This is a direct response to chuckles' mission. Yeah, it took a couple weeks to respond but work has kept me really busy. I'm not entirely sure if this should count this as a success, since I missed on a couple of details. However, I'd like to submit my progress anyway.



Hello farmer's market. Here's hoping we can find some tasty vittles today!




Ooh..a bread stall. I got an idea. How about pizza? Yes, that's me with the grey shirt and bald head. Here's the first part of my questionable status on this mission. I couldn't take a picture with my sign. Advertising you're a part of WWO in this town (especially a high profile member like me) is not a good thing, so I had to lay low.




Wool? Not too tasty, but might come in useful down the road. Nifty that I could find that here.




Cheese...but it's yogurt cheese. That gets a veto from the missus as far as pizza goes. This could be more difficult than previously thought.




Ahh...veggies. Lots of greens, but again a failure in no tomatoes. Oh well, I'll get some salad greens anyway.




Some entertainment, which was nice. Yes those are cars. We still have fuel here, so some people drove. It's definitely a luxury, though. Most of us biked or walked.

By this point, I realized I couldn't find two very important ingredients. Cheese and tomatoes were nowhere to be found in this particular market. I would have to try somewhere else.

Here's questionable status time #2. I went to a local farm market (nice store, but all local stuff). While I was there I picked up some locally made sausage, cheese, and they even had tomatoes! However, they were VERY unhappy with me taking pictures in the store. These times have made people exceptionally paranoid, and they were afraid I was working for a competitor. Even after I explained what I was doing (leaving out the WWO part, simply saying it was a school project for my kid), they would not let me publish any pictures of the inside or outside of the store.

You can fail me now if you want, but here's the rest of the story. The family and I headed over to a friend's house, since our hotel doesn't have a stove. After I got there, it was time for inventory.




A little over a pound of cheese, tomatoes, crusts, salad greens, and Italian sausage. Add some olive oil for treating the crusts and dabbing on the greens and you've got a pretty good meal going.

(yes, I know it's a gas stove. Another green zone perk.)

I could post a recipe, but really it's simple. Grate cheese, brown sausage, cut tomatoes. Put together and bake. Put more tomatoes and cheese with greens for salad. Through the magic of TV, we get...




Pizza and salad. Yummy yummy. Hope that helps brighten your day, chuckles!

[OOG: Just want to add a few links here for those folks who helped me out on this adventure.

Cherry Street Farmers' Market in Tulsa

Lovera's Grocery in Krebs (sausage and cheese, exported to store).

Would've given props to that local farm store too, but the lack of pictures = lack of props. Next time, don't be so mean :P

Just two more links...
This one 'cause these guys were so cool to me out on Cherry Street: Sustainable Tulsa

And here's one for anyone else feeling brave enough to try this out: Local Harvest for finding markets, co-ops, etc. in your area]

Current Mood: full

Protests?  "Parking lots"?  Vandalism?!?

My company closed its offices today due to "ongoing safety concerns".  One of my coworkers said they kept receiving multiple bomb threats, and a couple of suspicious packages were found.  One actually had some firecrackers in it, with a note saying it was a warning shot.  He said that was the final straw, and until further notice we're all supposed to work at home.   He also said it was recommended we "keep a low profile".  I think they just want to see if it was an inside job or not.

Let me go on record saying this is almost as unhelpful as the Secretary's speech last week.  Who do you think your harming by disrupting gas stations, burning cars, and threatening businesses?  It isn't the ones responsible for this, that's for sure (if there's even anyone to really blame but ourselves).  You're just hurting your neighbors, the ones trying to keep this world on its wheels when all the bolts have flown loose.  Put that energy in something useful, like what my community is doing.

It's obvious this isn't going to get better, so my neighbors and I have started a food bank of sorts.  Everyone chips in either money or garden output.  With the money we take a vehicle and load up on groceries (the basics...no lobster here, just bread, milk, meat, and any veggies we can't grow).  We then store it and dole it out based on input.  You get what you put in.  It eliminates the need for multiple trips to the store, and it puts us all on a more controlled food situation.  The stores still have stuff, if you're willing to pay for it.  I'm actually giving some of my allowance to a family here who can't afford as much.  It's amazing how much compassion a crisis can bring out.

We've also instituted a strict neighborhood guard.  We live on the outskirts of town, so it's easy for us to see who's coming and going.  24 hours a day we have people stationed at the entrances to the neighborhood.   If you don't have a reason to be here, you don't get in.  We want it understood that this is a safe zone...any troublemakers will be dealt with.  Yeah, sounds harsh, doesn't it?  We learned quick after some jerks tried to siphon gas and it took the cops an hour to get here.  The criminals got away, and we realized that we would have to look after ourselves.  Welcome to the Wild West, circa 2007.  The government isn't going to help you, the corporations aren't going to help you.  You have to take care of yourselves now.

I'll blog more later.  Just remember that violence and anger aren't going to solve anything.  Find solutions, don't cause more problems.

Current Mood: sad