Hullo, new from Canada

[Dale]

Hi! I'm Dale, and I've been vegan for over 2 years now, which has been great, but I'm thinking about taking it the next step and going raw. I'm not quite 100% (hey, it's cold here, and in order to eat raw I have to eat a lot of imported organic veggies and fruits and you know what kind of HUGE environmental footprint that makes, so I'm all conflicted) but so far (6 days) I've had only one baked sweet potato and a cup of green or ginger tea every day.

I do feel pretty good, though, so far.

[sport]

I Dale
Nice to have another guy to restore the balance after our loss this week of Fiddler. I can understand your concerns re the importation of food. Maybe you can grow stuf in your house. You can certainly grow greens and you can sprout. There is info out there to help you. If you can get your hands on "Living Foods for Radiant Health" bu Elaine Bruce, I am pretty sure that she gives good tips for growing stuff indoors. (my copy is out on loan so I cant check it).

[sweetgoddess]

Welcome to the forum Dale. :)

[margi]

Hi Dale,

I also understand your concern about imported fruits/veggies. I console myself with trying as much as I can to eat locally. Have you considered getting an organic box from a local CSA? Here in Hamilton, i get a weekly box of organic fruits and veggies. The CSA has a deal with another CSA down south so they can get the citrus fruits during the winter in Canada. Where in Canada are you located?

Nuts also pose a problem to eating locally. I haven't figured that one out yet since nuts really aren't grown in Canada. If there were more people eating similary, I could buy a large portion in bulk.

[exurb]

margi, Many people don't know that many nuts can be grown quite readily in southern ontario. If you google this guy "ernie grimo" you will find his place and there is an association of nut growers (I think it's society of ontario nut growers (song)). Grimo sells nut trees that are hardy in your zones, and the trees are very reasonable. He also sells locally grown nuts, and some interesting varieties, even heart shaped. I think he's located quite close to you, I think it's somewhere like Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Welcome to Dale. If you want to shrink your footprint by focusing on produce that doesn't burn up a lot of fossil fuels in transport, sprouting is one thing you can do to help get through the winter, and you don't need to buy equipment for it, IMO jars work better anyway. I also believe in buying directly from local farms in season and putting stuff to store. Or best yet grow your own and keep that, for no fossil fuel burned growing it or transporting it. I grow some varieties of squash that will keep all the way until the next gardening season. I also grow and dry lots of sundried tomatoes which get us all through the winter, I keep apples, I keep local berries in the freezer, I have a large windowbox of herbs. Also in early winter and early spring I grow frost tolerant pea shoots on the south side of my house... there's tons of stuff you can do to get through that Canadian winter with good live food, so don't let that stop ya. ;)

BTW ginger tea can be raw no probs, just grate fresh ginger and put into warm water under whatever you think is the critical temperature. It is actually warmer than people think. You can put lemon in it if you wish.

[margi]

Exurb, that's really neat. Thanks for the link. I think I'll pester my parents to get a nut tree for our yard!