Liles Lake Organic Food Cooperative for the greater Birmingham, AL area

My family and I go through huge amounts of produce every week and we like to buy as much organic as possible. We've found a way to skip the grocery store and pay wholesale prices for organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

We will be ordering from a great company called Global Organics that specializes in group buy programs and co-ops. We thought we'd start a local organic group buy program so that everyone who wants organic produce can save loads of money. You'll be paying less than you would for conventional (pesticide laden) produce and you'll be getting wholesome, organic, earth friendly produce, plus a larger selection of organics than your local market.

We will be getting deliveries once a week. The current order sheet/price list will be updated every Thursday night and orders will need to be placed by Saturday night.

We started a facebook group so that all members can communicate and share/split certain items/cases if wanted. We will post the current price sheet on facebook as we receive it or we can e-mail it.

Here is the facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144178258105&ref=nf

We will have an organized pickup day on Monday or Tuesday when the produce is delivered in Trussville and we will also be offering home delivery for a small fee just to cover transportation expenses.

We would like to start ordering as soon as possible but need more people to sign up so please let us know if you are interested.

Below is a sample price sheet from the week of September 23rd, 2009 so you can get an idea of prices and produce availability.

Thanks!
Kelly

alabama life...photos from yesterday

our swimming hole, the leeds rock quarry

fresh spring water







lola hiding under the willow


i'm known as the honeydew lady at the local market



relaxing on the dock


cranberry hibiscus sprouting up





we're going to build the cottage in a clearing around here

sir ken robinson on how schools kill creativity

great video, especially if you have children or want to have children in the future.

Whale Bloodbath In Danish Faeroe Islands

"Whales are sensitive, social animals with highly developed nervous systems. They have a profound capacity to suffer distress, terror and pain. Each year, the Faroese kill pilot whales and other small cetaceans.

Islanders in motorboats first drive the whales into a bay. The chase may be lengthy. The exhausted, terrified and confused whales are eventually driven into the shallows. Here the bloodbath begins. The islanders repeatedly hammer 2.2 kg metal gaffs into the living flesh of each whale until the hooks hold. A 15 cm knife is then used to slash through the blubber and flesh to the spinal column. Next the main blood vessels are severed. The blood-stained bay is soon filled with horribly mutilated and dying whales.

The Faroese celebrate the butchery of their victims in an carnival atmosphere of entertainment. Indoctrinated from an early age, children are often given a day off school to watch the fun. They run down to the bay and clamber over the carcasses of slaughtered whales.

Every year around 2,000 whales are driven ashore and cruelly slaughtered in the Faroe Islands, mid-way between the Shetland Islands and Iceland. For centuries the Faroe Islanders have hunted pilot whales, driving entire schools into killing bays, where they are speared or gaffed from boats, dragged ashore and butchered with knives. Although the Islands are a protectorate of Denmark, they have their own Government and regulations governing the pilot whale hunt or "grind" as it is known.

Aside from the fact that the number of North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales is unknown and they are listed as 'strictly protected' by the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, this is an act of barbarism and pointlessness. By slaughtering 100 whales at a time, the Faroese are wiping out entire pods and family groups. They are removing building blocks from the gene pool of the species and damaging the web of life in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.

The drive hunt is a practice abandoned elsewhere many decades ago, and now outlawed by other European states. The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands have no subsistence need for whale meat, and much of the flesh is left to rot and be dumped; it cannot be exported, as it is polluted with heavy metals and other toxins and therefore cannot meet EU heath standards for human food.

According to Faroese legislation it is also permitted to hunt certain species of small cetaceans other than pilot whales. These include: Bottlenose dolphin; Atlantic white-beaked dolphin; Atlantic white-sided dolphin; and Harbour porpoise (There are also specific regulations for the hunting of harbour porpoise. Harbour porpoises are killed with shotguns)."
-www.thepetitionsite.com/1/end-whale-dolphin-slaughter-in-the-faroe-islands?page=134

if you'd like to take action, please visit this site:
www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/3001353138/in/pool-vegansoapbox

current projects

working hard on something i love.

i've started saving and collecting organic seeds and small fruit trees (shhhh...don't tell monsanto). working on building a huge greenhouse so i can grow different varieties of bananas and other tropical fruits. already have growing: a few varieties of figs, sugar snap peas, heirloom carrots, cauliflower, rainbow chard, greens, pineapple (will be moving it to the greenhouse once it's finished) and we have a few wild persimmon trees. i have a collection of organic peach, nectarine, sapote, honeydew, cantaloupe, christmas melon, watermelon, valencia orange, red bell pepper, cranberry hibiscus and 2 types of kiwi seeds waiting to be planted when the season is right and the greenhouse is done.

my current wish list for seeds and/or trees is huge and it's full of hard to find items. if you know of a nursery in the south that has any of the following plants, or if you have seeds/plants/trees/cuttings to sell, to trade or donate please don't hesitate to contact me :) were going to southern florida (homestead area) sometime in the next month with a trailer to stock up on banana trees and several other fruit trees.

so here's the list, i keep adding more everyday:

apple
avocado (bacon)
banana (any variety)
blackberry
blueberry
cherimoya
cherry
chocolate sapote
dragon fruit (natural mystic, yellow)
dwarf date palm
figs (all varieties, especially giant ones!)
figs
and did i mention figs?
granadilla
grapes
honeyberry
katook/katuk/sweet leaf
longan
lychee
mango (any variety)
mulberry
paw paw
peanut butter fruit
pear
persimmon (any variety)
plantain (any variety)
plum
raspberry
strawberry
tangerine (any variety)

trying to find mostly dwarf sized trees for the tropical plants.

also, once we have established enough fruit bearing trees, we want to work on building a small hut and a tree house from materials around the woods here (lot's of dead wood around here) and recycled materials to have a place for conscious people to come and retreat, work on or enjoy the gardens, vacation, etc. it's a vision we're working on and we hope we can make it a reality real soon.

we have some beautiful wooded hills around here so we'd like to build a little cottage like this but on a smaller scale:


these photos were taken from:
www.simondale.net/house/

we'll have walls insulated with bales of straw, recycled rainwater collection barrels, off the grid electricity, wood burning stoves for heat...pretty much the works when it comes to sustainability.

what do you think?

PETA's "Sexiest Vegetarian Over 50" is 70 and Vegan

back in the u.s.

got back to the u.s. a little more than a week ago. josh and i are currently in the birmingham area in alabama. had an amazing month in costa rica! i learned a little about permaculture, self sustainability and the importance of growing your own food from some great people in costa rica and now i want to put my new gained knowledge to use. so i'm settling down in the woods next to a lake and working on growing an organic vegetable/greens garden and an organic fruit tree orchard. i will post some pics soon!

also found 5 wild persimmon trees around the woods here. counting down the days till they're ripe.

check out these websites about growing your own food:

www.verdant.net/food.htm
eatdrinkbetter.com/2009/03/21/growing-your-own-food-green-cheap-and-delicious/

photos of my new home:
adventuresofafrugivore.blogspot.com/2009/07/alabama.html

compassion please

please watch these videos to see what the consumption of dairy contributes to.







if that doesn't deter you, maybe the health risks will

all about eggs