Where's the Beef?

I don't eat beef and neither does my husband; not for the last 23 years. Therefore, our kids don't eat beef and never have, except for the occasional accidental beef hot dog or spaghetti they thought was turkey meat at a party, which they inevitably threw up promptly, due to the fact that they never developed the enzymes to digest the meat.  I stopped eating beef because of the health and environmental reasons, and have continued mostly because of the environmental reasons, since I am way more lax than I used to be about my health.

Grazing cows cause a huge impact on the environment for several reasons: 1) they produce huge amounts of methane gas that is not harnessed for any good purpose, not pleasant; 2) beautiful rain forests that people and animals thrive on have been cut down all over the tropics to graze cattle, only to find that the subsequent grasslands aren't sustained in that environment and die off in several years, with very little foundation for any life to flourish there, sad; and 3) the amount of energy required to obtain a gram of protein from beef is exponentially huge compared to eating rice and beans or some other complete protein that can be obtained from vegetarian or other sources, silly. Caveat: I am not a purist in any sense of the word. I gave up perfectionism a long time ago. I never stopped buying leather shoes, belts or purses (although I try to do so within reason), and I think I actually would die if I couldn't eat cheese, ice cream, yogurt, lattes, and butter. I know these things all come from cows, so this may not make sense to anyone to me, but it is one thing that I've chosen to sacrifice, like a lifelong lent, that I know I can stick with, although double doubles at In N Out or nice medium rare steaks are almost irresistible at times. As far as the cheese and other dairy products go, I try to opt for the goat or sheep variety as much as possible, as I presume those have a lighter impact on our environment. Does this make any sense? You tell me. But it's my little thing that I've been able to sustain. It drives my book club crazy but they always seem to make beef when they know I can't make it. I so appreciate that!

Not green: What is the opposite of green? Buying s...

Not green: What is the opposite of green? Buying stuff we don't need, buying overpackaged goods, buying food we throw away.

Pomegranates ready to pick

Winter garden all planted and soaking up a warm fall day's rays