Help a Neighbor

Interested in a local plant-based food chef preparing meals for you?

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 [...]

By |2020-08-30T14:32:42-04:00August 30th, 2020|Categories: Eating Consciously, Food, Help a Neighbor, Kathryn Parker, Shane Bellinger|
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Should we send our garbage to another community or keep it here? The county commissioners will probably decide this in October. Ask candidates this Thursday at the forum!

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 [...]

By |2020-08-24T11:36:33-04:00August 24th, 2020|Categories: Composting, Connecting with nature, Help a Neighbor, Moving to Zero-waste, Use Food Scraps|
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Free fermenting classes

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 [...]

By |2020-08-24T11:07:15-04:00August 24th, 2020|Categories: Eating Consciously, Food, Food preservation, Gatherings, Help a Neighbor, Use Food Scraps|
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Thank you Whistlestop Market for helping us feed hungry children and selling in bulk

Whistlestop Market in Cedar Mountain has been ordering bulk products for us since November.  We are able to get almost anything we use to get from the Hendersonville Coop closer to home and many times at a saving. Many of us have been working with Rooster Head Farm to feed the hungry around their farm. Many from Conservers has donated money and time to help.  Thank you!  As it became obvious that this was going to be a long term project, several in the community came together to find a different way to help that did not involve Jacqui having to do all the shopping, transport, food preparation, and distribution. John and I do almost all of our grocery shopping through Whistlestop and before COVID we were sharing bulk food purchases with those in Conservers who were interested.  When we asked if we could buy bulk packages of meatless hot dogs, buns, peanut butter and jelly, and anything else they said sure!  Not only did they order the [...]

By |2020-08-24T12:09:04-04:00August 24th, 2020|Categories: Eating Consciously, Essential workers, Food, Help a Neighbor|
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Transylvania Shares, our community sharing club is going strong! They could use your membership!

Last year, a group of Moving to Conservers members worked with a business coach for 6 months to develop Transylvania Shares, a sharing club.  The business opened in January and is going strong.  Here are some updates from their recent newsletter. If you would like to learn more about Shares, how you can help by becoming a member, visit their website here:  Transylvaniashares.com Transylvania Shares says goodbye to Lucia Gerdes who has recently resigned from the Board of Directors in order to pursue other endeavors. We wish her well. We welcome Gabriel Covington to the Board. Gabriel is originally from Charlotte and is presently attending Brevard College. Also Members, here are a two new items that have been donated/loaned. A bicycle repair stand and a Kneerover. Both are in excellent condition. Go to the website and check it out!

By |2020-08-24T12:37:19-04:00August 24th, 2020|Categories: Help a Neighbor, Moving to Zero-waste, Sharing Club|
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Eating Consciously Podcast: Systemic racism and how I participate

John and I have decided we need to learn how we support systemic racism.  We decided to start by looking at our food choices and that led us to ask a team of individuals in our community if they would help us learn about the impact of our food choices have on others.  We also asked if they could guide us based on their expertise.  Thus started the project Eating Consciously. We decided to start a podcast with the project as a way to bring people closer together in our socially-distanced world.  This is the second episode of the podcast and it goes over an hour.  I interviewed Naeema Muhummad of the NC Environmental Justice Network.  It was a tough interview to do.  The stories she tells, and there are many, are hard to hear.  Every part of the interview touched me and it made it difficult to cut out parts of the conversation.  It is well worth a listen, in my humble opinion. Naeema invited us [...]

By |2020-09-10T15:41:32-04:00August 21st, 2020|Categories: Connecting with nature, Eating Consciously, Essential workers, Food, Growing food, Help a Neighbor, Podcast|
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Davidson River School garden work day was inspiring

On Thursday, July 30th, a group of dedicated volunteers showed up to work after a downpour.  It didn't rain a drop after we got started.  Barbara Grimm, the principle of Davidson River School had a lot of projects ready for us to tackle. A new compost facility Thanks to a pallet donation from Sylvan Sport, we were able to create a compost facility at the school so students can turn their food scraps into dirt.  Gabriel Covington, a student from Brevard College, helped us put the facility together.  It is so great to spend time with Gabriel.  He is always anxious to be part of a community project and he brings the energy of his youth.  Thanks Gabriel for your help! Kathleen Hannigan, a local artist, helped us add a community art piece the facility, just as we did at Rise and Shine.  Kathleen set up a table and got busy sawing wood planks for use in the compost tree we [...]

By |2020-08-10T10:46:27-04:00August 10th, 2020|Categories: Compost Drop-off Location, Composting, Eating Consciously, Gatherings, Growing food, Help a Neighbor, Moving to Zero-waste, Use Food Scraps|
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Potting plants for the Hunger Coalition giveaway on August 23rd

This past spring, we worked with other community partners to prepare and give away plant starts at the Hunger Coalition's food distribution.  The project was a great success and patrons at the distribution have continued to ask for plants.  One person shared photos of her plants and they were stunning!  Thanks, Shane for passing these on.  Shane is on the Hunger Coalition's board and a member of our project, Eating Consciously. Because a large part of Moving to Conservers' work focuses on eliminating the thought that anything is disposable, we have updated our tag that goes with the plants asking for the return of pots and unused soil from the previous distribution.  Thanks to John Lawson for creating and updating the tag for us! Reuse helps in so many ways. One of our greatest needs for continuing the plant give-away is high-quality soil Composting creates soil and soil is one of the things we need the most in order to support this [...]

By |2020-08-17T16:24:58-04:00August 10th, 2020|Categories: Compost Drop-off Location, Composting, Eating Consciously, Gatherings, Growing food, Help a Neighbor, Moving to Zero-waste, Shane Bellinger, Use Food Scraps|
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WLOS TV news shares a story about Roosterhead feeding the community.

Roosterhead is receiving some well-deserved recognition for their work feeding the community.  You can see a story about them at WLOS by going here:  https://wlos.com/news/person-of-the-week/farm-offers-free-meals-to-families-during-pandemic-staying-true-to-roots Thanks Roosterhead for all you do!

By |2020-08-09T15:06:56-04:00August 9th, 2020|Categories: Eating Consciously, Growing food, Help a Neighbor|
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Pig Bucket

Susan Lefler shared this dear story of the pig bucket and using food scraps.  Thanks Susan for sharing. Since “plague” is now a constant theme in our lives, it’s seems logical to begin my pig feeding history with my childhood in North Carolina before polio vaccine was available. People were vaccinated against small pox and so polio had become the scourge and fear for families. I have not double-checked to see if polio outbreaks were seasonal, but I remember the drama occurring in the summer. My parents were both employed by the UNC Chapel Hill, my mother as a reference librarian, my dad as head of the university’s Audio Visual Bureau. When they had to make a work-related trip anywhere that might attract crowds (I especially remember Cherokee being one), I spent the time with my mother’s parents who farmed in Rockingham County near Reidsville, NC. In addition to necessary trips, since my parents worked full time, I often spent weeks in the summer on the farm. Although [...]

By |2020-07-27T09:24:58-04:00July 27th, 2020|Categories: Compost Drop-off Location, Composting, Connecting with nature, Help a Neighbor, Moving to Zero-waste, Use Food Scraps|
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