Walking the line

With my University recently on strike I was suddenly put in a scenario where throwing all of your eggs into one basket can have negative effects on every aspect of your life. After more then two weeks off of school I can safely say I have have watched more then my fair share of Netflix, caught up on enough sleep to get me through the year and eaten all the junk food in my cupboards. Being off of school also means I am out of work as I have taken up all of my jobs on campus. Not only is my routine totally thrown off by being home for weeks I am also cut off from my finances and social world. Pairing the strike and the preceding two week winter break (an extra week to support the Canada Winter Games held in Prince George) means that I have been off of work for over a month.

The direct effects so far, apart from obvious classes being cancelled, also trickle into what I have discovered was a very precarious situation I have set for myself. I shop weekly at the University Farmers Market, which we had to cancel as to not cross the picket lines (#solidarity). Because I buy only what I need week to week, I have had to go downtown and shop outside of my normal vendors. This will effect there business's and livelihoods as well as my own as I am spending more then usual. The UFM is also a job for me and missing out on that work and events we had planned will impact the other people we employ and vendors who come out weekly.  I am also effected because all of my jobs, my only sources of income are all on campus. I work 2 shifts a week for the campus coffee shop which was closed for the duration of the strike. I also work for PGPIRG as the local foods coordinator and had planned a Good Food Box that due the strike has been postponed, and because of that have had to cancel next months box, which will mean less pay for me (probably half) for this month and next month.

Losing the Good Food Box as a source of inexpensive produce for the month means that I have had to shop for more produce at a higher price then I had budgeted. At this time of year buying groceries is slightly more expensive as food is out of season and harder to come by, thus being out of money I am trying to be resourceful with my eating choices whilst trying to maintain my local only diet. This means cutting back on extravagances, like my favourite organic cheese that is about $10.00 a block at Ave Maria's , or any cheese at all for me. Still this lifestyle at times is more expensive then the average consumers diet and not being able to afford to continue purchasing good food I was driven to visit the campus food bank to grab a few cupboard items to tie me over.

In short, less money and more expenses makes Mel a broke girl.

I am not blaming the strike on anyone, it happened, but I was not prepared for how much it would effect me and how fine a line I walk. Heading back to class tomorrow (and to work) I am looking forward to moving forward with the end of this years studies and regaining my financial stability and seeing all of my friends at the Farmers Market again!

Have a great week!

Melanie

"No one benefits from a strike." Chaz Bickers

The 5 times I failed at being a locavore

Though I constantly live in fear of letting myself and my followers down I still have not actually cheated on the locavore front. You may be able to say I have bended the rules to my benefit a few times though, and these would be the examples of such times:

Our last Granville Island's

• Netflix- Thought I cancelled my Netflix subscription Aug 31st, a friend has recently given me her log in information so I can still enjoy the goodness of limitless streaming goodness. Why this is allowed is because I am not personally contributing financially to the company and instead piggy backing on someone else's devious purchasing. 
• Granville Island- Angela and I were enjoying what we thought was a delicious pint of local Granville Island beer when someone mentioned that the company had been taken over by foreign mega company Molson in 2009...a quick google search later we decided we had had our last pint for the year. This happens to us sometimes but we often do a bit of research when we make purchases to ensure that we are still contributing local economy. With all the fact checking though, there is still room for error and this is one of the cases of learning through experience. 
• Diva Cup- I needed to purchase a new Diva Cup (it's a lady product), which are unfortunately not made in BC. They are however made in Canada  unlike and other option available to me and I purchased mine from an independently owned pharmacy in town. This one was a tough decision for me but a necessary thing every woman must go though and I hope I have made the best available choice. 
• Deep Fried Pickles- I have had deep fried pickles twice this year at the Thirsty Moose Pub because they are sooo good. I would have kept ordering them but have since found out they were not prepared on site but come pre battered which is a violation of the rules. 
• Halloween decorations- As the co-chair for the University Farmers Market I was tasked with helping find decorations for our halloween themed market this week. As we strolled the aisle's of the dollar store in search of spooky delights, I felt like I was cheating but ultimately I was not making the purchase and it was through work. It is hard when it comes down to making our own decorations as supplies would still need to be purchased but I feel like with more planning and foresight we can work on using more recycled and hand made items for future events. 

Now I know I have listed these as failures, but I do not really think of them as that. Instead I realize that these are apart of the learning experience that this challenge is shaping up to be. I have learned more about what is local in my area and limitations to a locavore lifestyle in practice then I ever could have in theory, so all in all, I am succeeding. And through these times I hope that by sharing these efforts will encourage more people think about the choices they make each day...or so i'd like to think.

Heres to making mistakes!

Melanie

"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." -Henry Ford

The Beginning

Our last meal at Denny's for a year

Today is the first day of my experiment to eat and live locally for one entire year. What seemed so straightforward before is now becoming incredibly complicated and full of questions I am not sure how to answer. The rules seemed simple, eat only locally sourced goods from local businesses, but in practice we are already in conflict on our fist day. The issue of banana bread seems to be a big one, does it make sense for us to buy banana bread from the farmers market if we know those bananas were imported? Home made Salsa in February? Coconut milk from the local grocers? The limits to our daily lives will be drastically altered if we attempt to live on only BC produced goods, but is that even possible? These are questions we are currently trying to tackle and would appreciate any insights people may have in our journey towards local, sustainable living.

As for day one, no major changes have become apparent to me yet, so far just another day. I brought back local organic cheese and Maple Syrup from Ontario and seeing as my local grocers is closed for the next few days I will be living off of cheese and crackers with syrup until Tuesday when I can go shopping again. A small sacrifice but a delicious one!

Here are the top 5 things I'm going to miss this year: 

• Netflix (cancelled this morning)
• Avocados
• Blueberry Vodka Soda's with Lime
• Shopping (designers)
• Going to the Cinema

Think of all the money I'm going to save though!

Have a lovely day,

Melanie