Resources

Here are some resources that I think you might find useful if you are interested in making some small changes of your own. I’ve purposefully kept the list short and to the point. This is a great place to start without getting too overwhelmed by too much information. I know from my own personal experience on this journey, that finding enough information is not the problem, sorting through it and finding what is relevant can be a very daunting and time consuming endeavor. So, that’s what I’m for! These are sites that I find to be very informative, but also very user-friendly. You can peruse them at your leisure and find some useful information without considerable effort on your part! ;)

Finding Local Alternatives to Factory Farmed Meat

www.eatwild.com Eat wild is a great resource for finding local farmers that embrace sustainable practices and have grass fed (and finished), organic, humane, and /or free-range meat and dairy products. In addition, the website provides a lot of great information about the health benefits of finding alternatives to factory farmed meat. If you are unsure of the reasons for looking for alternatives to factory farmed meat, start here: www.eatwild.com/basics.html

Joining a Movement (Maybe you can’t change the world alone, but that’s what other people are for!)

www.slowfoodusa.org Slow Food USA is an organization that is “part of a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members in over 150 countries, which links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment”. The website is a great source of information about local food providers, but it also offers the opportunity to get involved. Slow Food membership dollars are used to help fund campaigns “to create change locally and to push for national changes to the policies and practices that shape our food system”.

Most of the meat in this country is produced by a very small number of huge corporations. Those corporations spend millions to lobby Congress to keep laws and policies that work in their favor. If we want things to change in favor of the consumer, we must work together and combine our own smaller resources to have our voices and concerns heard and taken seriously by Congress.

www.farm-dreams.com Farm Dreams is a brand new social networking site that had 600 new members on the first day that it launched. It’s a great resource (and one that will get better with time) for anyone interested in gardening, homesteading, farming, disaster preparedness, or just doing and making things for yourself. You can interact with others of similar interests and learn and share knowledge with a community of people. So, it’s a great site to join if you think that you are alone in your desire to restore quality and integrity to our food systems.

Restoring the Planet: Starting with Your Own Backyard

www.backyardnature.net/compost.htm This was the most straightforward backyard composting site that I have found. Composting is one of those things that seems simple enough until you try to research it on the web… then information overload makes it suddenly complicated. The rest of the site has some interesting information about your own backyard.

www.motherearthnews.com This is a really great all-around informative site for anyone interested in getting away from overly processed foods and goods and possibly doing more things for yourself. The website can be a little frustrating, though, if you have something specific you are interested in researching, but there is a lot of great information there (when you can find it!).

I’m currently researching backyard beekeeping. When I’ve finished my homework on the subject… I’ll pass along the resources and information that I find to be the most useful.

I hope these resources are helpful to you. If you have any that you would like to share, please do so!