Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Anniversary!
Today is the one week anniversary of our marriage! Above is my favourite photo from our wedding set on Flickr. Since we left Point No Point last Monday, Brian and I have been in Ottawa so that I could return to the bargaining table without being bereft of my new husband – which was the best possible compromise we could come up with given the suddenness of my union’s request. He left last night, and unfortunately I am still in Ottawa, but I am really glad we did have the week together here and lots of nice meals and walks together in between my working time.
Negotiations are down to the last right now which means sitting for long periods of time in a windowless boardroom. My ticket out is scheduled for tomorrow and hopefully I will find it in me to recall the awesomeness of our wedding weekend and post it here. Suffice to say, one week ago today I told Brian that he will never again walk alone and my recollection of staring into his eyes at just that moment is forever sealed alongside the most precious minutes of my life.
Happy anniversary Brian! One week! You and me forever. (I’ll be home tomorrow, promise).
In the Bookshed: The Natural Kitchen
Out of Process Media’s Self-reliance series (aka urban homesteader collection) comes The Natural Kitchen: Your Guide to the Sustainable Food Revolution by Deborah Eden Tull. Just released at the end of September, this book gives deep insight into creating a mindful and green kitchen: cooking, organic gardening, composting, water use, waste reduction, and food storage are all covered here.
Rather opening with the scary stuff of climate change and our severe ecological problems, Tull sets an encouraging tone straight off with her statement that creative change is the most fun we can embark on as humans. Rather than overwhelming the reader with hard stats and disaster, she sets a pace of writing that includes inspirational anecdotes and thoughts on her own path of learning as an activist turned Zen Buddhist and now sustainability coach as well as questions for self-reflection. As a person who has lived in both rural and urban settings, Tull’s suggestions don’t come from a place that assumes acreage and the ability to live totally off the grid. It’s for those reasons, as well as her deep and abiding desire to connect people with the earth, that I would recommend Tull’s book as a good overall reference to the many small places in our lives we can find a bit more ecological sanity.
Whether you are new to the green movement, or like me, have been working along these lines for a couple of decades, there is plenty of information and advice in this book to put you even further into daily ecological practice. Water-saving, composting, shoppers guidelines, companion planting, food packaging…. Even if you are an expert in one area, you will surely find material you have never thought about in another area. (In my case, I have never paid that much attention to composting ratios or water-saving)…. And the book is nicely-designed on top of that with illustrations, tables and highlighted questions for consideration.
Definitely glad to have this one on the shelf, I’m curious also to check out the Process title: When There Is No Doctor: Preventive and Emergency Healthcare in Uncertain Times.
What does it mean to be an earth steward? Most of us who grew up in cities or suburbs from the 1950s through the end of the last century were not taught to pay much attention to caring for our environment. We were brought up to separate from the natural world on some level – as consumers who simply turn on the tap, flip a switch, flush a toilet and dump our trash in a receptacle without thinking about where it goes. The difference between being a consumer and being an earth steward is similar to the difference between the attention and care you give your own child or dog as opposed to a child or dog you just pass on the street. When we really see something as ‘ours’ and an extension of ourselves, as in ‘our world,’ ‘our soil,’ ‘our food system,’ we have a totally different relationship with it. We must do everything in our power to take care of it.”
Deborah Eden Tull in The Natural Kitchen
Rolling with the waves (but not drowning).
I had a bit of a blog-crisis earlier this week when I started questioning why I am attempting to write more than one regular blog since Among the Weeds is capturing more of my interests right now. I figured, if I want to write about cooking, growing and sewing – then Among the Weeds could capture those more home-based activities – and why bother writing anywhere else? But then I came across 1001 books (check out the page link up above) and realized that needed some home for writing about reading. And shortly after that, I got an email that indicated the government wanted to enter early and expedited bargaining with my union and I would have to head out to Ottawa this weekend, and where would I write about that personal drama? Not to mention that I like to rant here occassionally, and reflect on things that have nothing to do with what the folks reading Among the Weeds are looking for.
I’ve read articles previously that say the most successful blogs (in terms of readership and advertising dollars) are those which stick to a narrow range of subjects – and it’s at least true for me – unless I’m interested in someone’s personal life in a very great way, I have a tendency to return only to blogs on themes or topics that I want to read about. Right now that entails a lot of blogs about sewing and cooking and gardening – but it shifts depending on what my focus of the moment is.
So onto life: It should come to no surprise any anyone who reads this blog that I am getting married in ten days at Point no Point Resort on Vancouver Island. It’s a small wedding (14 people total), and really low-key. We’ve got pretty much everything under control (dress, licence, rings, food, wine, etc.) so I was really looking forward to just having a nice few days beforehand with Brian to enjoy. Some dinners with friends this weekend, my writing group week, etc.
Sounds nice right?
On Monday my union emailed to say that the government is interested in collective bargaining in an early and expedited fashion (like, right now) – which means the PSAC has decided to reconvene the teams from the previous bargaining round and wants us all in Ottawa on Sunday morning. This Sunday morning. And they want us there through the following two weeks because the government has said we either get a deal during this time period of we hold off until next summer when bargaining was scheduled to commence anyways. This came as a bit of a shock to me, and is entirely unprecedented in the history of public sector negotiatons with Treasury Board (to my knowledge).
Now of course, there was never one crumb of a chance I would move my wedding day just because the federal government came to call – the union didn’t expect that when they realized the date-conflict. (Even though it’s small, we’ve got people flying in and besides the date is symbolically very important (three years exactly to the date/time we met) – not to mention the fact that Brian is the single most important person/thing/relationship/priority in my life.) So we worked out an arrangement whereby I’m flying to Ottawa this weekend for five days (returning Wednesday night) and then back again on the Tuesday morning following the wedding (returning the following Saturday). That way I can both bargain for 80,000 people *and* get married, which seems ridiculous when I write it out like that – but whatever. It’s what I’m doing.
As a super-love-bonus, Brian is returning to Ottawa with me after the wedding so that we can spend whatever snatches of time are available together following the vows. That really makes me feel a whole lot better about things, and my schwack of Aeroplan points really came in handy there. It’s like a working honeymoon in the capital city – and autumn is such a lovely time out there!
The bummer is that I’ve had to cancel everything else except dinner with friends on Friday night – and I’m really hoping that after all this crazy re-balancing that we don’t get out there to find out the government really just wants to give us nothing. I’m really hoping that this is an act of good faith by treasury board….. but so far I’m having a hard time with that one given our past experiences as public sector workers. We’ll just have to see what comes.
At least I live in interesting times right? And with an awesome guy who’s willing to roll with the waves. I think I’ve scored a pretty good life by that count, and I’m going to try to just take the next three weeks as they come.
Food preservation workshops #vanmarkets
Having just found out I have to fly to Ottawa this weekend and will be gone for the rest of the month, I am a bit disappointed to find out about this awesome Vancouver Farmer’s Market series on preserving food for winter. But I’m also really pleased to see food preservation workshops in such an accessible place and format.
Using a VanCity grant, the Farmer’s Market has rounded up two local chefs – Andrea Potter (of Radha Eatery) and Denise Fantinato (of Deni’s Delights) to provide the basics on drying, freezing, pickling *and* canning! How awesome is that?
(BTW – since I used a squash picture as a feature on this post I should just say that my favourite way to store summer squash is cook, puree and freeze. Makes a great tomato sauce additive!)
Eating and Tweeting – Some cooking fun.
I feel slightly ashamed for not knowing about this very cool new cookbook coming out since the person behind it is someone I used to know in Vancouver – but nevertheless I wanted to share both the concept and the Eat Tweet Faves for Fall Twecipe Contest with y’all because it is lots of fun in an obsessivey kindof way and if you get on it before the weekend, there might be a prize for you out there.
Basically, Eat Tweet: 1,020 Recipe Gems from the Twitter Community’s @cookbook
R-barb Muffins: Cream ½c brnsug/¼c butr +2egg/c sr-crm/1.5 c flr/ ¾ t soda. Mix. Fold 1.5 c r-barb. Grease tin. Dust w sug/cin. 375F 25 min.
Which is a 140-character representation of the Rhubarb Muffins I posted here awhile back. Readable? Well, yes if you break it down into its simplest parts and infer that R-barb is Rhubarb. I was really desperate to emit letters once I realized “grease tin” is an important instruction, and the cinammon-dusting really is an essential step. And that’s the point, really. Beyond the wikitionary for twitter recipe-sharing, there is a whole lot of inference in figuring these little gems out. But that’s half the fun. A puzzle and a cooking lesson all in one.
While I’m pretty sure that “twecipe books” aren’t going to replace the standard recipe tomes that line our kitchen shelves, this is yet one more example of the way technology is changing language and language is changing the ways we relate to each other. I am really curious about whether this book has managed to keep some of the traditional cookbook “chattiness” about it, or if it’s as sterile as 140 character missives can be. But that remains to be seen, doesn’t it? If I don’t manage to win a copy in the contest posted above then I’ll just have to buy one and find out.
Red Cedar 