How to practice sustainable agriculture
in college and still have time to study.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

A New Direction

The New Direction of Veggie Hoo




As you can see, I changed the subtitle of my blog from "how to be a healthy vegetarian in college and still have time to study" to "how to practice sustainable agriculture in college and still have time to study". This year, the word BALANCE has taken on a new meaning. Balancing school and friends, balancing exercising and sleeping, balancing relationships, balancing vegetables and carbohydrates, balancing my academics and extracurriculars. To balance is to give equal distribution.

For example, a place where I experienced balance and change was in my diet. I joined a crossfit class during the spring semester and as a result of continuous exercising early in the day, I was always hungry. I had stopped eating plant protein sources and was eating only vegetables and carbohydrates. During that time, I went to a healthy eating seminar at UVA and the speaker emphasized having a balanced diet. She said that 70% of the time she subscribed to a vegetarian diet, and 30% of the time she ate meat. The key to eating meat she said, "is that you have to be very stringent and cautious about where it's from and how the animals have been treated". At a farm that I was shadowing at, a farmer stated that stressed out chickens create eggs with more cholesterol so couldn't the same principle apply to any animals? Because of the eating seminar, I decided to start incorporating meat into my diet (very slowly) in February and my first meat source was wild sockeye salmon from Trader Joe's. I am not much of a fish fan so buying salmon was a bold move for me and incorporating it as my first animal protein source in lieu of a plant source was even more surprising! I marinated the salmon in lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper, wrapped it up in aluminum foil, and baked it in the oven and voila! Flaky delicious fish. 


In the meantime, I joined the gardening club at UVA and also went to the community garden events. My first flower ever planted at UVA was a calendula. We cut open 20 oz. soda bottles, put 1/2 cup of potting mix inside, and planted our seeds in them. I placed the flower in my apartment windowsill and the flower bloomed beautifully! And recently, I just learned that calendula's can be used for medicinal purposes: if you make a lotion or paste, it can be applied to your skin to reduce pain and swelling. 


This past year, I've realized my focus shifting. Here is my train of thought in 2 years and hopefully it can serve to explain the evolution of my blog: 



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