Seriously, though, going The Full Amish (which sounds like a Weird Al version of The Full Monty and makes me giggle a great deal), insofar as food and cleaning products go, wouldn't be a terrible thing, especially if you did it in a community manner. A half-dozen families tending a community garden and a small herd of goats? Yeah, that wouldn't suck. Trading some goat cheese for some wheat from the medium-scale farm down the road for flour? Sure, I could go with that. Learning what non-toxic, natural things are good for cleaning? Hell yes.
Hitchin' up the buggy, churnin' lotsa butter, raised a barn on Monday, soon I'll raise anudder.
Ha ha omg Febreeze!!! That shit scares me. Also, you wouldn't believe the eye-roll we got when the salesman who put in the order for our new sofas heard we didn't want them to be specially treated to repel stains. (Of course, he also suggested we de-claw our cats to protect the fabric, so we basically might as well have been living on different planets.)
If you find any particularly mind-blowing books or websites while researching this topic, I for one would love recs/links. :-)
Many people probably don't recall, but the first recipe for FEBREEZE contained a chemical that ate away the protein connections between the inner and outer eyelids in cats, causing blindness. In small dogs, it acted on the mucus membranes in their noses, causing bleeding and death.
But we spray it on our bed linens and sleep on it.
the term "organic" is rapidly being co-opted to meaninglessness just as the term "natural" has been
Correct. You have to look for packages that list the specifics of growing/raising conditions. Besides, if they're not hiding behind the word "organic", they're probably legit.
how the FDA is a toothless old bulldog that nobody even pretends could bite anymore to protect anybody from anything
Correct: David Kessler seems to have been the last commisioner to try and sharpen the FDA's teeth. Both physician and lawyer, he actually made some headway. I imagine after his reign of terror, industry took backdoor/informal steps to make sure another one like him didn't make it to the cockpit: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CommissionersPage/PastCommissioners/ucm113239.htm
I think what's gotten to me in the post-big-C headspace I'm currently in is the scale. I didn't comprehend the scale of it, the magnitude of the chemical bath we're
( ... )
Well if you need anyone to give you the lowdown on sodium nitrites, my dad should help since he's allergic to them. And when he first found out, he would not shut up about it.I have to admit that I've sort of developed a combination of accepting fate along with my making changes. The former just comes from the fact that I've just become wary of popular science articles. It might just be cancer fatigue, it might be that the people who talk about the dangers of carcinogens in a lot of things tend to also be the people who say that my mental disorders are not a result of a chemical imbalance and more of a lack of vitamins or positive thinking
( ... )
On the journey myself. And my goodness how hard it is when you don't live in the right areas.
One day I'm going to go crazy and raise chickens and sale eggs for living. Just so like I feel like I have some control over the spiral.
The more you read, the more you research, the more you find out that even when we think we are doing the right thing we still aren't as marketers infiltrate and natural doesn't mean what it used to and organic is next.
Still sending love. Still sending well wishes, prayers.
I met a guy at the farmer's market who did exactly that. He decided he was tired of all the modern life stuff and became a chicken farmer. His eggs are divine, too. I'm completely ruined for supermarket eggs because of him. My long term plans are very much revolving around figuring out the best way to "opt out" of most of this junk, either by raising my food myself or being in a position to barter for it with others of similar mindset. This experiment in "hypermodernity" has some pretty huge failings and I don't wanna participate anymore...
If there is one area where the divide between locally produced and big industry shows itself it is chicken and eggs. I know what farm raised chicken and eggs taste like. Chicken from the market (particularly those huge chicken breasts) are a smear on chicken everywhere. But eggs...omg, I love organic chicken eggs. The difference is so startling and immediate.
(If you have cooking network, check out Nigella or Jamie Oliver when they use eggs, the yolks are rich orange color. You just know they have good eggs.)
Modern life needs a balance to natural life and right now the balance is out of whack. I hope it gets better.
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Hitchin' up the buggy, churnin' lotsa butter, raised a barn on Monday, soon I'll raise anudder.
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If you find any particularly mind-blowing books or websites while researching this topic, I for one would love recs/links. :-)
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But we spray it on our bed linens and sleep on it.
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Correct. You have to look for packages that list the specifics of growing/raising conditions. Besides, if they're not hiding behind the word "organic", they're probably legit.
how the FDA is a toothless old bulldog that nobody even pretends could bite anymore to protect anybody from anything
Correct: David Kessler seems to have been the last commisioner to try and sharpen the FDA's teeth. Both physician and lawyer, he actually made some headway. I imagine after his reign of terror, industry took backdoor/informal steps to make sure another one like him didn't make it to the cockpit: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CommissionersPage/PastCommissioners/ucm113239.htm
I think what's gotten to me in the post-big-C headspace I'm currently in is the scale. I didn't comprehend the scale of it, the magnitude of the chemical bath we're ( ... )
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On the journey myself. And my goodness how hard it is when you don't live in the right areas.
One day I'm going to go crazy and raise chickens and sale eggs for living. Just so like I feel like I have some control over the spiral.
The more you read, the more you research, the more you find out that even when we think we are doing the right thing we still aren't as marketers infiltrate and natural doesn't mean what it used to and organic is next.
Still sending love. Still sending well wishes, prayers.
See you on the road.
Reply
My long term plans are very much revolving around figuring out the best way to "opt out" of most of this junk, either by raising my food myself or being in a position to barter for it with others of similar mindset. This experiment in "hypermodernity" has some pretty huge failings and I don't wanna participate anymore...
Reply
(If you have cooking network, check out Nigella or Jamie Oliver when they use eggs, the yolks are rich orange color. You just know they have good eggs.)
Modern life needs a balance to natural life and right now the balance is out of whack. I hope it gets better.
Reply
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