Victory Gardens & Knowing How to Grow Your Own Food

The articles in Sunday’s paper (see my comments and links under the title “Sustainability on Lummi Island”) have got me thinking and remembering. Paben quotes University of California, Berkeley professor Michael Pollan: “Dwindling oil means the era of cheap and abundant food is ending, wrote food policy expert and University of California, Berkeley professor Michael Pollan to President-elect Barack Obama in The New York Times Magazine in October. It will no longer make financial sense to catch salmon in Alaska, ship it to China to be filleted and send it back to California to be eaten, he wrote.
“To some degree, what he’s calling for has been done before. Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II launched the Victory Garden movement, wherein residents planted home gardens to help feed the nation. By the end of the war, 20 million home gardens were producing 40 percent of the produce consumed in the country, Pollan wrote” (Paben, Jered. “Country leans toward life off grid.” Bellingham Herald, 4 Jan 2-2009, A1)
In a following article, Paben quotes a Lummi Island resident Laura Plaut, owner of Common Threads Farm, explaining why she became interested in farming with a lower case “F.” By the way, Common Threads Farm is completely off the grid, and relies 100 percent on solar energy – in the gray and wet western Washington. “Years ago, [Plaut] had an awakening, realizing she was highly educated but didn’t know how to feed herself. She wants her son, Riley DeWeese, 5, to grow up with those skills.
“’I like that my food travels about 20 feet from seed to the table,’ she said” (Paben, Jered. “Lummi Islanders grow in self-sustainability.” Bellingham Herald, 4 Jan 2-2009, A3).
Prior to our moving onto our sailboat, we lived in the small town of Garfield, WA. Our older neighbors down the lane from us cooperated in growing a garden. In fact, most people grew gardens. There were always plenty of vegetables to share with neighbors and friends. Enough zucchini, in fact, that it was generally only during zucchini season that people locked their cars, to keep out the zucchini – as they, themselves, had plenty at home. Gardening makes an enormous amount of sense for a land-based sustainable life-style. If memory serves, it was Wendell Berry who figured a 40 foot by 40 foot garden could feed a family of four without any waste, as the left-over gardening, went back into the garden in the form of compost, or what not.
But this also brings to mind another story that I think is worth keeping in the backs of our minds, especially during times of economic hardships. Some friends of mine got into the chicken and egg business back in the 1980s. Some folks at the WSU Extension were aware of this, and asked if they would be willing to work with a University student from Africa who was interested in learning about chickens. They were delighted to do so. The story finally came out, that as a child this African student had watched his fellow citizens leaving a major city in despair. When the colonial power pulled out of the now independent country, there was a period of turmoil, the result being that some of the infrastructure collapsed. Part of the infrastructure that collapsed was the food supply. These people walking down the road past our young friend, did not know how to feed themselves, or even how to get water out of the near by creek. Our friend promised his parents and extended family that as he was getting a college education, he would also become educated in keeping chickens. Knowing how to care for chickens would be the tool to allow himself to care for his family.

With roughly only two weeks of food in the United States food supply lines on any given day, this is really worth thinking through.

Sustainability on Lummi Island

Lummi Island is roughly nine-square miles with 800 homes, one grocery store, no gas station, and an aging county-owned ferry. By nature, the geography forces people to think about sustainability and self-reliance. The past Sunday (January 4, 2009) the Bellingham Herald ran two articles about sustainability (See Jared Paben, “County leans toward life off grid: Residents aim to produce own food, power” and “Lummi Islanders grow in self-sustainability: Geography is big driver of independence” on A1 and A3 respectively – link below). In particular Paben mentions the use of solar electricity and the desire for wind generators. Paben also talks about gardening or small scale farming, in terms of produce. Paben also includes a list of resource links. Check it out.

TheBellinghamHerald.com
Resources:
Sustainable Connections: sustainableconnections.org
Washington State University Extension: Whatcom.wsu.edu
Common Threads Farm: commonthreadsfarm.org
Growing Washington: growingwashington.org
Puget Sound Energy: pse.com/energyenviornment
Whatcom County/Bellingham Energy Task Force: cob.org/government/public/boards-commissions

Sleep Through the Static: Jack Johnson CD

For Christmas this year my brother gave me Jack Johnson’s CD “Sleep Through the Static” which was created 100 percent from solar electricity.
Living on a boat, I am well aware of the energy demands to keep our simple systems operational. In fact, when out cruising, our goal is to remain completely self-sufficient. This past summer, we still depended upon the water system of the Islands to bring water aboard. Our butane stove still uses fuel that we ourselves are not producing. We are eating food someone else has gathered and grown. Yet we strive to live into a more sustainable life-style through leaving the smallest wake possible.
I applaud Jack Johnson not only for the music on his latest CD, but also for using solar power in the production of it. It is all of us taking steps that make a difference in the world around us.
How are you striving to leave a smaller wake?

Epiphany

Happy Epiphany, everyone. Here are some worship resources I have used in the past for you to use, no matter where Epiphany might find you this year.
Blessings.

The visit of the Magi can be found in the Gospel according to Matthew 2:1-12 (finish the chapter if you want to continue to reflect upon Joseph & the family).

The following is adapted from Peter Scaganelli’s Prayers: Year B, The Epiphany of the Lord:

By the light of a star, O God of the universe, you guided the nations to the Light of the world; in a prophet’s words you revealed the mystery of the Messiah’s coming; through the Magi’s gifts you unfolded the richness of the Savior’s mission. Scatter again the darkness that covers the earth and divides the peoples. Make our hearts thrill anew to see the multitudes carried as sons and daughters in your arms. In Christ and through Christ’s gospel draw the ends of the earth into your family, that disparate cultures and warring nations may be gathered together as one. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.

Prayers of the People Lord’s Prayer
We interceded for our needs and those of all nations, upon whom the glory of You, O God, has shone through Christ.
As we pray FOR THE CHURCH where ever it is in the world
For Your holy church, that its light may beckon a rich diversity of peoples to come and be heirs with us, members of the one body of Christ.

And we remember THE WORLD
For nations covered by the clouds of ethnic and racial hatred, that in this new year their hearts may rejoice at the dawn of peace and the flourishing of righteousness.

We pray also FOR THOSE OPPRESSED, AFFLICTED OR IN NEED
For children abused or neglected, and parents in difficulty and danger, that the Christian community may offer gifts of care and advocacy, intervention and support.

We hold THE NEEDS OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY close to our hearts, O God, so we pray:
For all who earnestly seek the face of You, O God, that this community’s faith, hope and love guide them to the revelation of Your grace.

Finally, Lord God, we pray for ourselves, THE CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY
For this assembly, that we may faithfully offer You, O Christ, the gold of a living faith, the incense of our worship and the myrrh of compassion for others.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LORD’S PRAYER:
Because in Christ we have received the Spirit of adoption, as sons and daughters of God we dare to pray: OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN . . .

INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION:
Behold the true Light of the World, the Beloved of God, anointed by the Spirit.
Blessed are those who are called to the banquet of the Lamb.

DISMISSAL
Enlightened by Christ and anointed by the Spirit, go now in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Impressions from the Woodland Park Zoo

These reflections come from this past week's visit to the Seattle area with our kids' grandparents.

Quietness or the lack thereof ...

Two instances involving children occurred while our family has been at the motel and visiting the zoo. The first is a comment our son made last night, “I just can’t get to sleep with all the noise.” I-5 is roughly a block away, and I might add that the entire time we have been here I have not seen a lull in the traffic. The second incident occurred at the zoo while we were looking at the day and night animal exhibit. Both of these exhibits ask for the visitors to please be quiet as the animals are quite sensitive to the noise. The night exhibit includes multiple signs and information about the necessity for silence. Yet, my wife and I found ourselves reminding other groups of children to please be quiet and move slowly if they wished to see the animals. One young man even commented, “I am being quiet.” He then turned and called out to his pals in a boisterous voice to wait for him.
We humans seem to be losing our ability to comprehend the world around us through all the static or human-created “white” noise in the background. We seem to be passing this on to our children. Part of leaving a minimum wake (impact upon our environment) is directly proportional to our ability to observe the world around us. How much is part of our ability to observe the world around us proportional to being quiet enough to observe?

Pacing of Animals & Lack of Habitat for them to return too

Having a Labrador Retriever as a member of the pack (family to us) we have come to recognize certain dog behaviors, and to interpret them. We may not know what is going on in his Labrador Retriever mind, but we can tell if he is anxious, relaxed, playful or trying to hide his pain.

When we were at the zoo, we observed the “Painted Wolf” (or African Wild-dog) exhibit. The information shared that the African Wild-dog is more like a wolf than a feral dog. Their habitat continues to shrink. They are being poisoned to protect livestock, etc. The three male wild-dogs in the exhibit had room, and yet they paced and paced and paced. There is no way a pack used to running on thousands of acres is going to be used to even an acre exhibit, let alone one that needs to fit within a zoo in a major metropolitan area.
In all, I was impressed at what the Woodland Park Zoo is doing and is trying to do. Some of their animals are extinct now in the wild, often due to human environmental change, and/or destruction. Many of the animals have no environment in which to return. Yet I also left feeling sad at other creatures’ captivity.