I am a foodie, travel junkie, SEO expert, social networking mommy and former cops - government - investigative - biz - CAR print journalist turned web publisher - writer - mommy blogger. Here are my musings on all of the topics above.
My StumbleUpon PageSustainable Kitchen Project
When I decided to work at home most days, a major MAJOR factor was having more time to make good food for my family. I wanted to use more fresh ingredients, and make more things from scratch. Oh, in my mind, I would be the uber foodie mom, baking and creating and freezing and canning and doing various fun food things. I should totally have a sustainable kitchen.
In my kitchen, I have gadgets for making yogurt, juice, pasta, even sausage. I have a bread maker missing just one piece. Besides that, I have the knowledge (or the ability to Google and find out) to make any number of things from scratch. I have plenty of land to grow my own stuff, and I live in Asheville, NC where it is super easy to find cool locally grown produce.
Yet, my gadgets and cookbooks are gathering dust. I still hit the Super-Walmart so I can super consume. I spend $200-plus at least once a week on groceries. And I do still, sometimes (although definitely less and less often as I am at home more), give my children processed, packaged crap. OK, I said it. I may be a foodie mom, but I am a real mom. I am buying things in extra packaging for extra money and being totally non-green when I could just make and store things at home. Criticize away, if you must.
I blame life and having lots of work and having three kids and all of that. But when my twins were babies, I was working full-time and making homemade baby food and pumping milk for them to have at daycare. It wasn’t easy, and I was pretty much psychotically exhausted. But it should be even easier now, much easier. So I clearly CAN do it.
So I’ve decided I will create this public Sustainable Kitchen Project as a way to motivate myself, to keep myself honest, to connect with other moms who want a more self-sustaining kitchen, and to track my progress. I’ve already started in a few ways, and I’ll post about these very soon. For example, we are starting an organic vegetable garden. Here is a lettuce seedling I’ve started:
And I made orange juice this week:
Here are just some of the things I want to do as part of my Sustainable Kitchen Project. Hey, are there some I am not thinking to list? Let me know…
- Grow herbs, vegetables and fruit
- Make juices, teas and sodas
- Make yogurt
- Make pasta
- Bake breads
- Start a compost
- Buy more local produce and products
- Learn to preserve items when they are local and fresh with freezing, canning, etc.
- Make jams and other condiments
- Make butter
- Make beer and wine
- Make cheese (can that be done at home? that would be coool!)
I know I’m forgetting some. I’ll also keep track of the grocery bill, and any other side effects and impacts of the project.
Wish me luck with my self-sustaining kitchen!
Tags: food, food pictures, homemade food, sustainable kitchen projectRelated posts
on April 19th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Wow, that is quite an undertaking. I do wish you luck. I am trying to do things with much smaller steps. A compost is on my list too.
on April 19th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I know it’s ambitious, so that is why I plan to take it a step at a time. I’m starting with the garden because it’s a key connection to some later steps (like preserving and making sauces to freeze, etc.). I’m hoping if I can do each step one at a time, and save some things, that by winter I will have a stockpile of some great locally-made or homemade stuff. We shall see.
on April 19th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I love it! I think about this every spring, but never make it past the ‘not killing the plants’ part.
Nicoles last blog post..By: Warren Whitlock
on April 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Wow! You inspire me! Go for it! And keep us updated… and I’ll take lessons along the way.
Kitchen Scrapbooks last blog post..Rich and chocolatey, 7-layer bars
on April 23rd, 2008 at 1:39 am
[…] Sustainable Kitchen Project […]
on April 28th, 2008 at 2:27 am
Cool! Good luck! We’re trying to grow cherry tomatoes this year. But in pots, on the deck…
spacemoms last blog post..Dear Smithsonian Institution
on April 28th, 2008 at 10:41 am
[…] is why I decided to start my own personal Sustainable Kitchen Project. Obviously, one of the first steps to having a self-supporting kitchen is to grow your own […]