And So It Begins…The First Supper

“There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew. ”
Marshall McLuhan

 

It’s here. Earth Day, 2011. An otherwise ordinary, sunny-but-breezy, not-quite-spring-day. The 41st Earth Day and the start of our one year Maine-only Diet. I’ll admit I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. I’ll blame it on oversleeping my alarm, but if im honest, I didn’t sleep much last night. I’m really not trying to be over dramatic or a whiny complainer, but I’ve seriously been stressing out wondering if this is the right thing to be doing. The worry that gets me the most? What (on this great, green Earth) will I pack the girls for lunch? I’ve already put the kibosh on school lunches so I really must rely on food from home. No more Nutri-Grain bars. No more cheese-sticks. No grapes or goldfish or bananas with peanut butter.  I spent the majority of the early morning hours, tossing and turning, brainstorming foods fit for a 3rd graders lunch box, sadly wondering if anyone would want to trade their Blue Raspberry Fruit-By-The-Foot for Parkers heirloom carrot sticks or Tempeh Trailmix.

After grumping at Nate (for no good reason) this morning, I drank my faux-coffee and nibbled some homemade bread with maine butter and homemade strawberry jelly. Not so bad. A tad bit of guilt as I poured the girls orange juice (I swear I won’t buy anymore)  and they too, were happy with toast and jam. Lunch came and went and I was blissfully saved by a busy day which failed to allow me time to eat. However, but noontime, I was still unsure of what to make to celebrate our kick-off dinner. By 2, I had convinced myself I could locate the ingredients and whip-up a homemade seafood chowder, which for the record, turned out brilliantly (if i do say so myself. Just don’t ask Finley, who decided that she HATED clams and wanted NOTHING to do with the fish or shrimp or potatoes). Salad greens from Sunset Farm Organics with beets, tomatoes and cheese from Maine and my favorite, a bottle of Lavender Mead from Maine Mead Works. With the help of my bread maker, I threw together (literally) dough, which I then made into dinner rolls (also fabulous!) with wheat flour from Harris Farm, Honey from Tony’s honey and butter from Kates of Maine.

Gigi and Grandpa Joey (otherwise known as The Wise Old Owl, aka TWOO) joined us to celebrate and dinner was filled with laughter, explanations of just WHY we were doing this (crazy) project and a reminder that family and food are two of my favorite things. It’s a great process of learning how to put into words the many feelings and esoteric philosophies we have about the reasons for this project. Most simply- help the earth, help our health, help the economy and help our neighbors. Make conscious choices about the food we purchase, eat and grow and think locally about our money and who it supports.

We can’t thank everyone for their words of support and encouragement. We hope this is as fun for you as it is for our family. Hopefully, we’ll come out no-worse-the-ware on the other side, but until then, stick by us. We’ll need all the local go-green love we can get.