Sustainable Consumerism

Sometimes I feel like a fraud. I'm eating locally, but by no means am I homesteading, or being self sufficient. Our family consumes other people's labors constantly. It take a fair amount of labor to transform those raw products into our consumption, but when I make hot sauce, I do not grow the tomatoes, nor the hot pepper, nor the vinegar. It is rare that I am bringing something "farm to table" myself. There are so many farmers getting their hands much dirtier that I, putting their families on the line financially, hoping for the best themselves. If one person doesn't grow enough tomatoes, I simply get them from someone else, we still eat tomato sauce whether or not my personal tomatoes succeed or not. What I don't do is go to the grocery store and buy canned tomatoes if I don't have them in my own cupboard. However I do get to rest on my laurels in some senses.

I've traded in a piece of the process. Instead of working on the farm, I work on the computer, I work in the community, and I work in my own kitchen. I've become a distributor, an advocate and a chef. It's an interesting "middle man" position. I've become an educated consumer; a person living by example of how to support the farmers in our region. I have a code of ethics of what I bring into my home, of what I strive to cook with and there's a sense of satisfaction that comes from that.

When I look with longing at a homestead along the shore, I think of myself barefoot and doing chores, dirty and self satisfied. And then I look out my window, of my home, which I own; and I see other people's yards, pavement, street lights. That is my reality, we are a social family which thrives on the energy of a community at our fingertips. When I look at where I live, the pleasures in my life and my "city-girl" history, this residential living makes sense. There's something sustainable to it, when I consider living a modern lifestyle, there are so many advantages to being compacted onto this little island.

I'm living a different dream, and perhaps I'm not farming, but I am serving farmers and community in a vital way. I'm creating access. I'm spreading awareness. I'm holding it down. So what if I get dirty on the computer? If my work involves tallying orders, breaking down those orders and serving consumers? I am capable of doing that efficiently, joyfully and with enthusiasm, and that is just as important, it gives the farmer more time, and it makes life easier for the consumer. And that I love.