Monday, May 2, 2011

beltane.

we had a potluck to celebrate spring, as well as our recent meat-glut.

lentil-salad

lentil salad.

meat-plate

meat plate.

peanut-butter-cookies

peanut butter cookies.

we also ate grilled kielbasa with kimchi and caramelized onions, sesame chicken with peppers and onions, and a quiche. items we bought for this meal: french lentils, brown rice, stoned wheat thins, butter, flour, sugar, black pepper, salt.

baby-shrew

this baby shrew came to visit, poor fella.

sunburn

also, i may have gotten a touch too much sun. plus side: my sunburn is pretty neat looking.

what we waste.

frozen-food-dumpster

the stand-by frozen foods dumpster. this is a picture of what we did NOT take home with us. all of these cardboard boxes are full of frozen meats, strawberries, pizzas and pre-packaged processed entrees. we filled our car in two runs, filled our freezer, my parents' storage freezer, and supplied the local baptist food ministry with more frozen meat than the pastor could rightly deal with. he was greatly appreciative, all the same.

why do we waste? what makes products, materials and commodities so easily discard-able? especially when it is commonly said that so many people are in desperation?

i fear for the wellbeing of a society so unwilling to be resourceful. i fear that we are stuck in a negative cycle of consumerism, of 'sell-by' dates, of the excessive production of processed foods, and the overpowering voracity of the economy versus the human needs of the people whose paycheck it represents.

i try to avoid talking about this too loudly, but it is plain: i don't understand any of it. i am baffled by the greed, the exploitation... baffled by the waste.