Published on 12, July, 2020
So I have heard the reports that meat is high on the carbon footprint scale, although I believe chicken isn't sooo bad.
But I also received an email from an online 'heritage butcher' that I've used before. The owner is starting a campaign called 'Save our Season', to try and lobby for a seasonality tax. The idea being, we pay x for British Asparagus, and y (which is nigh on the same) for imported asparagus, when British isn't in season. I say asparagus... I do use lidls as well as waitrose...
But this got me thinking... his aim was it would promote reduced food miles, seasonal eating and quality/welfare. He also suggested that the commonly published footprints for various meats aren't what they appear... as they take into account the average food miles as well as cow farts...?
I'm not anticipating getting any livestock, but I am wondering how much of our veg I can grow myself?
Has anyone got some suggestions for useful things to grow? (That are legal!) I'm going to have another go at Trinidad Perfume Chilli's, and I've got a good stock of Red Bull sweet pepper seeds from the last couple of years. But trying to think of some more things to grow, in particular (but not limited to) those that tend to be imported (?)
I'm also tempted to have another go at growing mushrooms, but probably from a proper kit rather than grain spawn like I did last year...
Looks good. Need heat and I'm too tight to keep them warm plus I couldn't put a greenhouse in my second floor flat. Well, I could, but It wouldn't work haha. God, now I'm trying to make it work in my head - thanks...
I did successfully grow Courgettes once when I lived in a house with a massive garden.
Home grown organic corn is the tastiest thing on Earth. (so far)
In all seriousness, I looked at the one (standard) variety available at the garden centre and decided against buying aubergine seeds there.
The variety I am interested in is 'Pinstripe'. :-)
Did get some tomato seeds though. :-)
Chris said:Yours
I cant grow one like that...
That impressive! Yours? ;-)
Went to the garden centre this morning. Been meaning to start my seeds since I posted... 14 days on, still not done. To top it off, I realised yesterday we didn't have any potting soil. So a trip to the garden centre to get soil, and some fertilisers - I use a tomorite and seaweed extract mix for my peppers.
Got a tad carried away though, especially when I found full propagator sets, with tray/insert/lid, were on sale for £2.99!! Total bargain, but may not have needed 3... The peat free jiffy pellets were also 2/3 off!!
When you only just realise why some mushrooms are referred to as gourmet...
Ahhh...thats for a mono tub. You would be better modifying a mini greenhouse otherwise known as a "martha" tent. Gourmets tend to not do so well in mono tubs....they grow better from bags
I found this video last night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oGG1W5ZM-0&feature=youtu.be
Explains the fruiting chamber in a language simple enough for me... He uses different colour pencils...
Although the more I research...
Leaving them in the dark was bad as: They do actually need some light to encourage fruiting.
It needs to be airtight to maintain humidity etc: My plastic boxes for the morels with loose shut lids were definitely not...
There seem to be ready to buy fruiting chambers! But 2000cc is £50!! I mean a 2000cc food box costs a lot less... Then from what I can tell, you keep the holes blocked properly till colonised and then swap for micropore tape to allow a modicum of air flow?
Some guy i spoke to used to pick them. He said they tend to grow around new house builds? Im not even sure about how they grow to be honest. I will look into it and how they grow as i like researching. I build my "kits" from scratch so its better than just buying them, so i totally get what you mean buy just getting them done. I also grow lions mane and tried shiitake, although not any success with them yet
Had about 50 comments against me, and about 3 people saying: "actually they've successfully managed it in china"... it was gutting as under the soil in picture above I had specifically burnt a load of hardwood smoking chips (for ash as it was a "firepit strain" taken from a huge morel in a camp fire pit) and also bought hedgerow ash on top.
Apparently the theory was they tend to activate once there had been a forest fire (heat and ash) followed by rain (to disperse the ash particles in the soil).
I felt a bit disparaged by the comments but keen to try again. I was wondering whether to buy an 'urban farm it' kit. I don't know though. I've done a proper, full on kit, before and it was successful, I just fancy something with a bit more skill to it than: cut bag, spray and wait.
Haha they sound like jerks. You can do it with any mushroom....growing them is another matter. For starters, i would reccomend starting with oysters. They are the easiest to grow. Im not sure about chanterelles. I would imagine they would need specific conditions. Some grow on wood and after cold snaps/weather changes. Oysters can be done in your home and can grow on lots of things such as straw, cardboard, coffee grounds
Yeah but thats more due to economies of scale than anything about transport costs!
Buying local may well be more expensive though, but that is fine by me.
https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-04/FINAL-WWF-UK_Carbon_Footprint_Analysis_Report_March_2020%20%28003%29.pdf
May be of interest. Apparently half of British food emissions are "offshored"....
Well yeh, that was my thoughts! I did my own mini study when I was trying to hydroponically grow a grape vine... Electric for lights was going to work out £20/btl for a good harvest... So was trying to find any reason (propoganda) I could to persuade myself it was beneficial... Including calculating the Carbon footprint of importing bottles of wine from various places: France, Spain, Australia... Still didn't stack up!
I also started this post because I've been more tempted to adopt the vegetarian one day a week (at least) thing. I've been becoming a bit more conscious, and swapping out beef and lamb for more chicken/turkey to lower my footprint.
I guess another crux of the question is not just the location, but also the farming method. Like the Brazil issue... Burning down forests to make way for cattle ranches.
interesting. but still british lamb vs nz lamb - guess which is worse for the planet given that we live in the UK. that's my approach when i buy meat. i only eat meat on weekends now, veggie during the week.
Tbf, I just did a quick search and the site you linked also has a page on "home-grown vs imports":
https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local
They seem to suggest it isn't a massive part...
good qns. this is why when i buy meat i only buy british.
i have to laugh when the planet saving vegans talk about how much good they do while stuffing their faces with quinoa that has been lugged all the way over from south america.
I saw something very similar on the BBC homepage a few days back. My issue though is: I can't work out if this included the average transportation emissions. For instance beef from Argentina? I see on that link that it includes "transport to slaughter", is that all they've included is my main thought?
chocolate, coffee, and farmed prawns are really high up on the list and most people aren't aware of it. here's a useful chart.
The carbon footprint of foods: are differences explained by the impacts of methane? - Our World in Data