If you know me you know I don't like to waste anything.
Shame on you if you throw with food (TikTok) so not funny no matter if it's rice, pasta, tomatoes, pie or egg.
Wate is waste. It doesn't matter if it comes to food, clothes, electricity, water, gas, toothpaste, shampoo, soap or what items are wrapped in. It might be hard to buy things not being wrapped in plastic but it's possible and if not I simply do not buy it. So... I don't eat cucumbers if they are sealed in plastic. I use my own bags if I buy fruits, vegetables and if needed bread and potatoes too. I have plenty of plastic bags left which I reuse and don't throw away.
Since I make my own yoghurt and kefir I no longer have to deal with these plastic cups, containers and buckets. Those few I have I reuse for whatever I need them for.
I noticed if it comes to plastic there are plenty of people reusing plastic bottles for their plants (super!) which means it's not thrown away but also that I need to find another way to seed, plant and grow the vegetables and herbs I like to give a try this season. My season is short so I need to hurry.
We still have occasional night frosts, which means I can't plant anything outside yet. I don't think I will plant in the ground this year because it was not a success last year or the years before. The last time I had a good harvest of tomatoes and cucumbers was about five to six years ago. Because last year was another unsuccessful year, I had resolved not to plant anything more, but now the world looks different. Not because of a lockdown or a so-called virus that kills people by the dozen, but a handful of people who don't care if the majority of humanity dies of hunger.
Is there a shortage of food? No, there is not. Let's face it, just about everything that is in the shops now is a harvest of the past few years. So it is nonsense to raise prices by 20 to 50 per cent. The storage sheds are full, there is enough for everyone and even the auctions have a lot going for them. Over the decades and also during the past year, more has been thrown away than has ended up in the shops. There were farmers who could not sell their harvest and offered it to the private individual for a small sum. When food becomes the rest, there is something seriously wrong with society. What is wrong is the pursuit of profit, keeping prices artificially high. The farmer or horticulturist, by the way, does not get paid anything more rather than less. Perhaps it would be wiser for many farmers to offer their harvest to private individuals first, before it is safely put through the shredder or left to rot on the land (another way of obtaining manure and compost).
The food barns are full, just like the seed barns of the world, so how can it be that so many are starving and food is becoming more and more expensive, but also how can it be that many food banks in the Netherlands have no food and have to refuse people? I saw videos about food banks in America, but the boxes of food that are distributed there even to people who drive a Tesla... That does not happen in the Netherlands. You can't just stand in line at the food bank. If you want to be considered for this, you first have to report to the municipality. Only after discussions, after sorting out and handing over all your income and expenditure, and an overview of your possessions, will it be decided whether you can come and collect a bag of groceries once a week. The food bank is not for everyone.
The supermarkets have been selling fruit and vegetables that look less 'attractive' for years. What is less attractive to the consumer is also decided by the shop. I don't care if all apples are the same size and personally, I like the small, curved cucumbers from the Turkish shop better than those straight, watery things wrapped in foil. I don't need any brown eggs, nor any yolk that has been added or food that has been coloured because it looks so much healthier.
There is not much leftover from my food either.
Do I eat cauliflower and broccoli? Then I eat the stem and leaves too. Why should I throw away what is edible?
So my compost heap is not very high either. The only leftovers I have are from mowed grass and the leaves in autumn. I just leave this in the garden because it is healthy for the soil.
Today I pulled some weeds. I left this too because they say it fertilises the soil and weeds grow slower (even dead weeds are mulch). I don't know if that is true because weeds still grow rampantly after all these years. You can't really fight it.
Are weeds Mother Nature's waste?
I do not think so. Rather, it is everything that we would rather not have in our cultivated garden and of which we do not really know what it is.
This year I want to make it a little easier on myself and (as I said last year) let Mother Nature do her thing. I want to have some more of my own hay, compost (for next year) and also some areas where 'weeds' can grow again. There used to be a lot of camomiles here and also wild garlic next to poppies and dandelions. All herbs that can be used by humans and with which something can be done.
Today, I replanted my dill in some bigger pots and sowed spring onions, wild strawberries, maggots, aniseed, green beans and peppers. I have no idea if anything will come of it but it is worth a try. The 'Tiny Tim' (tomato) seeds have come out. The ten old potatoes I bought are in a bag on the window sill. I hope they will germinate so I can plant them afterwards. I want to try and do most of it in buckets just because it is easier and I can put them anywhere. Maybe I will also use the tyres but I have not decided yet. Last year it was not really a success. The weeds overran even quite high plants and I could not manage to work in the garden every day.
The bought leeks and spring onions that I planted in the garden.
The only place where sun shines inside of the house.
The leeks and spring onions I bought and put in water are still growing, so I am not really throwing anything away from these vegetables either and I can buy them without plastic or packaging.
Plastic I still have, for example, bags that contain food for the animals or potting soil. I am thinking about using these bags as planters. It makes it easier to harvest (just cut them open or tip them over) and so this plastic also has a second life.
Nothing changed
Supermarkets throw a lot away more than people do!
The food in this dumpster is better than what they sell here in the shop, no dumpsters here by the way.
residue
the part that is left after the main part has gone or been taken away, or a substance that remains after a chemical process such as evaporation:
History and Etymology for residue
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin residuum, from neuter of residuus left over, from residēre to remain
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