Shopping for Pigs
When it comes to shopping, we’re all a bit piggy aren’t we? We go from store to store as the whim takes us. Most of us think nothing of going to the stores as many times in a week as it takes to get what we want. We use and consume resources at an alarming and selfish rate, whether we are conscious of it or not.
But what if we were to try to survive without going shopping so much. Could we survive without going to the grocery store, quite so often, or at all?¬† For the last 18 years I have lived on an island. The island has one small store–I used to work for it and went off twice a week for groceries and supplies–which is very much like the old “General Stores” used to be. However, it is not able, nor could I afford to keep supplied there.
Once I had move to the island full-time and had ceased to work for the store I used to travel to the mainland on average once a month. Times were simple. My wife and I lived in a one room cabin, we had a garden, kept pigs and cattle, belonged to a co-op which delivered goods to the island. There was little need to go to the mainland. When we had our first child we were still able to keep from the glitter of the mainland, even after all of our cloth diapers froze in an outdoor washtub for two weeks during some freakishly cold weather, and we switched to disposable.
In time I got a job off island, made more money. We began to expand the one room cabin into a small house. The trips to the mainland got more frequent, the co-op folded and grocery shopping trips became every two weeks. Still very infrequent by most people’s standards. Kathy and I would laugh when we saw new residents to the island heading in every week, as if they couldn’t survive life on the island without a weekly “civilization” fix. We though we had it made when a new Costco was built closer to us. Now we could shop there every time we went to the “big city” instead of saving up and traveling farther away, not so often.
Today, however, we are going back to shopping but once a month if at all possible.  Not only have we been stung by the high price of fuel, but also by ever increasing ferry fares. A whole day of shopping on the mainland can cost around $50 fare, breakfast and lunch included. We used to think it was a treat to eat on the mainland and make a day of it. We would take the babies and head in. Now, if we were to all go off on such a junket it would cost well over $100 just to go to the grocery store. Before it got to this, however, we began making sure every trip counted. Twelve hours of shopping and a very full vehicle before we would come home.
All of this takes some advanced planning. It does help to be largely self-sufficient in meat through the year. During the summer we grow as much of our own produce as we can, and during the spring and autumn we try to extend the gardening season as much as possible. We freeze, can and preserve as much food as we can store. With the addition of Bridget we have been able to cut back on perishable dairy purchases, again, reducing the need for mainland trips for grocery shopping.
This Saturday, however, found me loading a crate into the truck and catching the red-eye ferry, after an even earlier morning’s milking, and making an 130 mile round trip to pick up 8 piglets. This yearly trip came hard on the heels of a trip to the mainland for groceries only a week before. Although necessary, it did somehow feel wasteful. Besides picking up the piglets I only made one other stop, for some seed starting mix. Bringing back the truck nearly empty did cause me some concern–I hadn’t really achieved value for money in my ferry ticket usage. Nevertheless, the piglets are vital to our farm’s economy and are one of the reasons we don’t have to go to the mainland that often at other times of the year.
So whether we are being pigs at shopping, or shopping for pigs, it is possible to cut back the number of times you go to the store. It is possible to think of and plan for a time when those stores might not be available. Next, we might think about not shopping in the middle of the night at a 24/7 mega-mart. It cannot be cost effective of them to remain open at all hours and the sooner these places close down their round the clock actions, the sooner huge amounts of energy are conserved.
Technorati Tags: pigs, shopping, peak oil, energy crisis, island life, ferries, self-sufficiency, sustainability
About The Author
I will admit to being a user of the 24-hour grocery store near where I live – my wife is a fantastic baker, but she has the unfortunate habits of baking late at night and being short at least one ingredient.