Food, food, glorious food

Okay, so I've pretty much been bristling with excitement like a kid on Christmas. Not only have I been prancing around through leaves on my walk downtown today, but I was at the front door to retrieve my delivery this afternoon before the van had even left the curb. Today was my first Organics to You delivery and now my little side of the fridge is packed! So exciting!

This what the delivery box actually looked like:


It contained:
2 little acorn squash, 2 big onions, 4 red potatoes, 6 apples, a bunch of carrots, a head of cabbage, a bag of grapes, 2 large tomatoes, 1 red pepper, 3 pears, 2 large cucumbers, a bunch of leeks, and a bunch of green leafy things that I have no clue what they are (I'm sure my housemate will though). I am currently signed up for a once a month delivery, as it will take me about that long to get through all of that probably. I still had a bunch of veggies left from the past month, and my side of the freezer still has plenty of items in it as well.
Add to that the leeks, spinach, arugula, collards, beets, and other greens my housemate has growing in the back yard, and I think I'm pretty well set. Mainly all I have to buy from the store is bread (which truthfully I know I could make my own) and soy milk. Very nice.

All of this comes as I've been reading this week about population growth, food, and hunger throughout the world.....Such a sad topic, as enough food exists to feed everyone on the planet--it just doesn't get distributed fairly. I never knew that many low-income countries actually produce a large quantity of food, but they depend upon the money they can make from exporting it. Can you imagine? Growing food, watching your children and fellow citizens be hungry, and yet because of the world market, needing to sell that food in order to feed your children substandard fare....
Makes me desire all the more to eat even more local, although I'm sure there is much more to the story than I know....

Food for Thought

On Thursday evening, I joined a group for a birthday celebration at a well known chain restaurant in the suburbs of Portland. It was the birthday of my friend's wife, who is the mother of the adorable little baby. However I didn't realize that I was going to have to be such a "back-to-nature" proponent at the table. We all know that "breast is best," and I feel it's unfortunate that our society has taken a negative view of mothers' breast-feeding in public. My friend's wife has been very good at only feeding the baby breast milk, and in the middle of dinner the little guy became hungry.

We were sitting in the corner of an alcove in the restaurant and the mother had a blanket draped over her shoulder, yet my friend (the father) was disgruntled at the idea of his wife diminishing the baby's hunger by breast feeding at the table. Fortunately for the baby, my buddy was outnumbered by females at the table, and I appeased him by hunting down restaurant management to ask if breast feeding was against restaurant policy. The response was that no policy was in existence yet that management was grateful that we had asked. I couldn't help but give more of my opinion when management came back to talk to us about it again a few minutes later. In my opinion, it's a pretty sad day in society when we have to ask permission for the most natural feeding event in existence to occur in public.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder when society is going to recognize that what we've created is a facade instead of the reality of natural existence.

Life as of Late

My half of the parsnips that we planted out at my aunt's in the spring. They harvested 86 total and several of these are 2-3 inches across. For free seeds that I got from a Gerontology event, they did very well. A wonderful afternoon spent out at the aunt's including tasty carrot and parsnip soup made from scratch. My lil' car was used today to get out there, the first time in a week as my main mode of transport these days is foot and the MAX line.And speaking of the MAX...I noticed this last week several small poems, mainly about nature, posted on the upper walls of each train. It's nice to see that they are encouraging riders to take a moment to appreciate a wonderful art form that often can quiet one's soul. This one reads: "In spring, asleep, I'm not aware of dawn, till I'm surrounded, with the cry of birds. Last night arrived, with a sound of wind and rain--who knows how many blossoms, drifted down?"--Lois Baker

The kitties here are enjoying a bit of sunlight streaming in through my bedroom window. They have taken to sleeping inside of my curtain if I leave it down during the day and the door to my bedroom open. Moments before I snapped this they were entwined in a big hug.

And this was taken downtown last week when I walked out of my building after a day of work. In our family, rainbows are very symbolic not only due to God's covenant but also as a major memory of the patience, love, and life of my Poppa. Moments after his passing five years ago, several of our family members spotted rainbows in the sky. To this day whenever we see one, we can't help but remember the wisdom and the legacy that he left us, the love that he had for us, and his desire that each one of us be the best that we knew how to be. On this particular day, his memory was exactly what I needed to quiet my soul and renew my strength for the week ahead.

Small still moments, blessings, gifts---whatever you want to call them, they quiet the soul and are there whenever we are willing to see them.

Energy/Oil & Some Politics

This term I'm taking an environmental sociology course as part of my MPH load. This coming week's focus is on energy. So in an effort to share what I'm thinking about, I decided the easiest way to do this might be to just attempt to highlight things that stick out to me and post them here.

From the reading:

Harper, Charles L. (2008). Environment and Society: Human Perspectives on Environmental Issues. Pearson Prentice Hall.

-Between 1890 and 1990, total global energy consumption increased by 14x.

-Dependence on oil shapes foreign policy problems, including our current situation in Iraq.

-At current consumption rates, 80% of known oil reserves will last for another 40-90 years. (Hence "peak oil crisis" which is to arive between 2010 and 2020).

-The above estimate does not take into consideration the growing economies, production, & consumption of other nations (such as India and China).

-One American consumes as much energy as 3 Japanese, 6 Mexicans, 14 Chinese, 38 Indians, 168 Bangladeshis, 280 Nepalis, or 531 Ethiopians.

-By 2100, most estimates are that the world would need 4x the amount of energy that is produced today.

-The "cost" of energy that we pay today does NOT include pollution clean-up, military spending on protecting our sources, medical bills & insurance premiums due to air quality issues, noise pollution, time wasted in traffic jams, loss of biodiversity, government tax breaks for oil companies. I can't help but wonder if we would pay for it, if we had to include the total costs of items such as this.

-Natural gas, while a cleaner fossil fuel, is imported primarily from Canada to the U.S. and is expected to peak between 2020 and 2030.

-Currently the U.S. only utilizes 7% of its total energy from alternative sources (hydro, wind, solar). Estimates are that alternative sources has the capability to produce half the world's energy within the next 50 years. ....Now if only someone would fund it.....

To see how the presidental candidates compare on energy issues, please go here.

I'm not a huge fan of Obama's support for "clean" coal, nor that both of them are open to nuclear. But at least it gives a better idea of how they stand on a variety of energy categories.

Personally I'm all about the wind and the sun:

Healthy Living Fair

Ever wanted to know about the products that effect women? Then it would have been wise to attend the Healthy Living Fair in Portland organized by Rachel's Friends. This fair is put on annually, so if you missed it today there is always next year, and this event is incredibly informative.

Today's key note speaker was Portland's own Nena Baker, the author of The Body Toxic. I would encourage everyone to get their hands on a copy of this book, as it takes a look at many of the chemicals that the average American carries. Nena actually paid to have her own body burden analyzed, and the results are described in her writing. Her book arrives after the Oregon Environmental Council's study of the chemical body burdens of 10 average Oregonians. The report from that can be found on the OEC website, or through the link HERE. Needless to say, the average person is carrying more chemicals than we wish to admit, regardless of how careful we try to live our lives.

Following Nena's talk, which wrapped up with the lack of bans on dangerous products from federal entities and the fact that consumers have become today's "regulators," Renee Hackenmiller-Paradis from the OEC introduced two upcoming Oregon bills. One bill, the Healthy Schools Act, focuses on promoting "green" schools (which actually is a cost-benefit plan) through green cleaning, green construction, and more preventative efforts in dealing with pests. The other bill, The Children's Safe Products Act, will be attempting to ban certain chemicals from children's products. If you are an Oregon voter, PLEASE check out both bills and send your support to your legislators during the upcoming session. When American children today are born with an average of 200 toxins in their cord blood, it's important that we attempt to contain the additional toxins they are exposed to throughout their lifetime.

Additionally, I found several great new resources. One is a Portland mineral make-up company called Alima. When searched in the Safe Cosmetics Database they result in a low-moderate rating, but in terms of make-up are some of the safest I've found. They are also a Portland based company and include a jar return program. I also signed up for a once a month delivery of produce from Organics to You, which is a spin off of the CSA movement. Organics to You delivers organic produce gathered from a variety of local farms to your doorstep, if you live in the Portland area. For the new mothers there was also Mother Nature's Baby Store...finally a good place to buy baby products for all my friends having babies. (Nothing makes me cringe more than going to a baby shower filled with toxic products these days).

So while a lot of this information may not apply to my international friends, hopefully those of you that are local will check out some of these resources and issues. And any of you will hopefully be interested in Nena Baker's book. I've been slightly out of commission with the new term and the beginning of the research project...but the good news is that I feel that I'm finally finding my nitch (and that there are opportunities to use it). I hope you all have been feeling equally blessed, even amongst all the economic drama of our world. The best to all of you!

Satisfaction in Accomplishments

This weekend I felt such satisfaction in my soul and it came at such a minuscule moment. I was driving along the windy, lovely back road between my granny's and my siblings' towns, and a feeling of immense satisfaction overtook me. Maybe it's the comfort that comes with the coming of fall. Maybe it was the whipping wind, the turning of the leaves, and the drops of rain-a reminder of nature and how alive we all are. Maybe it was the slowness that becomes routine when I spend a weekend at granny's. Maybe it was the anticipation of seeing my family members, even if just briefly with each one. Maybe it was the fulfillment of delivering a "get well" package to my cold-ridden cousin. Maybe it was the open space of the farms lining the road. But whatever it was--that moment left such a feeling of satisfaction on my soul.

The contrast of my routine in the city and my trips down into the valley never goes unnoticed. What a wonderful weekend it was, even if brief, to remove myself from the Internet, from the beck and call of my program and my job, and to immerse myself in caring for others, in taking care of the things I could do, and in slowing down. During these weekends, I receive as much as I give and much gets accomplished---even if those accomplishments may not be seen as "successes" by the majority of society. To me, they have become the accomplishments that matter--even if it took me several years and life-changing events to realize it. My family, my faith, immersion in and mindfulness of the beauty that surrounds me, and giving of myself to others--those are the things that truly feed my soul.

....Now if only I could figure out a way to make that my "living"---even though truly it already is.