Okay, it’s only partly a joke. The doom and gloom messages of food riots and shortages and rumors of trucker boycotts, which would seriously cripple current supply lines have inspired lots of people to go native. Home gardens are up (to the point that some places are running out of seeds and starter sets), as are thefts of cooking oil (we are past the point of getting it for free for cleaning it out of fast food cookers) and alternative energy use.
So I’ve been fascinated lately with where we get the things we use. I already enjoy gardening and know of a number of edible flowers and weeds. But recently I’ve looked into growing sugar cane (impossible in northern KY), grapes (much more possible, even likely, and put on my list of gardening to dos after “start my own composting”), keeping chickens (up to 6 non-crowing chickens allowed within city limits, though I suppose that it wouldn’t matter if there was apocalypse-like chaos) and how to make soap (I’m not terribly worried about that. In case of an apocalypse about half of the yards here have yucca plants, which is plenty for both use and transplant/regrowth).
Today, though, I found myself looking up quinoa (a pseudocereal that is almost perfectly balanced in proteins and amino acids and apparently, is very easy to grow) and stevia, a herb that serves as a natural sweetener.
The things you learn… like that stevia, though 100% natural is banned for use in the European union in favor of artificial sweeteners, even though artificial sweeteners have some seriously negative side effects. (If you were with me before I moved the blog here to the web page you’ll remember my rant about artificial sweeteners and especially people who binge on super low calorie foods so they can eat like pigs and still maintain or lose weight. I don’t think you can have it both ways. If you want to be healthy, you balance your meals and eat in moderation. If you want to eat high sugar high fat foods then you’re going to have more weight.)
Apparently Japan has also severely restricted or banned artificial sweeteners though stevia accounts for about 50% of their sweetener use.
A very interesting report is here, I’m not sure about the neutrality of the author, but it is rather informative and interesting. Of course, I avoid aspartame like the plague because it makes me sick. If it makes me sick (not an allergic reaction as far as I can tell) then there’s no way I’m giving it to my kids. Splenda doesn’t bother me at all, but it’s so expensive.
I think I’m going to try a stevia plant, provided I can grow it in a pot. It looks a lot like my spearmint plant.
I also found this page, which I could have used the other night when I was looking for farmers’ markets in my area. For people not in the Louisville area it also has a printable chart of when produce is “in season”.
