(Boat)Food for Thought
- Ann Cognito
- Sep 9, 2021
- 8 min read
Someone asked me again about how I eat.
It happens a lot. Some are curious because I live on a small low-tech boat, some because of my intolerances, often for both reasons. Either way, I love answering — it’s always good to have more opportunities to talk about food and about simple living!
I just had a ridiculously good sandwich on gluten free bread a friend picked up the other day… if the bread is very frozen, as gf bread usually is, it lasts a good while in Skoro’s cool locker and also helps keep that cool.
The cool locker itself, before I forget, is under a bench in the cockpit. It’s partially below the waterline, and really is one of the coolest spots on the boat. I tuck a mylar windshield sunshade thing inside over the food so the sun doesn’t heat the compartment too much while down on the bench containing the locker. I’m thinking of properly lining the top half of the locker with that kind of stuff, so I don’t have to fuss with the windshield thing, and because it’d probably work better.
My sandwich also had a slice of yummy vegan cheese, which is now much better than it used to be, and keeps as well as dairy cheese. Linda and Mike, two of the kindest and most real people I know, brought it, with lovely organic veggies from their garden, and organic trail mix for the trip from here through the Long Reach to Burritts Rapids lock station tomorrow. Marmite and mustard decorated my sandwich… es, plural, it was so good I had one for lunch and two for dinner!
I love salads but don’t stock up on (or grow — yet!) veggies on board. But I’ve been given beautiful veggies along the way, including, a week and a half ago, a lovely living lettuce which keeps growing and which I will probably pick nearly all of for the fourth time tomorrow!
Or I put the veggies into sandwiches, or eat them by themselves, or make them into something.
Often I have organic black beans or chick peas, fancied up with Cajun seasoning, or herbs, or Thai peanut sauce (simple to make, with good multipurpose ingredients). Chopped up organic veggies or foraged greens make it even better. I eat it with organic gf tortilla chips, which aren’t hard to find, and are filling.
I usually soak my beans and cook them, but that’s not practical with Skoro’s two burner non-compressed alcohol stove, or a fire, when travelling and minding time, so I use canned beans on board. Lentils and mung beans work on the stove or fire, though, as do ramen noodles (those really healthy Korean brand ones!!!) and quinoa and pasta. Eggs are always better cooked outdoors, and though I’m often vegan, I sometimes eat eggs when I need to be more mindful about proteins, and Mr Myrtle always has eggs.
My stomach doesn’t wake up nearly as early as the rest of me, so I often have a vegan gf breakfast drink. The vanilla drink powder keeps well and is infinitely modifiable; I fortify or flavour it with various combinations of powdered peanut butter, coconut milk, walnut oil, molasses, honey, tahini, nutmeg, cinnamon… all sorts of things, depending… and tea, though I admit it often seems like too much bother and burning for just a cup, so I’ve been skipping it.
On Skoro, I’m carrying a varied herd of pickles because they keep so well — so there’s pickle pickles, mixed veggie pickles, artichoke hearts, Brussels sprouts (except I might’ve eaten all those), beets, and eggs.
Those super healthy organic vegan gf protein bars are great things to stock up on when there’s good prices.
I’ve got dried seaweed for snacking and for making vegan tuna out of chick peas. Dried veggies keep ages and are so easy to use, and there’s very nice ones out there.
Porridge is the cat’s pajamas, and there is no end to what you can add and how you can change it. Different dry ingredients and grains like buckwheat groats or flakes, quinoa, and whatnot, nuts, seeds, fruits, grated beet or carrot or squash or sweet potato, and fresh or dried fruit is always a treat. It’s also healthy, easy to find healthy ingredients, keeps a very long time, and is quite filling without requiring oodles of preparation, or storage space. On top of that, I just really love porridge.
I also keep a basic supply of spices, because they change everything… and I use them therapeutically as well. I forget what’s in the tea and spice bags right now, but there’s generally rosemary, thyme, garlic, basil, paprika, Cajun, ginger, and curry are staples, with and nutmeg and cinnamon for porridge and other things. Gf soy sauce is useful and keeps very well, ditto lemon juice, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, mustard.
Nut and seed butters are important, and keep well. I stick to the ones I can share with Mr Myrtle (thus no nuts). Peanut is always easy to find, though sticking to organic with no additives or sugar is harder, but I get extra when I find it. Sunflower and pumpkin seed butters, and tahini, are excellent. I use them all in sandwiches, sauces, dressings, breakfast drinks… and sometimes puppy treats!
Water is crucial of course. I fill up often and can carry enough water to last MMS and I ten days. There’s shungite stones in the two big blue tanks, to help remove heavy metal traces and other things — including that eggy taste and smell of some tap water. Mostly the same blue tank is topped up over and over; the second, with well water and shungite, is in the ‘fridge’ locker because it’s out of the way, and fills the space so things don’t till around in there, and I think it helps keep the coolness a little bit.
I tend to sleep better if I eat my big meal for lunch, and have a snack for dinner in the evening, and try to distract myself from stress-eating.
I react to a lot of foods, and things added to food, so I’m used to eating simple. I also just really like it. I feel better, in terms of health as well as my footprint on the planet.
Food choices have tremendous impact on the global ecosystem.
I won’t argue for veganism here, though it’s my own choice for preferential reasons as well as my choice for my own health and that of the planet. Living this way does require flexibility, however. Availability of foods varies from place to place, as do my needs from context to context. And if someone is kind enough to give me something, I will appreciate it!
To be transparent, there’s been a few pizzas delivered to this sailboat. A few times Sarah and I were either way too stressed out, or celebrating. A couple times, people have given me money and asked that I use it for a treat, so I put it aside for a day when something nice is really needed. I figure a pizza is a treat and practical at the same time, so it respects the request, while being groceries, too. A pizza is two meals for MMS and I, it can be relatively healthy (and gf is easy to find nowadays), and it’s awfully therapeutic… for me, and MMS too. For around twenty dollars, that’s a good sensible treat.
I also deeply appreciate what the Earth herself has given us throughout this trip. Foraging is wonderful, and this area is plentiful.
Sarah and I foraged greens almost every day coming up the Rideau. Mostly we picked sorrell, grape leaves, young dandelion leaves, and clovers. Sometimes we found sorrell in clean places, sometimes other things — I need to learn so much more!
Speaking of which, has anyone ever seen an international book of foraging for sailors? It would take a library to keep up with travel; many books are limited to areas, and most contain much inland content sailors just don’t need, or more information than necessary. If I were two of me, I’d write one, but maybe it’s already out there somewhere.
Anyways… even these lock stations were designed with food in mind. Certainly food shipping was a large part of the reason the Rideau system was constructed, but aside from that, the grounds of each are full of food.
The lock gardens and grounds all contain far more good edible greens and medicinal herbs than I can identify. It’s really quite beautiful, but it seems largely forgotten about.
There’s also raspberries and blackberries, strawberries, and at least half a dozen other berries, at least some of which are edible.
Rhubarb abounds, though it’s largely gone wild.
There are plenty of walnut trees, and probably fruit trees galore.
I would imagine there were good kitchen gardens, too.
Originally, the lock masters lived k the properties. Growing food would have been essential, especially at those stations farthest from towns, where there does seem to be more still growing now.
Growing food is again becoming essential, for multiple reasons.
In a nutshell, it’s healthier and cheaper. Yes, it takes some time, but it’s seriously worth every moment, and there are always more ways to learn in terms of maximizing garden wellness and also making garden work time more efficient. Read about permaculture — it matters. It’s basically a methodology for working with the environment rather than forcing it into unnatural patterns, encouraging and making the most of what is already there, while maintaining and adding to it in ways that do not interfere with the natural patterns of the place.
You get more and better results with a little less chores and a lot less fallout. Win win.
The global food supply is already affected by the climate crisis. Many in this part of the world may not really feel it yet, but the pandemic is not the only reason for shortages and rising prices.
In less affluent countries, those shortages and prices are far more obvious and widespread.
Crops are ruined, harvests preempted by storms, dirt no longer capable of producing, smoke and chemicals choking the growth cycles. There will be more.
The massive amount of shipping involved in keeping rich countries supplied with foodstuffs we don’t need, but want and expect, is simply no longer feasible.
And truly, it shouldn’t be needed. Every 100 mile piece of the planet contains what is needed to support life there. Or it would if a lot weren’t covered in concrete and asphalt.
But here we are, squashed into huge cities like trash into compactors, and tied to our compartments by many things… not the least of which is our need for supplied food.
Another principal of permaculture is the idea that food independence enables true independence. I believe that, very much. We don’t know how to find and grow food. We, in general terms, are the only species on Earth who hasn’t got the slightest clue how to keep our own selves alive.
We’d probably better change that pretty quick.
With hope and determination,
Ann
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Please help the Climate Emergency Sailboat forage some funds, for food but also for really important boat stuff (I’ll work on the budget/maintenance log while in Merrickville)…
Sporadic and one-time support through Chuffed, at
Ongoing support via Patreon (I’ll figure out the posting eventually, I will), at
Thank you… your help means the world to me.
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The storage compartment on the left is usually tidier… The other is stacked very organizedly, with soft sided bins… I know where stuff is and can find it quick. Sorry there isn’t a photo of Skoro’s’fridge’ but it’s quite late and the hatch is all shut because it’s chilly out at night.
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