are the worst hit, but the situation in Haiti is terrible.

The poor people in India are also feeling the pinch. And the prices of automotive and cooking fuels is going to be increased in a few days time, which is sadly going to set off another round of spiralling inflation.

Raj

Of course!

snigdhasen — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:05:05 -0500

Hi Raj, welcome to BlogHer. Yes, indeed, we are all women bloggers, writing about women's issues AND issues that women are discussing or blogging about.

All issues -- from politics to world peace to raising children to gardening -- are discussed here.

If these issues interest you, you are more than welcome to comment here :)

Snigdha

Hi!

An alien earthling — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:24:20 -0500

Am I allowed to post comments here, Snigdha? This site seems to be reserved for women!

Raj

Thanks for the India update

snigdhasen — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:29:20 -0500

Nita, prices have been going up in the U.S.,too. As President Bush said (as quoted in this Rediff article), food is available here, but is getting expensive. Here's a clip from that article.

He said there
are two aspects of rising food prices -- its effect on US citizens and
the fact that there is a food scarcity in the world.

"We
don't have a scarcity issue in America...We got a price issue. Our
shelves aren't going empty, it's just costing more money," Bush said.

Regarding India, I guess the government's (internationally unpopular) decision to curb exports has relieved the domestic market. But yes, as usual, it's the poor who are hit first and always.

(P.S. You "beat" me many more times, Nita. The good news is, we don't mind that, do we? ;)

This time I guess you beat

Nitajk — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:06:41 -0500

This time I guess you beat me to it. I was mulling over a post on this but procrastinated. I don't know if I will because I haven't even started on it. But this subject has been on my mind. I have been wondering how it is in the west, whether people there are suffering. The way Bush and Rice were talking, one would have thought that American is in dire straits! Looks like consumers are not feeling the pinch yet but the country as a whole is.

Over here in India things are peaceful. No one is raising a ruckus. Only political parties screaming murder because of inflation. The ration card system and subsidized grains is what keeps the poor going but yes, they are feeling the pinch now. Fruits and vegetables are very expensive and beyond their reach most of the time.

Nita

Amen to that

snigdhasen — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:46:06 -0500

Elizabeth, can't agree more about recyling and composting!

Our previous apartment owner was obsessive about reclying, and we were more than happy to oblige (I think his dream was to some day not have a regular garbage bin at all!).

When we moved, we had some reclying in our new apartment, but within a week, we had more bins for more things. Friends tease us that recyling follows us where we go :)

We don't have composting, though. I'm going to look around and see if the city has any such project.

[When I was growing up in India, we actually got paid to reclycle! We could sell paper, tins, plastic bottols etc by weight per kilo. I believe my dad still does it. I hope this practice in India doesn't die out. Mom uses organic waste for her garden. Nothing fancy. She just digs a pit and puts all the organic waste there. Over time, nature turns it into fertile soil :) ].

Good luck with the gardening!

Snigdha

Snigdha, I've seen photos of

ejm — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:19:35 -0500

Snigdha, I've seen photos of Kalyn's raised beds and am quite envious of her fabulous garden.

The difficulty I have is that we have a very small area that gets
almost sufficient sun for vegetable growing. Still I think I may try a tiny
area. My sister has suggested potato growing in our front garden -
saying there is little likelihood of theft and that the potatoes can be
stored in the basement over the winter.

Kalyn, some neighbourhoods have a parking strip (boulevard) but ours does not. We have a rather large silver maple taking up most of our tiny front garden but there might just be an area at the side that I could usurp.

But even aside from growing our own food, if there was some way that we could encourage all of us to be conscious of what we are putting into our fridges and onto our tables, but most importantly, what we are needlessly putting into our garbage cans.

I find it quite sad that there are apartments that disallow composting. This just doesn't make sense. A compost bin doesn't have to attract vermin.

One really great thing that Toronto has started to do recently is to collect garbage in two containers. We all have "green" bins. All wet garbage goes into them and the contents of the "green" bins are turned into compost that is distributed in local parks one day a year to the various communities. Our neighbourhood "environment day" was a couple of weekends ago and we managed to pick up a few bags of city compost.

If this kind of recycling were standard in all communities, wouldn't it be fantastic?

Elizabeth
blog from OUR kitchen

There you go!

snigdhasen — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:40:34 -0500

Thanks to you, Kalyn :)

I think you do such a fabulous job with food. The fact the you are growing food, consuming food and curbing waste in a conscious manner, is JUST GREAT!

The problem is, when we have plenty, we can't (don't?) get ourselves to make an effort to be careful and respectful of what we have. I think it's human nature, unfortunately.

@ Elizabeth (EJM), Kalyn will be a fine fine guide to help you start growing food. How cool!

Snigdha

Great post!

Kalyn Denny — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:57:23 -0500

Such an important topic, and something that makes we worry that my life is entirely too frivolous as I search out little specialty ingredients to make a certain dish taste just perfect. But I do grow a lot of my own food (a good place to start if possible) and I'm always trying to be conscious about not wasting food (truly a challenge for a food blogger who's mostly cooking for one or two people.)

I'm glad you were able to find some food bloggers talking about the topic.

EJM, a few people in my neighborhood grow food on the small strip between the sidewalk and curb (it's called the parking strip here, about 5 feet wide.) I don't know if people steal the food, although I kind of doubt it, it's pretty visible.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Food for thought...

snigdhasen — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:32:16 -0500

Elizabeth, thank you for stopping by.

The fact that you have thought this through so well is inspiring, really!

I am guilty, too, of wastage. Everytime I do it -- shop too much or store badly -- I remind myself of how my father saved or consumed every morsel of food, even though we were never short of it. That's probably becuase he lived through the War as a child --- when India was still under the British and was steeped in poverty -- and saw how bad it could get.

Do we need a food war to make us start thinking?

I think composting is a great idea, and a good way to manage waste. And if you can use that compost in your own vegetable garden, wouldn't that be perfect?
My current apartment doesn't allow for either, so I have to make a conscious effort not to waste.

I think fear of failure is real, Elizabeth. Maybe you can start small? And if you grow too much, you can always give it away to neighbours :)

BlogHer's GreenLAGirl and Debra Roby have written about growing food in homes. They have great details and links in their posts. I'm sure they are the right people to start with :)

Good luck and may you enjoy the fruits of your labor soon!

What we can do

ejm — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:20:51 -0500

Excellent and sobering article. ...it is pretty disgraceful how prodigal we are.

I like your idea to stop wasting food. I know I'm as guilty as anyone
in this regard. And I have been glibly claiming that every rotted
vegetable I remove from the "crisper" drawer of the fridge and put into
our composter isn't wasted - because it's being returned to the soil.

I'm starting to think more seriously about the idea of switching from grass in the front garden to vegetables. But here are my reasons for reluctance to go ahead with this notion:

Fear that passersby and/or creatures will steal the fruits of my labour.
Fear that we will grow too much for our household.
Fear of failure.

Isn't that sad? To let fear stop me.

Does anyone have experience with front yard gardening? And links to canning advice.

Elizabeth
blog from OUR kitchen

P.S. $3,000 (??!) for 12 classes in how to return to a simpler set of food choices, like not eating anything that "wouldn’t grow in the ground." (excerpt from the article at The Cleaner Plate Club) Better to send that $3,000 to an aid program!

I never get tired

Virginia DeBolt — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:51:37 -0500

of saying thank you. So–thank you.

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/

Sigh - again with the GREAT POSTS!

Jill — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:59:34 -0500

Does anyone else ever feel like me - saying thank you and that's awesome so much! This is a good thing, to be sure! so -

Thank you Virginia - this is an incredible post with totally new info to me. I love it. Thank you very, very much.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Interview with Laurel Papworth

Virginia DeBolt — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:16:34 -0500

I mentioned in this article that an interview with Laurel was in the works by Shel Israel. It's now available at Global Neighbourhoods.

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/