letter from publishers Greetings! Cindy chose this month’s cover with the mortar and pestle of fresh herbs because this issue is about sustainable food production. We also have the first in a series of articles about energy sustainability. In our view, sustainability isn’t about living off the grid and growing all your own food. That isn’t practical for almost everyone. It’s about doing what you can. This can include growing some of your own food or buying it locally from someone who can and thus reducing your carbon footprint. It might mean when you dine out, choosing a restaurant that uses locally sourced foods. It might mean having solar panels installed or buying your electricity from a company that uses wind energy to generate it. Living in the country, we have lots of room to plant food crops and we have three big raised beds planted so far. This isn’t going to feed us all year round but it’s a small start. If you live in the city, you can still plant container gardens or do vertical gardening or support the local urban farmers by shopping at farmer’s markets. We aren’t able to install solar right now and there is only one electric company that serves our part of the woods so we are working to use less electricity. I get a text message each morning from my electric company telling me how much energy I used the previous day and what it cost. It becomes a game to turn things off and see how much electricity we cannot use. The thing is, there are lots of things we can all do to live more sustainable lives. Just because we can’t do everything or can’t do some things doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything. Do what you can and enjoy doing it.
Mike & Cindy Hart The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. ~Alfred Austin
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