100 Mile Diet? What about the 100 mile Drive?

Have you seen the 100 mile diet site?


It rocks. Yes, it does.

Admittedly, when it comes to cool stuff, I am rarely, no, basically never the first to know. Generally speaking, I'm not even in the first wave. Now and again, I hear stuff. Once or twice a year, I get really jazzed and inspired to DO things, really self-sufficient, sustainable things. But, I do work for a living here. So, deduct those 6 to 7 hours a day. Then deduce the 2 to 3 hours a day I'll be spending driving kids to and from school. Then with the couple of hours a day left before I pass out for the night, there is food planning, preparation and consumption, laundry, cleaning, trying to pursue my own education... not much time left for food farming/hunting, preservation, and knitting socks for the whole family. (I figure I have a better shot at knitting socks for everyone than maintaining the entire wardrobe). but, I still dream about doing more with what we have. (I know, I know, I start out sounding like a whine, but really, I'm just trying to figure it all out...)

How can I make some of those things happen anyway? Or along with all these other things?

The biggest dent obviously is that we're moving in the wrong direction with our driving habits. We were a family where dad drives to work (usually with the good mileage vehicle, motorcycle or rides his bicycle), and mom stays home with the kids, working from home. Now, dad drives to work, and kids are going to school, WAY across town, so mom needs the car to drive kids to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. So, we either need another vehicle for dad to drive to work, or he drives the gas guzzler truck we mainly only use for recreation/camping purposes these days, or he learns to ride his bike in the cold November rain and like it. Neither of us is in a remotely convenient position for using public transportation, although one child will be using it to get himself to and from school. Yeah, our lifestyle changes seem to be heading in the wrong direction for conservancy. But, it's a choice we made in order for the kids to go to good schools.

Potentially on the chopping block: The truck. The good old, wonderful, super comfortable truck. (sigh) But we know we could do as well with a medium sized SUV, something that could pull the boat, a camper, and the trailer (not all at once of course, but then, neither can our super fabulous well loved truck). Better gas mileage, maybe even a diesel. *sigh*

I think I'd like to go out to Sauvie's Island tomorrow, see what's popping as the harvest season gets underway. Not that I am at all prepared to do any canning or other perservation of foods, and we're camping next weekend so that's out. bluh. Just feels like we're so dang busy, but I can never remember what we've done. Or if we've done anything.