12 months of sustainability

I want to make a promise to myself to get as environmentally sustainable - beyond even! - as possible this coming year. So, in that spirit and for this blog, I am going to make 2011 the Year of (beyond)Sustainability. Every month I will have a new goal - 12 altogether. The goals will all accumulate, of course, so by the end of the year I will have made some wonderfully radical and permanent changes. Now I do have limitations: I live in a  building; a housing co-op and so I can't just do what I want to my living space, outdoors or indoors. And as a permaculturalist, the goal is not to make these changes by buying lots of "green" products, that is generally not in the spirit of permaculture when we as a society produce such an amazing amount of waste. Actually I might make every month a different permaculture principle. I have to work through this - stay tuned I will post a list of goals on January 1!  

permi reading

Recently, I decided to drop out of the Urban Agriculture program at the University of Guelph. It was online and really not inspiring to me. I need a break from academia, I need to get my hands dirty and splinters in my fingers. But I do lkove to read and learn and I want to increase my permiculture knowledge along with my skills.

So, I am compiling a reading list - kind of creating my own intensive permaculture course. I hope to get these books read by the spring. in the spring I will start gardening again and doing lots of workshops so winter is the time to fill my head! I have read parts of all these books but I intend to read them completely and on a deeper level.

Here is my list so far:

1. Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren
2. Tools for Sustainable City Living by Scott Kellog
3. Earth Path by Starhawk
4. Edible Forest Gardens Volume 1 and 2 by dave Jacke
5. Myceleum Running by Paul Stamets

My goal is to have these books read deeply by Spring Equinox,

I'll post my thoughts on them while I am reading. Join along with me if you want!

Multiplying worms

I just got around to giving some much needed attention to my worm bins. Two of them had been sitting for a couple months and had turned into bins filled with black gold with a bunch of slow-moving worms in them. They needed fresh bedding (damp shredded newspaper), food, and they still need a harvest. The third bin was a failed experiment. In the summer I tried to set up a worm bin for composting my bunnies' poo. It didn't work - it dried out and the worms died. Gasp! I have been meaning to add some new worms and have it going as a third bin (hey, I eat A LOT of veggies). After months, the ENTIRE autumn, I finally did it.

If anyone needs some worm poo for their house plants let me know! I have lots of gorgeous, rich, earthy poo!

Gift making

I love the winter holidays. I'm not Christian so Christmas is not a spiritual holiday for me but, as a pagan, I find great meaning in the Winter Solstice. The whole season is exciting. I love the first snow (my city is now completely covered in about 4 feet of snow!!!), I love all the lights people put on their homes, I love the feasting. No matter what is celebrated December is a time to be with loved ones (which can mean created families, birth families, or both) and a time for renewal and rebirth.

I hate the consumerism of the holidays, though. Even though I do engage in it to a certain extent, I find that all the shopping takes away from the positive aspects of the holidays. The more I shop, the more depressed I start to feel. My kids don't get into the consumerism at all which astounds me because I was a kid who made my Christmas list in the summer and by December had memorized the Sears catalogue to such an extent that I knew how much had been spent on each gift (and got upset if my siblings got something more expensive - I had middle child issues). My kids just like the excitement of the season and they are pretty happy with whatever ends up in their stocking.

There are a few traditions that I have started with my kids to counter the consumerism. One is giving as much money to organizations of our choosing as we do (on average) to one of the members of our immediate family. We usually divide it between an organization that deals with environmental issues and one that works for social justice. We try to find organizations we feel good about which usually means small organizations that engage in grassroots advocacy. I try to make a big deal about this giving and my aim is to give as much as we spend on each person in our immediate family.

Another tradition is that we make a lot of our gifts for family and friends. To be honest, we don't engage in tons of gift-giving. The other day I listened to co-workers discuss what they give to family and realized I don't give a lot of gifts. But I love giving special gifts to people especially gifts that are homemade. The main gifts that we make are cookies and squares, lip balms and other "beauty" products, and art. I have collected some excellent lip balm recipes over the years and am always on the look out for great containers. In addition to lip balms I like to make salves (very similar recipes) for dry and damaged skin and this year I am also some facial sugar scrubs. All these things are exceptionally easy to make with kids. Earthboy has little interest in helping make the gifts which is ok but Earthgirl loves to help. She especially loves to decorate the containers afterwards with stickers and "jewels"     

I also buy blank canvases and have the kids paint pictures for family. This is something that Earthgirl also enjoys more than Earthboy but both kids take it very seriously. And we make cookies - lots and lots of cookies.

I sometimes have dreams of knitting lots of fancy sweaters and hats for family and sewing my own toys. Plus i would love to make even more more complicated health and beauty products. maybe in the future. I know some people get very serious about their gift-making. But, I think even making small and simple things are symbolically so important. It allows us to participate in the important ritual of gift giving without participating in the destructive practice of mass consumerism. It allows us to be creative and expressive. It gives us an opportunity to spend time together having fun while also putting a lot of time and effort into doing nice things for people we love and appreciate.

And it is a million times better than dragging my kids to the bus stop, pushing our way into a busy busy and shopping for products made in sweatshops at malls filled with people spending lots of money they don't have!

(I just want to add, though, that I do sometimes shop in yucky stores and malls. I'm not perfect, there are many things I can't make, some things I will not buy used, and a few things I can't find fair trade or in small shops. The world is not perfect. However, I do what I can and look for positive and creative ways to do more.  The point of this post is not to induce guilt but to give ideas and encouragement!)

Let it snow!

Today is the aftermath of a big snowstorm - or actually, I think it is the calm between two big snowstorms. Over the next 24 hours 40-60 cm will fall on my city. I know all this snow will be difficult for many folks but I am happy that it is finally snowing. It doesn't make me happy when it is unseasonably warm. The month of November had lots of days that were warmer than usual and that was really starting to upset me. I know that climate change will bring about weird and wild weather and isn't just a simple matter of creating warmer weather. It will mess with the seasons though and that scares and saddens me. Even though winter often leaves me feeling depressed by mid-January, it has an important biological function in this part of the world. It's a time when plants rest to conserve their energy for the next growing season. Plants that exist in this part of the world need the break of winter in order to be healthy. The freeze is also necessary to regulate bacteria and insects. Change, of course, is part of nature but drastic change caused by human abuse of the Earth will have serious affects on all life and I don't welcome it.

Psychologically, winter is also useful for humans. We need a time to retreat as well. A time to reflect and a time to move slower. We know the sun will return, green things will grow again, and we will be out in our gardens in a few months. But before that we have a chance for renewal, a time to think about what we are happy with in our lives and what we want to change. Even though I will be sick of the cold in a month or so and will yearn for warm and sunny days, I hope this winter isn't unseasonably warm. I hope to use the winter to plan eco-education workshops for the Spring as well write grants for a children's garden. I also will use the time to think about how to change my life to bring about more happiness and to joyfully live in line with my principles. Maybe it's a good opportunity to facilitate the permaculture bookclubs I have been thinking about for a few months? So that thinking about how to live more sustainably can be done with other people as well - we can plan together how to heal the earth while also being collectively healthier and happier.

Magical gardens

Garden season has officially begun for me and my kids. We started indoor seeds about six weeks ago (and they are doing very well) but we just got access to our community garden plot last week. I dug out a design yesterday while the kids played at the playground. There are few things I love more than having my hands in dirt. I don't wear gloves when I garden and I get way dirtier than my children! I'm truly a child of the earth.

Our community garden plot this year is in a garden that was newly established last year - after years, I think, of community members trying to get permission from the city to start one in their neighbourhood. The garden is a short bike ride from my house. The design of my plot was supposed to be a mandala shape but because the plot is small, I just dug out a circular path, leaving beds around the path and in the middle. Yesterday I planted mustard greens, lettuce, swiss chard, radishes, daikon, spinach, potatoes, and rhubarb. Today we went back and with Earth Girl's help, I planted parsnips, carrots, onions, and peas. Earth Girl is very interested in gardening, tending to our seedlings at home, playing with worms in the garden, and planting seeds. Earth Boy is not into the garden; he sits and reads history books or plays at the playground. I am at my happiest and most peaceful in the garden. Today with my hands in the dirt, I could feel my anxiety draining away.

A good friend of mine joined us for awhile, digging up her garden as well. I have also been very pleased to find out that some old friends who I spent a lot of time with when Earth Boy was younger have garden plots in our new community garden. There will be lots of kids to play with!

The benefits of community gardening can be summed up with nice word and phrases "connecting to nature", "accessible organic food", "positive social interactions", etc. But there is something truly magical about working the earth and planting seeds something, as one of the interviewees for my thesis explained, "that can not be explained with words".

Spring

There has been so much going on that I should/could have blogged about but, because there has been a lot happening, I have been very busy! Spring is such an exciting time and there is so much happening related to growing food in the city. I have done a bunch of workshops with kids on gardening - mainly learning about worm composting and making seed balls. I had a lovely community Earth Day party and my thesis is coming along nicely (transcribing interviews is actually helping my writing because it is taking me back to the garden and the gardeners who I am so fond of).

The thing I am most excited about in this moment is that my community garden plot is ready to use. I have been waiting for it to be plowed (not my choice and a topic for another day). Tomorrow, the earthkids and I will be heading down to our plot, spreading manure, laying out the design, and planting some seeds. YAY!

May 1 (Saturday) is May Day. It is both a fertility celebration with ancient roots in Europe, the Middle East, and Central America AND an international day to celebrate and acknowledge the struggles of working people for rights and freedom. That makes it an especially sacred day to me and my kids. What a perfect weekend for planting seeds!

Dreaming big...with others

Last night I went to a meeting for the Transition Town London Food Working Group. many dreams/visions were shared for how our food system could be changed for the better but one of the main shared ones was to try to change the bylaw so that the keeping of chickens is allowed in London. I am very excited about this possibility. I have been interested in the keeping of urban chickens for a few years now. My interest may have first been piqued during the Nature in the City class I took during my undergrad (an Anthropology at UWO: good course, good prof, I highly recommend it). I'm a vegan but if I had a couple pet chickens I think I would probably eat their (non-fertalized eggs). Actually I hate the smell and taste of eggs so I would probaby just cook with them - although vegan baking is one of my most loved activities certain recipes, such as crepes would be SO much easier with eggs!!

To me chickens are important because they allow people another way in which to feed themsleves and their families. Urban chicken-keeping is so much more humane for the chickens as well. In the North American cities that currently allow urban chickens, they seem to be beloved pets as much as they are sources of food (mainly their eggs which are unfertilized because most cities that allow chickens do not allow roosters).  Compare that to the situation in which most chickens currently live - they are kept by the tens of tousands in the most disgusting conditons possible.   So, allowing chickens in cities makes the standard of living better for at least some chickens and it allows people to have a free source of regular protein in their diet.

As a permiculturalist my main interest in urban chickens is not as a source of food but as a valuable helper in the garden. Chickens eat lots of bugs and their poop is great for enriching the soil. I dream of a community garden in which there is a shared chicken coop and chicken tractor (a mobile enclosure used to protect chickens while allowing them opportunity to eat, play, scratch, and poop in the garden) and some beautiful and sweet pet chickens. It is so nice that other folks in my city also share my dream to varying degrees. I also dream of a co-opertaive bee hive but that is something for the future perhaps...

There are other dreams/visions for a better food system that I have shared with folks over the past couple days. A few coversations about the food deserts in the city (neighbourhoods were people have very little access to healthy, fresh foods) gave me the idea of doing community food mapping workshops in those neighbourhoods, maybe through the various neighbourhood resource centres (two of which I already work with). That is something that must be left for my post-MA life, however. Wouldn't it be great to have local farmer's markets - that somehow include affordable organics - in the areas that are currently food deserts?

Some of these dreams may be unrealistic but I believe in dreaming big and dreaming with others. I also believe in sharing our dreams and visions for a better world. What can YOU imagine? What are YOUR dreams for the earth and her inhabitants??

It's raining and I'm wet!

Today as I was biking to the resource centre to run a gardening activity for the kids (seed balls! so fun) I got caught in the rain. A 30 minute bike ride in the rain meant that I got very wet. I was enjoying myself though (mostly) and thought as I biked along how folks in North America try to avoid the realities of the natural world as much as possible. We sit in cold buildings when the weather is hot and we sit in super warm buildings when it is freezing cold outside. We avoid the elements as much as we can especially rain and snow. I was thinking about this because I was thinking how odd I would look arriving soaking wet to lead the children's gardening program.

The thought that ran through my head was: I am wet because it is raining, dammit! And I am actually feeling quite good; it's okay to get a little wet. As I biked fast in the rain singing to myself I felt so intensely ALIVE. I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to avoid getting soaked by the rain. Tonight, in fact, I am staying home because I don't want to be cold and wet.  But I wish it wasn't so weird to bike in the rain; I wish people were more willing to experience the heat, the cold, the snow, the rain, etc. or at least that we were more willing to deal with them in ways that do not use obscene amounts of fossil fuels (driving cars all the time, using air conditioning, overheating our homes, etc).

When I got home, with my still damp jeans and wet hair, my warm apartment and my cup of tea felt amazing! Way more amazing than if I had stayed home and stayed dry!

Bless Nettle, Oats, and Burdock

My kitchen is a messy but cozy place tonight. I am preparing a burdock root decoction, boiling some kidney beans, and baking some delicious smelling vegan banana muffins. Earlier for dinner I made yummy Persian Noodle Soup. Today I drank both Nettle and Oat infusions (I'm actually eating the oat infusion now) and am reminded of how good it feels to drink nourishing herbal infusions on a daily basis. I had neglected to do it for a couple months. There are many nourishing herbs - these, as defined by Wise Woman herbalist Susun Weed, are herbs that do not have strong or dramatic effects but rather nourish our bodies so our bodies can be as healthy as possible. Stinging nettle and oatstraw are the ones that I gravitate towards - nettle is an amazingly nourishing herb that contains many vitamins and minerals and helps boost energy. Oats work gently on the body to help the nervous system deal with stress. It has a relaxing and calming effect. It's my goal to drink an infusion of both everyday this spring - hard to do since I am forgetful but so worth it.

Today as I drank my nettle infusion, I thought about all the yummy things I hope to make with nettles this year. Nettles are wonderful to eat fresh (although you have to cook them in some way in order to take out the sting)  and the tender spring leaves are absolutely delicious. I don't wildcraft nettle because not only does nettle heal human bodies but it also heals the soil and often grows in toxic/damaged soil, taking out the toxins through its roots. I buy my nettle from a farmer at the downtown farmer's market here in London - $5 a bag but SO worth it. My main nettle dish is nettle pesto but I hope to venture out and  try a few different recipes this year.

So, even though my house is messy and slightly chaotic, I am feeling well-nourished and relaxed tonight. The burdock root decoction is very good for de-toxifying the body, especially the skin. The banana muffins are to take on the train tomorrow as the kids and I go to Kitchener to hang out with family and visit the Waterloo Children's Museum. The kidney beans are for a good pot of (vegan) chili later in the week.

The earth gives us so much abundance!

The Food Co-op

The London Co-op Store has been like a second home to me in many ways. I contacted the co-op before we even moved to London knowing that it would be a place to meet some amazing, progressive people in a city known for its conservatism. The managers have been such an important part of my and my kid's lives, literally sharing in our joys and sorrows. A lot of my closest friends are people I meet at the co-op. It is so much more to me than simply a place to shop; it has truly been a place to connect.

I also believe that co-ops can offer a true alternative to global capitalism. Not everyone in the co-op movement agrees with me but I think they are a seed for a different, better kind of society. There is a great book about food justice movements called Edible Action: Food Activism and Alternative Economics by Sally Miller and in this book, she discusses the exciting potential of co-ops to bring about social change. I interviewed her for my thesis because she is involved in the NGO that runs the garden I researched. She is also involved in starting the West End Food Co-op in Parkdale.

The food co-op in London is the place where I buy most of my food. This summer, I hope to get local produce from the CSA, my own garden, and local farmers at the farmer's market and buy all the rest of my food and household products from the food co-op. It is so fulfilling to me to get something as essential to life as food from sources that are community -- and not profit -- oriented.

Here is the food co-op's website: http://www.londonfoodcoop.org/

Gardening with kids

Today was the first day of the children's gardening program at one of the social agencies I am volunteering with this spring/summer. Acually the program today was not at the centre but at a nearby townhouse complex. I was leading one of the activity stations for the kids to visit during the program. They came to me to plant flower seeds in little pots to take home or to plant some seeds for us to grow in the community garden. Some kids stayed at my station the whole time and made tons of seed pots to take home. Some came and went and came again. All in all, it went very well. They seemed enthusiastic and I think they really enjoyed playing with dirt and planting seeds. I am looking forward to gardening this summer with them!

They planted an assortment of leftover flower seeds that someone had donated to the social agency in their take home pots. For the community garden we planted some nasturtium seeds. Nasturtium seeds don't need to be started inside but I have not received the seeds I ordered in the mail yet so I thought we might as well get an early start on them. Plus, I like to to talk to kids about eating flowers and nasturtiums are a good flower to eat. (Speaking of flowers, I was very pleased to see that dandelions have started blooming. This year I might try out a recipe I have for dandelion wine!)

I was actually feeling very anxious all day about my M.A. thesis and so having a break to garden with kids made me feel so much more relaxed and happy. A good sign that you are doing something you are meant to do is when you feel relaxed and happy when you're doing it!

Rotten potatoes!

Don't let your potato "seeds" rot. Open the box (like the sticker on the box says) and then store them in a dark, dry place until you can plant them. I forgot to do this for the potato seeds I ordered for one of the children's gardens and they rotted! I'll give them the seeds I got for my personal garden plot and order some more for myself. This time, I ordered Yukon gold potato seeds. Too bad about the rotten ones: it is such a waste and smelled horrible!

Here is where I get my organic potato seeds: https://www.westcoastseeds.com/product/Vegetable-Seeds/Potatoes/

Co-ops

Today EB, EG, and I went to the food co-op to do our bi-weekly grocery shopping. We were (almost) the only people there and the kids impressed the managers with their history and art knowledge (they impress me too as they know way more than I do!). We biked there, EB on his bike, EG in the trailer with the groceries.

When I got home I had a bit of semi-stressful stuff to take care of for the committee I am on at my housing co-op. Sometimes belonging to co-ops feels like a lot of work especially since I always seem to be overly busy. But belonging to co-ops helps me to feel a sense of community to a degree that I don't feel in very many places. There are lots of stores, coffee shops, library branches, etc that I visit frequently and feel a sense of community about (to varying degrees) but with the co-ops I feel a real sense of belonging. With the housing, food, and learning co-ops I belong to, I am actually an integral part of their functioning. I helped with the grant that bought the food co-op's new freezers, for example, and  I organize kid's activities at my housing co-op. Sometimes, co-ops can feel like a lot of extra meetings and work but they had so much depth and richness to my life (not to mention the ways in which the co-op movement more broadly helps to make the world a better place). I am lucky to have the opportunity to participate in so many co-ops and am excited to add community-supported agriculture program to the list of ways in which I live in community.

Urban Farming

I have a life plan that is just starting to manifest (it has to be held back for a while until I finish my M.A. thesis) and it is that I would like to be an urban farmer. My dream would be to have a permaculture farm in central London that is a modest CSA and has a small stall at the farmer's market but that mainly serves as a tool for environmental education. That dream is a long way off. But I do see myself designing edible landscapes for individual folks as well as creating community programs and maybe starting some sort of small spin farming enterprise over the next 5 years or so. This summer I am doing my own communtiy garden plot based on permaculture principles (as much as possible) and designing two children's gardens and gardening programs for social agencies in my city. I hope to gain experience both with environmental education and with permaculture gardening.

My educational goal is to finish my M.A. and then begin the (very part-time) certificate program in Sustainable Urban Agricultue at the University of Guelph while gaining the much needed practical experience described above. I hope to get my kids as involved in this as they want to be but at the moment EB doesn't seem that interested. EG is quite enthusiastic about planting seeds which is great. I hope I can invovle them in a way that makes gardening/farming fun and fullfilling. But if I can't, our communtiy garden is right beside a playground and close to a splash pad so that should ensure I get my gardening time in while they play.

Why I started this blog

I started this blog because my son cries when he thinks about the damage that humans are doing to the earth and he wants us to not just do things in our personal lives but to inspire other people to live more sustainably as well. I have been an activist of all kinds for many years and I will continue to be an activist but I also feel drawn to help inspire/teach people how to live differently through my writing.

I am not an ecological superstar - I'm not perfect but I try to always learn and change. I am immensely inspired by permaculture - I just completed Earth Activist Training with Starhawk which was an amazing life experience. My calling, I am starting to realize, is being an activist and advocate for and participant in urban agriculture.  A lot of this blog will focus on environmental education of children, my family's gardening experiences, and my attempts to become an urban farmer.

My family is also car-free (and neither adult even knows how to drive) by choice which I think is unusual for families in my medium-sized city. This blog will be a place for me to write about what it really means to be a car-free family - how we shop, how we get around the city, how we travel, and, the trickiest of all, how we camp!

We are an unschooling, co-parenting family. Unschooling means the kids are not in school but are free to pursue their interests in thier own way, at their own pace. Their dad and I provide guidance and resources and help our kids to live a full, rich life. Co-parenting means that their dad and I are not a couple but instead we are co-parents. We live close to each other, share custody of the kids, and most importantly, we are friends. My family includes myself, my kids,and my co-parent (and our two bunnies, my co-parent's cat, and 100s of red wriggler worms).

I want this to be a public blog but I don't really want to use my kid's real names. So, my 4 year old daughter will be refered to as Earth Girl (EG for short), My 8 year old son will be Earth Boy (EB), my co-parent is Zen dad (ZD), and I'm Earthy Mama (my real name is Becky!).