![\"\"](\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_fyeYpxfdjuI\/S0FupnvlOsI\/AAAAAAAAAws\/NJKesHvNhRc\/s1600-h\/DSC_2708.JPG\")
<\/a>Apple Juice\u2026. From China.<\/span>\nI brought this up to my folks and my Dad, whom I greatly admire, said, \u201cWell, it\u2019s just hard to get things made in the US these days\u2026 Even furniture all comes from China.\u201d<\/span> No, no, no\u2026. I pointed out that you can get HELENA-MADE furniture if you wanted, and there are probably a dozen more furniture makers in Montana if you look for them.<\/p>\n The problem, we all agreed, is that buying local (often) means spending more money or settling for something that is not exactly what you want. And we as a culture are practically hardwired to find the cheapest acceptable item to fulfill our immediate desire.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve heard Michael Pollan<\/a> speak before, and one thing he strongly advocates is the redevelopment of local\/regional food networks. Today we are (most of us at least) dangerously dependent upon transportation networks to bring us our food<\/span>. Luckily there are folks moving to turn this around<\/a>, but it will require awareness on the part of the consumer \u2013 me and you- to make it work. As I sip my Californian wine and type on my Chinese-made computer, I can\u2019t help but wonder how much I\u2019ll really be able to \u201cact locally\u201d<\/span> \u2013 but I\u2019ll try.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll post updates along the way \u2013 under the below label \u201clocal living\u201d and hope you\u2019ll join me in deepening awareness of the sources of all this stuff<\/span> in our lives.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n In 2010 I resolve to be more mindful of where my food, and stuff, comes from. Apple Juice\u2026. From China. This is from my folks\u2019 house over Christmas. The print near the top says \u201cConcentrate from China.\u201d Apparently it\u2019s now cheaper to raise apples in China, press them for concentrate, ship that, and reconstitute it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>Last night I finally watched \u201cThe Botany of Desire\u201d with Julie and while I was mesmerized by each of the four stories<\/span>, the fourth, on potatoes, was most interesting. There we see the evolution of potatoes, focusing on the last 3oo or so years, when they\u2019ve gone from the wide varieties found in S. America (pictured lower left) to the monocultures well-known in the US and Europe. The resulting famine in Ireland in 1847<\/a> (should have) taught us a great lesson in why not to simply focus on what is easiest and cheapest (economics overriding morals or other decision-making mechanisms).<\/p>\n