Sow Good Seeds
Sow Good Seeds is a column devoted to environmental issues, gardening, cooking, and anything else connected to the natural world that has so graciously hosted us on this earth. It is the author’s hope that it will encourage you to see the world around you in a different way, to make incremental changes in your daily living, and to treat our planetary home such that we honor the generations of life that will follow.
I recently attended a service celebrating the life of a dear woman. She met the challenge of cancer with dignity and grace, but eventually succumbed to its aggressive charge, taken from this world too soon.
The service was filled with fond thoughts of this woman, a warm and welcoming soul who never met a stranger, whose fierce love, deep curiosity, and sly humor left a mark on everyone around her.
Among her many praiseworthy qualities, friends and family highlighted care for the environment as a consistent value in her life. She practiced this care in her everyday living and impressed its importance on others through both her words and her actions. She educated others on environmental issues at work and at home, in social circles and with her children.
She passed away before the concern over COVID-19 reached our community, and I wonder what she would have thought. I imagine she would be deeply grieved by the burden of death, exhaustion, and isolation that our society is bearing. I also imagine she would have been overjoyed that people are supporting each other and giving assistance to those who need it. I imagine that she would have jumped into service had her health allowed it, just as she had throughout her life. And her children, grandchildren, and loved ones would bear witness to that.
Those who follow us, who did not live through these unprecedented times, will ask us what we did and how we acted. They’ll be feeling the ripple effects, seen and unseen, and they’ll want to know how we responded to this serious threat. How did we help? Who did we help?
They’ll also be feeling the effects of climate change, both indirectly and in increasingly direct ways. They’ll want to know what we did.
We’ve learned from the coronavirus that our lives are in each other’s hands, quite literally. We’ve learned we, as individuals and as a society, can take swift action to preserve each other’s health and safety. We’ve learned we’re all a part of the same closed system, and the sooner we understand our part in that, the better we can prevent and manage illness.
I believe this can be true of climate change as well. Actions we take now affect future generations: their lives are in our hands. The swifter we take action, the better we can care for others in our neighborhood and across the world. The sooner we see how interconnected we are, the better we can care for the whole.
People like her, whom I’ve had the honor of knowing personally, help me to see what kind of legacy I hope to leave. Not only do I want to emulate her openness and compassion and follow her example in fighting for peace and justice, but I want to live every day with her conviction that the environment is just as much a part of that effort.
How did you help? Who did you help?
I also aspire to follow in her footsteps with her love of cooking. Here is a recipe for chicken and rice from her native Costa Rica.
Chicken & Rice
Ingredients:
2 large chicken breasts
1 chicken thigh
3 cups rice
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon bell pepper, finely chopped
½ cup peas (cooked)
½ cup carrots (cooked)
½ cup green beans (cooked)
2 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons green olives, sliced
¼ teaspoon achiote (can substitute turmeric or half turmeric/half paprika)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons oil
Salt to taste
Cilantro leaves for garnish
To cook:
Cook chicken until tender with half of onions and half of bell pepper, salt, and 4 cups water.
Strain water and add liquid to make 5 cups broth. Discard bones and shred chicken.
In large pot, heat oil with achiote and sauté remaining onion and bell pepper. Add rice, vegetables, chicken, broth, raisins and olives. Cover tightly and cook until rice is done, about 35 minutes. Fluff with fork.
Deborah Haak-Frost is grateful for every ray of sunshine that reaches her skin. She is the Caretaker for Community Engagement at GilChrist Retreat Center in Three Rivers.
Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed in “Sow Good Seeds” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Watershed Voice staff or its board of directors.
