Organic Fruit and Vegetables

Already it seems that our post challenge ’sustainability journey’ is of a quite different nature.  The Challenge was triumphant in tone, really.  There were a few down days, but we overcame.  I think we had decided even before we started that we could do it and we were keen to convince as many of you as possible that you could do it to.   But what now?  Now we are delving  into areas that we aren’t so gung ho about changing.  Like driving a car, or flying, or just three of us (me, Matthew and flatmate David) living on a  700m2 section.  Surely thoughts like this can only be confrontational or ignored.  Who can feel comfortable with this?  Of course there is a third option: these claims could be negated, the option par excellence for all the sparky optimists out there:  We can have or do anything we just need to work out how.  A really good read on this topic is Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by McDonough & Braungart.  Matthew read it and came out the other end quite excited about the power of industry to make and remake things in a closed loop system, just like nature (as opposed to our current system with waste byproducts).  It shifts the way we think about the problem.  The authors argue convincingly that our rampant population needn’t be anymore of a problem than the rampant population of ants:
“All the ants on the planet, taken together have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. ”

I have to admit to being an optimist when it comes to the likelihood of humankind being able to rethink and solve problems, (so long as self interest is at heart).  But personally its harder.  All of the above mentioned things (driving, flying and living arrangements) are currently in the too hard basket at the moment.  Well, I could phrase that more positively, they are in the contemplative basket.  This is actually true.  I often think how on earth could we live without a car, especially anything involving Jess, our 25 kg dog.  There is this guy I know who is absolutely passionate about bike trailers and keeps reminding me that we can trial one for free, so I’ll imagine what it would be like to be biking through town towing my dog. Would everyone laugh at me? I’d laugh if I saw it.  Why isn’t the thought of a child on the back of a bike funny?  Anyway, we will trial it sometime, even if its just so you can have a good old laugh yourself (the high probability of  Jess licking cyclists on their way past is fairly amusing).

Aside from contemplation we have actually done something in the physical world of action and reaction.  We now buy organic fruit and vege.   Its the only step we have taken so far, but it is a significant one.  We still shop at Bin Inn and our local butcher, (as we can’t buy rubbish free meat at the organic stores and our butcher is based on sustainable practices and animal welfare anyway).   In 2007 we were actually entirely organic, but we were living in Toronto, and experiencing a higher standard of living.  It was something we thought we would do from that point onwards so it was odd going back to sprayed, chemically altered and processed foods, but it was a grounding experience also.  It reminds you that ideals have to be worked out in unideal situations. But now that we are doing it again I am surprised how cheap it is.  Our flatmate did his first organic shop and when he came home he said he didn’t think that the store was that great.  I was surprised as it seemed fine to me.   He said that he was disappointed with the lack of range, he had particularly wanted green beans and they didn’t have any.  “Are beans in season?” I asked.  “Oh,” he said in wonderment, “do they only have things in season?”   I hadn’t noticed a lack of range because my shopping/ cooking style is ad hoc, making the most of what’s good, fresh, cheap etc.  But he had been frustrated because he had planned meals and then written out the ingredients he needed. It says something that a person in his late 30s could get this far without ever having considered the season for beans -  not so much  about him but about the paradise/disaster that is supermarkets*.  I did it recently too.  When shopping for the rubbish free party I wanted grapes to go with the wine and cheese.  I really don’t like the taste or look or supermarket grapes so I tried at the local organic store.  When I asked about grapes, the woman actually laughed, to her the thought of grapes in January seemed funny.

So it might be, depending on how you shop and prepare meals that making the switch to organic would be frustrating at first due to a smaller range.  But think of the taste bonus!  Top chefs go for seasonal vegetables because of the superior taste and texture, compare tasteless hydroponic tomatoes with a blood red, juicy summer tomato bursting with flavour.  It seems to me so far that if we are happy to be channeled into buying more locally and seasonal then we wont be paying that much more – perhaps even less.  This step has been a win win.  We love it.

*paradise for people who like low prices and convenience (defined in this way that’s pretty much all of us!).  Disaster on many other fronts, including many environmental outcomes. This unsubstantiated claim would make a great topic of debate for a future blog.   I am not saying that supermarkets couldn’t change, some, like New World South City and New World St Martins are developing reputations for their fair trade, organic items.