2008 Begins in the Heap

Ah, it's been a busy couple of months...I havent posted anything in months, and now that Winter is setting in I'm ready to garden again !
But the gardens need serious cleaning up, and I need to wait for Spring to come back around.
I did start a new compost heap today, seemed like the perfect way to start the New Year. We'd been tossing all of our veggie scraps, coffee and tea leavings in a loose pile of straw and leaves, waiting for there to be enough to build a big enough pile to contain the heat that the microbes give off while living their lives. Too small a mound and the warmth dissipates too soon, leaving the colony subject to freezing. Make it big enough and the heap will live on and work all through the winter and reward you with nice compost and worms aplenty in the Spring. I love our compost heap :)

I've been reading a lot lately about food. The history of American food production ( Kitchen Literacy by Ann Viselis), world food issues ( Feeding People is Easy by Colin Tudge ), Feeding your family on strictly local viands ( Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by B Kingsolver ), and of course all the food related issues in the news ( that I can find time to read ! ). Several new vegan cookbooks have come out, including The Joy Of Vegan baking by Colleen Patrick Goudreau and Veganomicon by Isa Chandra...both very inspiring cooks and human beings.
And who knew that global warming was caused in large part by our shamefully wasteful and cruel methods of animal containment, torture and consumption of their body parts and excretions? Including transporting said body parts, "by-products" and other food stuffs around the globe. I guess we should have seen it coming. The reports have been out for several years now, and still it barely gets attention. "Try to eat less meat", is about the strongest message you'll hear on the subject. Sigh.
I remain hopeful though.

Because I don't know how else to stay sane.

Going and staying vegan has been incredibly easy, rewarding and fascinating. The hardest part is busting old habits and myths, and keeping an open mind. For instance: I just yesterday got around to making almond milk from scratch. I could not believe how easy it was. I've been vegan for over a year and still felt like milk ( rice, almond or soy milk you can buy in stores ) had to come from some factory and packaged in a carton. Like some magic made it "milk" behind factory doors. Jeez ! So you soak raw almonds in water for some hours, grind it up, strain it, and there is : nut milk ! The almond milk was very white ( even using unblanched nuts ) and barely tasted of almonds...perfect to splash on cereal or make into a chocolate pudding ( this afternoon's delish experiment ). So everyday I learn something new and wonderful that has been out there for years and years. And there's the hope : that others will catch on and look around, and realize that going vegan is so worthwhile, on so many levels.