“Preparing food, to me, is one way that I care for myself: I love the creativity of transforming fresh produce into a delicious meal, as if I were creating a mixed-media art piece. It’s a way of accomplishing one small thing that nourishes and re-energizes me. It’s a way of absorbing and honoring the energy that farmers, farm workers, and gardeners (including myself) have put into growing the food I’m putting into my body.”
Sow Good Seeds
“I don’t deny that rhubarb can be an acquired taste, but I’m glad my palate shifted. I came to realize that a little sweetener takes the edge off, but it doesn’t need to be doused to be edible. In fact, I think masking rhubarb’s flavor is an unfortunate habit of the dessert-making world and doesn’t do service to its finer qualities. A bit of pucker-iness gives nuance, interest, and dimension.”
Doug and Alek return for Episode 5 of Keep Your Voice Down where they take a real-life Buzzfeed quiz to find out which member of the 1998 Chicago Bulls they are, address concerns from readers about certain content published on Watershed Voice, and how we can raise the level of public discourse together as a community.
“This week’s Sow Good Seeds column departs from the environmental theme of most of my writing, but I’d like to share a story of a recent experience. I try to write columns that encourage us to look at how connected we are to the world around us. I hope this will shed light on the community relationships that are possible when honest and respectful communication is a priority. When we care for each other, we care for the whole.”
Ah, asparagus: the herald of warmer weather to come, the great divider of households, the aroma of springtime bathrooms everywhere.
“Disrupting a pattern, as abruptly as this virus has disrupted our society’s patterns, shocks the system. Shockwaves are reverberating through all sectors.”
“My compost pile isn’t huge or fancy; I constructed its three sides from some reclaimed concrete blocks and an old pallet, lashed together with twine. It’s not perfect, but it’s doing the job, which is to break down kitchen scraps and yard clippings into rich material that returns nutrients to the soil.”
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?
I like to look out the window — I think I get that from my dad. While I was growing up, my parents had an agreement that my mother would drive the car anywhere we went as a family; I’m told it was so that my father could look out the window without imperiling the rest of us.