Image: Katie@!/flickr
Last week my family and I decided to go out for a weekend of fishing and camping. We decided to only eat the fish that we caught and take some produce from our home garden; we would not bring any store-bought food provisions. This idea seems rather simple but in practice it was rather nerve-racking and somewhat difficult but it showed us how being self-sustainable, even for a weekend, takes planning and determination.
First we packed our gear: fishing poles, water filter, first aid supplies, tent, sleeping bags, firewood, and one cast iron griddle. We packed a small cooler with garden produce, frozen water containers that would melt into drinking water, and dry ice to ensure the fish would keep fresh. We loaded up and headed out into the mountains to a small lake with reports of good fishing.
Although the cooler was loaded with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, blackberries, and a few chicken eggs, frankly, I was a little nervous about the venture. While we try to practice sustainable living at home it felt completely different to be entirely reliant on what we grow and what we catch for food – no grocery store or farmers’ market for backup, no electricity or natural gas for cooking, and no running water. We would need to conserve our supplies and preserve what we caught.
We set up camp at a primitive campground – an established metal fire pit and a picnic table was provided, but no running water or other amenities. We were the only ones there. Fishing was slow until dusk arrived and then the fish started hitting the surface, feasting on insects that covered the lake. We easily caught several fish but only kept the three largest trout for our dinner.
Cooking on an open fire, even with a cast iron griddle, is a much different experience. It takes patience to create the hot coals, observation to spot the griddle hot spots, and a certain amount of skill to navigate the flare-ups. Our dinner consisted of fresh caught trout, roasted tomatoes, and a side of garden cucumbers and tomatoes.
As we ate our dinner, alone in the primitive campground, we discussed how people are growing up so far from Nature and the outdoors that they no longer have any sense of what a natural experience, such as camping, is like. They are unaware of the natural cycles and balance that humans share with the Earth’s natural ecology.
Seasonality of produce is lost to generations as are the concepts of sustainable hunting and fishing. Food preservation and storage, once a major emphasis of all families, is a skill that most households no longer practice. Home canning, pickling, drying, and even the method of proper freezing of produce, fish, meat, and sauces has been replaced by the convenience of the grocery store.
The fish dinner with our homegrown garden produce was certainly an example of the local food movement and one of the best meals I had eaten in a very long time. Our family camping trip rekindled my desire to eat fresh, sustainable, and local and to continue our efforts at water conservation and urban homesteading.