On September 2nd, Kenn Webb, Transylvania County's Solid Waste Director, gave a presentation to the county commissioners on the state of the landfill. It was really informative. Kenn has an amazing background and the depth of the presentation was amazing. The presentation was recorded and you can see it on the county's website here: https://www.transylvaniacounty.org/meetings/commissioners-meeting-09022020-solid-waste-workshop
Welcome to our third podcast in the Eating Consciously series. In this episode, Shane Bellinger, owner of Green Go Cleaning and member of the Eating Consciously team interviews Jacqui Edans of Rooster Head Farms in Brevard, NC. Our last episode was focused on systemic racism which included a conversation on factory meat operations. This episode shows another side of the meat industry on a different scale. Eating Consciously focuses on the impact our food choices have on others. This episode continues to educate towards that goal. Thanks for being here. We hope you enjoy the show. Many thanks to Shane and Jacqui for sharing this conversation with us. Farmer Jacqui Shane with her family
Many of us in T County and across N. America, have noticed this. Habitat loss, we all said, and chemicals. Too true! From Science Daily.com, 2 September '20. Talk with your neighbors ... Food-web threats from common insecticides North Carolina State University: Researchers have argued for curbing the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. In light of emerging evidence showing how a commonly used class of insecticides can spread through the environment to pollinators, predators and other insects they are not intended to kill, researchers are warning about the potential for widespread environmental contamination. In an opinion in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from North Carolina State University and Pennsylvania State University argued for curbing the use of neonicotinoid insecticides by discontinuing the practice of applying them preventively on crop seeds, since the practice is in wide use in the United States and has been found in one study to benefit a small fraction of crop fields. They argue that reducing this and other common [...]
Big Oil Is in Trouble. Its Plan: Flood Africa With Plastic. Faced with plunging profits and a climate crisis that threatens fossil fuels, the industry is demanding a trade deal that weakens Kenya’s rules on plastics and on imports of American trash. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I read this article in today's New York Times. It speaks of fracking and plastic and the impact the industry is having. It reads a lot like my interview with Naeema of the NC Environmental Justice Network. This is another story of industry working to implement systemic change. There is a mini-quiz you can take that helps you estimate your carbon footprint on a few items. You can find it here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/30/climate/climate-footprint-quiz.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage I keep asking myself this question: Why is my waste permitted to impact your life? I am interested in your thoughts. Thanks for being here. Love is the answer.
Growing food usually requires soil. Nutrients in the soil get used up when we grow food and luckily for us, an easy way to rebuild the soil is through making compost. We have taken on a new community project with a few other groups that involves giving plant starts to those who are in need of food. We usually have enough pots, plant starts, and volunteers but we usually need more soil. We currently have 2 publicized community compost drop off places in our community and we could use a few more. If you are interested in helping us build more soil please let us know. Do you currently compost at home but have no use for the soil? Let us know! We could sure use it. Would you collect your food scraps for use if someone would pick them up and take them to a drop-off location? Let us know that too. Send an email to [email protected] and let's talk dirt :)
Solid Waste Workshop The Transylvania County Board of Commissioners will hold a workshop on Wednesday, September 2, 2020 at 4:00 pm in Commissioners Chambers at the Transylvania County Administration Building, located at 101 S Broad St., Brevard. The purpose of the workshop is for the Board of Commissioners to receive a presentation from Transylvania County Solid Waste Director Kenn Webb on the status of the County Landfill and to discuss the future of Solid Waste Management. No action will be taken during the workshop. The workshop is open to the public in accordance with NC Open Meetings Law. The meeting can be viewed online (www.transylvaniacounty.org) and via Facebook Live. To protect the health and safety of others, Transylvania County will practice social distancing during their meetings. Staff has added a call-in option (audio only) for members of the public who may have trouble accessing the meeting online. Dial (712) 775-7270. Access code: 554381.
Since we have started the Eating Consciously project, I have learned that factory produced meats are not something I can support anymore. While we do still consume some meat products in our home, mostly bone broths, we have substantially cut back. I have to admit it was something I never thought I would do. I didn't feel I was getting what I needed from a plant-based diet until 2 things happened. Fermenting The first thing that had a significant impact on our home-cooked meals was learning to ferment from Noel's classes. We bought a few books on the topic and learned to make fermented blueberries and tomato water. That changed everything. It brought a depth of flavor we were missing and our bodies love the ferment! Everything works better. Exploring the depth of plant-based cooking Another thing that has helped us was learning the depth of things you can do with plants. "I never knew you could do that with flaxseed!" I told John. It has been really [...]
This is a call to action! As you know, John and I create about 1 bag of trash a year. This is our third year accomplishing that and it has changed our life. It has changed the way we eat, the amount of stuff we buy, and made us rethink any purchase we do make. A lot of this was possible because we learned how to divert our food scraps from the landfill. It reduced about 40% of our trash and others have shared they have experienced the same impact on their waste stream. I recently received a campaign email from two county commission candidates and asked about the landfill decision. This is what I was sent in response: There will be a county commissioners workshop at 4pm on September 2 to receive a comprehensive report on the question of opening a new cell at the Landfill. No action will be taken that day but commissioners will have to make a decision fairly soon, probably in October. I [...]
This is something that is near and dear to my heart and I have discussed with the Shockey’s, my fermenting gurus and friends. So in spite of their world being turned upside down with COVID they are still walking the talk and trying to connect with those folks in most need. Scroll down to the bottom paragraphs and you will see what I mean. We hope this finds you well. For the last few months we have been working on getting two special fermentation classes up. One is a Master Class that includes 7 techniques, a number of videos and a full color workbook with recipes. This class has so much for both a seasoned fermenter as well as brand new fermenters. The other class is very basic fermentation and is 100% FREE. FREE? What you say? Why? Let us explain. Microbes are everywhere and key to nearly every natural process. They were on the Earth first, long before our farthest common ancestors existed, and they will likely be here [...]
Another favorite of the nightshade family is the pepper: there are hundreds of kinds, ranging from super sweet to hellishly hot. I’ll focus on the sweet. Many do not like green bell peppers and for good reason: they are green, are not ripe and can be bitter. One can find in the grocery stores ripe bell peppers that are red, yellow and orange but chances are these took an international trip before getting to the store. Like tomatoes, peppers of all kinds are planted in the late spring once the soil and ambient temperature are warm. It takes about 2 months for a pepper to become green and ‘ripe’ enough to eat. To get to the full ripe state of red, orange or yellow takes another month. The fruit are heavy and require some effort to support so farmers are often ready to pick green and sell. So what does one do if one wants a pepper with color and sweetness? Plant Lunchbox Peppers! Not only are the [...]
