Keeping Track of Travel Miles

I’m amazed at how travel and food issues have impacted the way I think and work. I don’t go anywhere by car or bus unless I can complete at least five tasks in one round trip. Even when I walk, I plan my trip based on weather conditions, what I have to carry, and the route I need to take.

Since I started keeping track of my travel time, a local bridge washed out, detouring pedestrians and vehicles for an additional mile. It’s inconvenient, but it’s not insurmountable. This time of year, I stray onto side trails, sometimes finding wild edibles.

The commuter bus service strike just ended. There was shuttle service to the train station 1.6 miles down the road, Monday through Friday. For the past two weeks if I had errands or wanted to get to a distant trail head on Saturday or Sunday, the car was my only alternative. But that’s behind me now.

The Dial-A-Bus in this area is spectacular. They run on time. But passengers do have to book days in advance for a seat and the destinations are limited to one town Monday through Friday.

There are a few situations a bicycle will not address, and there is the issue of what to do with the bicycle when I am not riding, including where to store it at home. But the good news is that I can ride at least four miles on a decent road without suffering.

I have come close, but not yet reached, my goal to limit driving to 100 miles a week. Last week I drove 113 miles in a 7-day period. I am choosing to drive the 14.5 miles and back to the farm, rather than try to bike my veggie harvest home. Last week, it was time to thin the lettuce and spinach.

I was raised on a farm, so I know about washing the dirt off the veggies. Buying cleaned vegetables is much easier, but there’s something about the taste of freshly picked spinach that’s priceless. Still, it takes time to wash both sides of each leaf, before putting it in the salad spinner. Even after that, I blot the leaves in a towel before storing them in the fridge.

Tuesdays is garden day, from field work to harvest to cleaning and storage. So far, I figure it’s costing me as much to do all the work as it would cost to purchase equivalent produce. I’d rather be in the field one day a week than in the office, so I figure I’m breaking even. A lot of my thinking has to do with how I spend my time, as well as how much time I spend.

CSA farming makes sense if the core group of people each have a little bit of time to devote to the slow work of planting, weed prevention and watering. I could not do this on a daily basis, but with the knowledge and support of 39 others, some with more time, some with less, the land has been cultivated, the vegetables planted at the right time and I have had something to take home, including veggies from last fall, since I started working on April 1.

Thanks to a clever 4-H mom, the original 14 chickens in her child’s project are now producing enough eggs for the family to sell at a competitive price and to hatch a future generation of chickens. I haven’t eaten eggs in years. But these free-range beauties reminded me of what an omelet is supposed to look and taste like.

I thought I’d be alone in my quest for a more sustainable life. I’m finding out that more and more of my neighbors are taking tiny steps to stop the consumer madness and embrace a different way to use resources.