via www.npr.org
We hear a lot about mindfulness these days, but I usually find the discussions big on the benefits and lacking in the how. On All Things Considered, Adam Frank explains how thinking like a scientist brings new joy to a walk through the woods and helps you stay rooted in the present. He even addresses the meaning of life - all in under 10 minutes.
I've printed my donation page, charged up the iPod, checked the weather, and now all that I have left to do before tomorrow's Walk for Hunger is pack a couple snacks. There will be plenty of food available along tomorrow's route, both at tents set up for the event and in shops we'll pass along the way, but I'm trying to be smarter about what I eat, so bringing something from home is the way to go.
Last summer, in the middle of a discussion about fences (we were on a walk at the time) Z, my partner, asked if I'd like a dehydrator. I gave him a confused smile and said I had no idea what I would do with one. "OK. They sell dried pears at my work, and it seemed like something you'd like to make" he replied. I was intrigued, but still resistant to adding another gadget to our kitchen. Not long afterward I read Didi Emmons' book Wild Flavors, saw what she does with a dehydrator and knew I wanted one.
I've done a lot of experimenting with my dehydrator, but my current favorite things to make are dried pears (yes, Z knows me well) and fruit leather. To me, biting into a piece of fruit is a gamble. Will it be mealy, rubbery, squoosh like a worm or or make my eyes water? It's hard to know until it's actually on my tongue, exactly where I don't want something on its way to rotten to be. So, I tend to buy fruit, think about eating it, then feed it to my compost bin. I don't feel good about it, but it's what I do. The dehydrator solves this because it lets me take fruit that is over ripe (which I won't eat) and turn it into something sweet, healthy and consistently firm. My idea of the perfect fruit.
Died Pears
Fruit Leather
There appears to be no end to the possible variations of fruit leather. And unlike my childhood memories of failed sun-dried fruit leather, using the dehydrator the process is nearly fail proof.
Flavor combos:
For my final snack tomorrow, I'm bringing something I've never tried before. Amanda Blake-Soule, author of several books and the SouleMama blog is making this the year of popcorn. Each month she posts a different topping recipe. Creating a new popcorn topping is actually on my To Do list for life (I'm serious), so I've read Amanda's posts with a big smile on my face. I finally found the nutritional yeast necessary for her Cheesy Herb Popcorn recipe, so I'll cook that up tomorrow morning, just before the walk. I have a feeling the results will be messy, so the great outdoors seems like the perfect place to give it a try.
Here are links to other walk friendly foods I've posted in the past:
Project Bread is an incredible organization here in Boston, that takes a multifaceted approach to hunger. There are breakfast programs at schools, lunch programs during the summer, efforts to get local fruits and vegetables at a reasonable price into those sections of the city considered a food desert.
I'll be participating in their annual fund raising walk this Sunday. Can you make a donation? Even $10 makes a difference . There's an expression I recently learned, "It takes drops to fill a bucket." Can you provide a drop or two? Walk for Hunger Donation Page
A week has passed since bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon.
So much has been said and written about the events of that day and the days that followed.
So much compassion, misery, determination and bravery has been shared.
What can I add to the discussion?
I can tell you about people in Boston who know violence, who know it first hand, and have refused to let it break them. I can tell you about people who during this troubled week have reached out to the suffering with acupuncture and counseling.
I can introduce you to the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute which aims to "transform pain and anger to power and action." The Peace Institute works every day, here in Boston, with people whose lives have been changed by homicide.
The Peace Institute works in communities, in schools, in the halls of the statehouse to change attitudes, to teach new skills, to simply stated, stop the violence.
On Sunday, May 12th the Peace Institute will hold its annual Mother's Walk for Peace in Dorchester. This event is a chance to stand with those who have lost loved ones through violence and send a message to our politicians and community leaders that we need to work together to achieve peace.
You can sign up for the walk or make a donation to the Peace Institute at http://www.ldbpeaceinstitute.org/index.html
Over breakfast each morning I check in on what's being knit in Toronto, the latest births and skills learned at a farm in upstate New York, what's on the sewing, baking and general beautifying agenda of a new mama in Portland OR, and all the adventures of a family of seven crafting a life on a farm in Maine. There are other blogs that I check in with from time to time, but these four always start my day. Their authors feel like friends in the way that characters in a book you've read a thousand times do. Only in blogland, there's the advantage of the story going ever on.
A very present part of that story is the changing of the seasons. I'm sure bloggers who focus on politics, science or similar pursuits don't take a quarterly break from their usual topics to comment on the changes happening in the natural world around them, but the sort of blogs I enjoy most certainly do. I remember September posts were rather uniform in content and December was full of the excitement (or longing) for those first fluffy flakes, but March is capricious. Come and see -
Toronto Canada, home of the Yarn Harlot
Break (March 11, 2013)
"It used to be that when March Break came along I'd swing into high gear. (For my American friends "March Break" is our equivalent to "Spring Break" except for we don't call it that on account of there's a decent chance you'll spend it shovelling snow. There's an equal chance that you'll be able to forgo the mittens, this time of year is ridiculously unpredictable.) I don't know what all kids are like, but I can tell you that my children had an agenda - or maybe it was really just a commitment, to having the world in absolute chaos all around them.... I was a pretty orderly mum to start with, but if you're going to lock a load of winter weary people together for days of crap weather, then you better start with a schedule of events, a strict bedtime and a cookie cutter collection that includes a few dinosaurs and maybe a moose."Cambridge, New York home of Cold Antler Farm
The Goat Life (March 14, 2013)
"I take the milk pail and such inside and set all washables in the sink
and the big pail on the counter. Boghadair knows this canister and
starts rubbing his [feline] head on it. I am grateful for the 30th time it has a
tight lid. I run back outside with Gibson, literally run, because
I did it! I got nearly a gallon of milk from half an hours work! I run
around the yard with Gibson [the dog] to celebrate. I open my arms and he jumps up
into them and I feel like we have our own version of a touchdown, end
zone dance. Merlin [the horse] is watching this, totally unimpressed. He hollers at
us in his deep, British, voice and Jasper [the pony] just stares alert as a buck in
a field. His little white splotched body all taunt with prick ears and
wide eyes. I get to the work of morning feeding and soon every heckling
sheep, chicken, rabbit, goose, horse, and pig has nothing to say to me
but crunch, chomp, griiiiind, crunch, chooommmp, swallow, repeat. With everyone outside content I am finally free to see to the funnest job of the morning. KID TIME!
I let the kids [baby goats] out of the big dog crate and they pile out. Before they
can even think about peeing on my floor I scoop them up and take all
three outside with Nanny Gibson to keep an eye on them while I return
for their bottles. When I come outside I can see all of them jumping and
tumbling, Gibson frantic to restore some sort of order."
Portland, Oregon home of Posie Gets Cozy
Little Plum (March 15, 2013)
"When our plum tree blooms, there's no mistaking: Spring! It's here. We cleaned up the yard. We went for walks past other peoples' yards. We got frozen yogurt. We bought daffodils. We scheduled the window-washer dude. He'll also de-mossify the roof. We turned off the heat during the day and forgot to turn it back on at night. We talked about weather to anyone and everyone. We went to the plant nursery. We closed the windows when it turned out it was actually still pretty cold. We heard birds. We saw birds."
This post has gorgeous photos full of colors you may have forgotten over the winter even exist.
Portland, Maine home of SouleMama
Spring Chicks (March 14, 2013)
"There can be no doubt that spring is on its way now. The maple syrup is filling up the pantry shelves, I'm washing muddy floors every day, and now this! We got the early morning post office call yesterday, and quickly readied the brooder that will see a lot of action in the months to come (there's a brooder schedule, yes indeed). It is nice, I dare say, being in somewhat of a groove of things after a few years here now. Our third spring on the farm, and everything is in place, with systems only needing touching up here and there (thank you, duck tape and baling wire, we love you so)."
These posts, full of everything from snowy forecasts to sleeping with the windows open, were all written in a week, March 11th through the 14th. It's a wonder-filled world indeed.
I'd like to close with a snapshot of March in my corner of the world.
Lexington, MA home of Ever Onward
The following video was shot in the same location last spring. The collection of maple sap is the first sign of spring in this area, even earlier than the arrival of Red-Winged Blackbirds and Snow Drops. Tthe silver buckets alongside the farm fields remind me that other unseen preparations for life are taking place under all that snow.
Spring will be here too before I know it.
