Comments jedimomma has made

  • I am freakin' thrilled!

    I've been a huge AB fan for years.  Despite not having cable or satellite TV, we still have AB videos.  I adore his show, and have learned more about cooking from him than anywhere else (well, perhaps a combination of him and Cook's Illustrated).  But it just hurt me every time I saw him hyping the industrial supermarket stuff, sidestepping all issues of sustainability.  I'm glad to see that he understands that these issues are integral to cooking today, and is willing to step up and do his part to help his audience understand as well.  Now, if he could only get with the folks at Cook's Illustrated, who are equally behind the times on these issues (bizarrely, I might add, given the professed lifestyle of the Chief Editor).  And I hope FoodTV doesn't shut him down, too.On Food Network star Alton Brown adds a pinch of sustainability to the pot posted 1 year, 5 months ago 27 Responses

  • Frontier Co-op

    Have you checked into Frontier Co-op stuff?  www.frontier.coop  You can access their retail catalog online, and buy things in bulk.  Also, you might inquire if there is a buying club for Frontier in your area (there is in mine).  For buying clubs, you get to buy at the wholesale rate, and if your club order is over $250, you get free shipping.  If there's not a club in your area, maybe you have enough interested friends & acquaintances that you could put one together?  Frontier has lots and lots of mainline stuff, including natural home & garden products, health & beauty stuff, herbals, spices, and so on, and a lot of well-known name brands (7th Generation and Aura Cacia come to mind).  Frontier is frequently the supplier for the spice section of co-ops, too.  I really dig my Frontier buying club here.  Good luck!On Umbra on buying eco-products in bulk posted 1 year, 6 months ago 17 Responses

  • Using Xtracycle on a car carrier?

    My main concern with getting an Xtracycle (for which I have been lusting now, yea, many moons) is if and how it can be used with a car carrier.  I have a Saris carrier that attaches to the trunk of our sedan-style car.  Not often, but sometimes over the summer we visit family and want to take our bikes with us.  Can a free-radical enhanced bike be put on one of these?  What are other people's experiences here? (I apologize if this posts multiple times--Grist seems to be behaving weirdly)On Umbra on cargo bikes posted 1 year, 7 months ago 29 Responses

  • Using Xtracycle on a car carrier?

    My main concern with getting an Xtracycle (for which I have been lusting now, yea, many moons) is if and how it can be used with a car carrier.  I have a Saris carrier that attaches to the trunk of our sedan-style car.  Not often, but sometimes over the summer we visit family and want to take our bikes with us.  Can a free-radical enhanced bike be put on one of these?  What are other people's experiences here? (I apologize if this posts multiple times--Grist seems to be behaving weirdly)On Umbra on cargo bikes posted 1 year, 7 months ago 29 Responses

  • Go co-op!

    This is exactly where local, cooperatively-owned markets come in to play.  We are working on starting one in Terre Haute, Indiana right now, exactly to address the need of a reliable, larger-scale place that mid-sized farmers can supply.  Co-ops are not concerned with profits beyond what it takes to sustain the store, so they are more able to deal with the higher costs of working with mid-sized farms.  And the benefits to the local economy are obvious.  Right now there is a major move to start another 500 co-ops within the next couple of decades.  Check out http://www.foodcoop500.coop/ for more information!On To make local food more accessible, time to revive mid-sized farms posted 1 year, 7 months ago 10 Responses

  • too expensive.

    Huh.

    I just use a couple tablespoons of Super Washing Soda (basically baking soda on steroids), and maybe a few tablespoons of Borax (especially for whites).  Vastly cheaper than the above-mentioned stuff, vastly fewer chemicals, and it works just as well.  Fabric softener?  Get a Downey ball and put some vinegar in it.  Works a treat and will not (I swear) make your clothes smell like vinegar.  This stuff might not get all of the above stains out, but from the results of the testing, I'd say it does just about the same job as the expensive cleaners. On A review of six green laundry detergents posted 1 year, 9 months ago 21 Responses

  • The sad truth...

    ... is that a standard "winner-take-all" electoral system essentially guarantees a two-party system.  This is actually a mathematically describable progression.  Our country was set up using this particular style of voting before the mathematics of the system were well understood, as were many other democracies.  In the intervening years since we sorted out how stupid this style of voting is for preserving genuine representation, most other nations have changed their election systems.  But not us.

    So if you want real change, you want a genuine third party with a genuine chance of winning, rather than a "Select One:  RED or BLUE", work to change our electoral system.  Third parties don't have a chance in the system we have now, and typically only have a divisive effect on our system.  Change the electoral system, then run your candidates.  But before the system changes?  There's just no point, and only damage can result.On Ralph Nader jumps into the presidential race posted 1 year, 9 months ago 31 Responses

  • How to help the poor?

    Some very good points have been made about the situation in America for the lower classes.  It is true that other industrialized nations spend far more, per capita, on food than Americans do.  However, other industrialized nations also have fewer severe expenses than the American lower classes, such as spiraling health care costs, rent/mortgages and the like.  As someone else also pointed out, wages in the US have also stagnated for the past 30 years.  It is not reasonable to expect people to devote 30-40% of their income to food, when they are already scraping by on what they currently make, due to other peculiarities of the US economy.  I agree that the 10% average US expenditure on food belies a real disregard for the importance of food.  But this cannot change without both a dramatic shift in our economic scene, and a revaluing of foods for our people.  As it is, in the US, it is considered a problem when people cannot afford rent or health care; but it is not considered a problem when they cannot afford fresh vegetables--and that in itself is a problem.

    And yes, generally, farmer's markets are no more expensive than supermarket foods, especially considering the expense of convenience foods typically purchased at supermarkets.  But farmer's market foods are not only inaccessible for lower classes to buy, the are also inaccessible for most of them to use.  Purchasing and using fresh whole foods takes both acquired skills and time--two things that most people in the lower classes do not have.  There are ways of streamlining cooking, preparing whole foods, etc., that can make it workable for someone holding down 2-3 jobs, but these are learned skills, and right now, no one is teaching them.  A pound of kale might be cheaper than a TV dinner, but when you have no time to cook, and no idea what to do with kale in the first place, that TV dinner becomes far more feasible.On Ruminations on food, class, and Carlo Petrini posted 2 years, 5 months ago 17 Responses