FIMBY

Ack! I haven't blogged for 3 days. I'm starting to twitch.

It's been a busy weekend. The sun shone (hallelujah!) and once the flood waters in the backyard receded I tried to rescue the beans and staked leggy perennials. We had a supper around the firepit with friends and watched an outdoor movie at a riverfront park in our community. Ah... summer.

But mainly we started to pack and plan for camping later this month. My contribution was to spend 5 hours yesterday, our anniversary, at the laundromat washing and drying our down sleeping bags. Which take like, forever to dry. But are oh so warm, fluffy and light so I guess are worth the extra time and expense of cleaning them.

At least I didn't just sit there mindlessly watching the tube. In between swiping my "laundromat debit card" a gazallion times (coin-less technology but alas no wi-fi) I finished putting together the kid's portfolios for their yearly homeschool review which takes place this week.

An evening out with friends at our favorite restaurant in the Old Port redeemed "the anniversary" aspect of the day. Wonderful Japanese food, with lots of laughs and these lovely gladiolus given as an anniversary gift.

As if that wasn't enough activity for the weekend we also prepared to host Daren Wendell of Earth Expedition, for a couple days this week.

My best friend Damien (my date yesterday night) has been following this guy's trek for months and invited him to stay at our house on his way through Maine. We weren't exactly sure when he'd be here, sometime in August. When you're walking around the world it's kind of hard to pinpoint these things exactly.

Well, we now know exactly when he will be here. In a couple hours. Damien's picking Daren up right now, along with 2 extras. Apparently, when you find friends on the trail you stick together.

I'm so excited. Finally we're having some strangers stay, something I've wanted for years. To host travelers and pilgrims, practicing real Christian hospitality.

We're also planning a potluck supper for tomorrow night. If you're reading this you're invited. Daren's not just hiking the world for fun. He's doing it to help raise awareness for Blood:Water Mission. And we're hosting a potluck, hopefully the RSVP list will outgrow our home, to help him spread the Blood:Water Mission message, "to build clean wells in Africa, to support medical facilities caring for the sick, to make a lasting impact in the fight against poverty, injustice and oppression in Africa".

So, we're all really jazzed around here. To have someone stay in our home who's hiked the Appalachian Trail (something my crazy family aspires to), who's walking around the world, and who's raising awareness for something we believe but haven't done much about. Lets face it, "life" easily gets in the way of all our convictions to fight poverty, injustice and oppression..

Woo-Wee. There is some serious fun happening in my back yard...

PS. If you want to come to the potluck you have to RSVP for directions and such. Contact me here.

The kids and I attended the Local Foods Festival at our farmer's market this week, organized by our favorite community organization, Lots To Gardens, "a youth and community driven organization that uses sustainable urban agriculture to create access to fresh food, and to nurture healthy youth and a healthy community. We teach people how to grow their own food, provide affordable access to fresh food, and involve youth as leaders. We help families and youth develop skills and build power for lifelong and community-wide change".

That pretty much says it folks. Oh, and my kids learned their first parade slogan this week "We want local foods. When do we want it? NOW!" My children are community activists and I'm darn proud of it!

Farmer's Market Flowers

Not too many years ago in the past I almost exclusively shopped at Wal-Mart (shh... don't tell anyone), it was cheapest after all. The only thing local there was the poorly paid and under-insured "associates". To be fair our family budget was tighter. We were still paying down consumer debt (a folly we won't ever repeat) and saving for a house down payment. I wonder if my miserly shopping helped us save money? Probably, but now we're choosing to save money other ways so we can purchase food according to our values.

Our biggest money saver is owning a small home (we rent out the basement), on a small lot in the community my husband works in, walking distance from his job. A huge blessing and a choice I realize not everyone can make. But even if it weren't "easy" walking distance away he'd hoof it on foot, longboard or bike, that's the kind of guy he is. Living close to employment, and sacrificing a larger lot in the "country", enables us to live very comfortably with only one car. In fact, it goes days not being used and during those times we sometimes lend it to friends so they don't need to own a car.

But wait, don't we have children? Yep, 3. And don't we camp? Yep, every month. How can we manage with just a car, not even any roof rack, trailers or other "carry more stuff" storage? Light living is the name of the game.

Owning one, small, old car and not driving it a lot, having no debt and a smaller urban footprint (fancy speak for living on a small city lot and renting part of our house) are three biggies that enable us to buy more local food.

I heard the other day on NPR the "average US family" is now spending $100/week for gas (I nearly croaked). I'd rather pay $30/week and use the "savings" to buy more I-know-the-farmer grown food. To be sure, we're not driving in luxury. Our car is 15 years old, there's little squirmies living under the booster seats , and the AC stopped working years ago. But who cares we're eating well.

Where would you rather spend your money and time?

I gleaned peas from the farm this morning. No altruistic motivations here (wish I could say I donated them to less fortunate folks), just taking advantage of stocking the freezer with free, organic veggies. This isn't the norm though. Obtaining local, organic and sustainably grown foods costs, sometimes a lot. So why do we do it?

Basically, our family has made the choice to value the health of our bodies, community, planet and the farmers who grow our food. Incidentally, these are also the reasons, more or less, for us choosing a plant based diet.

But the health benefits of sustainable foods aren't just physical. Knowing your farmer is good for your whole health and well being. Buying food from local farms is spiritually grounding and a return to our roots. I am connecting myself to a person, not a corporation, brand or store. That person is directly connected to the land - blood, sweat and tears. My connection to them connects me to the land, albeit somewhat vicariously, and returns me to the original Divine mandate to tend the garden, the task we were created to do.

Valuing everyone's health and "returning to the garden" is all fine and dandy but let's get down to the nitty-gritty, what about the cost? I'm not even going to address the long-term environmental and health costs of eating a fossil fuel dependent diet, that's a book. But if I did the cost question would be blow out of the water. However, I know most people think of cost in terms of next month's paycheck so I'll stick to the here and now.

Go to next post in series.

This is not happy. This is not beautiful. This certainly is not fun in my back yard. This is pain, suffering and hunger in "my backyard", and it breaks my heart and leaves me feeling sickened with helplessness.

Other than donate dollars I don't have a clue what to do about it. Makes our attempts to be aware of the problem pitiful. Oh God, help us help them.

The kids and I spent the morning at the Nutrition Center Kitchen cooking with the Lots To Gardens crew, preparing food for a supper & live music fund raiser at the Franco-American Heritage Center tonight.
Nutrition Center Kitchen
We love what Lots to Gardens does, "challeng(ing) the cycles of poverty and hunger in our community by empowering people to produce and access fresh, nutritious food at the community level. Working towards a sustainable food system by focusing on developing local youth and adult leadership, creating fair access to food, and building community capacity."

We also love the people at LtGs, our friends, who are working so hard to improve our community and people's lives.

Laurent told me in car on the way "I love cooking with Lots to Gardens". Well said Buddy, I agree.

I have to go grocery shopping this afternoon and I'm rather cranky about that. Shame on me. At least I can feed my children. Unlike millions of desperate parents around the world. It breaks my heart AND makes me angry AND leaves me bewildered, wondering what more can we do?? I'm sure lots, Hungry Planet supper night is one step but it seems fairly feeble in the face of such a large crisis.

Recently a friend loaned us a copy of Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. An essay and photo journal featuring a breakdown of what 30 families around the world eat in a week. The kids and I used the book as a world study curriculum for a couple weeks. Then recently Damien proposed we take the "study" a step farther and suggested our family eat simply for one day each week, following a diet similar to impoverished people around the world. We decided we weren't ready for a whole day of beans, rice, gruel and weak vegetable broths but we were ready for supper once a week.

Tonight was the first night of the experiment. From a cook's perspective I like this experiment. With modern conveniences of electric stoves and pressure cookers I can cook beans very quickly so unlike many women around the world I don't spend all day gathering and cooking food. But a very simple meal of beans, rice and onions, for seasoning, is a life lesson for all of us in simplicity and empathy. We're hoping our kids will grow in compassion and a desire for justice and not grow up to think their parents were wacko deprivation freaks.

I've been wanting to try Divine Chocolate for over a year, since about the time I read an article about the company in Sojourner's Magazine.

Ummm... shouldn't have waited so long. I bought a case of 10 bars in the buying club order this month, much more affordable than off the shelf prices at the health food store. Tastes so good and feels good knowing that I'm supporting something I believe in - sustainable farming practices, fair economics and just human relations.

Damien & I just finished watching Micheal Moore's new movie Sicko. To be honest, it leaves me wondering "why exactly ARE we living in the States??"

Being from Canada I realize it is not the utopia he paints it to be. Ironically my only experience with anything "medical" in Canada I had to pay for - Celine's homebirth. Our only US experiences with anything even close to major medical issues were when our family was covered under Maine's state health program, which was better than any coverage we'd received in Canada. By the way, all Canadians I know, myself included, believe in universal health care, doesn't matter how far to the right you are.

Either way, our lives are in God's hands and we came to Maine, stay in Maine and make Maine home because this is where we believe God has put us. But truth be told, if we ran into serious medical difficulties that our insurance wouldn't pay for I'd be packin' up and heading north - how's that for faith??

Ok, watch out - here comes a rant....
What really disturbs me, more in more, in things I read and hear on the news is how the rich keep getting richer and are not taking care of the poor. And what really riles me is that the political party that passes these get richer tax policies & slashes holes in the (supposed) social safety net is supported whole heartedly and without reservation by many Christians, who are supposed to be caring for the "least of these". Instead many of these believers think that churches should care for the poor. But I don't know many churches that can fork over $50,000 every time someone in their community needs surgery/procedure x, y or z.

Arghh...ok I'm done. There is no easy answer. And to be honest, in the past I've supported (in theory - remember I can't vote) aforementioned political party. I'm coming clean. But I haven't, in good conscience, been able to align myself with any political party for some time now. Just makes me yearn even more for the Kingdom of God and His ecomony - the first shall be last and the last shall be first (oh yikes for all us living high off the hog in the Western world). And for the community of believers to come together and be all that Christ modeled for us to be - unselfish, non-materialistic, radically loving.