Foods, Voltron, etc.

Today I made blueberry banana muffins.  They're sort of a staple around here.

I had a splash of guilt.  Bananas are bad.  This is because, according to the book I've been reading, they are unreasonably cheap.

Think about it this way - bananas have to come from far away to get into our supermarkets.  It must cost an awful lot of fuel and preservative conditions to get them here intact...  so why are they the cheapest fruit around?  Well, the money loss has to be from somewhere, and according to my latest reading, it's lost on the workers.  I'm not so surprised.  This is so often the case.

Bananas will probably not be leaving our menu any time soon.  They are the best egg replacement I've managed to find, and since most of my baking has to be vegan (my son has egg and dairy allergies), it's tough to say we won't be using bananas.

It does have me thinking about my foods.  Their sources.

Blueberries are NOT in season.  They must travel far and wide to arrive here in my grocer's produce section as well.  So what to do?

The jury is still out as far as what our family will decide.  All I know is that I'm looking forward to the farmer's market openings come April around these parts.  I can't wait to have fresh produce in the house that I can feel great about.

Jonah is still rebelling.  He had a fit this morning because we got the organic rice milk rather than the vanilla kind he's used to.  He told me in the past he prefers to have the original when up against the vanilla flavored, but today that was not the case.  He still used it on his cereal, but not without protest.

I had this thought that I'd like to move into a big old farmhouse and go ahead and do the homesteading thing.  Whole hog.  Just go for it.  Grow all our own produce, raise chickens, make friends with the neighbors and share things, knit like crazy...  It seems great in a dreamy sort of way - but when I think about it I'm not sure I have that kind of self-discipline.

I'm getting there.

Today I spent a good amount of time thinking about the spring garden I'm hoping to plant.

We don't have a lot of space, but I'm hoping to plant tomatoes, peppers, and squash - some of our family favorites when it comes to what we use in our cooking.  Jonah will have his own little plot where he can plant the veggies or flowers of his choice.  I'm going to get some seeds for native flowers to attract butterflies and bees and a handy bird feeder because I love to watch the birds and the bees and butterflies will be great for the garden as they pollinate the flowers on all kinds of blooms.

I've learned a lot about gardening in the last year through reading and experience.  Perhaps this year's harvest will yield a bit more than last year's.

In the meantime, I'm hoping to impose on Jonah's Voltron marathon long enough to head out to the library tomorrow, get some healthy food into his belly, and spark some interest in Valentine baking and garden planning.

We'll see how that goes.

On another note - with our tax return we will be just $13 away from paying off our car and one step closer to living debt free!