Monday, April 20, 2009

Bug Yoga

Ok I need to confess. I am not truly a fantastic EcoYogini... I am on a journey, but today this train has stalled...

This weekend I was very excited, FINALLY, about our wonky "CSA" (that has been bringing us Cal-Organic produce with "Pete's Frootique" stickers stuck to them). We had local organic lettuce, parsnips, yam AND carrots!!! WOO! I was so excited, the lettuce looked YUM, really I couldn't wait to have salad.

So today, being Monday I was PUMPED to have salad. Yummy, local salad. Took out the salad....... and saw a little crawly caterpillar. Ok. I can handle that. Like I have said before, lettuce comes from the soil, that has worms. There were about three other little crawly caterpillars, also- I can handle them too! YES, I can handle THREE caterpillars. I thought perhaps I should inspect this magical local lettuce more closely... and saw dozens of tiny, almost indistinguishable green bugs crawling on EACH LEAF. Oh dear. No. Not every leaf??? My stomach turned. They had EGGS. I composted the entire head of romaine lettuce. I am so ashamed to say this- it was the most wasteful thing I have done in a long time (well other than drink starbucks this weekend, THAT was wasteful too). Sigh. No salad. And I am wasteful.

Confession numero deux: I punked out of yoga tonight. Since I was "sans" yoga all weekend, I was going to try the "hot" yoga class at BreathingSpace studio tonight. But I didn't. I just didn't feel like it. At the same time, I didn't feel like doing yoga because I was tired and annoyed about the bugs in my lettuce. It was probably for the best since I am not a fan of "hot" yoga in general. Perhaps what I should do is some yoga later on tonight at home. Some gear down, sleepy time yoga to help calm my nerves.

Confession numero trois: I am currently drinking a Guiness out of my McGill University mug. And I'm enjoying it.

8 comments:

  1. your produce has had pete's frootique stickers on it?!?! i know that most of the stuff comes from cal-organic in the winter, but really - pete's stickers?! i haven't seen that yet on mine!

    also, the email that HGOF sent out last week made me hopeful that more local things will be coming in the organic boxes. i am extremely hopeful.

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  2. haha. yup pete stickers on the eggplant....

    but yes there WAS more local stuff this time around- i am very excited... well except for being lame and grossed out by the bugs. Hopefully that will pass. :)

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  3. 1) I don't want to sound preachy, but hot yoga is not actually that healthy for you. Beer TOTALLY is, so rock on.

    2) I fell last week and hurt my ribs and was hoping to get back to yoga tonight, but am still in pain. I was feeling really guilty about skipping until I read this. I think to get the full benefit from your practice at large, you need to let yourself ease off yoga when you need to. Otherwise, it's just exercise.

    3) Radically affirm those bugs, man! I'm still jealous of your CSA.:)

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  4. *giggle* Yes, I remember well, the bug factor from our CSA box....our farmer friend would always warn us..."Now don't go preparing this in front of your mother-in-law because you just *know* she won't appreciate the creepy crawlies"

    And, my dear, allow yourself some Grace...check the calendar, are you in your waning moon time, perhaps? If not, the *actual* moon is waning now and that always has a slug-inducing effect on me....or at least, that's what I tell myself..*grin*

    ~blessings~

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  5. About the bugs. My mother told me that when you grow organic broccoli it is full of worms, and to get rid of them you have the soak the veg in salt water. I wonder if the same thing would work for your lettuce? (if you can get past the ick factor.) I had the same thing happen with kale once. And I don't really like kale that much, so I was too grossed out to eat it. But that was also my first "close encounter". You might get used to these kind of things.

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  6. @ RB: HAHA, that's right! I just needed to radically AFFIRM the green bugs. But you know what good came from this? a friend found another CSA to check out! :)

    @Mel: YES I AM!! sigh. that was very insightful, and I know that the moon does have an affect on my emotions. I will have to pay closer attention.

    @Grace: soaking in salt water is a fantastic idea! Thanks :)

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  7. Yoga: Don't forget, you're practicing yoga when you acknowledge you need to take a break. You can always do a very mellow restorative session with lots of bolsters and pillows, or read some text on yogic philosophy, or even allow yourself to sit in silence for a little while. That's as much doing yoga as doing asana is.

    RE: Bugs. I have a largish garden, and I tend to get slugs in my produce. Yuck-o. What works for me is a) rinse stuff off outside and b) after it's been rinsed off, run it through a salad spinner (like OXO). Then it's ready to be wrapped and stored in the fridge!

    RE: Guiness = Ahhhhh....! I'm enjoying a glass of gewurtztraminer this evening. :)

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  8. Yes, soaking in salt water helps for every vegetable. It's a really green way to not be wasteful.

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