Reflections on a Changing World

Image credit: The Subversive Lens Facebook page. I just became aware of this writer.

Back in March, when the idea of what a pandemic meant hadn't yet sunk into my consciousness, I was afraid of what I didn't understand. It has been my nature to believe that things will work out well, to avoid disturbing news and at the same time to feel responsible for everything and fear anything I couldn't control. Needless to say, it was a difficult balancing act. 

When I began to grasp the pandemic's enormity, I fluctuated between feeling like self-isolating was really not much different than the way I had chosen to live and a total, all-encompasing fear. I had always lived simply and privately so self-isolating wasn't going to be hard. But it was. I was afraid of so many things that not knowing "the answer" on any subject about how to live through the pandemic was paralyzing. Now, more than three months into things, my anxiety has receded, replaced with a growing bit of resolve. I am grateful for my familiar way of life even with its new restrictions. 

This time of Mother Nature firmly kicking our global butts with a pandemic has caused the fragile systems that were holding us together as a country to fray alarmingly. Political systems, health systems, racial inequity, climate change, economic inequity, social support systems, educational systems and more, each in need of attention and overhaul. And the timetable of need so out of sync with the timetable of the possible. Yet, what else is there to do but to press on? Giving up is not an option although getting tired is guaranteed. 

I don't presume to have "answers." At the same time my North star remains a future that is fair, healthy and sustainable. Maybe I'm asking for too much, but maybe we - all of us - haven't expected enough of ourselves in the past. Maybe we've waited quietly for others to fix problems we saw. Or looked away when seeing was inconvenient or disturbing. For sure everyone can't do everything, but each of us can learn more about existing problems and engage more to better the situation. Some changes may come in bursts, others may be incremental. All contribute to moving along the path to that North star. Yes, it's going to be exhausting.

The Plight of the Honeybee

Photo credit: ThePollinators.net

"The Pollinators" is a documentary covering how honeybees are transported across the country as migrant workers. They are a crucial part of our food system, responsible for pollinating the majority of what we eat. They are dying off in huge numbers. They need our help, They are our responsibility.

This new movie will be shown in theaters across the country in November. Learn about the project here and get tickets here.  If you like to eat, don't miss it.

Local Resiliance

Thanks to Alice Waters' blog for this image. She is the mother of the local food movement in this country.

Readers of this blog are likely all aware of the goal of local, ethical sourcing. Eating closer to home and seeking out the farmers markets, farms and restaurants that share that philosophy. But Naomi Klein talks about why a decentralized, multi-provider food system is a good idea. In her new book, The Battle for Paradise, she takes on the idea of disaster capitalism and how things like monocropping and concentration of power can result in negative outcomes. 

During the years when not only Michiana but the entire country underwent a food revolution, food sources moved from small local and regional growers and producers to more and more regional, then national and international growers and producers. Food became an industry. Rather than being able to rely on local products, consumers, institutions like schools and hospitals and restaurateurs began to be channeled into national brands, low cost producers and food items created for their simplicity and ease in shipping rather than their taste and nutrition.

Now as more and more individuals and businesses seek out local items, possibly even those that are foraged, or choose to make their own breads, sausages, beers, soups and more, they face a different challenge. Amid plenty, there are local food deserts.

Unlike the kind of food deserts that occur when there is no access to healthy food, these food deserts result when there aren’t enough local producers to fill the desires of eaters and restaurateurs for local products. Goals of “eating local” can only be satisfied so far until supply catches up with demand. And can only genuinely be satisfied when diners’ expect and enjoy changing menus, reflecting precisely what’s available rather than what one “has a taste for.” Eating with the seasons means that change is inevitable.

Such eaters and local-focused institutions are reclaiming the specialness, freshness and taste of local. They are working as quickly and as much as the situation permits with farmers, producers, foragers and suppliers to eradicate their local food desert. The goal: rebuilding a food system rooted in a specific place.

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This little fellow looks just like the picture (out of focus) I took of the bee on my walk.
It came from the web, credit to keepingbee.org.

 It's been a long time since the last post. Lots of reasons, none of them particularly good.

It appears that the weather is going to be less than perfect again this year. Is my memory of spring accurate? Was it so much better when I was a child? So much more delineated as a season in my youth? I think it was. For sure, the bees weren't dying off then.

I found one on the front walk today. A honeybee dead. Was it lured out with the little bit of warm weather we've had and then not able to find enough food when the weather turned cold and rainy again? Or was the bee killed because the firm that takes care of the lawns uses a toxic herbicide? Or is there some sort of infestation in the hive where the bee resided? Whatever the reason, it was sad to see.

Spring is when things are  supposed to start blooming and thriving. Not dying. I hope it isn't a precursor of what's in store...

This doesn't make sense

How different topsoil looks.

Can you pick the healthy one?

Right on the heels of my post about permaculture, a long-view approach to a respectful relationship with the natural resources around us, and one that admittedly requires curiosity, patience, humility and real, hard work, I ran across a magazine article that stopped me. In the past I might have regarded the gardening tips in the article more benignly. But not now.

I won't mention the magazine because it doesn't matter. The information provided isn't materially different from what other magazines or websites on creating pleasant home and garden environments might offer. But the content of one tip in particular caused me to stop in my tracks. The tip, quoted verbatim below is:

"Step up to better soil. Raised beds can be filled with the very best topsoil so you don't have to spend years improving difficult ground. Traditional wood beds are fine, but composite decking boards and rusted steel are decorative and durable."

Yes! Better soil! No! Not that way! We can't continue to buy our way into growing sustainably. We need to do the  work of rebuilding our resources. The answer isn't for big companies to improve soil so they can scrape it into bags I buy. Its my responsibility to take care of the bit I have and create more and better soil. And I believe it's everyone's job. We've forgotten that, or become disconnected from it or call it what you will, but I believe we all decide to do the necessary work and forgo immediately gratifying gardens, we're just kidding ourselves.

The Land Institute has been working for decades to improve soil by researching and promoting polyculture (growing multiple crops/rotating them) rather than the monoculture that has overtaken US agriculture. They also promote perennial grains (like the grains that grew before modern farming) rather than the annual crops that the vast majority of farmers grow. This big-scale solution can be applied in container gardening as well. Paying attention to how we treat our soil and improve it rather than replacing it every year and starting fresh feels more responsible. More sustainable. More right. 

What to do besides supporting the Land Institute's work? Start composting. Have your yard soil tested and work to bring back its health naturally. Grow plants that help the soil and each other. Fertilize and deal with pests and plant diseases naturally. Help support pollinators. Yes, it's work. Worthy work. Satisfying work. Necessary work. And work that won't wait.

When people, land, and community are as one, all three members prosper; when they relate not as members but as competing interests, all three are exploited. By consulting Nature as the source and measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned, while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring.” - See more at: http://www.landinstitute.org/about-us/vision-mission/#sthash.uUh0m7ZH.dpuf

When people, land, and community are as one, all three members prosper; when they relate not as members but as competing interests, all three are exploited. By consulting Nature as the source and measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned, while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring.” - See more at: http://www.landinstitute.org/about-us/vision-mission/#sthash.uUh0m7ZH.dpuf

When people, land, and community are as one, all three members prosper; when they relate not as members but as competing interests, all three are exploited. By consulting Nature as the source and measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned, while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring.” - See more at: http://www.landinstitute.org/about-us/vision-mission/#sthash.uUh0m7ZH.dpuf

When people, land, and community are as one, all three members prosper; when they relate not as members but as competing interests, all three are exploited. By consulting Nature as the source and measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned, while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring.” - See more at: http://www.landinstitute.org/about-us/vision-mission/#sthash.uUh0m7ZH.dpuf

Change that makes sense

One of the many posters in the Lexicon of Sustainability

An email landed in my inbox today from the folks at the Lexicon of Sustainability. I got acquainted with their work a couple of years ago and have been a fan ever since. They tell the story of sustainable food, growing, practices - you name it - so that people are using a common language when they talk. And hopefully, then, when they understand the issues they face. 

This poster on permaculture was explained as being a shift in thinking and living. A stepping back to see the really big picture. It said:

The word ‘permaculture’ comes from the melding of two words: ‘permanent culture’ and ‘permanent agriculture’,” points out Rhamis Kent. “It’s something that’s able to sustain itself by the very nature in which it’s constructed. As Bill Mollison says, ‘It’s the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.’" Learn how permaculture is not just a sustainable agriculture method, but a lifestyle for many.

Makes sense to me.

And they said it couldn't be done...

This photo of two year's worth of one person's trash is from a 2/12/15 article in EcoWatch.

After reading this there was really nothing better to do than straight-up share it. So here it is, just click here.

Local Investing Update

This organization was referenced in a blog post on January 10, 2015 .

Last month I started my local investing journey. Here's an update.

(Well, there was an update here until February 25. I was contacted by LocalStake and asked to take my post down. Apparently it was in violation of some type of something even though it didn't have any financial information but just very general business descriptions of the three firms I was interested in.

I'm still interested in them and sorry I can't share them further. To learn more about what LocalStake offers, you'll just need to go there and see for yourself.  Back to what was originally posted...)

So far I have three potential investments that I found on LocalStake. It would be great if more people needing funds were aware of them,  particularly those who fall into my area of interest, local food in Michigan and Indiana. But new ideas take time to spread. These firms are collecting interest from investors and with enough interest shown, will be available to actually invest in. Hopefully this brief update will help.

If these seem to be the types of businesses you would be interested in helping, take a moment to look at the LocalStake website (localstake.com). New businesses are added all the time. Or maybe you're a business looking for funds. Take a moment and see if this platform would be a way for you to raise the money you need from people who want you to succeed.

As has been said elsewhere, it's time to slow money down from flying around the world in electronic pulses being invested in who knows what. It's time to reclaim the connection between where we invest and where we are. It's time for a truly local stake in economic outcomes.

Well said...

I had this caligraphied from a Celestial Seasonings box as I recall. It made sense 20+ years ago and it makes more sense now...

Missing Spring

Looking out to my deck

Its been totally white outside for so long. Inches and inches of snow after snow. It's been gray and cold and windy. A really long, brutal winter.

Suddenly, most of the snow is gone. And its sunny. And blindingly bright for those of us who've been "holed up" for so long. The blue skies are magnetic, drawing you out even though the warmth is deceptive. The brownish green grass and trees, hint at the Spring season, which, if like recent ones, will not be the lingering warm up of my youth, but rather a stumble directly into Summer or a throwback to Winter before a rapid heat up.

Is it wrong to want the more gentle transitions of the seasons of my youth? Is it simply a silly nostalgia for yet another thing long gone? Maybe. Maybe not.

Transitions allow time for adaptation. Whether it's apple trees adapting to increasing warmth and slowly coming into bloom rather than being yanked there because temperatures get too warm too quickly. Transitions called for wardrobes that make sense for a time, then are put away and the next season's wardrobe comes into use. And back in the time of seasonal transitions, things were kept from year to year, as long as they fit, because they were only used for a few weeks here in the Midwest, rather than being needed for extended periods.

Why is adaptation important? Seems to me that without that time, things are more pressured, more stressed. And if that happens, more subject to breaking down because they can't keep up. As true of people as it is of apple trees. People and trees need time to adjust and grow stronger. And people need time to make better decisions. We've seen the result of speeding things up. I'm a firm believer in slowing things down.

Shreds of Evidence

There is a bag of shredded paper sitting by my front door. One of many that have been generated as documents kept for decades are finally liberated.  Documents that recorded the passing of time, important occurrences no longer clearly (if at all) remembered, and the meticulous filing of things that haven’t been referred to let alone needed in an embarrassing amount of time.

Files can remain long after the person is gone. This is part of what creates the necessity of clearing out a house after a parent or other family member dies. Personal papers give tiny glimpses of aspects of the person that the person doing the clearing out may never have known. Looking at work awards, or hand-written letters (now perhaps emails) or even bank statements can provide an insight into what had meaning, what was duty, what was appreciated.

The process of clearing out my own paper life was at first painful. As if the shredding would erase my life, make it as though it had never happened. But it did happen, whether anyone remembered or not, it did.  So why keep all this stuff that will never be missed?

The shredded files, calendars, bank statements, checks, receipts and more is going to a small business to be used as packing material. Rather than sitting in a dark closet, the evidence of my prior life will see the light of day again and serve another purpose. It feels good to know it is being used rather than trashed or even recycled. And it feels good to know I’ve done something useful in finally getting rid of it.

Mending the mittens

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The things my parents knew and tried to pass on to me are exactly the kinds of practices that appears to have been forgotten (or maybe never known) by so many in the world. My parents lived by things they knew worked because they were handed down to them (like growing a garden for healthy food) or because of first- hand experience (like living within your means and using things until they were completely, beyond-repair used up). Such things have been rediscovered, in part because of the Great Recession, but in truth they never went out of style.

I have chosen to live what I considered a pretty simple life. I don’t do lots of traveling or buy lots of “stuff.” I walk many places (although I admit I could do more.) I try to support small local businesses, cook the majority of my meals, garden, can, generate minimal landfill-destined trash and recycle. I keep the thermostat at 68 or lower in the winter and 75 or higher in the summer. (Please let the record show that I would prefer to have my windows open for fresh air when possible, but that is unfortunately an engineering impossibility where I live.) 

So about four years few years ago I felt I was doing a good thing buying mittens made from recycled sweaters. It was a better choice than buying new gloves and so I bought some for gifts too. I was wearing someone else's discards that a local artisan had breathed new life into. All good, right?

Fast forward to this winter. I decided to take one of those huge online classes through Coursera. It was from Johns Hopkins University and titled An Introduction to the U.S. Food System: Perspectives from Public Health. (I highly recommend it, but I digress…) As part of the first week’s assignments, I was directed to take an assessment of my environmental footprint. Confident that I would be a better-than-average citizen of the world, I dutifully and honestly typed in the answers requested at The Global Footprint Network “Disappointed” barely described how I felt when I learned that despite my efforts, if everyone in the world lived as I did, it would take the resources of 3.6 earths to sustain us. Clearly, I was not living as sustainably as I had thought, mittens or no mittens.

Fast forward again to two weekends ago when a friend who I had given a pair of those mittens, chided me when I said I thought mine had completed their useful life after springing holes in both thumbs and having various other stitching unraveling. It seems she had repaired hers several times (something we used to do when I was growing up) and thought that I could get at least another year out of mine if I took the time to do the same. She was exactly right. That was a more sustainable thing to do and it hadn’t occurred to me.

It’s hard to accept that I’m part of the sustainability problem. My parents lived well on the resources of just one earth. And although it’s hard to see where any changes I could make could have a real, meaningful difference, doing nothing is not an option. I have to try. I have to mend the mittens.

Change

From my LinkedIn feed. I didn't catch where it came from or I'd credit it. 

Yesterday's pop up poster show about sustainable agriculture and the food system (continuing today, noon to 6pm at Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks, MI) was an interesting experience and possibly an experiment. First, there was a lot of positive feedback from guests, from the manager of the venue and from the people who took time out of their days to be "resources"and provide deeper information to people who stopped to chat and learn. Second, the conversations that took place not only exchanged information, but a type of energy flowed as well.

Like all manner of conferences, workshops, seminars, networking events, etc., although the participants may truly value the information they exchanged, the new connections they made, or the affirmation they received of their own current efforts, the most valuable thing that gets taken away is the energy. Whether invigoration and motivation of the newly interested  or re-invigoration and re-motivation of those who may have long been involved in trying to make a change, the energy is the thing.

However energy is a asset that can deplete quickly if not replenished occasionally. Of course "wins" help boost energy, but the need is greater when faced with disappointment, failure and frustration. It's easy to get focused on how big the problem is, how intransigent, how deeply rooted. So rather than let energy seep away in the face of those things, consciously choose to re-energize. Events like this show can boost your energy and ready you for continued action. Or if you are already energized, it's a place where you may inspire someone on the fence...or on the other side of it entirely. Come on down.

Lexicon of Sustainability - a story to tell

One of the images that will be on display at this weekend's Pop-Up Poster Show. Source: Lexicon of Sustainability website. 

This weekend, January 18-19 at Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks, MI the second of four seasonal shows of Douglas Gayeton's amazing art will be on display. These images are part of a larger collection that combine images and words to tell the story of what sustainability in our food system means. I've been asked many time why I am putting these shows on. The answer is simple, to me anyway.

The project impressed me when I saw the images last summer in Goshen, IN. And being aware of many people who were interested in and doing sustainable agriculture or trying to address food issues, I thought these would be a way to possibly connect people of like interests as well as provide information to people who may not have considered some of these terms and the impacts and opportunities they represent. So I just did it. I made the contact to get the posters here and began to recruit others for spaces for shows and involvement during shows. My original idea morphed into seasonal shows which seems to be a good thing as they can potentially reach more people and keep the topic out there. I've been amazed and incredibly humbled by the support provided by people opening their venues, taking their time to be present as hosts (first show) and resources (this show) as well and the extraordinarily generous support of people providing graphic, PR and social media support. No one is getting paid. This is something that people believe in so they are involved. And this creates a really strong connection.

Looking ahead, there will be a Spring show and a Summer show. They too will be volunteer efforts. The question is what then? What will come out of four seasons of shows that will have occurred by the end of Summer? People can make a difference so if you come and connect with someone and have an idea, follow it. Maybe others are out there. Make connections. If you want people to work on issues, work on them yourself. Involve others. Keep trying. And as Ghandi said "Be the change you want to see."

Hope to see you this weekend!

Confused Flora

I believe in climate change. I have for a long time. Although I don't have deep technical, scientific knowledge of the issue, I don't know that I need it to see an impact close to home. The potential for radically changing the growing season. In my lifetime.

For several seasons an arrow-head type plant in my front garden has grown far too late into the season after having died out and assumed that the brief cold snap was winter and the sure-to-be brief warm snap justified popping up out of the earth again.

But today, while walking, I saw what is in the picture above. Buds on a nearly dead rose bush, on November 10th. Buds sitting side by side with massive rose hips from dead roses and spotty leaves that appear just about to give up the ghost. Clearly the plant seems pretty confused. If roses are confused it's sad. If food crops are confused, and don't fully complete their growth cycles, then what?

Pop up poster show - Day 2

The first seasonal (Fall) show of Lexicon of Sustainability posters ended and quietly disappeared, leaving no physical trace of its presence. No trash. No damage. A simple end.

However it did leave some things behind. It left an energy behind to continue lots of conversations with new connections. And it left other people with next steps for projects in their backyards that promote local, sustainable food. And too, it sparked ideas for how people could work together to get more done collaboratively than they could alone, all without reinventing wheels. The two-day show was a start. It's up to everyone to keep the momentum going.

Watch the Art of Sustainability Facebook page for information on where you can see more posters at the Winter Pop Up Show.

Pop Up Poster Show

Words and images - address the meaning of sustainability in relation to our food system.

Early last summer I learned of a national project - The Lexicon of Sustainability - which was an effort to focus on local food systems and the meaning of terms that get thrown around referring to "sustainability" and all its nuances. After seeing images on their website, then a subset of them in person in Goshen, IN, I decided that I wanted to do a show here in Southwest Michigan.

Michigan is an agricultural powerhouse, yet we, like most areas, import most of the food we eat. That makes no sense to me. Oh I understand that we are at a point where we also probably can't support our population without some level of imports (imports meaning "originating outside the state") but I do believe we can do better at sustaining ourselves with what we have nearby. Our food system has over the years morphed into something that I want to change. I believe it's time to chip away at it in a mindful way. And I believe that it is everyone's responsibility. Everybody eats.

So when the opportunity presented itself to bring posters dealing with sustainability and the food system to my little part of the world, how could I not?

Information on the show is here. I hope you will stop by and join the conversation.

A year of "yes"

A conscious choice....

It's not something that I can take credit for thinking up. And I'm not sure where I even ran across it as an idea. But it feels right and I'm ready!

Ta-da!

Next, year - 2013 - is going to be my year of "yes." What is that, you ask? It is saying yes, when I would have said no. Taking chances that I would have avoided. Experiencing things that I've been so sure I don't like, don't want to do. It is the opposite of the life of "no" that has been part of me for so long. The "can't" the "shouldn't" the "won't work" and the "I don't." All the sureness that I had about what just wasn't who I was is gone. Pitched out the window and replaced with an openness to possibilities (even those ones that seem questionable) that could lead to who knows what?

It's not about anything more than living life to the fullest by embracing the real me. A me that somehow got lost a long time ago and who is finding her way back to the surface.

So what are some things I've recently said "yes" to in my warm up to my year of "yes"?

• Sticking with a class (as a student) that would have been easier for me to drop. 
• Dropping a class that would have been financially safer for me (as an instructor) to continue.
• Agreeing to travel to a work meeting that would have been easy for me to avoid.
• Agreeing to take on responsibilities that cause me to step waayyy outside my comfort zone.

Yet, all these things feel good. Right. Like growing into more competence and peace and away from anxiousness and doubt. I can't wait to see what other yes opportunities lie ahead. If it works, then the year of yes may become my way of being and not just another New Year's resolution. 

Another year...

It's almost time to turn the calendar page to yet another new year. Have slipped over the top of the mountain quietly and as I tread down its far side, I find it remarkable that this journey, this life, has been what it has. In so many ways nothing at all like I think my parents would have expected for me - or maybe even hoped and wished for me. But they couldn't have seen what the world has become. Its interconnectedness and complexity. Yet the things they could envision are things I want. I want a simple life, good food, good friends and roof over my head. But the way in which I have managed to acquire and hold on to these things, that is where I think my parents' dream for me and my dream of my own life parted ways.

They were traditionalists and expected me to marry, settle down, raise a family and live my life. I was non-traditional from their perspective (no matter that I probably fit well in my own time) in that I pursued a career, stayed single, traveled around and, based on feedback I've received, was considered successful. But funny thing, aside from that "raise a family" hope they held, the life I live now is probably exactly what they would have expected me to do from the start. But I couldn't. Wouldn't. Didn't.

Maybe what I wanted changed. Maybe I only wanted something totally different from my parents' life simply because that life didn't seem exciting. Whatever happened, I find myself discovering with every turn of the calendar page to a new year that I see more value in the way they lived than I could see before, and am consciously choosing it. And will most likely continue to do that until I'm fully down off the mountain.

Farm to Everyone's Table

Yesterday I enjoyed a lovely meal in a lovely setting. It was fresh from the farm and prepared well. All local, including the wines. And the company was lovely as well, as was the setting. In many ways, it was the ideal meal - consciously chosen, locally produced and enjoyed with friends and good conversations.

Try as I might to eat that way every day, at least one of the ingredients is often missing. Some days I eat a quick meal standing at my kitchen sink so I can get back to work. Other times, I succumb to purchasing something that is out of season or from out of the area. Rarely do I purchase processed or fast food, but even there I sometimes fall down and do. Yet I can choose to do those things so I am choosing how I eat. And this consciousness is something that would not have been present 20 years ago for me.

On the other hand, there are so many people who cannot make the choices I do. Perhaps it is because they have a limited source of fresh, seasonal foods or don't have the financial ability to choose them. Perhaps it is because they are unaware of the impact of their choices on their health, the health of small farmers and the land on which their food is grown. Or perhaps they are so pressed for time that any thought of cooking is elbowed aside by convenience. For whatever reason, by choice or by default, these people reach for the fast, the processed and, as evidence continues to mount, the unhealthy.

As I've written and said so many times, eating isn't optional. However everyone should have the opportunity to choose the food they eat. Truly choose - not between Burger King and McDonald's, but between fast food and fresh food. Idealistic? You bet. A big change? Yep. Something that will continue to require education and support. Most likely. But something that has started and is gaining speed? I do believe so...