Archives for October, 2008
I have a dirty secret. Well, it doesn’t feel dirty, but I know that in many ways, it can appear that way. “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”—Mahatma Gandhi Since I was a very little girl, I have been fascinated—no, obsessed—with questions about why we [...]
When Marshall Rosenberg talks about NVC, he sometimes quotes the schoolyard rhyme, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” I can’t shake the idea that there’s something missing in this picture of the world. On the one hand, sometimes it’s possible for me to remember that people make judgments [...]
I remembered not long ago how my mom used to make these amazing green beans, and I called her up and asked what she put in them. “Just green beans, honey,” she told me. “Are you sure, Mom? That doesn’t seem right.” After a lot of discussion, she said “Oh, well, and some potatoes.” So [...]
NVC (never heard of it?) says that if you want a better chance at getting your needs met, you should make a clear request (and not a demand). And Marshall tells us we can tell the difference because if it’s a request, we don’t get upset if the answer is “no.” So I know I [...]
“Mom, are these hippie muffins?” Me: “No!” Brother: “Yeah.” Me: “Shut up! Do you like them?” Both: “Yeah!” w00t! Ok, so we have a whole bunch of squash. Seriously.There was this part of the garden, see, where we’d dumped the chicken compost. We’d only ended up using half the garden space, because we got tuckered [...]
It’s time for frost, and that meant a big harvest on Friday. This picture is the rest of our basil plants. We pulled them up by the roots and stuck them in a jar, because they smelled like heaven. We also picked all the squash, of course. We’ll cook the ones with broken rinds, and [...]
(I didn’t say *only* food, did I?) When I got a garden near my house, I stopped going to the community garden space I’d been frequenting. I’d started living closer to home, and biking to the grocery store and the coffee shop I like to work in, but nothing regular like that three-times-a-week trip to [...]
Well, I got replies, and sign-ups, but not comments. Hmmm. Lots of love, but nobody was willing to tell me which way to go. I think food wins. Partly ’cause someday, I really do want somebody to buy the t-shirt! But also ’cause I realized that I have lots of places to write the other [...]
It’s been a long while since I wrote anything here. Local food, whole, real food made of actual living things was really easy to write about at first, but after a while it becomes something like the platonic image of mundane. I mean, is there anything less interesting to talk about than taking a walk [...]
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