Dirt and the Good Life

Dirt and the Good Life: Stories from Fern Creek
by Lisa Graham McMinn and Mark R. McMinn 
Published in 2012 by Barclay Press,
cover design by Darryl Brown 

This is a collection of short essays about the life of two college professors who decide to start a farm on five acres of land in western Oregon and to start selling their produce through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where people pay an annual price to receive a weekly share of the crops. Some of the stories are about their spiritual journeys, some are about their marriage and family, some are about sustainable living, and some are about their farm.

Things I liked about this book:

1. The cover. I don’t think I ever mentioned the name of the designer in a book review before. But I noticed I liked this one right away, especially compared to a lot of small press book covers, and then I recognized the name. I like a lot of his work, which can be seen on his blog.

2. Their obvious but not blind or cloying love for each other, and their ability to write about it with grace. Two people who have been married for many years, who are honest about the hardships, grateful for the blessings, and are still crazy about each other. Gives me hope, it does.

3. Their humor and willingness to laugh at themselves and each other. This is probably a strong contributor to #2. And it makes the book fun to read.

4. The stories about farming: plants, animals, tools and weather. I am not a farmer, and I never want to work that hard. But I am related to some farmers (some long gone) and I love these stories about the real things in life.

5. The way that their Christian values inform their relationships and their stories without overwhelming everything else. This is hard to do in writing.

6. They’re Quakers and I know their pastor. I always like the feeling that even if I don’t know the author personally, that there’s a chance that I could meet them and that we’re not really that different. And I like it when people make Quakers look good in public.

Things I didn’t like (which are all somewhat ironic):

1. I am not cooking enough to make it worthwhile to join a CSA and this book made me feel sorry for myself.

2. It occasionally comes close to being too sweet – it worked for me, but a snarkier reader might take it badly.

3. I didn’t get to meet Mark and Lisa yet. (One more reason to visit Newberg again. See #6 above.)

One of the chapters/stories is called Downward Mobility. In it, Mark tells about writing a book that flopped and how that financial failure was a nudge towards living a better life. He says that he then gave up on ever writing a best seller. I hope that Dirt and the Good Life proves him wrong. It's that good.

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. He didn’t ask me to write anything about it, and I wouldn’t have if I didn’t really like it, but just so you know.

Blog Action Day: Climate Change

I'm supposed to write about Climate Change because I signed up to be part of Blog Action Day today.

But really, I want to write about something that happened last Thursday. I went to the Quaker Vigil for Peace and Justice at noon in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco. The same vigil I've been to before. The same vigil that's been meeting there every Thursday for eight years. Last week marked the eighth anniversary of the US bombing of Afghanistan on Wednesday, and the eighth anniversary of the vigil on Thursday. These are some faithful folks. Me, I just show up when it's convenient for me. Or last week, I went for ten minutes to show support for the really diligent vigilers. (It takes my whole 30 minute lunch break just to get there and back.)

While I was there, Norman Solomon spoke about how women's rights are important in Afghanistan, and that poverty is important because it defeats women's rights, and he made the explicit connection that our war is impoverishing more women in Afghanistan every day.

In the ten minutes I spent at the vigil, I prayed as I always do at the vigil for women who have to stand in line, very inconveniently, for basics of food and clothing and water and soap. For women who don't have those things for themselves or their children.

Today, I think I just want to make the connection that climate change is also contributing to poverty in more places, through droughts and storms and unpredictable weather.

Dear God, be with the people who are suffering most acutely the effects of climate change, whether they know that's what's happening to them or not. Help all of us who can make a difference to have compassion and courage to act, today and every day. Amen.

P.S. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a Friend who is a little older than me and has children the same age as mine. We were talking about how climate change is really a big issue for young people today, and she compared it to the way young people used to be really concerned about nuclear weapons when we were younger. I said that the good thing about climate change is that children today can feel like there is something small that they can do that will help. Not that turning the water off or driving less will change it all, but they can feel like they are helping. When I was younger, I didn't feel like anything I did would make a difference about nuclear weapons. I like an issue with something for everyone to do.

Eco Everyday Natural Laundry Soap

Back in May, after Quarterly Meeting, we were honored with a visit by the fabulous Betsy Blake, from North Carolina. Chris wrote about it on his blog at the time.

What he didn't mention was that she gave us a hostess gift of some of her amazing handmade laundry soap. Our bag is all used up now, but it is still available online through her Etsy shop or at farmers' markets in the Greensboro area.

It's environmentally friendly, it smells good and works great. Try it!

Phyllis Tickle and Joanna Macy? Anybody?

Has anybody out there already read both Phyllis Tickle’s new book, The Great Emergence, AND any of Joanna Macy’s writings about The Great Turning?

I just finished Tickle’s book, and it’s as good as people said it was. A Friend at SF Meeting was able to loan me Macy’s 1998 book, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World, co-written by Molly Young Brown. I'm just starting it, and it seems relevant for me on several levels.

I think these two women are prophetic voices for our times, coming from different backgrounds, both observing and commenting on the same mega-shift as Brian McLaren, etc. I’d like to talk to anyone who’s read both authors and would be willing to compare and contrast with me.

In exchange, I’ll offer two end-of-year gifts to readers:

One is a link to an opportunity to win a trip to the Obama inauguration next month by submitting your commitment to change in 2009. It’s offered by the Case Foundation.

Second is a recipe with a fine Quaker pedigree. I first ate these cinnamon-sugared pecans at a couple of SF Meeting events. The woman who made them said she got the recipe from a long-time Friend from another meeting who always brings them to AVP gatherings. It also appeared in the December issue of the SF Meeting newsletter.

Cinnamon-Sugar Nuts
Can be any kind of nuts, but pecans are good. Makes one pound.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly beat one egg white. In a medium sized bowl, mix with one pound nuts until coated. In a small bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, then stir mixture into nuts until evenly coated. Spread on a baking sheet. Bake for a total of 20-30 minutes, stirring at decreasing intervals (after 10 minutes, 8 min, 5 min, 3 min, etc.) During the first ten minutes or so, the egg white will puff a little. Watch them carefully near the end and take out when they are lightly browned.

Happy New Year!

What IS going on with the Green Party?

"On my ballot in California, Nader is running on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket, not the Green Party. I am really disappointed in local Green party activist Matt Gonzalez for getting into Nader’s self-aggrandizing run rather than supporting McKinney. Makes him no better than Sarah Palin.

I voted for McKinney in the primary, and the Green candidates wherever else I can find them. But I voted for Obama today, just because I want to be part of his victory."

My comment on Racialicious this morning.

Justice Bras

A few weeks ago, I happened to surf by Julie Clawson's blog, "One Hand Clapping..." Under her category, "Writings," I found an article I needed to read: Her search for a justice bra, parts 1 and 2, originally published on the God's Politics blog.

Her basic point was to find bras, for a reasonable price, that were made of organic materials by people who were paid a living wage. Hey, me too!

So I went to the links she recommended, and I looked at the photos online. But I wondered, would those work for a post-nursing mother? I mean, the models all look like they don't really NEED a bra anyway. But Julie's a mother, she'll know what I mean, and she's tried them out. I could ask her which style she recommends. So I did.

She agreed with me that the ones from Rawganique were comfortable, but not very supportive. She recommended another site, EcolandInc.com, for underwire bras.

I went to the site, looked at the various models, and ended up ordering two, plus various other undergarments for myself and my husband. The key was to look at the size guide, because their sizes ran smaller than some other companies.

They arrived last week, and I'm very pleased. If you're in the market for organic cotton underwear in a fairly narrow range of sizes, I recommend them to you.

P.S. Warning that the comments on the original Justice Bra posts are occasionally offensive.

P.P.S. Julie is also the editor of the Emerging Women site.

Green and not just for children

If you don't live in San Mateo County, you may not be aware that there's yet another election coming up next Tuesday, June 3rd. (The third of four this year.)

If you do live here, did you know that we have the opportunity to vote on a county measure that would provide new, dedicated funding for local and county parks? As a mother, I know just how important our local parks are for my two boys. Measure O would be a small increase in the sales tax -- 1/8 of a penny or a less than $2 a month for most people -- that would raise $16 million a year countywide for parks and recreation.

South San Francisco's share would be about $650,000 a year, all funds to be spent over and above money that is already going to our parks. I understand the plan would be to spend the funds here locally would be to provide overdue maintenance and repairs to ball fields, street trees, and park restrooms, create new baseball and soccer fields near Calwater, complete Centennial Way bicycle and pedestrian pathway, construct a dog park adjacent to Orange Park, renovate picnic shelter and restrooms at Westborough Park, establish new park in the Sunshine Gardens area, and restoration and trail maintenance on San Bruno Mountain.

As a tax measure, Measure O needs two-thirds vote in order to pass. A similar measure was on the ballot in 2006 and won 55% of the vote. On any other kind of measure, that would be considered a "landslide" these days. If you care about parks, I hope you will take the time either to get your absentee ballot in this week or go to the polls next Tuesday to vote YES on Measure O. We need a good turnout of folks who care about parks to get out and vote June 3rd.

There's more information about the measure at www.ParksfortheFuture.org if you want to read up on it. My friend, Holly Van Houten, is the campaign outreach coordinator if you'd like more information at outreach@supportparks.org.

Green Party Primary on February 5th in CA

When I first started this blog, I described it as Green. Which hasn't meant much in this forum until now. I'm not very active in the Green Party, but I am a registered Green voter.

Here are a few links to the Green Party and the presidential candidate that expect to vote for next Tuesday. I don't have a strong affiliation with this particular campaign, but it's the best I can see right now.



Cynthia McKinney is a former Congresswoman from Georgia. She has consistently opposed the death penalty and both U.S. invasions of Iraq. Like me, she supports the 10 Key Values of the Green Party.