Counting Coup...On the Vacuum Cleaner

Brady, like most dogs, is terrified of the vacuum cleaner.  Whenever I get the Oreck out of the closet, he runs to his kennel and hides.  

He ventures out cautiously if the ferocious beast is roaring in another room.  He holds his ground as I make my way from the back of the house to the front, moving ever closer to his "turf."  He watches the vacuum vigilantly, ready to dart to the safety of his kennel at the first sign of danger.

It doesn't help that our vacuum has headlights.  When I turn in his direction, the lights glare fiercely at him, and he runs for cover.

Today, in a great show of bravery, he darted quickly at the enemy, nipped the vacuum bag, and darted away again, only rising for the briefest of moments from a defensive crouch.  When I realized what he was doing--counting coup on the vacuum cleaner--I nearly laughed out loud. 

But biting the vacuum is not behavior I want to encourage, so he got his scolding, and a trip to his kennel.  Inside I was laughing, though, and he probably knew it.  

We humans like to think we're special, but animals do so many of the same things we do, and we can learn from each other.  In this case, both dogs and humans have a practice that reminds them that simply by touching the strange other we call our enemy, we can conquer our fear.

Friedman: Learning to Speak Climate

In a recent op-ed piece in the NYT, Thomas Friedman shares three phases that make up Climate-Speak. They are:

• “Just a few years ago ...”
• “I’ve never seen that before...”
• “Well usually ...but now I don’t know anymore.”

That pretty much sums up our experience here in Alaska this summer. Global weirding indeed.

The Great 08 Veggie Adventure

As I've written about before, this summer I am participating in not one, but two CSA programs. One, Arctic Organics, is local. The other, Full Circle Farm, is based in Carnation, WA.

Every Tuesday I meet with three friends on my front deck for the Veggie Divide. We split two Arctic Organics shares between the four of us. It's been an interesting exercise in sharing and compromise. We've adjusted for scheduled and emergency absences. We've worked around differences in styles and tastes. And through this weekly practice we are getting to know each other more deeply than we could with conversation alone.

Every other Thursday I pick up a small box from Full Circle Farms. FCF allows its members to swap out up to five items each week, so I adjust my box contents with Arctic Organics in mind, choosing apricots rather than kale, blueberries rather than mixed greens, and sweet corn instead of broccoli.

It is still more than the two of us (plus the dog) can keep up with, but even when the collard greens wind up in the compost pile, I am glad that I'm part of both programs.

GMOs By Any Other Name

I have been reading Jeffrey Sach's new book, Commonwealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, and learning a great deal.

But he began talking about "high-yield seeds" and I wondered, "Is he talking about GMOs?" Careful reading--and some follow-up googling--revealed that yes, Sachs does believe in genetic modification of seeds.

I'm not a scientist--just an educated reader. For me it once again comes down to trust. I simply don't trust Monsanto. Vanity Fair's recent "Green Issue" had a powerful article that talks more about Monsanto's record of bad behavior in the past--and its current practice of fear and intimidation. Monsanto has a huge number of Superfund sites in its history. GMOs are legal in this country based on Monsanto-subsidized and/or Monsanto-produced testing. Sound like a safe bet to you?

So what should I think about Jeffrey Sachs? Is he naive? So focused on elimating poverty & hunger that he's willing to poison the planet (and the people he's saved from poverty & hunger)? Or worse--has he been wooed by the money Monsanto pours into his pet projects, the Millenium Villages?

I don't know what to think. But his book is worth reading--with caution, and open eyes.

A Creative Solution

Kim Sollien's new blog on the Anchorage Daily News website had record numbers of comments when she raised the issue of Full Circle Farm.

Full Circle is a new breed of CSA. Perhaps "Concentric Circles Farm" would be a better name for it. Subscribers receive produce first from Full Circle's farm in Carnation, WA, then from farms in the Pacific NW, then the West Coast of the US, then farther afield. All of it is organic, fair trade, etc. As the circles get wider, of course, there's less control over how organic, how fair, but that's a leap of faith you choose to make if you subscribe.

Business is booming for Full Circle Farm here in AK. It amazes me that they're delivering to places like Dillingham, Kotzebue and Bethel.

Kim's blog raises the question of whether the success of FCF in Alaska takes business away from local farmers. The discussion was thoughtful--and sometimes hot!

For me, I like the flexibility and diversity of FCF. I am cautiously in awe of their marketing success. And I want to keep going with FCF through the summer.

But I also want to return to Arctic Organics. I believe very strongly in supporting our local Alaskan farmers. And FCF's produce just can't match the freshness of local veggies.

Solution? Four small families, including mine, will share two subscriptions from Arctic Organics. Two of us will continue with FCF, while the other two are complete CSA rookies. We plan to meet each week on my spacious front deck to divide up the bounty.

Who knows? Perhaps even more interesting community-building will come from it. Maybe we'll even decide to preserve the harvest together.

It's All About Trust

During the recently concluded legislative session, I helped out with the effort to legalize raw milk in Alaska. Somehow I found myself emailing updates and action alerts to more than forty people, all of whom were passionate about access to raw milk.


They are a diverse group. People from Delta and Homer, Palmer and Anchorage, Wasilla and Eagle River. Conservatives and liberals. Religious people and people without religious affiliation. Some who wrote long, impassioned pleas and others who simply emailed me their names and address. Folks for whom the issue is about health, and others for whom the issue is about freedom.

What holds these disparate people together, I believe, is the effort to rebuild civic trust. Betrayal has been so pervasive, on so many fronts, that many of us are standing just a few feet from total disillusionment, trying to figure out how to walk back in the direction of hope.

It's not easy figuring out who to trust. We just watched the documentary Libby, Montana, and it was so painful to hear the stories of workers at the WR Grace mine, betrayed by members of management who were leaders in the Libby community, in local government, in local churches. Betrayed by people they interacted with on a daily basis. Betrayed by people they trusted.

A spiritual director once told me, "Trust everyone a little. Trust no one completely." It would be nice if we could let down our guard and relax, but unfortunately we cannot afford to walk through life naively. We have to be alert, conscious, vigilant, thinking people.

Raw Milk Adventure

We tasted our first "raw milk" cheese today: Monterey Jack Wisconsin Raw Milk Cheese.

OK, so I don't know if it was hard-core, raw milk cheese. Organic Valley says it was heat treated to the threshold of pasteurization without being pasteurized. Whatever that means.

It tasted delicious. It's hard to tell, sometimes, if things really do taste better when they're organic, local, less processed.

Herding with Brady

Throughout this past winter, most Saturdays you would find Brady and me herding sheep in Wasilla at Sunset Acres Farm. This photo was taken last summer, when it was actually hot enough to wear a t-shirt! Right now around here we're beginning to think it will never be spring, let alone summer.

Learning to herd sheep with a dog is a difficult skill, and perhaps even a spiritual discipline. It teaches humility, patience, consciousness--yep, sounds like a spiritual discipline to me.

In this photo, Brady is coming to the head of the small group of sheep, something he's not really supposed to do. So he's learning where to be, and I'm learning how to tell him where to be.

Herding can be frustrating and funny all at the same time. When the Brady's barking and running circles around the sheep, and the sheep are pushing past me and through me. When Suzanne is yelling commands to me across the arena, and my brain is sure that she's speaking French. When Suzanne takes over with Brady and through her expertise and confidence he turns into a little herding angel.

So why do Brady & I go to herding lessons? First and foremost, because "a tired dog is a good dog." And because he loves it, and was bred to do it--it's in his genes. But also because it's an ancient skill, and we're losing ancient skills as quickly as we are endangered species. It's good exercise. It forces me to connect with the physical world, something this daydreamer needs to do. It is, as Martha says, a good thing.

Raw Milk: In Support of House Bill 367

Here's the public testimony I wrote in support of House Bill 367, which would legalize the sale of raw (unpasteurized) milk in Alaska.

When I was growing up in New Jersey, one of my favorite summer vacations was visiting the dairy farm in Ontario owned by my aunt and uncle. I loved the green pastures, the water lilies on the creek, and the soft noses on the newborn calves. I also loved the fresh, raw milk we drank there, an exotic and delicious substance that came from the huge tank in the milk room, rather than from plastic jugs purchased at the grocery store.

This Jersey girl is, in more ways than one, a long way from home. Here in Alaska I am building a life that has more in common with that dairy farm than the suburban life I knew as a child. I may live in Eagle River, with neighbors close on either side, but most weekends I drive to the Valley to purchase eggs and teach my dog how to herd a flock of Shetland sheep. In the summer I receive a weekly allotment of vegetables from River and Sara Bean's farm in Palmer. I would like to be able to add local, raw cow and goat milk to my shopping list.

I am by no means alone in these kinds of endeavors. The New Oxford American Dictionary's 2007 Word of the Year was "locavore," meaning someone who believes "that strong local food systems are essential for environmental sustainability, food security, social equity, and the economic vitality of thriving communities."[1] People are joining Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs), shopping at Farmers' Markets, and tracking down local sources of meat and poultry, dairy products and eggs. Even in Alaska, people are responding to bestselling author Michael Pollan's suggestion, "Shake the hand that feeds you."[2]

In the end, it comes down to trust. When I purchase milk, I believe that I am better off trusting the dairy farmer whose clean barns and healthy animals I've had a chance to see, rather than the large corporations and government agencies who for fifty years urged us to switch to trans-fat-laden margarine. The dairy farmers of Alaska are good people, people we can trust to feed us a healthy, delicious product. Let's free them from unnecessary regulation by passing HB367.


[1] Jessica Prentiss, quoted on the New Oxford Dictionary's blog, http://blog.oup.com/2007/11/prentice/
[2] Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, p. 160.

The Arc of the Universe - You Are What You Eat

Here's an interesting UU sermon on food choices.

The Arc of the Universe - You Are What You Eat

politics v. Politics

Tonight I had an odd dilemma: get to Mountain Mary's to pick up my Full Circle Farm box, or get to the Democratic caucus. But cilantro was calling me, so Barack lost out.

I have never seen so many folks participating in a caucus! This Gen-Xer has a hard time wrapping her mind around a primary election causing a traffic jam.

There, and Back Again

Life's been crazy lately.

Herding with Brady takes a chunk of time on Saturdays.

Visit from family at Thanksgiving.

The push toward the end of the semester and Christmas.

Who can keep up?

Especially when that long stretch of brown and gray without snow ate away at our spirits and our energy.

But I'm back, despite the craziness of this week. Why is everyone's life falling apart?

NPR : Will a Warmer World Have Enough Food?

NPR : Will a Warmer World Have Enough Food?

I am very interested in the question of how climate change will affect agriculture. On a personal level, as we consider where to live for the next 20-3o years of our lives, we want to know that the land we choose for our farm/ranch will not become a desert!

FW: Full Circle Farm 10/31/07

This week's order had some disappointments--also known as learning experiences.

Here's what was in the box...

Red potatoes. Looked good. Haven't had them yet--still working on Arctic Organic and Sunset Acres Farm potatoes.

Spaghetti squash. Should be interesting. Have never cooked spaghetti squash before, but lots of folks say they love them. Hope operator error doesn't get in the way of our enjoyment of it.

Yellow Onion. Had half of this last night with some potatoes and turkey sausage. Seemed sweet and flavorful.

Golden beets (double order). Arctic Organics spoiled me. The golden beets look a bit sad. Perhaps once they're roasted and peeled...or peeled and roasted.

Jonagold apples. Four apples, a few bruises. My sweetie has just learned about Marzetti's caramel dip, so I may purchase some to encourage apple consumption.

Stark Crimson pears. They don't look crimson. Hope they didn't send Anjou instead.

Garlic. Looks good. My plan is to teach myself how to roast a head of garlic. Unfortunately the wipe-out rate on the foodie learning curve is quite high.

Celery. Nice tops that I'll probably use in chicken soup.

Braising mix. Forgot to sub this out--I don't care for braised greens, especially if there's kale involved.

Red leaf lettuce. A few icky leaves on the outside, and more dirt than I'm used to with Arctic Organics.

Roma tomatoes. Never again. They're from Mexico, and at least two of them don't look very good.

Cremini mushrooms. I'll do something with these tonight, I think. Maybe tossed with some pasta.

That's the scoop. Cranky about other things today, so some of the negativity may be bleeding over into my thoughts about FCF.

FCF: First Box Evaluation

My second box from Full Circle Farm arrives next Tuesday. I'm on the every-other-week plan, which feels about right for the two of us.

Here's how I did with the first box.

The scallions are languishing in the crisper.

As are the beets. Perhaps they will join with their golden cousins (arriving in Tuesday's box) in a lovely roasted beet salad. Thank goodness for sturdy, patient root vegetables.

I still have a backlog of carrots from Arctic Organics, despite having discovered a delicious method for making glazed carrots that both of us really like. So Brady has been the only one to taste the new FCF carrots. He likes them. And he's a very discriminating dog. Ha!

Garnet yams are apparently only red on the outside. I'm sure they would have been better had I not been such a novice vegetable roaster.

Haven't had the Valencia oranges yet. I want to make juice out of them and don't have the right tools yet.

The first D'Anjou pear wasn't ripe. The second was better. Maybe I'll have the third later.

I'm not sure that I like Fuyu persimmons. They seem to get sweeter as they get mushier. But there's still a funny texture to them--kind of stringy.

The broccoli was good. Better than frozen, not as good as Arctic Organics.

The Golden Delicious apples were nice. Good flavor.

Didn't care for the Asian pears. The grainy texture was almost like sand.

I didn't like the Japanese eggplant, but then again I don't like any kind of eggplant.

The lettuce held up remarkably well. They say organic lettuce has to be hardier, because it doesn't get chemical help fending off pests.

Week One was a good adventure. I'm looking forward to Tuesday!