This weekend was a good one spent primary with Jerry’s family sharing a meal, prayer and great company.
On Sunday some of us met at the local coffee house to discuss our garden plans for the summer and to order seeds. This is a step up for us. We usually have a small garden of some type in our yard, just a few tomato and pepper plants, etc. Last summer we had a bumper crop of strawberries. The kids next door came over and saw how strawberries looked before they appeared on the store shelf in plastic containers. They enjoyed picking them and taking some home to the family. More often than not though by mid-summer the weeds have taken over and we end up just harvesting what we can.
However yesterday was a power meeting of what our garden could look like.
Spring fever set in and we began ordering seeds. Brother-in-law Jack was the experienced one. While Dave and I have done a little gardening for many years, Jack has done mega-gardening, at least by our family standards. Our true inspiration comes from sister Judy who has worked on Genesis Farm in NJ for over 23 years. She is the one with the ‘know how’ and the experience. She is the one who answers all our questions and offers advice. She is ‘the one’!
So a couple of hours later we were thinking green and tasting wonderful veggies in our heads. Over $100. worth of seeds to be shares 3 or 4 ways. Not too bad for a summer worth of vegetables. Oh, and don’t forget the flowers! Judy says that you must plant flowers in order to feed the soul as well as veggies to feed our bodies. I like that kind of thinking. So some of the flowers we ordered are edible.
So that was a fork in the road for me – to get serious about gardening and eating locally grown. How much more local can you get that your own back yard. Perhaps we’re taking the road less traveled but I think there are a lot of people beginning to walk down that path.
But wait, there was another fork in the road that we responded to yesterday. We attended two fundraisers on Sunday. Two different local high schools, two different causes, both worth our time and money. Besides you can’t beat $8 for breakfast and $6 for dinner.
As I was thinking about dinner I had an epiphany that I decided to act on. Jerry graciously went along with the idea or at least put up with it and decided to humor me once again. Instead of using the plastic knives and forks we took our own forks (didn’t really need knives) from home and our own napkins also.
When we refuse the paper napkin wrapped plastic ware the lady looked at us kind of strange but eventually said ‘that’s an interesting idea’. I’m not sure she meant it but I hope the idea got talked about later.
At the table we were sitting with some of the family. They either didn’t notice that we were using real forks and napkins or decided to ignore it as to not embarrass us – not that it would have. I would have liked to have had the chance to say, ‘yea, we did it on purpose’.
So another literal fork in the road has been taken. Hopefully we will continue down this path also. A friend of our daughter for some time now has taken his own container with him when he east out so as to eliminate the need for a ‘doggie bag’. I like that idea. Hopefully I’ll someday remember to do that also.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
To Elk or not to Elk...
...that is the question.
The past couple of weeks/months have been long ones. The temps, the snow, the lack of sun, the arm ( I know I haven’t address that element but perhaps sometime in the near future.) So when the opportunity came for a short mental health get-a-way I took advantage of the situation. Called my BFF, managed to get reservations and headed to Jenny Wiley State Park for a night and for an early morning elk sighting tour.
After we made the reservations I found out that the tour was on land that had been the victim of mountain top removal. I became aware of a knot in my stomach. I do not remember reading that the tour was on land that was still an active surface mine and was not aware of that fact until the presentation began at 5:30 m. Saturday morning. The knot in my stomach was growing larger. Surface mine, mountain top removal, strip mining (I was told that is a dirty word and not used anymore.)…..the knot began to grow even more.
There were about 28 people on the tour, three vans, three employees of the park system.
The good thing was the ground was frozen - so there was no mud to get stuck in. The bad thing was that the frozen ground was covered in spots with snow and ice.
Our van driver who fit the description of a ‘good old boy’ to the T – really nice guy, said he was just ‘Dukin’ ‘ it. (took only a second to get his reference to the Dukes of Hazard-after all that is the country we were in.)
Well, that wasn’t the extent of the good and bad of the morning trip. That was the easy part to handle.
The driver sang the praises of Mountain Top Removal every chance he got – the wonderful economic boost that it brought to the area touched all the people, the jobs it created, the cheap energy source, the great landscapes it created for things like recreational activities, golf courses, sports complexes, ATV trails, hmmm, elk viewing – sponsored by the state park system ( How can that be?). All kinds of stomach churning examples.
I hesitate to say too much here since I haven’t done a lot of homework on the subject but I know what I heard in the past. So I invite you to goggle Mountain Top Removal. Check out some of the videos. Listen to the people from the area and their opinion of MTR. The people who are not on the payroll of the mining companies. The people who love the mountains.
So the knot is the stomach is still festering, still growing. What have I contributed to?!
Sure it was great to see elk. But I think next time I’ll head over to western KY to the Land Between the Lakes area where there are no mountainsto be harmed. Or better yet out west somewhere where the mountains have not become victims of MTR!
Or maybe just stay home!
BTW this very weekend a group of concerned citizens of KY occupied the office of the governor to protest Mountain Top Removal.
Read more at…
http://www.kftc.org/our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/MTR-generalinfo
The past couple of weeks/months have been long ones. The temps, the snow, the lack of sun, the arm ( I know I haven’t address that element but perhaps sometime in the near future.) So when the opportunity came for a short mental health get-a-way I took advantage of the situation. Called my BFF, managed to get reservations and headed to Jenny Wiley State Park for a night and for an early morning elk sighting tour.
After we made the reservations I found out that the tour was on land that had been the victim of mountain top removal. I became aware of a knot in my stomach. I do not remember reading that the tour was on land that was still an active surface mine and was not aware of that fact until the presentation began at 5:30 m. Saturday morning. The knot in my stomach was growing larger. Surface mine, mountain top removal, strip mining (I was told that is a dirty word and not used anymore.)…..the knot began to grow even more.
There were about 28 people on the tour, three vans, three employees of the park system.
The good thing was the ground was frozen - so there was no mud to get stuck in. The bad thing was that the frozen ground was covered in spots with snow and ice.
Our van driver who fit the description of a ‘good old boy’ to the T – really nice guy, said he was just ‘Dukin’ ‘ it. (took only a second to get his reference to the Dukes of Hazard-after all that is the country we were in.)
Well, that wasn’t the extent of the good and bad of the morning trip. That was the easy part to handle.
The driver sang the praises of Mountain Top Removal every chance he got – the wonderful economic boost that it brought to the area touched all the people, the jobs it created, the cheap energy source, the great landscapes it created for things like recreational activities, golf courses, sports complexes, ATV trails, hmmm, elk viewing – sponsored by the state park system ( How can that be?). All kinds of stomach churning examples.
I hesitate to say too much here since I haven’t done a lot of homework on the subject but I know what I heard in the past. So I invite you to goggle Mountain Top Removal. Check out some of the videos. Listen to the people from the area and their opinion of MTR. The people who are not on the payroll of the mining companies. The people who love the mountains.
So the knot is the stomach is still festering, still growing. What have I contributed to?!
Sure it was great to see elk. But I think next time I’ll head over to western KY to the Land Between the Lakes area where there are no mountainsto be harmed. Or better yet out west somewhere where the mountains have not become victims of MTR!
Or maybe just stay home!
BTW this very weekend a group of concerned citizens of KY occupied the office of the governor to protest Mountain Top Removal.
Read more at…
http://www.kftc.org/our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/MTR-generalinfo
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