Project Locavore...

have you ever read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle??  if not, you should...

i have been on a barbara kingsolver kick for a while now. my first encounter with her was when we read her book "poisonwood bible" for one of our first book clubs.  amazing...it is a truly thought provoking book, but aside from a great read, you really learn a lot about the politics in africa & our (america's) part.  though her books are all very different, they all share the common themes of the importance of both family & community, along with social, economic & environmental issues.  all of which are important to me, i suppose that is why we "clicked". ;)

kingsolver also makes sure to double check every fact she includes in her books & has said (in her book, small wonder) that she has stopped reading many books in the past because the author didn't bother to do their research.  this is extremely important to me because i, like so many other, read to expand my horizons.  my reading time is short, as you might guess, and so this allows me yet another way to "multi-task"...reading a book i love, while gleaning a little more knowledge about the world @ large.

@ any rate, i decided to read all of her books & am currently working thorough the last bit of animal, vegetable miracle.

background, barbara & her family of 4 decide to engage on a 1-year "food" journey, eliminating all foods from their lives that they cannot either make (or) buy within a 100 mile radius of their home.  (when taking food, in our present society, 100 miles is *nothing*!!!!)

@ any rate, we do our best to eat healthy & cook from scratch, but there is always "more" that you can do.  this book seems to be the natural, next step, for our family. 

& from there, i posed the question to our boys to base a homeschool unit study around the subject...

we shop @ farmer's markets & are lucky enough to have a really nice one, given the size of our town. but i want them to be more involved in the "why's" behind we do what we do & really have a say in where we are headed as this will affect all of us, as a family.

we began last week by taking inventory of every item in our pantry, fridge/freezer, & spice cabinet, reflecting on our findings along the way.

(we each have our own notebook to write down our findings, thoughts, ideas, etc as we work our way through this process.)

days #1-3 were spent taking inventory of everything that we had "in stock".  on day #4, i printed out a 10x18 photo of a U.S map & we charted our findings.

the map wasn't extremely detailed. in most cases it just had the state capitals, so if the exact city wasn't on there that we needed, we just added a dot to that state.  this is a bit vague, but it will still allow us a good idea of where our food is coming from.

today, day #5, we reviewed & discussed our map.  we were all surprised that more of our fruits/vegetables didn't come from outside of the US.  pomegranates, for example, are grown here in the US.  they have always seemed a bit more exotic to me...  we are curious about the story behind the spices.  the majority of ours come from either mccormick (or) frontier (typical for bulk spices & health food stores).  but where do these really come from??  again, they seem to exotic to be grown here in states.

we did a bit of math, figuring out what percent of our "inventory" was from outside of the US., what percent was "unmappable" (these products listed only where the product was distributed from & *not* where is was manufactured).  this was aydin's first go @ percentages...

we discussed what would be a realistic goal for our 'local" region.  barbara's family used a 100 mile radius (if you look on our map, it is the smallest circle, drawn in pencil).

it really puts things into perspective, doesn't it??  it almost seems impossible, although i know they did it, really & truly.

the boys & i talked & @ first they wanted to go with a 600 mile radius & me with a 300 mile radius.  in the end, we compromised on 450 miles.  for orin, the clincher (for some reason) was the spices.  most of our spices were mccormick & their plant is based in hunt valley, maryland. 

this is fun.  i am a bit of a "throw caution to the wind/extremist/cold turkey" kinda girl, when it comes to new adventures, so i am glad that i am working with the boys on this...moderation is a bit more their style & i feel that this will help the coming changes be met with a more open mind.

tomorrow, we'll remap some of the vaguer places to see just what we have been buying that is still 'acceptable' & see what we need to begin researching to find new source (or) ways to make our own.

we'll each pick a favorite food & learn a bit more about where it comes from, how it is grown, etc...the "real story".

the littles are actually working their way through a less intense version of "project locavore", i'll post about that @ some point soon.  i know we are going to learn about bananas, as ehren is very disappointed that those are getting scratched off our list...:(

until then...

the laurel...

another "local geography" field trip...gotta love homeschooling, right?!? ;)

we celebrated the end of our school year with an amazing afternoon of picnic & play at friends at laurel river, located just outside of hot spring, nc.

i think this photo captures the general sentiment of the afternoon...hoo-rah!

wow! a pair of mating toads & their endless stream of eggs. i got to feel the eggs in their gelatinous casing...it felt like rinsed spagetti. it is quite firm, a lot more 'stable' that it looks...and very slimy. by the looks of it they had been laying for a while...the streams were a good 3-4' long at least.

thanks mike for spotting this pair! ;)

lovely cairns...our doll baby, evyn...

i love these super close-up baby shots...

exploring...

evyn for quite into the 'tossing-rocks-into-river" game...

caleb & his papa, mike...

ehren hung out with kristina, which was nice as the rocks were quite slippery...looking out for myself & evyn was enough of a balancing act!

our lovely miss amanda...

lounging...

caleb & jenny...
the rushing rapids...

apparently no match for orin, the boy wonder! (i should mention that the water was like ice!)

our sweet 3 year old, ehren...

natural wonders...

tina, walder & gavin...

freshly caught minnows...

another friend...

lots to see!

amanda (i hope she doesn't kill me for posting this one)...i LOVe it! <3 a rescued friend...

a tree toad? sweet...:)

the nature center...

i am a bit behind on my posting...but such is life during spring/garden season, right??

during orin's, grade 4 "local geography" block, we packed in loads of field trips. one of which was the wnc (western north carolina) nature center.

the nature center is wonderful chance for children, of all ages, to get an up close look at the vast number of birds, mammals, reptiles, etc who live in our region. most, if not all, of the animals have been rescued after being injured in the wild.

we used to go each march for aydin's birthday, but go various time throughout the year as well. each time we go it is different...and as nature & animal lovers, this is one place that will never get old!

the weather was gorgeous, the animals were very much out & about, and we all got loads of exercise hiking up & down the various paths...

ahhh...the pround peacock...

i love this!

a sweet burro...

a visit to the 'petting zoo'...

i have a soft spot in my heart for the fiber-licious lot...;)

awww...sweet goats!

a really creepy stuffed turkey...

black bear, a bit camera shy...

white tailed deer...

carolina fringe tree...

our all-time favorite, the ever entertaining river otter...this one's name is obi wan (no, really!)

oodles of turtles...

red wolf...

we happened upon this barred owl near the end of our trip, he was out on his daily walk. he cannot be released back into the wild because he is missing nearly his entire left wing (he was hit by a car :(

rattlers...

very cool...

you know why i had to add the one, right?? ;)