A Different Chicken Dinner

Did you know that you can, on a whim on the way home from work, stop by the local grocery store and purchase a whole (dead) chicken for about $5.00? And that chicken can be ALREADY CUT UP, cooked in 10 minutes in the pressure cooker and eaten in the same evening? Wow. It seems the height of luxury and convenience. Isn’t this a crazy country we live in, or what?

I’m only half-kidding here, people. Every chicken we have cooked and eaten in the past few years has either come from an elaborate farm co-op order/delivery process or from chickens we raised and butchered ourselves. They were delicious and clean, and I feel good about supporting small agriculture or our own efforts. But it doesn’t happen all in one evening.

I’ve been told I should be eating more protein for my (and baby’s) health. So, yesterday, I availed myself of the modern American food distribution system and simply purchased a fresh, already-cleaned and cut-up chicken. Albiet, a “natural” Amish raised chicken that was on sale at the “regular grocery store.” I hear tell that other people do this all the time. I don’t expect that I will do it all the time, myself, but it was an interesting exercise in seeing how “other people” live.

Sometimes we make life hard for ourselves with our “different” and idealistic practices. But where do you draw the line between health, convenience and supporting your larger ideals?

A Bright Idea

QUOTING (NOT AGREEING) here:

“Not only are CFLs much more expensive than incandescent bulbs and emit light that many regard as inferior to incandescent bulbs, they pose a nightmare if they break and require special disposal procedures. Should government (egged on by environmentalists and the Wal-Marts of the world) impose on us such higher costs, denial of lighting choice, disposal hassles and breakage risks in the name of saving a few dollars every year on the electric bill?” -- Steven Milloy, editor of Junk Science, 4/30/07

OK, UNQUOTE:

Wow. Environmentalists AND Wal-Mart? Not often you see those two things lumped together as part of a right-wing consiracy about government control. This has been discussed many places before, but seems to be coming up more often. There was a high-profile case in Maine about someone being told to hire a contractor for $2000 to clean up a broken bulb. Not necessary, but it is important to be careful with these bulbs.

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but to me the answer is clear:

USE CFLs. (Indeed, they are the ONLY type of bulb we use at our house; solar power requires low loads). They also reduce emissions from coal-burning power plants in an important, significant way.

BE CAREFUL WHEN HANDLING THEM. They do contain a small amount of mercury. Use care when cleaning up a broken bulb.

RECYCLE THEM WHEN THEY BURN OUT. We're lucky in MN that there are lots of options for doing so; hope it will get easier all over the country soon.

It's as simple as that. It's NOT a governmental conspiracy for "denial of lighting choices". Sheesh!

Blessed Geography

On a more serious note (I suppose that last entry was fairly flippant, eh?): many people in places near here (MN Gunflint Trail) or in places I used to live (Kansas, Nebraska) are dealing with some very scary natural phenomenons; fire, tornadoes and floods.

My heart goes out to all those people. We have been blessed with safety, fairly normal weather and an intact house; I'm grateful for so many things. Need to remember that gratitude and not let myself fall into complaining too much about ticks and mosquitoes; I'm happy to be HERE!

Raising Soul

Ahhh...

So, where to begin? I sit here at my computer, a small sprig of cedar nearby. We have cedar here, but this is special, “imported” cedar. It is a reminder of an amazing experience, a weekend spent in reflection and reenergizing in Vermont. A small retreat center on the shore of a big lake (Lake Champlain), spring just beginning to spring, buds bursting, fiddleheads unfurling, eagles soaring. And an amazing, gifted workshop facilitator who gently led the group while participating, herself. Creating sacred space, ritual, hugs, healing, laughing, connecting.

Words really do pale when I try to explain the experience, even to myself. I was shy about telling people that I was going on a retreat to connect with my soul (sounds kinda cheesy, eh?), but something drew me there. I had a free plane ticket waiting around from years of occasional flying, so it really was a very reasonable indulgence, price-wise. I savored every minute of the trip. Met some people I consider kin. Found inspiration for the journey.

I really don’t understand why or how the experience held so much power, but it truly did. I went hoping to just rest and maybe relax; I found instead that I was asking (and receiving answers) to big questions that were simmering in the back of my mind. The Universe can provide some pretty obvious signs, when one is receptive. I was truly blessed, and am feeling powerful and hopeful for the future. The world looks different to me, in a very beautiful way. I hope to share this peace with WF, as well, and maybe... Namaste, Universe, and aho!

I will perhaps be writing more on this, and sharing bits with some of you personally, but I did want to share the link here. Visit Annie O’Shaughnessy’s Soul Flares and see for yourself. The website just gives a tiny taste; it’s hard to show so much impact in a little page, I think. Trust me, it was AMAZING. Go if you can. Read the good thoughts on the page if you can’t get away. Annie is planning on creating a “Wild Soul Tour 2008”: perhaps we’ll even host her in Minnesota. She’s not a guru offering a religious experience (not a cult, don't worry) just a regular, soulful, honest person who has a great skill at connecting. I hope many more people can find this kind of power and peace.

Thanks, and blessed be!

Sad World

Ack, I’m still here, really. Just crazy-busy-swamped, mostly with work and some fretting about the cats. The world, of course, is crazy too. News from Virginia is very very sad, but it frustrates me how the media pounces upon “dramatic” death and ignores the “regular” variety like the all-too-frequent deaths in Iraq. Why is the flag at half-staff for those students and not for the Iraqi women and children who died in the markets this week? Sigh...

Peace on the Mall

A friend of ours recently made the 24-hour bus ride down to Washington, DC to participate in the big anti-war/peace rally on the Mall. I’ve considered going in past years, but it just hasn’t fit into the schedule yet. 48 total hours on a bus for about 6 hours at the destination is REAL commitment!


The pictures and thoughts she sent after the experience are a great glimpse of what’s going on in the country right now. She was impressed by the variety of ages represented. This isn’t a small group of crazy, young liberal protesters, no matter what the media might try to tell (or not tell) us. These are regular people, concerned about a horrible quagmire:



And yet, how to get through to the hard-headed politicians? She gave the go-ahead to share this:

"My impressions of the protest and march are a little mixed. As a grand summary, I'm really glad I went. I think it's important to try to get media attention on citizen opposition to the war and the troop surge. But the feeling of being there was not powerful. I've been trying to figure out why not. I think the biggest reason for it (besides not being a firey-eyed 20-year-old anymore) was that there was no one there to convince. I mean NO ONE.
[It was] 11a on Saturday morning…. No one was at work; no one was at the capitol; no tourists this time of year either. We rode the subway in and it was full..... of peace marchers. Thousands of us just collectively bobbing around the Mall like pecking chickens, showing our wattles to each other. Now I do realize, of course, that this was a media event... but still. “ (Thanks, Susan!)

I thought the chicken owners among you might enjoy that reference. But seriously. What can we do? How will change finally happen? Our lately-more-conservative local paper hardly did a tiny blip on this event, a shame.

It hurts my heart to hear of how bad life has become for regular people (and the troops) over in Iraq. What a mess. What to do?

Wake Up!

Speaking again of public radio, did anyone else wake up to the definitive news summary today that “Global Warming is real and the earth will be substantially altered for thousands of years”? Or something like that…I was still groggy. That is NOT news to me or many, many scientists, but interesting to hear it so flatly stated on NPR (and apparently lots of other more right wing stations). Great words to literally and figuratively “wake up” to though, eh? Even the groundhogs are telling us to wake up.

I’ve seen more acceptance of this Climate Change idea from politicians and even Park Service officials around here lately, too, so it will be interesting to see where these new, stunning “revelations” get us. Finally some good change, perhaps? But is it too late? I believe that it IS too late to actually stop the climate change, but perhaps more people will learn to live lightly (and therefore for longer) on our now-compromised planet. Maybe.

Sometimes I’m optimistic about people learning to change their consumption habits, but other times I just want to crawl under the covers for a few days. But even people still in denial about the climate will have to deal with the unpleasant, mundane consequences, like this article about never-ending colds. Great... (Thanks to the Worsted Witch for posting those links!)

Such cheer. Sorry. I seem to be wordier than expected, so there's still one more not-so-cheery (but interesting) news-related item to come, in the next post...

So Sad

Damn. Why do the good ones have to leave us so soon?!?!

Molly Ivins is who I was thinking of when I explained the “shrub” mention a couple entries back. Back when I used to scrounge old magazines for entertainment, her column in The Progressive was a highlight of my week. I was always impressed that our local, somewhat good-‘ol-boy Union newsletter ran her column, too.

If there’s an afterlife, I hope she’s having a wonderful dinner with Wellstone, Ann Richards, and hey, maybe even Douglas Adams. All gone too soon. I’m sure they’d all get along well. It’s such a shame. We certainly could use so much MORE of her wit and wisdom. Sigh...

Syllable slinging

From an article in today's paper:

“With one word, Mike Hatch offended all of Minnesota. By calling a newspaper reporter a ‘whore,’ the angry, slash-and-burn Hatch that he’s tried to hide over the past year has finally been revealed. Hatch has a long history bullying and attacking those who question him,” said Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Ron Carey. “Hatch’s latest blow-up shows he doesn’t have the temperament to lead our state.”


My response:
"With rabid focus one syllable from certain opponents, the Republican Party has finally revealed their true fear of defeat and lack of substance in their own policies and campaigns. With juvenile finger-pointing at that one syllable, they hope to down Democrats who might actually care about issues like health care and the environment. This latest blow-up shows that they are so desperate, they should hardly be taken seriously (if only this wasn’t about real live and leadership, or lack thereof!). Definitely not fit to lead our state or any government at all."

Sheesh.

Do they really think we’re that stupid, or that all we need to worry about are one-sylable words?? So, maybe Kerry forgot to say “us” in the “get stuck in Iraq” flap. So what? Does it really mean he’s therefore unfit to campaign for other candidates (????). And now grown men are trying to convince us that ANY use of the word whore is offending everyone in the (apparently delicate) state of MN? Come on, guys, give us more credit than that! There’s more important things in the world to worry about. Who’s “bullying and attacking” now?

Senior Seeger

"Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple." -Pete Seeger

In keeping with that quote, this is my simple tribute and HAPPY BIRTHDAY post in honor of the wise and honored elder Pete Seeger. Today is his 87th birthday. It seems that there was a bit more press last year on this date, maybe not as much (but still some) this year.

I'm so glad he's still around to feel the good vibes of happy wishes. I've never seen him perform and I suppose his heyday was waaaay before my time, but I heard him speak on the radio a couple years ago and was quite smitten.





Thanks for your wisdom, Mr. Seeger, and may your influence stay strong. We need you more than ever these days!

The world is weird

Ah, the neglectful blogger. Sorry. I've been on a foray into the "mainstream" world lately, mostly caused by work. (Eieeeee!) But it's been partly caused by a morbid fascination with "observing" this weird world we live in so that I can understand where people are coming from when they do incomprehensible things, like vote for certain republicans. I also used to work more often with kids, and don't want to come off as a complete fuddy-duddy if I ever do again.

So, reading the Sunday paper "insert" magazine the other day, I came upon this:


You can order your very own (or select from one of the other numerous, racy designs) here.

Apparently I need to "observe" more intently, because this one has me completely stumped. Trendy fast racecars on your slowcooker? Buying a new slowcooker every few years to reflect the latest hot action at the track? Earnest, stew-making wives with crushes, gazing longingly at the driver on her kitchen ware? Lordy.

This racing thing is so completely bizarre, I can't even begin to understand. I do know, however, that they use leaded gas (for better "performance") for those races. Lead from emissions has a proven, negative effect upon children's intelligence. Hmmm....

Enough. The sun is shining and I'm going to go meet WF for a lovely dinner at a locally owned, local food using neighborhood cafe. I think that THERE I'll be safe from the perplexing "celebrity" slowcooker subculture- whew!

Awareness Rising?

The chickens are a tough act to follow, but I've been wanting to share these links. Has anyone seen this stuff "out there" on TV, etc? Lacking a TV, we're sometimes out of the public discourse loop.

Watch the Ads here (Environmental Defense, Fight Global Warming)
And here (Video will start- from Blue Man Group).

It's maybe a BIT gloom and doom to get back to the Global Warming topic, but I think these are positive signs. When the local podunk free newspaper (which includes conservative columnists saying women's fashions make us look like "Floozy Swoops" and features bad photos of middle school musicals) runs the front page headline "Global warming signs right here," I suspect the public thought about this is begining to change. The article is actually a very good focus on on some MN naturalists and professors who insist that "We're not activists" but are encouraging people to keep phenology journals and see the changes for themselves.

So, where will we go from here? Will the mainstream just accept the change and move on? Or is it finally time for real change and action among the "majority"?

It's about Words

Don’t you hate it when you try to warn someone about something bad coming their way, making dire predictions to try to spur them into action, only to have them ignore you? Then, sooner than you expected, those bad predictions come true, but it’s too awful to say “Haha- told you so”…??

That’s how I felt when I read this story about the MN climate this week, and this one about the Arctic. I heard a republican say last week that Bush is only one man, so why should HE try to do anything to stop the warming? I’m afraid that may be true… we’re likely on this path of no return, no matter WHAT we do now. Sigh….

But I did find a tiny ray of hope in another news article. (I think you can get to it without registering only the first time you try, so use your first glimpse well!) Since it’s Sunday and WF and I are busy worshiping in our “church of the big blue sky,” this will be my spiritual musings for the day.

The article made me think again about the words people choose to use and their significance:

“Use of the term "creation care" is important, said Calvin DeWitt, a professor at the University of Wisconsin and the founder of the Au Sable Institute, a Christian institute dedicated to better understanding of the natural world. He said some ministers shy away from being identified as environmentalists.

"Some of them will hug a tree at some point, but they'll hug it because the Creator hugs it, not because some environmentalist hugs it."

Heaven forbid, you wouldn’t want to be associated with those crazy “environmentalists!” But if this is what it takes to get some attention for this poor beleaguered earth from the religious right, so be it. Even though I think the words “creation care” seem oddly condescending (like day care for the planet… how sweet!), I’m glad to hear the conservatives finally using this strange power of buzz words for some good.

I’ve been running into more examples of this power lately. I read George Lakoff’s “Don’t Think of an Elephant” a while back- very eye-opening. He discusses how the Right has figured out how to conjure up “frames” in our minds with just a word or two… some sly writing/PR prowess that is rather hard to counteract. “Tax Relief,” “Partial Birth Abortion” and all that. There is a lot of meaning and emotion packed into those words, and if interest groups can get the media, etc to use them, it helps to throw the debate.

So if “environment” has become a bad word, or one that is often misused to describe some lefty agenda (as if the “environment” is a quaint hobby that some of us enjoy, “an add-on for birdwatchers”) I applaud their search for words they can use while starting to pay attention to reality.

Even if they are not interested in joining with us in our weird liberal “environment” politics, I think that we might ALL be very interested in things like breathing clean air, drinking safe water and eating food. If they want to work together caring for that they see as “creation” and what I see as a “crucial life support system that we all desperately need,” I’ll be right there beside them.

Alleluia, Mother Earth! Blessed Be!

Lead Story

Ah, the world. I wish I had a frivolous sweater/cat/chicken post today, but I warn everyone now that this won't be a terribly cheery post, either. Someday soon! My camera battery charger is currently lost, so this week's tally of random cat pictures is extremely low. Sorry.

A while back, when we first realized we'd be building a chicken coop, FW and I decided to stop in at a new building materials reuse center to scope out materials. The place is a great joint venture between a few entities, providing deconstruction jobs for women, offering job training and keeping materials out the landfill. A very good thing. The warehouse is filled with old toilets, windows, sinks and doors. Two-by-fours with the nails painstakingly pulled out... that sort of thing.

We perused the historic doors, and chose a clean, white painted solid old specimen with a nice, ornate doorknob. It felt really good to have the first concrete piece of the new coop we'd soon build. It even had a working latch and door jamb. I was excited.

We stored it in the garage for a while, and when we finally got around to working with a carpenter acquaintance, he designed one end of the coop around that door. The latch has held, and the door had been keeping out predators and keeping chickens in for a few months now. All seemed well.

Except. (Why does there ALWAYS seem to be a catch when it comes to the poultry venture these days?) The door was painted with interior paint. We didn't really think anything of this. After just a couple weeks outside, it started peeling and chipping off. I vaguely wondered about lead paint, but didn't know what to do (oh, innocence and ignorance). We got busy and generally fretted about other things (bare-backed hens, wet stinky litter, etc). But the other day, I finally decided to buy a lead test kit. I hoped to maybe find out it WASN'T lead, that we could rest easy.

It is definitely lead. Sheee-it. While I’m glad it’s not actually IN our house (some people have nightmares of toxic home renovations) this chips were likely falling onto the ground around the outside of the coop. I’ve been picking up chips when I find them, but it’s not crazy to think that the chickens may have eaten some. They seem fine, but…????

What frustrates me so much is that we did this to ourselves! We thought we were being virtuous in recycling old materials, and now we've brought in a toxin where there wasn’t one before. This REALLY bothers me, and I really wish I’d been more aware of this issue. FW thinks I’m a bit over the top, worrying about possible health effects (for egg consumers, mostly, not so much the chickens themselves).

What really spurred me to action (and worrying, I’ll admit) is an amazing book: Having Faith by Sandra Steingraber. I believe she’s fairly well known to some people in the environmental community, but I only woke up to her work after reading her recent article in Orion magazine about mercury and her 6 yr old daughter. She emphasizes that the first environment we all experience is the one inside the womb, and that this environment (and subsequent development of the baby) is highly impacted by outside toxins like lead and mercury. It’s a primal and very basic truth, one that I doubt many lawmakers and corporate executives EVER consider when they ignore or ease emissions standards, etc.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have my own children, but we’re still considering the idea. Whether we reproduce or not, other people will. While some cynics will say there are too many people out there anyway, my wish is for all future children who ARE born to be as healthy and intelligent as possible. And things like lead and mercury interfere with that equation. It’s terribly maddening, especially when you learn that some people have been aware of the risks of lead in paint, etc for decades- likely since the 1920’s. And don’t get me started about mercury in fish. So WHY are FW and I still dealing with lead’s dangers in 2006?? It comes down to money, greed, and paint companies ignoring science. And the nightmare of lead paint is far from over- it’s lurking under the paint in so many buildings to this day. It’s not just a 1970’s issue, as some people think.

What other “surprises” are out there, waiting for us to wake up and believe the science? I’m not sure I want to know. We’re plenty busy right now, dealing with this hazard in the midst of our organic chicken flock. We’re doing our best with FW's careful scraping, masks, etc, but it’s a daunting task. I HATE it, and I’m scared… for us and the overall future of the world.

So. I warned you, not a cheery post. Expect a few more like this as I sort through my thoughts on this toxin thing. But maybe next time I can regale you with slapstick tales of lead abatement shenanigans- wheeheee!

Spare a little Climate change?

It's getting late and I'm on the edge of my mid-week time budget, but I want to sneak in a post to react to some amazing/sobering presentations I've heard this week. (Or really, maybe, I'm just feeling a need to get the frivolity of a blinding pink sweater off the top of the blog!)

Heard Dr. Mark Seeley from the U of M (public radio listeners are likely familiar with him- great speaker) talk about Climate Change and it's implications for this part of the country. Of course, there are obvious recent trends showing warmer winters, more tropical dewpoints and an increase in torrential downpours, flooding, etc. So what, you say?

Implications include a predicted increase in overwintering of plant diseases and pests, changes of microbes and insect populations, and large change in animal migration, hibernation and foraging. Don't know exactly why, but I got chills when he mentioned DNR scientists presenting evidence for lots of animal behavior changes. We may just be blind, stupid humans who'll debate this issue till we all fall off the damn earth, but those animals KNOW something's up.

He also mentioned that this change will be a boon to the building trades - more time for construction! Oh, joy. There will be less energy needs in the winter around here, maybe, but also an increased demand for air conditioning among us formerly tough Minnesotans. He also invoked the name of Kansas in mentioning the expectation that EVERYTHING be air conditioned. When I lived there in the 110 degree, 95% humidity summers, it was very much like a ghost town or a -20 degree day in MN. People completely quit going outside unless they HAVE to, and then park their air conditioned cars as close as they can to the air conditioned stores. It was very wierd.

Even the "government" seems to be posting some "facts" that seem to match these predictions.

Anyway, I'm trying to think of how to prepare here at the homestead...thinking of putting gutters on the metal-roofed coop to catch water in rain barrels during the torrential rainstorms to use during less water times, and resolving to be aware of soil temp changes (which have increased dramatically over the past 40 years) to figure out what varieties of crops will do the best. We are just learning our soil and land, but now may need to be aware of it's slow change. More insulation, definitely, too... should help in summer AND winter. Gotta be thinking about this stuff.

AND learn more about being grateful to the earth, this place and our home. Attended some other sessions on Geomancy and Feng Shui- but that's a whole different post. Later!

Trains, Planes and Fresh, Warm Eggs

Travels! Good for the soul, not so good for the retention of nice mittens. More on that later. It was good to be away and to return to a cleaner house than normal. A fastidious housesitter and the, ah, embarrassment-fueled cleaning frenzy before her arrival made the house a bit more polished than usual, which is nice. Hoping to keep up with some of the cleaning/decluttering tasks now that we’re back. It’s a lighter feeling to know that a former resident’s shopping list from 2001 is no longer stuffed in the back of the junk drawer….

So, Boston. Mostly a good visit with family, FW’s sister and her husband and two cute kids. Uncle FW became an immediate jungle gym, with much climbing, chasing and delighted shrieking by the girls. Spent a lot of time “at home” with them, but did some outings to the Science Museum and Harvard Square. Also took a couple days to head up the commuter rail to the end of the line to see some off-season tourist spots, window shopping and beach leaping (FW still finds my beach exuberance strange-?).

Had this conversation with our 5 yr old niece while calmly riding the “T” subway train among all the commuters with books and ipods one day:

GTR: You’re lucky to have trains like this here. We don’t have them where we live.
S: Why?
GTR: Well, there used to be some, but people decided we didn’t need them anymore.
S: Why?
GTR: Hmm, I think it’s because some people think cars are easier to use.
S: That’s not good, because cars use too much gas! Trains are better- they don’t have to stop for gas!

A girl wise beyond her years. She kept asking “What does ____ mean?” and surprising us with her insights about certain things. It was fun to hear her older sister learning to read, talk with FW’s sister and generally glimpse other lives for a few days.

Speaking of trains…here is the “new home” of my former convertible mitten/gloves. I took them off on the train to mess with the camera, then violated my own travel rule of “always look back” to see if you’ve left anything. The seats were too high to see into, FW was in a hurry to get off at our later-turned-out-to-be-icky stop, and once I had realized they were left behind, the train had left the station, so to speak. Alas. The T staff was very helpful once we got back to the North Station in Boston, but the gloves were nowhere to be found, even on the actual train car we’d ridden on… I suspect they’ve been adopted by some Bostonian. Ah, well… hope the new owner enjoys the remnants of my morning jogs and chicken chores to be found on them. I did find some nice sort-of replacements at the Whole Foods Market (one of the suburban tour highlights). Alpaca, still convertible, just not as good for driving, etc.

The flights were fine, even if the whole concept of flying is a bit mind-blowing when you really sit down and think about it. Some of the only sun we saw all week was AFTER we had flown above the clouds. Surreal.


And upon our return, all inhabitants of our little homestead were intact, and FW came in today with 3 very large, warm eggs. Warm eggs are another, more grounded mind-blowing concept. Body temperature, reminding me where those eggs came from!

Ok, feeling a bit more caught up. Off to do the weekend chores... more photos later!