30 weeks. Seven and half months. 210 days.
In the last 210 days I have planted and tended to a garden. I ate and preserved the harvest and shared some with friends. I connected with other gardeners who freely shared their bounty with me.
I learned that many of the plants that people call weeds are wonderful sources of free and nutritious food. Many of these plants and more are medicine. I now make my own medicine. Significant sections of my home have the look of an herbwyfe's apothecary. This gladdens my heart.
I make friends with anaerobic beasties, invite them into my home and ask them to stay awhile. They get real intimate with milk, cabbage and cukes and the resulting transformation is nothing short of alchemy.
I collect all manner of glass jars. Mason, pint, quart, corked, brown, blue, tall and short. I have a thing for cool stone crocks, simple hand tools and aprons.
I have a well stocked pantry, medicine chest, water supplies. My cupboards are filled with local goodies, homemade jams, pickled beets, dried beans. Squashes lurk amongst fruit butters and piles of books.
I have neatly stacked linens and cloth. Napkins, lacy handkerchiefs, scarves for gift wrapping. Wool blankets, cozy throws. Rags, pee wipes.
My craft section has grown. I have baskets of thrifted yarn, crochet cotton, my great grandmother's crochet hooks, embroidery hoops, ribbons, buttons, baubles and beads.
I look around and see that so much of the stuff of my life has been handed down, salvaged from the trash or purchased from yard sales, thrift shops, community stores and church bazaars. My place is small but if you came to visit me I could take you on a tour that would last for hours as I recounted the story that comes with many of the pieces that make up my home. Nearly everything has a history and tale to tell, much longer than your average trip from the foreign factory to cargo ship to big box store to trunk of car and the ride home.
All together it makes for a rather mismatched and quirky sort of place. My tastes run eclectic and my sense of aesthetics and lifestyle habits certainly aren't for everyone. But that's ok, because I'm doing much of this for me out of sheer pleasure and soul biggering joy and that suits me just fine. And when I come home, I enter into a cozy world, a haven well used and much loved and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Here is my last Independence Days update for this season.
Plant something:
- sprouts
Harvest something:
- dandelions
Preserve something:
- dandelion root tincture
- sauerkraut
- made and froze grape juice
- drying rosemary and thyme
Waste not:
- fair trade coffee in travel mug
- Indian takeout in reusable containers from the small family owned biryani restaurant in my neighbourhood
Want not:
- borrowed movies from the library
- gifts and things from church bazaar
Preparation and storage:
- final clean up of the kitchen and allotment gardens
- added popping corn, olive oil and 8l water to supplies
- storing local cabbage and squash
- added sterile gauze pads to medicine chest
- purchased hot water bottle
Exercise: yoga three times, biked to library and back, walked to farmer's market and half way back
Build community food systems:
- local food from farmer's market
- attended fundraiser for the Otesha Project (educating youth on the value of supporting local growers and buying local food being one of the many awesome things they do)
Eat the food:
- used some pumpkin puree in a soup
- currant jam is lovely on oats with walnuts and raisins
Take the medicine:
- elderberry syrup
- yarrow tincture
- nettle and dandelion vinegars
- sage honey
- plantain tincture
- daisy tincture
- cultivated American ginseng root
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Unstuffed's Weekly Roundup...of one
Thanks to Sharon for sharing this link. It's the Archbishop of Canterbury's speech on Human Well-Being and Economic Decision-Making and it is well worth the read.
Here are a few teasers:
"'Economy' is simply the Greek word for 'housekeeping'. Remembering this is a useful way of getting things in proportion, so that we don't lose sight of the fact that economics is primarily about the decisions we make so as to create a habitat that we can actually live in...Economics understood in abstraction from all this is not just an academic error: it actually dismantles the walls of the home...If we are not to be caught indefinitely in a trap we have designed for ourselves, we have to ask what an economy would look like if it were genuinely focused on making and sustaining a home..."
"Practically speaking, this means that both at the individual and the national level we have to question what we mean by 'growth'. The ability to produce more and more consumer goods (not to mention financial products) is in itself an entirely mechanical measure of wealth. It sets up the vicious cycle in which it is necessary all the time to create new demand for goods and thus new demands on a limited material environment for energy sources and raw materials."
"To decide what sort of change we want, we need a vigorous sense of what a human life well-lived looks like. We need to be able to say what kind of human beings we hope to be ourselves and to encourage our children to be."
"If you live in a world where everything encourages you to struggle for your own individual interest and success, you are being encouraged to ignore the reality of other points of view – ultimately, to ignore the cost or the pain of others. The result may be a world where people are very articulate about their own feelings and pretty illiterate about how they impact on or appear to others – a world of which 'reality television' gives us some alarming glimpses. An economic climate based on nothing but calculations of self-interest, sometimes fed by an amazingly distorted version of Darwinism, doesn't build a habitat for human beings; at best it builds a sort of fortified boxroom for paranoiacs (with full electronic services, of course)."
"I realise that the word 'virtue' is hard for many to take seriously. But it's high time we reclaimed it. We have no other way of talking about the solid qualities of human behaviour that make us more than reactive and self-protective – the qualities of courage, intelligent and generous foresight, self-critical awareness and concern for balanced universal welfare which, under other names, have been part of the vocabulary of European ethics for two and half thousand years: fortitude, prudence, temperance and justice. In the Christian world, of course, they have been supplemented by, and grounded in, the virtues of faith, hope and love that, in their full meaning, are bound up with relation to God. But there has always been a recognition that the four pillars of ordinary human virtue were not a matter of special revelation but the raw materials for any kind of co-operative and just society. Without courage and careful good sense, the capacity to put your own desires into perspective and the concern that all should share in what is recognised as good and lifegiving, there is no stable world, no home to live in – no house to keep."
Here are a few teasers:
"'Economy' is simply the Greek word for 'housekeeping'. Remembering this is a useful way of getting things in proportion, so that we don't lose sight of the fact that economics is primarily about the decisions we make so as to create a habitat that we can actually live in...Economics understood in abstraction from all this is not just an academic error: it actually dismantles the walls of the home...If we are not to be caught indefinitely in a trap we have designed for ourselves, we have to ask what an economy would look like if it were genuinely focused on making and sustaining a home..."
"Practically speaking, this means that both at the individual and the national level we have to question what we mean by 'growth'. The ability to produce more and more consumer goods (not to mention financial products) is in itself an entirely mechanical measure of wealth. It sets up the vicious cycle in which it is necessary all the time to create new demand for goods and thus new demands on a limited material environment for energy sources and raw materials."
"To decide what sort of change we want, we need a vigorous sense of what a human life well-lived looks like. We need to be able to say what kind of human beings we hope to be ourselves and to encourage our children to be."
"If you live in a world where everything encourages you to struggle for your own individual interest and success, you are being encouraged to ignore the reality of other points of view – ultimately, to ignore the cost or the pain of others. The result may be a world where people are very articulate about their own feelings and pretty illiterate about how they impact on or appear to others – a world of which 'reality television' gives us some alarming glimpses. An economic climate based on nothing but calculations of self-interest, sometimes fed by an amazingly distorted version of Darwinism, doesn't build a habitat for human beings; at best it builds a sort of fortified boxroom for paranoiacs (with full electronic services, of course)."
"I realise that the word 'virtue' is hard for many to take seriously. But it's high time we reclaimed it. We have no other way of talking about the solid qualities of human behaviour that make us more than reactive and self-protective – the qualities of courage, intelligent and generous foresight, self-critical awareness and concern for balanced universal welfare which, under other names, have been part of the vocabulary of European ethics for two and half thousand years: fortitude, prudence, temperance and justice. In the Christian world, of course, they have been supplemented by, and grounded in, the virtues of faith, hope and love that, in their full meaning, are bound up with relation to God. But there has always been a recognition that the four pillars of ordinary human virtue were not a matter of special revelation but the raw materials for any kind of co-operative and just society. Without courage and careful good sense, the capacity to put your own desires into perspective and the concern that all should share in what is recognised as good and lifegiving, there is no stable world, no home to live in – no house to keep."
Monday, November 16, 2009
The Optimisim/Pessimism Trap
Just popping in here to offer a (long) quote I read in The Transition Handbook.
I had a bit of an 'aha' moment reading it, as it gave me insight into some stuff that's been going on for me the last few weeks.
What with all the reading I do on climate change, peak oil and the economic crisis and how to respond to all of the above, coupled with my own personal actions, tied to the opinions of those who debate whether and what actions are effective, connected to the world around me that is in various stages of change and staying maddeningly the same, well it's left me feeling positively bi-polar, swinging wildly between hope and despair, falling desperately and ecstatically in love with the smell of damp earth and bawling at the breakfast table over a gemstone globe. It is exhausting. But I think what is offered in this quote is a way to navigate a much more centered and balanced middle way.
"I've found myself bouncing back and forth between optimism and pessimism. 'Things are going to work out well.' Or, 'There's going to be a real disaster!' It's been really exhausting.
But lately something's changing about all this.
I've begun to notice how the whole optimism/pessimism dichotomy is a death trap for my aliveness and attention. I watch myself acting as if my sense of what might happen is a description of reality. And what I notice is this: whether I expect the best or the worst, my expectations interfere with my will to act.
That's so important I'm going to repeat it. Whether I expect the best or the worst, my expectations interfere with my will to act.
I've started viewing both optimism and pessimism as spectator sports, as forms of disengagement masquerading as involvement. Both optimism and pessimism trick me into judging life and betting on the odds, rather than diving in into life with my whole self, with my full co-creative energy. I think the emerging crises call us to transcend such false end-games like optimism and pessimism. I think they call us to act like a spiritually healthy person who has just learned they have heart disease: We can use each dire prognosis for reaching more deeply into life and co-creating positive change.
And so I've come to conclude that all the predictions- both good and bad- tell us absolutely nothing about what is possible. Trends and events only relate to what is probable. Probabilities are abstractions. Possibilities are the stuff of life, visions to act upon, doors to walk through. Pessimism and optimism are both distractions from living life fully."
Tom Atlee
'Crisis Fatigue and the Co-creation of Positive Possibilities', Co-Intelligence Institute
Well alright then. That sounds like some good, old fashioned horse sense to me, so please excuse me while I go reach more deeply into life with my whole self and co-create some positive change.
I had a bit of an 'aha' moment reading it, as it gave me insight into some stuff that's been going on for me the last few weeks.
What with all the reading I do on climate change, peak oil and the economic crisis and how to respond to all of the above, coupled with my own personal actions, tied to the opinions of those who debate whether and what actions are effective, connected to the world around me that is in various stages of change and staying maddeningly the same, well it's left me feeling positively bi-polar, swinging wildly between hope and despair, falling desperately and ecstatically in love with the smell of damp earth and bawling at the breakfast table over a gemstone globe. It is exhausting. But I think what is offered in this quote is a way to navigate a much more centered and balanced middle way.
"I've found myself bouncing back and forth between optimism and pessimism. 'Things are going to work out well.' Or, 'There's going to be a real disaster!' It's been really exhausting.
But lately something's changing about all this.
I've begun to notice how the whole optimism/pessimism dichotomy is a death trap for my aliveness and attention. I watch myself acting as if my sense of what might happen is a description of reality. And what I notice is this: whether I expect the best or the worst, my expectations interfere with my will to act.
That's so important I'm going to repeat it. Whether I expect the best or the worst, my expectations interfere with my will to act.
I've started viewing both optimism and pessimism as spectator sports, as forms of disengagement masquerading as involvement. Both optimism and pessimism trick me into judging life and betting on the odds, rather than diving in into life with my whole self, with my full co-creative energy. I think the emerging crises call us to transcend such false end-games like optimism and pessimism. I think they call us to act like a spiritually healthy person who has just learned they have heart disease: We can use each dire prognosis for reaching more deeply into life and co-creating positive change.
And so I've come to conclude that all the predictions- both good and bad- tell us absolutely nothing about what is possible. Trends and events only relate to what is probable. Probabilities are abstractions. Possibilities are the stuff of life, visions to act upon, doors to walk through. Pessimism and optimism are both distractions from living life fully."
Tom Atlee
'Crisis Fatigue and the Co-creation of Positive Possibilities', Co-Intelligence Institute
Well alright then. That sounds like some good, old fashioned horse sense to me, so please excuse me while I go reach more deeply into life with my whole self and co-create some positive change.
Independence Days Week #29
A thorough cleaning and organising fit on Friday. A full day at my herb course on Saturday and a birthday party for a friend later that night. Cake, dancing, singing. A sleep-in morning on Sunday followed by a bike ride to the farmer's market. Returning home laden with squash, cabbage, kale, chard, grapes and herbs. Heading right back out again on the bike, to the allotments. A light drizzle. Grey sky. So mild I don't need gloves. Digging in the dirt for dandelion leaves and roots. Nothing but the sound of the Alta Vista crows caw cawing overhead.
My garden gloves thick with wet, loamy dirt. Rhythmically banging clods and roots on the ground. Stuffing leaves in my sac. Rain falls harder. Time to go. Back home again at dusk. Boil and strain the grapes for juice. Scrub the roots. Wash the leaves. Make dinner for the ADGMD and I. Homemade mac 'n cheese with pumpkin and sage. Comfort food. So good. Curl up on the couch. Dozing to the sound of the ADGMD doing dishes. Work left to be done. It can wait. I am content. I am at peace. Savour this moment while it lasts. I am at peace.
Plant something:
- nope
Harvest something:
- dandelion leaves and roots
Preserve something:
- comfrey root liniment and oil
- dandelion root tincture
- dandelion leaf vinegar
- parsley leaf vinegar
- made grape juice
Waste not:
- mended a pair of stockings
- wrapped a birthday gift (second hand book) in a cloth scarf
Want not:
- salvaged window screen, to use for drying herbs
- herbal tea from a fellow herbal student who was cleaning out her cupboards and giving the teas away
Preparation and Storage:
- added more local squash to my squash basket (My plan is to store one squash per week for the winter months.)
- crocheting xmas gifts
Exercise: yoga 3 times, 2hr bike ride around the city, bike to farmer's market and garden
Build community food systems:
- local food from the farmer's market
Eat the food:
- currant jam
- J 'chokes and mung bean sprouts
- pumpkin and sage mac & cheese
Take the medicine:
- nettle, dandelion vinegars
- parsley infusion
- yarrow tincture
- plantain syrup
- rosemary tea
My garden gloves thick with wet, loamy dirt. Rhythmically banging clods and roots on the ground. Stuffing leaves in my sac. Rain falls harder. Time to go. Back home again at dusk. Boil and strain the grapes for juice. Scrub the roots. Wash the leaves. Make dinner for the ADGMD and I. Homemade mac 'n cheese with pumpkin and sage. Comfort food. So good. Curl up on the couch. Dozing to the sound of the ADGMD doing dishes. Work left to be done. It can wait. I am content. I am at peace. Savour this moment while it lasts. I am at peace.
Plant something:
- nope
Harvest something:
- dandelion leaves and roots
Preserve something:
- comfrey root liniment and oil
- dandelion root tincture
- dandelion leaf vinegar
- parsley leaf vinegar
- made grape juice
Waste not:
- mended a pair of stockings
- wrapped a birthday gift (second hand book) in a cloth scarf
Want not:
- salvaged window screen, to use for drying herbs
- herbal tea from a fellow herbal student who was cleaning out her cupboards and giving the teas away
Preparation and Storage:
- added more local squash to my squash basket (My plan is to store one squash per week for the winter months.)
- crocheting xmas gifts
Exercise: yoga 3 times, 2hr bike ride around the city, bike to farmer's market and garden
Build community food systems:
- local food from the farmer's market
Eat the food:
- currant jam
- J 'chokes and mung bean sprouts
- pumpkin and sage mac & cheese
Take the medicine:
- nettle, dandelion vinegars
- parsley infusion
- yarrow tincture
- plantain syrup
- rosemary tea
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Unstuffed's Weekly Roundup
It's been a funny couple of weeks for me. Maybe it's daylight savings and the descent into darker days, but I'm feeling out of sorts. Many things I do -blog posts, interacting with others, yoga- feels clumsy, inelegant and off putting. I've been hiding out a bit more, watching far too much tv, falling asleep on the couch and not eating as healthfully as I usually do. So I don't have much of a round up today and it might be a little clumsy, a little inelegant, a little off putting.
I've got the morning off work and I plan on playing loud music and giving my place a deep cleaning and catching up on tasks I've neglected. That should help. My highschool history teacher told us on the last day of class, "When life gets overwhelming and things feel out of control, do some laundry. You'll feel better." And you know what? He was right. Sometimes you have to sort through the dirty stuff, put it through the ringer and hang it up to dry before you can take a deep breath and inhale the clean scent of a fresh start.
Huh? Yeah, did I mention I've been feeling a little clumsy, inelegant....oh never mind. :)
Big news for the Peak Oil set. IEA whistleblower accuses agency of downplaying oil shortage.
The Post Carbon Institute searches for a miracle.
I want to make a crochet version of this!.
Interesting piece on Personal Change for Climate Change.
Sharon Astyk on how the rich world can stop hurting the poor world.
The original post that Sharon references.
I've got the morning off work and I plan on playing loud music and giving my place a deep cleaning and catching up on tasks I've neglected. That should help. My highschool history teacher told us on the last day of class, "When life gets overwhelming and things feel out of control, do some laundry. You'll feel better." And you know what? He was right. Sometimes you have to sort through the dirty stuff, put it through the ringer and hang it up to dry before you can take a deep breath and inhale the clean scent of a fresh start.
Huh? Yeah, did I mention I've been feeling a little clumsy, inelegant....oh never mind. :)
Big news for the Peak Oil set. IEA whistleblower accuses agency of downplaying oil shortage.
The Post Carbon Institute searches for a miracle.
I want to make a crochet version of this!.
Interesting piece on Personal Change for Climate Change.
Sharon Astyk on how the rich world can stop hurting the poor world.
The original post that Sharon references.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Loco for Local and Seasonal
I know lots of folks who will say that eating locally and seasonally is just too difficult to do if you live in a northern climate and that it must mean nothing but rutabagas and stone soup for six months of the year.
I try to debunk this misconception at every opportunity. First of all, spicy rutabaga fries kick ass and secondly, all it takes is a simple shift in perspective, to go from feeling deprived and limited to standing before a palette primed for innovation and creativity.
Here's the secret: Try to let go of expectations and get excited about using what is available to you, locally and seasonally, and with a few exceptions to the rule (no one's expecting you to be a purist here). This may mean not always working from a recipe or getting comfortable making eliminations and substitutions, which I know can be intimidating for some people, but it's really not too hard and you just might surprise yourself with the deliciousness you are capable of.
For example, tonight I got home from work late and hungry. I had a leftover black bean burger that I wanted to use up. I looked in the fridge to see what I had on hand for a side dish. Ten minutes later I came up with this:
(I don't know anything about photography, let alone food photography, and I was working with dim lighting, so this might not look as appetizing as it tasted, k?)
What the hell is it, you ask?
It's Jerusalem artichokes and mung bean sprouts, sauteed in a glug of olive oil and spiced with salt, pepper, garlic and chilli powder.
I've never made this before. I just used what was available. I had know idea what to expect. I've cooked and enjoyed JA's many times already, but mixed with bean sprouts? I wouldn't have thought to cook the sprouts except that I remembered a woman from a locavore potluck brought a warm mung bean sprout dish once, that was so tasty.
How did my creation turn out? OMG, not to toot my own horn or anything, but this just might be my new favourite quick dish evaire. I kid thee not. The earthy, nutty taste of the 'chokes partnered with the warm and crunchy sprouts, all savory with a touch of heat, made my belly oh so happy!
Here's the recipe, even though I just said you could do away with recipes.
Scrub, but don't bother peeling a handful/bunch/pile of Jerusalem artichokes, then slice 'em up.
Heat a glug of oil in a frying pan (I indulged in non-local, cold pressed, extra
virgin olive oil, but I don't see why you couldn't use sumpin' else.)
Throw in the chokes.
Add your spices. Like I said, I used salt, pepper, garlic and chili powder, but you can experiment.
Once the 'chokes are pretty much done- a little brown and crispy around the edges- toss in some mung bean sprouts and cook them just so that they still retain their crunchy essence.
Add some more seasoning if you feel the need, but other than that, you're done!
Serve it up on the side of whatever and go right ahead and fall in love with the yumminess you have just created with mostly local and seasonal food.
Happy bellies to you!
Update: I just wanted to clarify that the mung beans are only local insomuch as I sprouted and harvested them from the top of my fridge. I don't actually know where the dried beans came from. I bought them in bulk at the health food store. I do try to source local sprouting seeds and beans when I can, but I don't think the mung beans are one of them. Also, if you really wanted to make the meal even more local, and aren't a vegan, I think butter would be really good to use.
I try to debunk this misconception at every opportunity. First of all, spicy rutabaga fries kick ass and secondly, all it takes is a simple shift in perspective, to go from feeling deprived and limited to standing before a palette primed for innovation and creativity.
Here's the secret: Try to let go of expectations and get excited about using what is available to you, locally and seasonally, and with a few exceptions to the rule (no one's expecting you to be a purist here). This may mean not always working from a recipe or getting comfortable making eliminations and substitutions, which I know can be intimidating for some people, but it's really not too hard and you just might surprise yourself with the deliciousness you are capable of.
For example, tonight I got home from work late and hungry. I had a leftover black bean burger that I wanted to use up. I looked in the fridge to see what I had on hand for a side dish. Ten minutes later I came up with this:
(I don't know anything about photography, let alone food photography, and I was working with dim lighting, so this might not look as appetizing as it tasted, k?)What the hell is it, you ask?
It's Jerusalem artichokes and mung bean sprouts, sauteed in a glug of olive oil and spiced with salt, pepper, garlic and chilli powder.
I've never made this before. I just used what was available. I had know idea what to expect. I've cooked and enjoyed JA's many times already, but mixed with bean sprouts? I wouldn't have thought to cook the sprouts except that I remembered a woman from a locavore potluck brought a warm mung bean sprout dish once, that was so tasty.
How did my creation turn out? OMG, not to toot my own horn or anything, but this just might be my new favourite quick dish evaire. I kid thee not. The earthy, nutty taste of the 'chokes partnered with the warm and crunchy sprouts, all savory with a touch of heat, made my belly oh so happy!
Here's the recipe, even though I just said you could do away with recipes.
Scrub, but don't bother peeling a handful/bunch/pile of Jerusalem artichokes, then slice 'em up.
Heat a glug of oil in a frying pan (I indulged in non-local, cold pressed, extra
virgin olive oil, but I don't see why you couldn't use sumpin' else.)
Throw in the chokes.
Add your spices. Like I said, I used salt, pepper, garlic and chili powder, but you can experiment.
Once the 'chokes are pretty much done- a little brown and crispy around the edges- toss in some mung bean sprouts and cook them just so that they still retain their crunchy essence.
Add some more seasoning if you feel the need, but other than that, you're done!
Serve it up on the side of whatever and go right ahead and fall in love with the yumminess you have just created with mostly local and seasonal food.
Happy bellies to you!
Update: I just wanted to clarify that the mung beans are only local insomuch as I sprouted and harvested them from the top of my fridge. I don't actually know where the dried beans came from. I bought them in bulk at the health food store. I do try to source local sprouting seeds and beans when I can, but I don't think the mung beans are one of them. Also, if you really wanted to make the meal even more local, and aren't a vegan, I think butter would be really good to use.
Independence Days Week #28
I went to two Church bazaars this weekend. I arrived early at the first one. Already a small line had formed up the stairs leading into the basement, so I took my place and waited with the others, on the landing. An elderly lady arrived with a walker. Someone held the door so she could come in, another person carried her walker to the bottom of the stairs. There was general agreement that she be allowed in early so she didn`t have to stand and wait. A gentleman offered his arm and with his support and the railing she navigated the stairs safely and entered the church basement. A few minutes later a volunteer opened the door and welcomed us with a warm smile. We slowly shuffled into the large room to check out the attic treasures, preserves, baked goods, silent auction and handcrafts. There was lots of friendly chatter and laughter. Children beelined excitedly to the toy area and secret, kids only shopping area. I spent just under $30, came away with 12 different gifts and a few items for me. On my way out, unlocking my bike with my baskets full, I stopped to chat with a man with Down`s Syndrome who proudly showed me the VHS movies he got.
Remember the Wal-mart worker who got trampled to death last year? That was such a sad and tragic story of a completely unnecessary death of another human being, caused by people desperate to go shopping.
I think a lot about the kind of world I want to live in, the kind of world that I have a part in creating. When I reflect on the death of that Wal-mart worker and my church bazaar experience, it is so clear to me that I want to do what I can to bring into being a world where a gentleman offers his arm to an elderly lady and helps her down the stairs, a world where someone opens the door with a welcoming smile and where the acquisition of a few second-hand movies is worth stopping and talking proudly about, with a stranger.
At the risk of getting up on my soapbox here I would ask that, this season, as you look for gifts for your loved ones, perhaps you can stop for a moment and ask yourself what kind of world are you bringing into being by getting and giving those gifts?
(The above text is cross-posted here.)
Plant something:
- started a new batch of mung bean sprouts
- the ADGMD planted a few garlic cloves our garden neighbour gave us
Harvest something:
- dandelion leaves and flowers!
- comfrey root (for sore muscle liniment)
Preserve something:
- froze the last of the plum butter, since there wasn't enough to make it worthwhile to set up the canner
Waste not:
- avoided a lot of packaging waste and resource use by buying gifts and other items at church bazaars
Want not:
- got many second hand and hand crafted gifts at the bazaars, plus a number of household items for myself! (15 gifts for others, 10 'gifts' for me, for just under $40.)
- scored an awesome, arc floor lamp put out to the curb, just down the street from my place (I meant to take and post a picture of it but forgot to, so please take a moment to visualise lighting awesomeness!)
- borrowed caulking gun from a friend in a nearby neighbourhood
Preparation and storage:
- caulked around 3 of my drafty basement windows
- exercise: yoga 4 times, took the long way to and from work a couple of times, biked to farmer's market and garden
Build community food systems:
- local food from farmer's market
Eat the food:
- plum butter on oats
- dandelion flowers in pancakes, with plum butter
- roasted Jerusalem artichokes
- stir fried chard
- dandelion leaves and flowers in soup
Take the medicine:
- sage and rosemary tea
- violet flower syrup
- wild carrot tincture
- plantain tincture
- elderberry syrup
Friday, November 6, 2009
Unstuffed's Weekly Roundup: Changeable as Weathercocks
"We human beings are made up of contradictions. Part of us is attracted by the light and by God, and wants to care for our brothers and sisters. Another part of us wants frivolity, possessions, domination or success; it wants to be surrounded by approving friends, who will ward off sadness, depression or aggression. We are so deeply divided that we will reflect equally an environment which tends towards the light and concern for others, and one which scorns these values and encourages the desires for power and pleasure. As long as our deepest motivation is not clear to us and as long as we have not chosen the people and the place of our growth in its light, we will remain weak and inconsistent, as changeable as weathercocks."
~Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 165
I have quite a few things to share this week. By turns they are interesting, inspiring, hopeful, deeply concerning and downright depressing. Light and dark. Hopefully the darkness isn't so consuming that you'll you throw your hands up in despair, rather be sure to read the last link and Sharon's wish for:
"...people who get up every morning and do their share of this work, even if it seems it might not be enough, even if it hurts, even if they are tempted to let go and give in to despair, even if it means walking on the edge of dark places and along the abyss. I hope for people who do what is right, no matter what the outcome. And I feel I can hope for this among millions and billions, because I have seen such men and women, and I know that they are ordinary and they are real, and if they can do what they do, so can I. And so can you."
As usual the blogoshpere yields much that is rich, wonderful and insightful.
Homegrown Evolution has this post on the crazy popularity of digital farming. WTF!?
Chile Chews recently linked to The Solar Oven Chef blog. Wow.
Little Eco Footprints recently linked to one of her favourite bloggers, A Good Human, after having a look, she's now a fav of mine.
The Wall Street Journal interviews Michael Ruppert of From the Wilderness and the movie Collapse.
Excerpt:
"The Wall Street Journal: What is the central message of your movie?
Mr. Ruppert: It is not possible to continue infinite consumption and infinite population growth on a finite planet. "
Article on rising sea levels
Stoneleigh of The Automatic Earth sent this link to the Peak Oil discussion group I belong to. It's an interview published on the Oil Drum.
Last week I posted this link of Alex Steffen from World Changing taking a hit on the Transition Towns movement.
This is Rob Hopkins' response.
If you've got the time and the inclination, the comments of the above three pieces are an eye opening read.
And finally, as I quoted from above, Sharon Astyk shares some Lessons from the Edge.
Wishing you all a healthy, peace filled weekend, with many moments of laughter, lightness and joy and big bear hugs from someone you love.
Amber
~Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 165
I have quite a few things to share this week. By turns they are interesting, inspiring, hopeful, deeply concerning and downright depressing. Light and dark. Hopefully the darkness isn't so consuming that you'll you throw your hands up in despair, rather be sure to read the last link and Sharon's wish for:
"...people who get up every morning and do their share of this work, even if it seems it might not be enough, even if it hurts, even if they are tempted to let go and give in to despair, even if it means walking on the edge of dark places and along the abyss. I hope for people who do what is right, no matter what the outcome. And I feel I can hope for this among millions and billions, because I have seen such men and women, and I know that they are ordinary and they are real, and if they can do what they do, so can I. And so can you."
As usual the blogoshpere yields much that is rich, wonderful and insightful.
Homegrown Evolution has this post on the crazy popularity of digital farming. WTF!?
Chile Chews recently linked to The Solar Oven Chef blog. Wow.
Little Eco Footprints recently linked to one of her favourite bloggers, A Good Human, after having a look, she's now a fav of mine.
The Wall Street Journal interviews Michael Ruppert of From the Wilderness and the movie Collapse.
Excerpt:
"The Wall Street Journal: What is the central message of your movie?
Mr. Ruppert: It is not possible to continue infinite consumption and infinite population growth on a finite planet. "
Article on rising sea levels
Stoneleigh of The Automatic Earth sent this link to the Peak Oil discussion group I belong to. It's an interview published on the Oil Drum.
Last week I posted this link of Alex Steffen from World Changing taking a hit on the Transition Towns movement.
This is Rob Hopkins' response.
If you've got the time and the inclination, the comments of the above three pieces are an eye opening read.
And finally, as I quoted from above, Sharon Astyk shares some Lessons from the Edge.
Wishing you all a healthy, peace filled weekend, with many moments of laughter, lightness and joy and big bear hugs from someone you love.
Amber
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The Chemical Free Urban Homestead
I got an email from the Environmental Working Group about the hazards of conventional cleaners used in schools and safe cleaning tips for the home to keep your family safe.
I haven't used conventional cleaners for a long time now. I use environmentally friendly dish and laundry soap in bottles that I refill at my local enviro-store. For everything else I use vinegar, baking soda and sometimes salt and earlier this spring I wrote a post in praise of the best cleaning product of all, water.
Which is why I take issue with the first few tips the EWG offers. They recommend diluting conventional cleaning products, using small amounts, opening windows, using protective gloves and keeping kids away from chemicals. (How are you supposed to put the little buggers to work, if you have to keep them away from their cleaning chores? ;) )
Well, how about not using the products in the first place? Really. It isn't until step 8 that they encourage people to 'experiment' with vinegar and baking soda. News flash: baking soda and vinegar is a time-tested, tried and true way to clean your home. Honestly people. You don't need chemical cleaners. You don't. You really, really don't.
Here's a story: My upstairs neighbours were hosting a lot of people for a dinner and were cooking two lambs. One lamb went into their oven and they borrowed my oven for the other. We both ended up with a really thick and blackened layer of lamb juice baked onto the bottom of our ovens. My upstairs neighbour used a conventional oven cleaner. The whole house, their place and mine, reeked of harsh, toxic, chemical nastiness that burned my eyes and made my lungs hurt. All the windows were opened, in the middle of winter and we froze. The damn cleaner didn't even do that great of a job and apparently it was a real bitch to clean.
I opened my oven, dumped baking soda onto the mess, poured vinegar over that, watched it fizz for a bit and then closed the door and walked away from the whole thing, not quite ready to deal with it yet. I came back to it the next day and took a spatula to the baking soda covered, petrified lamb juice and resigned myself to a difficult chore. Lo! Everything lifted off as easily as can be, I piled the scrapings onto a couple of sheets of newspaper and wiped the oven down with a damp cloth. My oven sparkled and the remains of my cleaning job went into the compost. True story.
We don't need nasty, chemical cleaners in our lives, in our bodies, in our environment and in our water. Heck, for most things we don't even need fancy, expensive, 'green' products either.
Look, I don't mean to be a Prescriptive Polly here, but getting rid of chemical cleaners is one of the easiest things a person can do. It's better for the environment, it's better for everyone's health and it saves a lot money. It's kind of a no brainer don't you think?
So what about you? Am I just preaching to the converted here or do you still use conventional cleaners for some things? Most things? I'll tell you what, if you promise to stop, I'll come and clean your house for you!
Chemical free resources:
Baking soda
Vinegar
Get the kids involved
A little rusty?
Give the gift of greener clean.
More green clean
Still more and and more green cleaning
I haven't used conventional cleaners for a long time now. I use environmentally friendly dish and laundry soap in bottles that I refill at my local enviro-store. For everything else I use vinegar, baking soda and sometimes salt and earlier this spring I wrote a post in praise of the best cleaning product of all, water.
Which is why I take issue with the first few tips the EWG offers. They recommend diluting conventional cleaning products, using small amounts, opening windows, using protective gloves and keeping kids away from chemicals. (How are you supposed to put the little buggers to work, if you have to keep them away from their cleaning chores? ;) )
Well, how about not using the products in the first place? Really. It isn't until step 8 that they encourage people to 'experiment' with vinegar and baking soda. News flash: baking soda and vinegar is a time-tested, tried and true way to clean your home. Honestly people. You don't need chemical cleaners. You don't. You really, really don't.
Here's a story: My upstairs neighbours were hosting a lot of people for a dinner and were cooking two lambs. One lamb went into their oven and they borrowed my oven for the other. We both ended up with a really thick and blackened layer of lamb juice baked onto the bottom of our ovens. My upstairs neighbour used a conventional oven cleaner. The whole house, their place and mine, reeked of harsh, toxic, chemical nastiness that burned my eyes and made my lungs hurt. All the windows were opened, in the middle of winter and we froze. The damn cleaner didn't even do that great of a job and apparently it was a real bitch to clean.
I opened my oven, dumped baking soda onto the mess, poured vinegar over that, watched it fizz for a bit and then closed the door and walked away from the whole thing, not quite ready to deal with it yet. I came back to it the next day and took a spatula to the baking soda covered, petrified lamb juice and resigned myself to a difficult chore. Lo! Everything lifted off as easily as can be, I piled the scrapings onto a couple of sheets of newspaper and wiped the oven down with a damp cloth. My oven sparkled and the remains of my cleaning job went into the compost. True story.
We don't need nasty, chemical cleaners in our lives, in our bodies, in our environment and in our water. Heck, for most things we don't even need fancy, expensive, 'green' products either.
Look, I don't mean to be a Prescriptive Polly here, but getting rid of chemical cleaners is one of the easiest things a person can do. It's better for the environment, it's better for everyone's health and it saves a lot money. It's kind of a no brainer don't you think?
So what about you? Am I just preaching to the converted here or do you still use conventional cleaners for some things? Most things? I'll tell you what, if you promise to stop, I'll come and clean your house for you!
Chemical free resources:
Baking soda
Vinegar
Get the kids involved
A little rusty?
Give the gift of greener clean.
More green clean
Still more and and more green cleaning
Monday, November 2, 2009
Independence Days Week #27
For the last few weeks I kept thinking that this week will be my last Independence Days update until the spring, because as the fall progresses, frosty nights become the rule rather than the exception and the sun sets earlier each day, surely there must be little productivity left in the land and not much to do or tell.
Yet I am continually surprised at what I manage to accomplish (through no particular talents or gifts of my own, besides determination and perhaps not knowing any better) and now after having 3 seasons of gardening under my belt, I'm glad to let go of the illusion that growing, harvesting and eating only happens between Victoria and Labour day.
I didn't plant anything this week, but I was able to:
Harvest something:
- a wee bit of chard that have survived the frosts
- my last, not quite fully formed cabbage, but it'll do
- a handful of Jerusalem artichokes
Preserve something:
- plum butter
Waste not:
- returned egg cartons and milk bottles to organic market
- dish and laundry soap refills
- making another batch of egg shells in vinegar for a calcium supplement
- made bread
Want not:
- movies from the library (Old Joy and Short Cuts) and the Transition Handbook
- second hand hallowe'en costume
- salvaged a plastic sword and scythe left behind at the hallowe'en party- nice editions to my tickle trunk!
- took a lamp a neighbour was giving away
Preparation and storage:
- added some masks to medical supplies
- added canned veg. chili and sunflower seed butter to food storage pantry
- decanted and stored oils, tinctures and dried sage
- exercise: yoga 4 times, biked to market and garden
Build community food systems:
- local food from farmer's market
- gave away some plum butter to neighbours
Eat the food:
- pear butter
- used pesto and peas from the freezer in pasta
Take the medicine:
- plantain tincture
- wild carrot tincture
- violet flower syrup
- nettle and egg shell oxymel
- rosemary tea
Saturday, October 31, 2009
This is not a round up
It's a cold, wet and windy day today. I'm drinking coffee and eating oats topped with stewed apples, pears, raisins and cinnamon. I'm going to make plum butter today. The ADGMD got a bunch of divinely smelling grapes from a co-worker yesterday. I'm going to make grape juice. It'll be a perfect day for staying in and slow stirring sweet smelling food over the stove.
I didn't post a round up yesterday. I couldn't bring myself to. The only things that crossed my virtual desk this week were things that sent me into a tail spin of confusion and sorrow that left me with a heavy heart and bruised emotions.
Gawd. That sounds so emotional. Histrionic. If I had posted anything yesterday it would have been worse.
But today will be a different story. I'm going to put some music on. Maybe some Bonnie Prince Billy, Iron and Wine, Mariee Sioux. I'll dance to the Animal Collective.
Already I can smell the grapes as they cook down. Wow. It will be a day of fruit. A fruitful day. And perhaps some of the alchemical process of transmutation will rub off on me and lift my heavy spirits.
(If you want to know what it was I read, you can find the articles here, here and here. But don't say I didn't warn you.)
I didn't post a round up yesterday. I couldn't bring myself to. The only things that crossed my virtual desk this week were things that sent me into a tail spin of confusion and sorrow that left me with a heavy heart and bruised emotions.
Gawd. That sounds so emotional. Histrionic. If I had posted anything yesterday it would have been worse.
But today will be a different story. I'm going to put some music on. Maybe some Bonnie Prince Billy, Iron and Wine, Mariee Sioux. I'll dance to the Animal Collective.
Already I can smell the grapes as they cook down. Wow. It will be a day of fruit. A fruitful day. And perhaps some of the alchemical process of transmutation will rub off on me and lift my heavy spirits.
(If you want to know what it was I read, you can find the articles here, here and here. But don't say I didn't warn you.)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tck Tck Tck!
I left the Unstuffed Homestead on Saturday and headed to the Hill for the 350 International Day of Climate Action.
Here are some pics I took.
The rain didn't stop tons of people from filling the hill.
The Power Shift youth performed a really fun choreographed chant. "Oooh, it's getting hot in here. There's too much carbon in the atmosphere! Take action, take action and get some satisfaction!"
Hearing Paul Hogarth speaking about cycling across Canada with his family to raise awareness for climate change was really inspirational.
There's lots more pics here.
Here are some pics I took.
The rain didn't stop tons of people from filling the hill.
The Power Shift youth performed a really fun choreographed chant. "Oooh, it's getting hot in here. There's too much carbon in the atmosphere! Take action, take action and get some satisfaction!"
Hearing Paul Hogarth speaking about cycling across Canada with his family to raise awareness for climate change was really inspirational.
There's lots more pics here.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Independence Days Week #26
I've had half a bottle of VQA wine tonight, just 'cause. I've been drinking a fair bit of wine lately. Oh it's much less than I used to before I went all certified yogini, now just a glass or two (or half a bottle) here and there, but certainly more than I'm used to these days. This whole herbal obsession has got me thinking it's medicinal so I'll mull it over and add a splash of elderberry syrup and call it flu prevention. Still, it's an expensive habit and has a high water footprint.
Why am I telling you this? Possibly because I am tipsy and my self-censoring is low or maybe I feel the need to air my dirty laundry, confess my little peccadilloes and own up to my faux pas, if only to show how totally not even remotely close to perfect I am and yet I carry on, try my damnedest to do better and still have the nerve to identify myself as a passionate and devoted environmentalist/homesteader/simple living/frugalish type person.
Dear God, let these things and the occasional glass of wine be not mutually exclusive.
Last week the ADGMD and I went out to dinner to make our lives easier so we could get to an important talk on how to address peak oil and climate change. We didn't think ahead, and as usual ordered more food than we could eat and ended up with a whack load of styrofoam and plastic to take home. I made him hide the evidence in his bag before we showed up to the talk.
We went to the movies on Friday night (a live scored viewing of F.W. Murnau's Faust which was most awesome) and the ADGMD remembered to bring a container for his popcorn, so that's something.
And so now with a slightly guilty, mostly pleasurable buzz at 10pm on a Monday night I share with you...
Plant something:
- red clover sprouts
- horseradish (The damn squirrels dug up my evening primrose and mint that I planted last week. They tried again this week with the horseradish. One small root crown lay on top of the dirt. Thank goodness for pungency, even if it did make me think I might never be able to open my eyes again last week while grating the horseradish.)
Harvest something:
- rosemary
- sprouts
Preserve something:
- pear butter
- drying rosemary and sage
- sage honey
Waste not:
- made bread
Want not:
- medium size pyrex bowl, plate that fits my stone crock and an abridged copy of The Golden Bough from St. Vincent de Paul
- two dresses, one top, face cloths, bowl with a spout and utensils from Value Village
Preparation and storage:
- decanted infused oils, vinegars and tinctures started in the summer
Exercise:
- yoga three times, biking, walked to movies and back
Build community food systems:
- farmer's markets
- donated local delicata squash to food bank
Eat the food:
- ate some pickled beets and the last of my fermented pickles straight out of the jar, at the counter, for dinner one night. Good! (Note to self: Plant way more cucumbers next year. Make waaaaay more fermented pickles with said cukes.)
- beet greens and chard with pasta
- apple mint honey over oats, raisins and yogurt
Take the medicine:
- creeping charlie vinegar
- nettle vinegar
- wild carrot tincture
- sage tea
- elderberry syrup
Why am I telling you this? Possibly because I am tipsy and my self-censoring is low or maybe I feel the need to air my dirty laundry, confess my little peccadilloes and own up to my faux pas, if only to show how totally not even remotely close to perfect I am and yet I carry on, try my damnedest to do better and still have the nerve to identify myself as a passionate and devoted environmentalist/homesteader/simple living/frugalish type person.
Dear God, let these things and the occasional glass of wine be not mutually exclusive.
Last week the ADGMD and I went out to dinner to make our lives easier so we could get to an important talk on how to address peak oil and climate change. We didn't think ahead, and as usual ordered more food than we could eat and ended up with a whack load of styrofoam and plastic to take home. I made him hide the evidence in his bag before we showed up to the talk.
We went to the movies on Friday night (a live scored viewing of F.W. Murnau's Faust which was most awesome) and the ADGMD remembered to bring a container for his popcorn, so that's something.
And so now with a slightly guilty, mostly pleasurable buzz at 10pm on a Monday night I share with you...
Plant something:
- red clover sprouts
- horseradish (The damn squirrels dug up my evening primrose and mint that I planted last week. They tried again this week with the horseradish. One small root crown lay on top of the dirt. Thank goodness for pungency, even if it did make me think I might never be able to open my eyes again last week while grating the horseradish.)
Harvest something:
- rosemary
- sprouts
Preserve something:
- pear butter
- drying rosemary and sage
- sage honey
Waste not:
- made bread
Want not:
- medium size pyrex bowl, plate that fits my stone crock and an abridged copy of The Golden Bough from St. Vincent de Paul
- two dresses, one top, face cloths, bowl with a spout and utensils from Value Village
Preparation and storage:
- decanted infused oils, vinegars and tinctures started in the summer
Exercise:
- yoga three times, biking, walked to movies and back
Build community food systems:
- farmer's markets
- donated local delicata squash to food bank
Eat the food:
- ate some pickled beets and the last of my fermented pickles straight out of the jar, at the counter, for dinner one night. Good! (Note to self: Plant way more cucumbers next year. Make waaaaay more fermented pickles with said cukes.)
- beet greens and chard with pasta
- apple mint honey over oats, raisins and yogurt
Take the medicine:
- creeping charlie vinegar
- nettle vinegar
- wild carrot tincture
- sage tea
- elderberry syrup
Friday, October 23, 2009
Unstuffed's Weekly Roundup: It's beginning to look a lot like...
The festive holiday season will be here before you know it. Don't get caught up in the hustle and bustle of busy malls and last minute impulse buys. Don't crumble under the pressure of advertisers who will try to sell you the idea that happiness only comes from lots of shiny, big and new stuff. Instead, why not stay out of credit card debt, be a little kinder to the earth and get creative and make your own gifts, buy handmade or second hand, give the gift of time shared together with a loved one or a donation on someones behalf?
Why? Because all the cool ladies are doin' it.
Melinda's doing it. Crunchy's doing it. Rhonda Jean's doing it. Sharon's doing it.
I did it last year, and had tons of fun making the rounds at church bazaars, and I can't wait to do it again this year.
Not that I think I'm cool. I'm not. I'm a dork. Really. How do I know? Because I got really, really friggin' excited about my discovery that I can cover my feet with my leg warmers while wearing flip flops, meaning I don't have to buy slippers with a hard sole! And believe me, I come from a long line of Hausschuhe wearing women, so this is a big deal.
(Leg warmers were purchased from a thrift store. Flip flops were hand me downs from a friend.)
I love my crochet mary janes I made last year, but they're not so ideal for house work like mopping the bathroom floor (not that I do that very often) or for say standing in the kitchen for long periods dicing and cooking pears for pear butter. I like wearing flip flops in the house because it keeps my feet off the cold floor, provides a little cushioning and I don't notice the grit of my unswept, unmopped floors so much. The flip flops work great in the summer, but not as well in the winter, in my cold basement apartment with my poor circulation. (Can you say varicose veins kids? Ugh, you know you're in your thirties when varicose veins enters your vocabulary.) But now, with my new discovery I can keep wearing my flip flops this winter and have warm feet. I'm a friggin' genius! In fact that's what I said to the ADGMD, "I'm a genius!" He (who took the blurry pics) just laughed. At me. Ok, so I'm not a genius, and I'm a dork, but hey, at least I've got sole. Bah dum dum ching. Moving on....
In local news...if you live in the NCR two cool things are going on this weekend you should participate in, if you can. First of all, please join me and thousands of others in filling the Hill for climate change. This is a really important event so come on out and tell our leaders that you want action on climate change now.
The second event is the hidden treasures give away weekend. Got stuff you want to give away? Put it out on the curb with a free sign and watch it disappear to a new home! Need stuff? Wander around your neighbourhood and get it for free!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone and look for me on the Hill or rummaging through your stuff!
Yours in unstuffed, dorkdom,
Amber
Why? Because all the cool ladies are doin' it.
Melinda's doing it. Crunchy's doing it. Rhonda Jean's doing it. Sharon's doing it.
I did it last year, and had tons of fun making the rounds at church bazaars, and I can't wait to do it again this year.
Not that I think I'm cool. I'm not. I'm a dork. Really. How do I know? Because I got really, really friggin' excited about my discovery that I can cover my feet with my leg warmers while wearing flip flops, meaning I don't have to buy slippers with a hard sole! And believe me, I come from a long line of Hausschuhe wearing women, so this is a big deal.
(Leg warmers were purchased from a thrift store. Flip flops were hand me downs from a friend.)I love my crochet mary janes I made last year, but they're not so ideal for house work like mopping the bathroom floor (not that I do that very often) or for say standing in the kitchen for long periods dicing and cooking pears for pear butter. I like wearing flip flops in the house because it keeps my feet off the cold floor, provides a little cushioning and I don't notice the grit of my unswept, unmopped floors so much. The flip flops work great in the summer, but not as well in the winter, in my cold basement apartment with my poor circulation. (Can you say varicose veins kids? Ugh, you know you're in your thirties when varicose veins enters your vocabulary.) But now, with my new discovery I can keep wearing my flip flops this winter and have warm feet. I'm a friggin' genius! In fact that's what I said to the ADGMD, "I'm a genius!" He (who took the blurry pics) just laughed. At me. Ok, so I'm not a genius, and I'm a dork, but hey, at least I've got sole. Bah dum dum ching. Moving on....
In local news...if you live in the NCR two cool things are going on this weekend you should participate in, if you can. First of all, please join me and thousands of others in filling the Hill for climate change. This is a really important event so come on out and tell our leaders that you want action on climate change now.
The second event is the hidden treasures give away weekend. Got stuff you want to give away? Put it out on the curb with a free sign and watch it disappear to a new home! Need stuff? Wander around your neighbourhood and get it for free!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone and look for me on the Hill or rummaging through your stuff!
Yours in unstuffed, dorkdom,
Amber
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Hey you!
Hey! If you live in the Ottawa area why don't you come out to this ActCity Ottawa event tonight! I'll be there. It'll be cool. Oh and while yer at it, have a listen to this CBC radio interview (Click on the first link. The one that says CBC radio interview.) about Transition Ottawa. You'll actually hear the words 'peak oil' on national radio!
ACT 19 - Transition Towns
ACT - A COMMUNITY TALKS
Transition Towns - 12 steps to kicking the oil habit
Date: WED. Oct. 21st, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Hintonburg Community Centre
1064 Wellington Street (3 blocks west of Somerset)
Ottawa, ON
Free parking in back of the community centre.
Bus: No. 2
Summary:
Britain has led the way with Transition Towns(TTs) with over 112 registered so far. These are towns who have committed to making the efforts to wean themselves off the oil habit and on to more sustainable solutions.
Ottawa has just been accepted as a Transition Town and the people involved in that effort are presenting at ACT 19 to explain TTs and facilitate discussion.
1. Presentation (1 hour):
The Challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change
The Transition Town Response
Transition Ottawa
Presenters: Heather Hamilton, Kaia Nightingale
2. Panel Discussion (1 hour):
Panel would be composed of Transition Ottawa members (Heather Hamilton, Kaia Nightingale, Chris Wilson, John Davidson) to field and discuss questions from attendees.
3. Socializing: 30 minutes
Brought to you by ActCity Ottawa
E: actcityottawa@gmail.com
Web: http://ato.smartcapital.ca/actcity
ACT 19 - Transition Towns
ACT - A COMMUNITY TALKS
Transition Towns - 12 steps to kicking the oil habit
Date: WED. Oct. 21st, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Place: Hintonburg Community Centre
1064 Wellington Street (3 blocks west of Somerset)
Ottawa, ON
Free parking in back of the community centre.
Bus: No. 2
Summary:
Britain has led the way with Transition Towns(TTs) with over 112 registered so far. These are towns who have committed to making the efforts to wean themselves off the oil habit and on to more sustainable solutions.
Ottawa has just been accepted as a Transition Town and the people involved in that effort are presenting at ACT 19 to explain TTs and facilitate discussion.
1. Presentation (1 hour):
The Challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change
The Transition Town Response
Transition Ottawa
Presenters: Heather Hamilton, Kaia Nightingale
2. Panel Discussion (1 hour):
Panel would be composed of Transition Ottawa members (Heather Hamilton, Kaia Nightingale, Chris Wilson, John Davidson) to field and discuss questions from attendees.
3. Socializing: 30 minutes
Brought to you by ActCity Ottawa
E: actcityottawa@gmail.com
Web: http://ato.smartcapital.ca/actcity
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