NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Americans took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation last year, marking the highest ridership level since 1957, according to a new study.

The rate of ridership continued to climb at a quarterly rate of 3.3% through the first three months of 2008 to 2.6 billion, according to research from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). That's nearly 85 million more trips than the same period last year, the APTA said.

"There's no doubt that the high gas prices are motivating people to change their travel behavior," said APTA president William Millar, in a statement.

The number of riders on trolleys and streetcars rose 10.3% in the first quarter of 2008, while the number of commuter rail riders grew 5.7%, according to APTA data. Ridership on subways, elevated trains and buses also increased.

"People are looking at the gas prices and they're making a choice," said Joe Calderone, spokesman for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), a commuter rail system in Long Island, New York.

The LIRR, which recently hiked fares, has seen ridership increase 5.4% during the first 4 months of 2008, compared with the same period a year ago.

Last year the LIRR served 86.1 million riders, the most since 1949, according to Calderone.

The average price of gasoline nationwide crossed the $4 a gallon mark last Sunday, and the price of regular gasoline is now over $4 a gallon in more than half of the states in the country, according to a daily survey from automobile group AAA.

In a survey released last month by IBM's Institute for Electronic Government, a total of 31% of commuters who normally drive to work said they would change their transportation habits if gas were to cross $4 a gallon.

IBM also found that a total of 66% of drivers would seek other means of transportation if gas hits $5 a gallon. 

(source: CNN http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/mass_transit/index.htm?cnn=yes)

Things I would like to make and eat, like now:

Martha's Mushroom Barley Soup
Isabella's Lentil Soup
Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings
Definitely time for some of Laurel's Kitchen Tamale Pie
Martha's Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Oven Baked Brussel Sprouts (I'm craving brussel sprouts any way, really.)
Chunks of Energy (and some other ideas)
Martha's Beautiful, Colorful Icebox Cookies

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok)

Some of these million Vegan Crockpot Recipes ... or these other million Vegan Crockpot Recipes ...

I'm craving hearty meals and protein... trying to avoid meat as much as possible... looking for any suggestions you have!!!

I came upon this article today in the NY Times entitled "Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler" and I felt sort of reminded why I don't eat much meat and why I was more actively NOT eating meat before... the deplorable conditions of the poor animals, the huge amount of waste produced, etc...

Thanks to the New York Times & Mark Bittman for the reminder.

dude, why the hell did I abandon this?

I'm enjoying my first break that's a Real Live Break since, well, since a damn long time ago.  grad school breaks aren't real breaks, and all of a sudden I have like TWO WEEKS with nothing to do.  except read (Bleak House, which I kind of got sick of after about 500 of the 800 pages), knit, and eat.  mostly eat.

more later.

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

-- George Eliot

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

-- Crowfoot quote

The Sustainable Table is a great resource for eating locally. Visit this link for a chart of what is in season & when by state. This is a really great resource for knowing when certain produce is plentiful and therefore ... cheaper? Hopefully? Hopefully it means the produce is coming from more local sources, but depending on where you shop, even if apples are in season in Illinois, Jewel is probably still carrying them from Washington...

Quicklink: Illinois Chart
                Wisconsin Chart

There is a collection of photographs from around the world - each family posing together with a week's worth of food. Total cost is also listed. It is amazing. Please check it out...

The Collection of Photos by Peter Menzel (hosted at Snowball's blog)

From what I have read the countries are as follows:
Japan
Italy
Chad
Kuwait
South Carolina, USA
Mexico
China
Egypt
Ecuador
California, USA
Mongolia
Great Britain
Butan
Germany
Australia
India
USA
Mali
France
Greenland
China
Bosnia and Hercegovina
Cuba
Australia
Guatemala
Japan

Im still collecting CSA stories ...  Ive been very lucky to have such wonderful people tell me about their experience ... I think Jen's is particularly inspiring because she has forged a relationship with the farm and the land which provides her food. Please to enjoy...

***Q: How did you hear about CSAs/when did you become familiar with the idea?***

I first heard of CSAs 2 or 3 years ago on a blog post at treehugger.com - they did a piece on the environment impact of imported organic produce and why it's important to eat local. The post referred me to localharvest.org and from there I learned about this whole "CSA" thing. A friend at work had been a member of a CSA and filled me in on the details.

***Q: What motivated you to sign up for one? Would you like to share anything about the thought process you went thru?***

I really liked the idea of being handed a bag of organically grown vegetables each week. At the time I was also becoming more aware of corporate agribusiness and how small farms get shafted by the system. I really liked the idea of directly supporting a farmer, rather than a grocery store, 8 middle-men and the farmer.

 
***Q: What have been some of your favorite new food experiences since you started receiving your shares? (Feelings about food, ways of shopping/preparation, etc)***

My entire outlook on food has changed. I used to be "organic or nothing" and now I am "local or nothing." The first epiphany was locally grown heirloom tomatoes - that changed everything. Now, I won't even bother to buy fresh tomatoes if they're not local and out of season - there's just no point. I've become more intune with the seasons, and eating what's fresh and now I look forward to different months for their produce. Peas in June, summer squash in July, heirloom tomatoes in August... Last winter I had a winter CSA which provided mostly greens. They were *amazing* - the sweet crunch of lettuce grown in the mid-30s temperature is unbelieavble. I was never passionate about lettuce, now I live for it!

***Q: What has been the biggest surprise of the experience?***

When I first signed up, I was like "Organic food. Cool." What supprised me is how CSAs have completely changed my attitude about buying local. This isn't limited to produce - when I need to buy something that isn't produced locally, I make an effort to buy it from a small local business and actively choose to not shop at large chains. When I need to go to the grocery store, I now shop at Hannaford which is a New England-based business, as opposed to Shaw's or Stop & Shop which are larger chains.

I've also become the poster child for eating local and supporting area farms. This summer I've dedicated my time to helping the local farmers. Making posters, spreading the word, volunteering. I've taken lots of photos of local farms, markets, etc and posted them to my Flickr account. They're all Creative Commons licensed (free to use), and I've gotten lots of postive feedback from the farmers that my photos have been helping them. Anything I can do to help the local farms, I do.

***Q: Have you ever been to the farm? How far is it from your house, how far do you go to pick it up, how long is the growing season?***

Currently I have a CSA with Leeks and Bounds in North Hampton, NH. Through-out the summer I've been helping out at the farm 1 or 2 days a week - harvesting, weeding, that sort of thing. I'm also the "official" photographer and have been photodocumenting the farm this season. I also help them with "marketing" - I made them a sign to go by the road, and have been putting together t-shirts, tote bags, etc for them to sell to raise money to buy a new high-tunnel.

The farm is about 30 minutes from my house and pick-ups are at the farm. It's a bit far, but I pick up shares for 2 other people who are near me. I also deliver milk from the dairy to the CSA farm too.

This farm is CSA-only, and currently has about 90 full shares. The farm is run by 2 people - Jay and Melissa. They are recent grads from the University of New Hampshire with complimentary degrees in environmental conservation and horticulture. Everything they do has the environment, sustainability and health of the soil in mind. Being CSA-only has a different mindset - they are very community focused. Other farms around here do farmer's markets and some CSA shares; as such, they are more market-focused and see the CSA as doing another market. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just different. Working on the farm and meeting all the area farmers this summer has been a wonderful education.

***Any other thoughts...***

In my area of the country (the north east), we don't have a huge local food supply. Most of our food travels thousands of miles from California or central and south America. With oil prices increasing, and farmable land quickly being swooped up to drop vinyl-sided condos on, I think in the next decade we are going to start seeing a food crisis: costs will escalate because of high oil prices (production and transporation prices will increase), and farmable land will be scarce - once you build houses, you can't easily reclaim the land for farming. I am doing everything I can to support local farmers to help insulate against this future risk.

I'm also trying to turn my black thumb green: while I can't keep a house plant alive, this year I have planted a small vegetable garden because I think learning how to grow your own food will be a valuable skill in the future. I'm growing beans for drying, acorn squash and sweet potatoes. I've focused mainly on storage crops that will help feed me during the winter so when the farmer's markets are sleeping I can buy less at the megamart.

***ABOUT THE FARM/CSA***

Full shares are $500, and $575 with access to the "Pick Your Own" patch which has herbs, flowers, beans, cherry tomatoes and a few other goodies. The growing season is about 20 weeks.

Farm's Website: www.leeksandbounds.org/
Farm's Flickr Site: www.flickr.com/photos/leeksandbounds/ (includes weekly share photos)

Thank you so much to Jen for her participation in my little Q/A! She provided so much information and shows a true passion for the local farm experience. Hopefully it has been inspirational / informational to all who read.

CREDITS: Jen Dickert would be delighted if you'd visit her Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/jdickert/

*****
Id love to hear about anyone else's experience. I know this year was the first year for a lot of people and I think next year will be the first year for a lot more. If you want to share, please send me a message! Id especially love if I can get some photos as well!

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Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a ... model of food production, sales and distribution aimed at both increasing the quality of food and the quality of care given the land, plants and animals – while substantially reducing potential food losses and financial risks for the producers. It is also a method for small-scale commercial farmers and gardeners to have a successful, small-scale closed market. CSA’s focus is usually on a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables, sometimes also flowers, fruits, herbs and even milk or meat products in some cases. (source: wikipedia)