Great resources from NCP!

New Community Project has some great resources available on their website regarding environmental issues concerning food, hunger, and thirst. I will highlight just a few of their resources, please visit their site and see everything they offer. I have had the pleasure of hearing the NCP Director David Radcliff speak when he has visited the Warrensburg community. He is an amazing, sincere, passionate advocate for earth stewardship, especially for educating audiences about how our everyday lifestyle choices can have a positive or negative effect not only for the environment but also for people in other regions of the world.

The NCP website offers a lot to read on environmental issues related to food consumption. Start out by viewing "What's for Supper?" An excellent brochure is "Eat, Drink, and Be Wary?". Check out this info sheet about food and especially this resource entitled "Consuming Appetites: Global Patterns in Consumption of the Earth's Bounty: Food, Energy and Materials".

Worldwatch Book, "Eat Here"

Wow! I just ordered the book "Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket" by Brian Halweil from Worldwatch Institute at the beginning of the week and found it in my mailbox today! I am extremely pleased with their service in shipping this so quickly.

I cannot fairly review the book as I have only gotten my preliminary glimpse at the book - this is a book "preview" report. This book is not a cookbook full of recipes, but rather it is a research rich book which tells the story about the slow food and local food movements and why these movements matter. Of particular interest in this book is the emphasis the author has placed on researching the effect of globalized marketing on small family farmers and their ability to survive.

I'm looking forward to diving into this book this weekend,and then checking out the resources listed in the appendix at the end of the book!

I encourage my readers to visit the World Watch Institute website. It is a treasure trove of research information regarding ecology, with much available to read on-line in PDF format files.

To living deliberately,
In peace with our neighbors,
Debbie

Simply in Season

Simply in Season

Author Cathleen Hockman-Wert has a blog dedicated to the "Simply in Season" cookbook. While the site hasn't been updated in some time, there are some interesting links as well as access to download the leader's guide for the study group.

I am starting a local study group in Warrensburg, Missouri to begin in January. If you are interested, please send me a comment and I will give you more information as it is available.

The cookbook is delightful, bursting with color and arranged by season with recipes using seasonal produce. I was so excited when I read the description for the cookbook that I ordered it, the leader's guide, and the children's cookbook. I was thrilled when they arrived! They are very fun cookbooks!

Missouri Organic InterActive

The Missouri Department of Agriculture has a couple of blogs to help encourage eating local agricultural products, and also to support organic growers.

Missouri Organic InterActive

A Look at Missouri Farmers' Markets

Both sites are definitely worth a look!

The argument for eating a local foods diet

I am not a "food expert", just a mom who has a somewhat awakened consciousness about the state of our world, and how my ordinary every day food choices have an impact on the world I share with my children and my neighbors.

Concerns about global warming have sparked a renewed interest in eating locally grown produce instead of produce which is shipped 1,000 miles or more to reach your local grocery store.

As part of my commitment to the New Community Project, I am organizing a food and faith study group at my local church to meet and discuss issues concerning food, diet, and ecology.




The World Watch Institute has some good resources including: Worldwatch Paper #163: Home Grown: The Case For Local Food In A Global Market.

The study sessions our group will study are using the "Simply in Season" cookbook available through the Mennonite Central Committee.

I hope it will be an interesting group which will challenge us to think carefully about our consumption patterns.