by Deane Brebner and Don Bissonnette, Sutton, Quebec on 06.27.08, Design and Architecture

Prepping for off-grid, locavore living Prior to the month of June, we had some preparations to make before we moved our home off the grid and became locavores. A hose was attached to the pond and brought downhill to the house. A small “room heater” wood stove with a precarious home-made chimney was erected near the house. A solar panel and back-up battery was ordered and on the way. The fridge was emptied; we ate the contents or gave them to friends.

We had decided that in preparing for the food it did not make any sense to drive miles out of our way to purchase staples prior to June but, if we were in the locality for another reason, we would travel a bit. In middle Vermont we went to a restaurant called The Farmer’s Diner recommended by Barbara Kingsolver in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. This restaurant is an old fashioned diner that uses only local produce and meats. On the cover of the menu was a description of the Chapelles, who provided the potatoes to the retsuarant, so we visited them and purchased 50 pounds of potatoes. We were given a tour by the gracious Bob Chapelle. Part of the fun of this project is meeting all the people who are so invested in providing better food choices.

By Tony Paterson in Berlin Friday, 27 June 2008

Janet Nunn demonstrates how to make candles from beeswax, at The Honey House, River Valley Apiary, Stirling, Ontario. Bees make beeswax so it provides a renewable form of energy.

Robert F. Kennedy Jnr.Skyrocketing gas prices, mountaintop coal removal, global warming, it can all be a bit overwhelming. If you are a glass half empty kind of person, the future can seem a bit daunting. Fortunately, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a glass half full kind of guy.

A senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, founder of Riverkeeper, an organization to clean up the Huson River, and president of Waterkeeper Alliance, Kennedy believes with a little ingenuity things can turn around. “We have some of the best energy resources in the world,” Kennedy told a late night talk show recently. “The midwest is the Saudi Arabia of wind. We have enough harvestable wind energy in North Dakota to power all of the electricity needs for the United States of America, even if everybody owns an electric car.”

He says there is enough solar power in 19 per cent of Arizona to power the energy needs of the whole country.

Winona LaDuke, Founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP): Winona LaDuke, Founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP), is working for food and energy security in her Northern Minnesota community. Adopting the tenets of sustainability, WELRP is creating and implementing a local food and energy plan. The respected Native American activist and author encourages others to establish locally-centered economies to weather the storm of peak oil and foster a community they can be proud of.

 ”We want more choice than what kind of breakfast cereal to use and what kind of shampoo to buy,” she says. “Making the future requires us to engage. It is the only way to having something sustainable.”

 Embracing the traditions of ricing, growing corn, and making maple syrup is key to food security for this Ojibwe community. The project brings generations together in the spirit that healthy foods support a healthy people.

LaDuke’s community faces challenges—currently one-third have diabetes, there is high unemployment, it is the poorest region in their county, and there is a high youth arrest rate.

But the project is working to change those statistics while acknowledging: “Wealth is not just about money. Wealth is about quality of life.”