Book Worms

So as Jill mentioned in our last post, we have found a couple of books to help us in our research. Some we got from the library and some we got from our friend who recommended a couple. Nevertheless, all of them are pretty interesting and you should check them out if you get the chance.

#1: Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating by Jane Goodall

In this book, Goodall comments on consumerism and how we produce food and urges us to try and be more sustainable in any way possible. She encourages the reader to make a change because every step counts. I will be reading this novel by Goodall and I am very excited to read about how I can eat sustainably.

#2: Genetically Modified Foods by Lillian E. Forman

This novel covers genetically modified foods and the science, debate and ethics behind them. (Jill will be reading this book)

#3: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

In this novel, Schlosser touches on how Americans rely on fast food and the impact that fast food has on our health and our land. I will be reading this book and am very excited to read some revolutionary ideas about the fast food industry.

#4: The Ethics of What We Eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason

This novel addresses what we eat, how it is produced/ manufactured/ grown and the ethics behind it. Jill will be reading this book.
#5: The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II

This book discusses how food and sustainability has an impact on our health. Jill will also be reading this book.


Sorry for such a boring post but I just wanted to let you guys know which books we will be reading to help us with our research. I've heard from many people that these books will shed light on how our food is produced and what effects it has on our health and environment, and will make you want to change what and how you eat the minute you finish the book. We will keep you updated on our continual progress and hopefully we'll have something exciting to share with you guys soon!


~Kristy

Did You Miss Us?

I was raised believing that honesty is always the best policy.......so I'm just going to admit that we haven't done too much on our project lately (yeah, I know, I'm probably stating the obvious since our last blog post was in what..the beginning of February?). Although we're technically "second semester seniors" it doesn't really feel that way yet - classes are still assigning the usual amount of homework (which feels about 10 times more unbearable than usual because we're pretty much losing any and all motivation for school since we've both already been accepted into college and know that our grades don't really count for much anymore), and non of the material seems to be easing up (which we were told to expect in second semester! ugh lies....). I think the best way to say what we've been feeling is to share a quote that we feel is eerily relatable: "The perfect time to start something never arrives." I think it's just hard to get fully into our project when we're continually being reminded that it's only March and our project isn't even due til June (March, April, May, June = 4 WHOLE MONTHS!). But we really need to get our stuff together and sit down and work on this - which we know - so starting next week we are putting everything into high gear.
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As opposed to continue sharing our (valid?) excuses, and just to make myself feel more productive I'll share with y'all (see, I'm starting to talk like a farmer already right?...or maybe just like a southerner? whatever.) the things we have accomplished in the past month or so:
- We took advantage of our last 4 day weekend, President's Holiday, and made a little pit stop at the library in between breakfast and a day of shopping to see what books might be of use to our project. Unfortunately they didn't have ANY books about farming - unless you count "Farmer Bob's Barnyard Bamboozle" or "Farmer Brown's Fieldtrip" (both picture books....which I honestly wouldn't mind over a long novel!). Upon arriving back to school on Tuesday, we checked our own library and found two books that weren't originally on our Reading List but would work anyways (we were desperate!) - we picked one about Genetically Modified Foods and one about Organic vs. Non-Organic Food (both of which actually sound pretty interesting - which means a lot coming from me since reading isn't really my favorite. They must be appealing because I mean really...who doesn't love food?!)
-We also started coming up with some questions to ask various farmers when we interview (which we will post later once we have finished with that)
-And lastly, we decided that we're going to participate in what we like to call "Organic Week" where we will eat only local/organic products for a week. We have started to compile some recipes in order to put together a meal plan (which we will also share with you when we're done - it makes me anxious to post only partially finished things!!)
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I guess when I list it all out it seems like we did a lot more than I thought (I kind of feel like that person who has a bunch of one dollar bills in their wallet but no twenties, ya know? - we have a ton of little things done but nothing really huge has been accomplished - hence a lot of ones but not a lot of twenties? that comparison is probably a far stretch but it makes sense in my mind...). I definitely feel like we should be much further at this point - we still need to get our farm training over with at Amy's Farm so that we can volunteer there whenever we want to as opposed to being restricted to only going on Saturdays (It's hard finding time where we both have saturdays open to attend the training...gosh, if I created the calendar I would make everyday a Saturday, but that's just me...). Well as opposed to continue rambling (which I admit is my way of procrastinating homework -- I'm really starting to feel like I'm in a confessional here..) I'm going to stop. We'll update more later (we promise!). 


~Jill