July Harvest!

July is here and the vegetables are exploding! It's really an incredible site to see how many things are ripe and ready for harvesting from one day to the next. Nature and her abundance - how truly impressive.

I took some photos yesterday at Dancing Dog Farm in Loomis during my volunteer time and decided to share them. Enjoy....

Tomatoes ready for picking!

Chickens roaming the farm

early morning sun on the crops

The sunflower and the bee

The Pleasure of READING

I recently finished reading Bringing it to the Table by Wendell Berry. For the past five decades Mr. Berry has been writing essays on farming, sustainability, and food. He has written over 50 books on the topic and has received countless awards.

This was my first book by Wendell Berry and a great introduction to his writings. The book is comprised of 3 sections - farming, farmers, and food. Many of the essays in the book we were written in the 70's and 80's.

What is extraordinary to me is that for five decades he has been writing about the offensive ways we have been treating the land and the terrible beast that is industrial agriculture. We as a society are just now finally starting to listen, to turn our attention toward understanding how misguided we have been.

Mr. Berry's now famous essay The Pleasure of Eating was published in 1989 some twenty seven years ago and feels like a piece of literature that was written just yesterday. It was the last essay in the book and stood out for me immediately.

He makes it very clear that eating is an agricultural act. Unfortunately our society is no longer aware of this being true. Industrial agriculture has made it far too easy for us to lose site of where our food comes from, this of course is done on purpose. They advertise the ease of "fast food", the cheap cost to you, the "freshness" and health benefits. We have stopped asking the important questions - Where is this fruit or meat coming from? How fresh is it? Was the animals humanely raised? Were the vegetables and fruits grown without treatment from pesticides? Are the eggs pasture raised? Is this food processed? How far was it transported?

One reason to eat responsibly is to live free.

We do not really truly recognize the connection between our food and the land from which it comes from. Mr. Berry says of this "when food, in the mind of eaters, is no longer associated with farming and with the land, then the eaters are suffering a kind of cultural amnesia that is misleading and dangerous". 

In order for us to be truly free of so called "food politics" and industrial agriculture we need to realize that educating ourselves on where our food comes from is essential. This is critical to eating responsibly. There are numerous things that we can do. If you can make a small change in your life such as growing your own food, prepping your own food at home(instead of buying "fast food" or eating out as often), buy directly from farmers (this can be done through a local farmers market, visiting a local farm, or participating in a CSA program). 

I encourage everyone to take the time to read this short essay by Wendell Berry. It might just change your outlook on how you view food. 

What Is Your Deepest Longing?

I was asked the question "What is your deepest longing?". My wife left it on a bright pink sticky note on my computer. I saw it this morning and I kept peering at it out of the corner of my eye. It's a deep, thought provoking question for me. 

I searched my mind for an answer. I have many ideas and thoughts about how I see my future unfolding and I know that very often in life, our paths unfold in a very different way than expected. I surrender to this. 

I realize that the real meaning behind the question is to simply answer what inside of me I long for without putting the answer into a neat little "box" of exact words to go along with a written out plan. If the core of what I long for is pure, the expansive and exact way in which it will manifest WILL become clear. 

I long to make the world a better place. 

This is the purest answer within me.  I have so many idea's on how to do my part to contribute to a greater good. With so many more idea's yet to come. 

As I said before, I surrender to how it will manifest. The path is before me...I walk it, I breath it, I am within it. 

Small contributions = BIG impacts

I recently watched an Academy Award wining documentary called Racing Extinction. It was an inspiring film about the ways in which we are harming our earth, and how we can make important changes to save it. What impacted me greatly was knowing that I can personally make small contributions in my day to day life toward helping our beautiful earth and the animals that are fighting extinction.

This leads me to the questions I've been asking myself:  How do I currently live "green"? What future changes can I make to live "greener"?

I had to take some time to contemplate how I currently live a green existence. I was pleasantly surprised with how many ways I already make an impact! It's a great feeling to know I am contributing and an even greater feeling to know I can make more substantial changes in the future.

Ok, here are my lists:

Current GREEN living:

• Only use refillable aluminum water bottle (we try to avoid plastic bottles as much as possible).
• We have an Energy Efficient washer and dryer.
• We try to consume less meat (which is the fastest way to curb carbon emissions). Meatless Monday's anybody??
• Sharing one vehicle for our household.
• Try to limit food waste by eating leftovers and using everything we can in our fridge.
• Buying organic, free range eggs and poultry, grass-fed beef.
• Buying fair trade, organic coffee.
• Water our plants in the mornings or evenings (this method uses less water evaporation from the suns heat meaning the plants will need less water overall).
• Use power strips to plug in our electronics.
• We use a carwash to clean our vehicle(they use much less water than washing at home).
• We shop with reusable bags when doing our groceries or at farmers markets. 
• We don't eat frozen dinners/meals(those boxes they come in add to the greenhouse gases in the air). 
• Only use soy candles(we avoid "wax" candles and all the chemicals they release into the air). 
• Keep the food in our fridge in glass instead of plastic which contains BPA(it's a big "no, no" to warm up food in plastic containers which breaks it down and can lead to possible leaching). 

Future GREEN living:

• Switch to energy efficient light bulbs(until we can run on solar power).
• Grow our own fruits, vegetables organically.
• Make our home solar energy powered.
• Reduce food waste by composting.
• Recycling.
• Consume even less meat, by having more "meatless" days.
• Having an electric car.
• Shop from local farmers markets in support of the small farmers in our community.
• Get a ficus house plant(they help remove pollution, chemicals from the air). 

 The most important take away for me is recognizing that there is no such thing as doing "too little". Every SMALL contribution we as individuals make will then generate a powerful, much LARGER impact!

The First Planting

I recently started volunteering with the Placer Food Bank at a local organic farm in Loomis, CA called The Dancing Dog Farm owned by Sue Bordelon and her husband Jeff Bordelon. Dancing Dog grows fruits and veggies to donate to the food bank for those in need. They are just three short years into the program, and with the help of generous volunteers were able to grow 3,800 pounds of food last year. This was all done within a .5 acre of land!

I arrived to my first volunteer day unsure of what to expect. Being born and raised in a city, I had no previous exposure to farming (besides the chickens my uncle kept in his back yard for eggs). Sue enthusiastically greeted me and helped me fill out some necessary paperwork. She gave me some quick background info on the farm and how they became involved with the Placer Food Bank. After showing me around, I spent the next few hours helping to remove the sick and infected leaves of a peach and nectarine tree. They both have a fungal disease called Leaf Curl which I later read can be pretty common in backyard peach and nectarine trees. I also spent some of my morning digging up weeds that had overgrown near the two trees. It seemed like we got plenty accomplished in a few short hours and hopefully those two citrus trees will survive and even provide fruit this year.

Yesterday was my second time at the farm. I was there with a large group of local Yoga teachers volunteering their time. With a large group pitching in, we were able to clear a fairly large weeded over area quickly and efficiently.
It's getting warmer, late Spring is here and the time has come to start planting veggies for the season! We got a crash course on where and how to dig the hole for the plant, prep the hole by pouring in some fish emulsion fertilizer, how far down to put the delicate plant into the ground, and finally - covering it up. 

My first planting -  an Anaheim Pepper

The time passed so quickly once I got started. I recognized myself whispering sweet words of encouragement in my mind to each little plant. Asking it to grow strong and powerful with the hopes that it will yield plenty of healthy tasty peppers to nourish us. Before I knew it, I had three full rows of these little pepper plants in the ground! I finished up the morning by planting three varieties of eggplant.

Task complete!

Just a few short hours digging in the dirt gave me back so much. I noticed a deep sense of connection to nature and a peace within myself. I left feeling very grateful that I found this little farm.