Today the cold harsh reality of my country’s cry for help came to full blows.  Today I was turned down for a story on what I do because of my “political ideology”.  I guess that my love for sustainability cannot be promoted if I love liberty and free markets. (SIGH) Oh wait a second, that is the ONLY way it would ever be sustainable – if we are free and able to make money!!

So apparently being grouped into the conservative camp bans one from loving recycling, clean energy, and organic food?  I don’t think so, but what do YOU think?  Can one love liberty and free markets and at the same time want to save the environment and support local food systems?

I have always believed that loving our country and loving sustainability go hand-in-hand – regardless of if you are liberal, conservative, or whatever is in between – has that changed?

We would like to hear from you…

What can we do to build local economies while ensuring our food is safe and nutritious?  Well, it’s simple!  We need a “consumption revolution” (a term used by my good friend Paul Alhadef at A Wren’s Nest Farm).

We, the consumers, make choices every MINUTE that affect our local economies.  Agriculture has been and will continue to be centralized and monotonized (that is a word I believe I have just invented)  if we do not start taking drastic steps to change our eating habits!

Food Freedom has a great post on some of those things we can do, VISIT THEM HERE.

- Tisha Casida

Come and check out the great lineup of vendors that we have for the 2nd Annual Loco for Local Evening Farmers’ Market at the Arts Center in Pueblo, Colorado.  We have delicious local food, music and entertainment, as well as local arts!

Check out the entire event-flier HERE—>>> L4L 2010_Event Information_5.9.10

Here are our vendors to-date:

Abstract-
From October 2009 through December 2009, using non-probability sampling tools including an online survey, a paper survey and personal interviews, data was collected from the citizens of Pueblo, Colorado to determine if there was an interest in and/or desire for curbside recycling, composting and community gardens.  Results strongly indicate there is an interest in participating in and a willingness to support these programs.  Recommendations as a result of this project include making any subsequent recycling program as convenient and inclusive as possible for every household.  It is also recommended that those interested in creating successful recycling programs provide education and most importantly model desired recycling behavior  and encourage friends and neighbors to follow suit  to create the most  successful outcomes.

For the rest of this story and study, see Page 3 of That’s Natural! Quarter 1, 2010 – here: http://issuu.com/ThatsNatural/docs/tnq1_2010_web

And visit: www.thatsnatural.info

“For children, nature comes in many forms.  Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.  It (nature) serves as a blank slate upon which a child draws and reinterprets the culture’s fantasies.”  This begins Richard Louv’s appeal in “Last Child in the Woods”  to recognize that children are losing their connection to nature through their increasingly limited experience of being outside.

Richard Louv received the 2008 Audubon Medal and has coined the phrase “Nature Deficit Disorder” to explain the effect less contact with nature has on children’s’ mental health.  Louv is the co-founder and chairman of Children & Nature Network, an organization dedicated to getting children back into nature.  As well, Louv’s writings have inspired the “No Child Left Inside Act of 2009”.  Imagine having to legislate that children have the right to be taught “environmental literacy,” nature and healthy living?  While mainstream education has all but eliminated any connection between students and nature, almost all “alternative” educators recognize the necessity of unstructured exploration at nature sites to insure that students are equipped with creative problem solving skills. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here?

Find the rest of the review on Page 8 of That’s Natural! Quarter 1, 2010 here: http://issuu.com/ThatsNatural/docs/tnq1_2010_web

Talk with a tree. Have tea with a shrub. Listen to a flower… Plants can help people maintain a spiritual relationship with the planet. Let the work of living mulch, worms and the soil organisms satisfy a gardener’s heart.

Care for the earth, care for people and share the abundance are the base ethics of permaculture for living sustainably on the Earth and sharing the wealth of the organic. Forest gardening holds that philosophy connecting back into nature. Like French-intensive gardening, a forest garden is packed with food and function to make small produce big and works to increase the output of the land while improving the land’s health.  These gardens can be beautiful and walk in tune with meditation gardens, children’s gardens and xeriscapes.

Read the Entire Story on Page 9, That’s Natural! Quarter 1, 2010, here:  http://issuu.com/ThatsNatural/docs/tnq1_2010_web