The gardens and house are ours!

For quite a few years now, my family has rented a house on large lot near a very major intersection. We've been here while the two houses across the street were knocked down to expand a parking area and the front of the house - and the gardens there - have been exposed to more wind and colder temperatures during the winter. We get smells from the McDonald's at the corner (grease gets changed around 2:00 a.m.). The area is getting more students. Despite all this, we've wanted the house.

Did I say the house is on a large lot? Did I say that we love the land the house is on? That it's been gardened organically since the house went in in about 1950. Did I say we were afraid we'd never be able to buy it and do what we want to with the place?

Well ... we've bought it. It's ours. Because I'm curious and obsessed, I looked up how to calculate acreage, figuring it would be really great if we had 1/10 acre. Well, it's 0.2435 acre. If I do a bit of terracing or grow beans up poles I can fudge it and say we have 1/4 acre! It's beyond belief. And I've been afraid of mentioning here that we were trying to buy the place, lest it not happen.

Well, we have the place. We have the place for sure: I paid the first City property tax today. That's really having the place!

We want to expand the area given over to vegetables from 900 square feet to ... who knows? We want to expand the herb gardens (medicinals, culinary, and the simply beautiful). We want terracing, and more heritage roses, and more perennial vegetables, and a greenhouse, and cold frames, and more berry bushes and more wild plants for the birds. And next fall I'm planting tall yellow tulips and at least three types of species tulips because they are beautiful. And because I can.

Thanks to all who know us. Your good wishes through the stress of buying the place have kept us going, if not always sane.

Love from Why's Woman.

Trying to understand what words like Transition and Resilience have to do with washing dishes

I’ve been wanting to explain to myself and to others what the Transition* movement is all about. So, I’ve made a few notes, trying for simple language. Some ideas - quite intermingled below - are from a short article titled Resilience,** by the late Brian Goodwin; his article is worth reading to savor his own take on this.

The Transition movement is bubbling up from the heartfelt need of many, many people to be more connected with the people in their communities and with the decisions of their communities; we want to make healthier lives for ourselves within our communities - our homes. Many people have been realizing that the economic model we live in (the buy more and bigger) just isn’t good for us, on a physical, economic, emotional or spiritual level. We also realize that we will be living in a world that has far less fossil fuel available and that there will be changes in climate; these two things will affect just about every aspect of life.

We are also realizing that we don’t know how to do things for ourselves in the way our grandparents did.

This realization - which I see as of core and heartfelt importance - is just beginning to reach magazine and book format, and is beginning at the easy end of the skills continuum. Marjorie Harris has a great little book out titled: Thrifty: living the frugal life with style. Knitting has been gaining in popularity over the last few years (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s www.yarnharlot.ca/blog). Cookbooks are focusing on healthier foods. Books about reducing stress are even more prevalent than several years ago. Garden books are focusing on growing vegetables, and organics. Do-it-yourself books for home repairs sell well.

I’ve got a feeling that, as we come into the world of fewer fossil fuels and climate change, learning to do more for ourselves will extend beyond these relatively simple examples. And that for the things we don’t do for ourselves, we will have to become more thoughtful, as well as more knowledgeable, about how they are done. Certainly we will need to appreciate what others do for us.

Just as my own thought experiment here ... I’ll take ‘doing dishes’.

I don’t have a dishwasher, so I’ve never thought about the people and machines and fossil fuels that get ore out of the ground, the fossil fuels that go into smelting and manufacturing and shipping and retail outlets and more transportation to hook the machine into the city water system as it connects to my house. But my house does connect to the city of London water system ... people made the house pipes and the city pipes (all from mined and manipulated materials, everything transported by fossil fuels). The water that comes in has been cleaned by a complicated system of filters, containments, buildings, pipes, people all the way through who have skills I know nothing about ... other than if, while running tap water into the dishpan I can put a glass under the flow and drink that water safely. Incredible. And when I squirt in a bit of Ivory liquid, I have no idea what the chemistry of the soap is and certainly no idea of the chemistry of the plastic container or where it was made or where it was shipped from, or how much fossil fuel went into either the soap or the container. Who made my drainboard, where? How did the plastic coating get on the metal underneath it? What weird formula of plastic went over the wire as liquid then dried flexible? And what fossil fuels went into that?

Wow! Just on that one example!

So, keeping the clean water service, with thanks to all who brought it to me ... how would I do dishes if I didn’t have the Ivory liquid? The first thing that comes to mind is that perhaps I can make some sort of dish soap with a plant that grows like a weed around my place: soapwort*** (Saponaria officianalis). And the quickest search on the internet shows me that some parts of the plant are for gentle soap, some parts are medicinal used externally, and to be careful about ingesting too much of it. O.K. ... I see this will require a bit more research. How much would I need to harvest to carry over for the year’s dishes? How much processing? How well does the soap keep and under what conditions?

I’ve proven to myself that I don’t know much and need the help of others’ books and recipes. I need to find the community of people who understand plants and their uses. And I probably need the help of a small scale, local industry to make enough dish soap for me for the year. 10 - 12 litre containers? (since I use this for gentle cleaning of clothes as well as for dishes).

Goodwin says that ‘At the very core of the Transition message about cultivating new, sustainable lifestyles is the belief that human cultures must develop patterns of relationship in community that have the properties of natural ecosystems: they must become resilient, capable of responding adaptively and creatively to shocks and changes such that flexible responses lead to the emergence of new sustainable patterns of living’.

That fits with my need to get the dishes done!

Best regards to all. Why’s Woman

*www.transitiontowns.org
**Resilience, written by (the late) Brian Goodwin, published July/Aug 2009, issue 255 of Resurgence (online?) magazine - at the heart of earth, art, and spirit
http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article2852-Resilience.html
***Soapwort Properties
Soapwort root, has been used as an alternative medicine since the time of Dioscorides. It is medicinal as an alterative, antiscrophulatic, cholagogue, depurative, diaphoretic, mildly diuretic, expectorant, purgative and tonic. A decoction of the herb is applied externally to treat itchy skin. One of the saponins in this plant is proving of interest in the treatment of cancer. A soap can be obtained by boiling the whole plant (but especially the root) in water. It is a gentle effective cleaner, used on delicate fabrics that can be harmed by synthetic soaps. The best soap is obtained by infusing the plant in warm water. Soapwort is sometimes recommended as a hair shampoo, though it can cause eye irritations. Caution is advised, when taken in excess, this plant is POISONOUS, it destroys red blood cells and causes paralysis of the vasomotor center. http://www.altnature.com/gallery/soapwort.htm

Ask me about gardens and growing

Over the last few days, there's been a lot of publicity about a man of significant military rank who has been accused of murdering two women (and other charges). At the store where I work at least half a dozen people have commented on the case. When I say I don't follow the case each person has spent time updating me and/or passing opinion and speculating.

It may seem odd that I don't care about the case, because customers at the bookstore where I work know that I'm a mystery fan. But I like mysteries because in a story the person who does evil is found out within a reasonable amount of time without years of media speculation.

Plus, I'd rather fill my mind with the ideas generated by the over 60 people who attended a meeting last evening to discuss the '100 mile diet'. This led to questions of why there is so little locally produced food on our store shelves, how we can connect with people who produce food locally, how to influence stores locally and nationally, international food production, and ... well, all sorts of topics.

It may be that several people got together after this meeting (or there will be another meeting) and they will do some purchasing together. There was certainly an exchange of information over in one corner about a community supported agriculture (CSA) operation. I met two women who are with the London Food Co-op (celebrating its 40th birthday this year!). A farmer was there from Norwich area, telling us that if we talk to real farmers we can find out what is available. There was talk about community gardens and how they are only going to increase, and talk about a food charter for our city.

I'm even going to a meeting this morning about that food charter. I know a bit about home gardening, and maybe I can make a contribution. The line up of people is a bit intimidating. But, I'm gathering a few notes I made and hope to be ready to speak up and ask some questions.

How can the people who are the most 'food insecure' (yes, that's the term that gets used instead of hungry or poor) participate in growing their own food and helping it get to others who need food?

And most important: how can I help?

Garden plans on a freezing winter’s night

I’ve got several streams of thought right now ... and they do come together.

Tonight's temperature will be well below freezing. My plan for this evening was to sort seed packages and look through catalogues. I've got garden dreams. Half an hour ago a co-worker called to tell me one of her best friends had died and to check with me that I'd be able to switch hours so she can take a day off. Of course I will.

This past December, a co-worker's husband died of cancer. In late September another friend died, although that wasn't cancer. A dear friend's mother has ALS, now. All these are gardeners.

A few days ago someone who knows I garden sent me an email about a proposed ‘cancer survivor’s garden’ going into a public park. She thought I might want to comment.

I am a believer in the healing power of gardens, on many levels. There’s even a term and a field of health care, ‘therapeutic gardening', which formalized programs to get people and gardens together. The first time I read the term was in a book written by a Canadian who worked at a treatment centre in Guelph. And there’s a lovely book called 'The Holistic Garden: creating spaces for health and healing' written by a Canadian named Karen York. Therapy gardens tend to be highly interactive. They invite people in not just to look at but to care for plants.

Often, it seems to me, that memory or 'survivor' gardens are too static. They seem to be put in as a place where the main thing a visitor will do is sit quietly and think. I dislike gardens with rows of the top ten favorite plants of lawn control companies (mulched with bark according to current garden styles).

While quiet contemplation may be pleasant, and needed sometimes, I visualize much more for such. I'm all for herbs and scents, medicinal herbs, even a few healthy vegetables to acknowledge the role of good food in a person's health. I want different heights, textures, seasons, and colour.

Also, now I'm thinking, I wonder if this proposed garden will have any ongoing programs so that there is care given by volunteers, instead of a maintenance company. And will 'survivors' be able to contribute plants? We probably all have plants that have come to us from friends or relatives, and we treasure them. I've got two rescued roses over my friend's cat Charlie, who rests near the gooseberry bushes. My cat Mackenzie is by the forsythia, in a lovely shady spot. Memorial gardens should have stories.

There’s a lot of ceremony and joy that could come from a simple ‘pot luck’ of plants being brought to a new garden and planted in whatever arrangement their height and sun requirements bring to the planting event. Let the people who come to the event talk with each other and plan, on the spot and in the moment.

Yes, tonight I'll look through the catalogues.

Self-suffienciency to sustainable cities

This Sunday morning has been a rare morning of browsing books and the Internet, following ideas.

I'd been reading through another wonderful book ... The Forgotten Crafts: a practical guide to traditional skills, by John Seymour, 1984. It is a wonderful book, full of photos from the British Isles, mostly 1880s through 1920s (my guess) and also wonderful sketches and woodcuts. The book has a very old-fashioned look to it (although the author was absolutely aware contemporary issues of rural-to-city migration, fuel shortage, and skills loss). The Forgotten Crafts is filled with history and how-it's-done information on about 50 different crafts/skills (like flax preparation to spin linen, thatching, slate cutting, and tile making). I love the language, the words - some I've heard before when I worked at a museum. 'Hackling' or 'heckling' as part of the process that removes linen fibers from 'retted' stalks of flax. 'Distaff' is part of a spinning wheel, and is basically a drop spindle that some clever person realized could be rotated 90 degrees and moved by treadle instead of always being controlled by hand; 'distaff' also is a word that refers to the female side of families (traditionally the spinners were women ... words evolve).

The Forgotten Crafts is out of print, but copies did turn up on an ABE used book search. The copy I have came from the public library, and when I return it I'll send a note saying that this treasure should never be culled! It's essential history and knowledge.

I only first ran across John Seymour's name when one of his books came into the store where I work. It must be the newest version of an earlier book and it's been updated with more photos. And then I discovered online what an interesting person John Seymour the author was!

He wrote over 40 books, most about self-sufficiency and traditional crafts. His thinking was influenced by experience at many jobs and from travel in several African countries and in India, as well as simply being alive in the British Isles and Europe during a time when skills and crafts were still practised. He was also of the era of Schumacher and similar advocates of a small is better scale. John Seymour was arrested in 1999 for taking part in a protest that damaged a crop of GM sugar beets. Can you imagine how well that would have gone over in the newspapers?! An 85 year old arrested ... and then he turns out to be an articulate spokesman for agriculture without pesticides and synthetics. He was 90 when he died in 2004 and had taught self-sufficiency for many years on his property in County Wexford, Ireland. Participants came from all over the world to meet him.

A friend of his, Herbert Girardet, wrote a really great piece in 2005 in a magazine called Resurgence, itself a real reward for my Sunday browsing! Both the tribute (http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article566-Visionaries.html) and the magazine are really worth looking at. http://www.resurgence.org/

And Herbert Girardet turns out to be an expert in sustainable cities. He seems to work for or have a business called Under the Sky Urban Renewal and works with an organization called SustainAbility. An acquaintance of mine is working in the sustainable buildings and city realm, and I'll ask him about this fellow and his site. I've been realizing lately that I don't know a lot about what sustainable cities could look like in 30 years from now, I know so very few of the ideas that are out in the world.

But, and this is really important ... I know that there are people in every country who have wonderful ideas. Some ideas are based in traditional skills and others are based in new technologies. Some are 'appropriate technologies' with feet in both realms. And those people around the world are talking with each other and sharing ideas and dreams and practicalities. And there is a lot we can do to save the world in our spare time and in our everyday time.

Best regards to all of you,

Why's Woman

http://www.underthesky.org.uk/who_hg.html
www.sustainability.com

Guelph Organic Conference end of January 2010

Recently, someone I knew mentioned the need for a conference for food producers who were not involved in fossil-fuel based, large-scale, industrial agriculture.

The good news is: the Guelph Organics Conference, January 28 - 31. http://www.guelphorganicconf.ca/

I'm sure all of you know some of this, and more ... but I'll just jot down that there are various organic conferences and organic agriculture organizations in Ontario, Canada, US, UK, and farther, farther afield. I take heart reading about the ever-changing world of SANER food production and the exchange of information that goes on.

I'm using the word SANER broadly, because I really like what it stands for and would love to see it catch on. The acronym SANER was coined by the Terra Edibles seed people. Meaning Sustainable, All-Natural, and Environmentally Responsible, the acronym came into use in last year's catalogue so that they would not have to contend with new Canadian regulations to do with organics. Regulations to do with organic food production in Canada took years to develop, with input from many individuals and organizations. There is much that is positive and important. But it is the nature of regulations to have counterbalancing problems, shortfalls and and restrictions. TE's Don McKay and Karyn Wright use SANER to describe their farm and lovingly produced seed. (www.terraedibles.ca)

Elliot Coleman uses the term Authentic Food to describe the type of healthy, safely produced food that he advocates as beyond 'organic', a term that, sadly, has become co-opted, misused and misunterstood. Coleman writes often for Mother Earth News and has written several books. His latest two are specific to extending growing season in colder areas; Coleman's farm is in Maine, more north than London. www.fourseasonfarm.com

In Ontario, we have the Environmental Farmers of Ontario organization. In Canada, there is the Canadian Organic Growers organization. Both are wonderful. The National Organic Growers advocate organic agriculture and a much different approach than the 'regular' farmers union. The NFU annual conference was in London in November 2007, coincidentally at the same time as London's mayor's 'roundtable on agribusiness' (which I attended as an observer and was bitterly disappointed by). There are organizations for biodynamic agriculture. Individual farms like Everdale do wonderful things. There are CSAs like Sunnivue Farm (www.sunnivue-farm.on.ca). Ontario and the world have incredible, knowledgeable, different, and thoughtful people involved in food production at various scales.

Our skills are our stories, our history, our future

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Happy New Year to anyone reading. I hope that you and yours will have a healthy and happy year ahead.

The other day I met a friend for coffee and she mentioned her New Year's resolution: for every three mysteries she reads she will read one memoir. That is a wonderful idea. It's something that she will be able to carry out because she will enjoy it. It made me think about why I don't usually make resolutions ... they are so often of the lose twenty pounds or similar negative, fix-up-oneself sort.

And then I found myself at the Centre Branch Library, downtown London, and remembered the special crafts collection on the third floor. This is a unique collection, numbered and catalogued, and contains all sorts of wonderful books on crafts, many of them over 50 years old and never to be had again. And I decided that my resolution for the year is to at least browse one book a week for the next year. I'll learn about all sorts of things.

From the first shelf I picked up a copy of The Shell Book of Country Crafts, written and illustrated by James Arnold and published in 1968. It's not really a 'how to' book, because there aren't instructions for all the crafts that he mentions. But he mentions a huge number of crafts, many not done these days except by specialists and historians. There are sections for roof thatching, bagpipe making, wheelwrighting, quilting and making flails ... about thirty things altogether, in over 350 papes. And although there are not step by step instructions, there are useful and fascinating pieces of information throughout ... things like the ways in which specialty blades have both an inside and outside edge, either used dependent on the part of a chair being finished. There are some wonderful photographs of old workshops, and people working at such things as wattle fences, lacemaking and binding besoms. (look it up, I'll not tell you!)

Mr. Arnold has great respect for the craftsmen and women he met, and thanks them and the Museum of English Rural Life (which still exists in Reading, England and houses important collections and has workshops). A bit of his humour shows in the preface where he says: '... there may be individual craftsmen and craftswomen who like to surround their activities with an aura. Those who have left their imprint on the history of craftsmanship have been too busy or preoccupied to bother about auras.'

I think what he's said here is: the real craftspeople just get on with the work. I looked online to find a bit of biographical material about Mr. Arnold and was delighted to hear that he lived to the hale age of 90.

There's a contemporary word - reskilling - that is used in The Transition Handbook. It's referring to finding and relearning skills that we will/may need as we go into a future where we need to be more self-reliant and adaptable (more resilient). This goes along with the ideas that the food and items our communities need will have to be produced closer to home, that we will be using energy sources other than fossil fuels, and that we will be affected by climate change.

This last paragraph takes a big leap between learning something simple like how to bake bread or sharpen our own tools, to living in a world where we won't be able to go to the store to buy bread imported from 800 km away or to replace a cheap knife with another cheap knife. We are going to be in a world where we do not have unlimited 'stuff'.

And I admit that I look forward to that world. For all I use the internet for so much and appreciate some electronics and conveniences, and love that the lights come on and the water works, I do not value the vast majority of consumer garbage that's in the stores. I am over fifty, and my parents (both deceased) were older parents. The great aunts and uncles I knew in my childhood were born in the 1890s. So my life's stories connect me to 120 years of history, and practicality. My people were in trades, not professionals, and there was no money on either side. I've been a make-do-er all my life, and I've had enough interest in history to feel confident as I read about all sorts of artisans.

Well, this entry sure diverted from my original idea. I was going to talk about the importance of stories in our lives. But perhaps this has been a story.

Again, best wishes to all in the new year.

Why's woman.