Have you noticed yourself craving different foods at certain times of the year? Well beyond the sudden desire for apple pie in the Fall is the change in just the types of foods we seem to desire. For instance, now that the weather is warming, I eschew my usual oatmeal breakfast for a fruit smoothie - a habit I will maintain for the duration of the summer months.

It seems the longer I am on a vegan diet, the more I note these swings in my diet. All I wanted for lunch today was broccoli. I ate a whole head of it - steamed to perfection and dotted with “butter”. Dinner last night was nothing more than baked vegetables - onions, carrots, potatoes. It appears I don’t wish for rice, or pasta (wierd for me!) or beans of any kind, I just want fruit and veggies! I’m also making a pot of iced tea every day, and drinking massive quantities of water. My energy is high and pulling me to work outdoors. A rainy day like today crushes those plans a little, but I’m keeping myself entertained with garden books and making plans for Sunday, when the rain that started yesterday afternoon is expected to cease.

As the summer gets warmer and there are plenty of tomatoes and squash to sautee together, we’ll have that combination (or a variation of) several times a week. Summer’s heat doesn’t entice us to heavy foods much, so we dine primarily on light pastas and sauteed veggies straight from the garden.

When the leaves begin to turn and the mornings grow cooler, I continue to rise early to tend my plants but begin the day by baking a fruit bread or muffins. The smoothies go by the wayside in favor of a hot cup of chai tea. Soup becomes the supper staple as there is so much canning to do and still plenty of veggies to throw into a pot. Since soup leaves a few corners available, the evening dessert begins to make an appearance… and so do the winter pounds that help keep us a little warmer.

By the end of January, though, we are tired of soup and have been eating heartier fare - vegetable lasagnas and veggie shepherd’s pies, mushroom burger mixes (with chopped veggies and breadcrumbs). We begin looking forward to summer’s bounty, to warm days and hours spent in the garden. I’m even looking forward to weeding. And with all the veggies and fruit I am consuming instead of legumes and breads, the winter pounds are disappearing with ease. Whew!

Dear Friends,

Many of you have probably heard about two bills currently on the floor waiting for The Congress - S425 and HR 875.  One of the bills sitting on the floor was introduced by someone with a direct relationship to Monsanto.  The bills are long and difficult to read which means that our politicians will vote based on summaries presented. The problem is, that these bills, more by omission than by inclusion, could essentially prohibit organic farming as well as individual food growing for private consumption. It puts the business of farming into Federal hands and removes the power of the state, and it supports factory farming. It mandates the use of certain chemicals in the name of Food Safety. Some people describe HR 875 as “criminalizing organic farming”.

I had this forwarded to me through a friend with an organic bakery. They order the produce they cannot grow themselves on their local farm from Global Organic of Sarasota, Florida.

A few days ago I came across an alarming bit of information regarding this bill. I didn’t read the whole bill, it is indeed quite long and I decided it was more of an issue for small farmers like Genesis Farms, which raises organic, grass-fed cows, as I saw a line about the bill *not* applying to confined animals. It would also affect people like Ella, an older woman in town who supplements her pitiful income by selling free-range eggs. The creators of this bill are pushing it in the name of “food safety” - when in reality, only the big companies are the ones that have caused all these outbreaks: peanuts, spinach, salads and tomatoes - none of that was from organic farms!

This really shows how much Monsanto and its pundits want to control everything - they want all food to be produced using their products and chemicals. Now, I don’t care what anyone says - you won’t stop me from growing *my* food in *my* backyard, and you also won’t stop me from exchanging my extra tomatoes for someone else’s extra garlic.

The whole idea, really, is extremely unnerving.

Link to the full bill:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-875

Link to a good summary:

http://cryptogon.com/?p=7362

A list of sponsors for the bill:

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/pacs.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00000615

And a petition:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26714&t=

And another petition, through the Organic Consumer’s Association:

http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=12878056