"Look Inside the Book" Now Available (and Back to Sundays for Me)

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Am excited to see that the Look Inside the Book feature is now live on my Amazon listing for my book. Take a look.   And breaking news: the Kindle version is now available for just $1.99: click here.

Am also excited to announce that this flurry of "FoodShed Planeting" is going to settle back into our lazy Sunday mornings together again, since I'm being called in some new directions during my morning "writing time."  I'm laying off the weekday whirlwind (except for when the Kindle version of my book becomes available any day now), so tap back in on Sundays with a warm cup of coffee or tea and we'll visit.  See you soon!

"Look Inside the Book" Now Available (and Back to Sundays for Me)

Live Life Out Loud, Like David Does--UPDATED!

So, David's food pantry bed has flourished.  As I transplanted some of the lettuces yesterday, I thought about David and our journey as friends.  David starred in two professional two professional theater productions with my older daughter and they became fast friends, partly because he was also a vegetarian and they could make "cast food" choices together, but bigger picture, because they saw eye-to-eye on many things in life.  

David wanted to start a home garden--enter me, stage left.  We became good friends, he came to my Grand Celebration of the Arrival of the Worms party almost four years ago now (it's mentioned on pages 3-4 in my book), he made me a shirt that says "I've Got Worms" (which, I've been told, I should not be wearing out in public).  He recently took over, and transformed, that little abandoned bed at the community garden that is for the food pantry, which he tends at least twice a week.  He was my major partner in creating the Plant a Row at the food pantry garden across the street from the park where the community garden is, and now he comes every week to help with whatever needs doing at that garden.  But none of that is why I'm telling you about David today.

David is 61 years old and attended Ohio State University in the tumultuous years of 1969-1971.  He didn't get a degree, and recently went back to college at the Georgia Perimeter College campus that is in my city.  And he is currently (as in tomorrow) running for Homecoming King.  What I like about David: he shows up; he does what he says he's going to do; he brings positive energy, humor and honesty to everything he does; he makes me laugh out loud; and most importantly, he lives life out loud.  Good luck, David.  That's one vote I wish I could cast.

And so, wherever you are on our FoodShed Planet, think of David.  A different David, David Brooks of the New York Times, wrote a column a couple of days ago about lessons people learned in life and his conclusion is that those who took chances lived more fulfilled lives.  So, take a chance, vote for living life out loud, and, as David says, "make an old guy happy."  Or yourself, no matter what your age and stage of life is.

And because I know I'm going to get emails about it, yes, metro-Atlanta ladies, David is available.  (He is cute, fun, smart, financially stable, and generous with his heart, time, and spirit.)  Can we make a match right here on FoodShed Planet?  This could be interesting.

UPDATE 11/3/11:  The AJC just ran this story about David!
And see the part about his friend writing a blog post about him--and the fact that he is indeed going out with someone he met as a result!!!!  I can't tell you anything else.  I can't.  I can't.  Not yet.  

Live Life Out Loud, Like David Does--UPDATED!

It Takes 2 Years, 328 Days for Compassion to Die

People dancing at a public park I visited

So I'm curled up watching the original Footloose movie with my family (as a backgrounder before seeing the just-released remake, and really, if you haven't seen it in awhile, you will be shocked at how good Kevin Bacon is in it).  The whole town hall thing in that movie dragged my head back to things that have concerned me here close to home.  I'm not going to spend much more time on it on this blog (see my little one-paragraph summary of it here, and see my friend Bob's latest round-up on the issue here if you are interested).  I just want to share this "food for thought" with you (especially if you think "compassion" is a soft topic that has no place in public decision-making), from this dialogue snippet from the movie:

Coach Roger Dunbar: It doesn't take much time for corruption to take root, Reverend.

Reverend Shaw Moore:  How long is that, Roger?

Roger: About as long as it takes for compassion to die.

So, for those of you keeping track out there, who may have been following decisions made by the newest city in the United States* (which started operating on December 1, 2008), I'll tell you how long it takes.  Two years, 328 Days.  

*By the way, I stopped writing that blog (Sustainable Dunwoody) almost 2 years ago, and it still gets about 1,600 page views per month. Also, Sustainable Pattie, which I stopped writing in May of this year, still gets 1,700 page views per month, and the blog you are reading (FoodShed Planet) gets 15,000 per month.  So, yes, folks are watching.  And, please, if everyone reading this could exhibit one act of compassion today, I think that would be helpful, in a small "stone in the pond" way that can actually make a difference.  (That was my first blog, by the way: Stone in the Pond.) Also, see "Now Is the Time for That" on page 166 in my book.

It Takes 2 Years, 328 Days for Compassion to Die

Puttering, Pondering, and a Prototype That Will Make You Smile

I walk up the wheat straw path, no longer visible under the fallen leaves.  I scoop the leaves in my arms so that I can add them to my compost tumblers, getting the desired balance of carbon to nitrogen often a challenge as I have so much green waste and not enough brown during most the year.  I move the hog-wire circle to a place where collecting and storing leaves for the winter will be easy, and I start to fill it.  It is then I notice it.  The leaves of my maple trees, planted years ago in hopes of one day hanging a hammock, are almost a fluorescent orange.  And I have almost missed it. I have been too busy.  I have been going here and there, digging in to other farms and gardens, getting mired in local politics yet again, covering stories for my blog and my business, even attending a few evening events (which is very rare for me, with my wake-up time of 4 AM).  Yet leaves have been changing color, apparently, and falling, completely oblivious to me.  I climb in the hammock and I just lie there, a hawk circling overhead, a sparrow chirping, a breeze blowing, leaves falling on me.

My younger daughter, home sick all week, continues to entertain herself with making stop-action movies and organic personal care potions.  She counts the money in the charity jar.  She works on school projects.  She reads.  She writes.  She rests.  She talks on the phone to friends, once they are home from school.  She tells me, "no offense," that our dinners are getting a little predictable and looks up some new variations (lemon pasta--who'd have thought?)

I putter in the garden.  I notice she had started a plot of her own (when, I don't know), where nothing had been planted before, where there had been a patch just for digging, just for kids, for all these years.  "I don't need that anymore," she tells me, a stage of childhood clearly behind her now.  "I'm going to plant flowers instead."  She asks if we could cover crop it over the winter.  I toss my big, corner-of-the-yard compost pile, add the beautiful black gold to her new bed, and scatter crimson clover and hairy vetch seeds on top.

I choose the part of my garden that I'm going to keep growing for production during the winter.  I hammer in rebar and bent PVC pipes and toss a doubled row cover (a fabric that lets in light, air, and water) over it, creating what can only be called an enormous caterpillar in my yard.  (See how to do this here--could not be easier.) I consider painting eyes on it, adding antennae, and then I realize I'd be doing that for me now, not for my children.

I come inside, night falling, and I hot-glue organic cotton balls and a soft sculpture face I created onto one of the 30 or so dried okras I hand-painted red to make my Santa Okra prototype (see Please Don't Encourage the Okra).  I take photos, and they make me laugh out loud. 

It rains, and I think of all those seeds and shoulder-to-shoulder greens out there getting a good soaking.  I think of the garlic I have yet to plant, a space cleared and ready for it.  I think of hooping and row-covering my Plant a Row on the side of the house so that I get off to an early start in 2012, so that I can track the poundage from that space right away.  I think of the fact that when those couple of things are done, my spring garden will be complete, even though it is not yet November.

I curl up with one of the books I'm reading, A School for My Village, and realize that my friend, Betty Londergan, is there right now, in that village, at that school for orphans of HIV/AIDS in Uganda. I remember how she emailed me from the capitol a few days ago and said, "You'd love it here!  Everyone has a garden!" and how that made me smile. I know for sure now that "rich" depends on how you define value, and that abundance from nature can change lives.  And, I see, clear as an Autumn day (that I almost missed), how much it has changed mine.

See "Signaling That It's Time" in the October chapter in my book.

Puttering, Pondering, and a Prototype That Will Make You Smile

"Yes, I Like to See The Human" (Woes, Wows, and How We as Humans Know in Our Gut Which Is Which)

Big woe--my city is planning on razing an apartment complex that would displace 2,000 people, including 560 children in our schools (pictured is the garden at the elementary school where many of them attend, on the day they planted it this past February), with no concrete plan for relocating them.  This is dependent on a $33 million bond passing in just a week and a half (and this apartment razing was just announced three days ago, with no public vetting).  The land would be used to build a pay-to-play (I believe) sports complex, even though adding ball fields came out very low on a survey in a master planning process regarding parks and greenspace (not to mention this will raise taxes at a time when that is just not the thing to be doing to hardworking people who are all seeing rising costs in everything).  There are right ways to do things, and there are wrong ways, and I think we as humans know in our guts which are which.  (See The Smell Test, The Big Top of the Mountain Secret, and especially "And Into This Madness Came the Monkey Origami" on pages 26-28 in my book, for some things I have learned on this journey.)

Wow #1: My older daughter said to me at intermission at an arts performance at a high school last weekend, "Would you like to see the human?"  Um, yes I would!  Called the H.U.M.A.N, it is a new vending machine that appears to be a highlight with all ages, but I particularly noticed that teens swarmed around it and enjoyed purchasing healthy snacks from it, and complete strangers were engaged in conversation about it.  A portion of the proceeds help fight obesity and malnutrition, and, of course, a portion of the proceeds go back to the school to fund life-changing programs for these kids. This particular school has a high rate of students living in poverty, and the only grab-a-snack food option within walking distance of this school is a drug store (which, by the way, did not consider how the students would get to the store when it was built recently)  Many students here are involved in after-school sports and the arts, and healthy snacks will make a difference.  Free professional marketing suggestion for the company: Change "man" to "me" in the tag for H.U.M.A.N. for two reasons: this generation (and frankly, mine) has moved way beyond a singular gender as a collective identifier, AND "me" is far more empowering, and dare I say, humanizing. And, yes, of course I shot a little video for you.

Wow #2: I came home and saw this bag sitting at my front door.  I thought it was a gift from one of my wonderful garden friends, but then saw it was my order from Office Depot!  Not only do I love that Office Depot is continually taking a leadership position in sustainability initiatives (this one reduces packaging), but, you know what? It felt plain old nice to get a delivery like this.  And as my links above indicate, at this point in my life, I think nice (well, kindness, actually) is a whole lot more important than just about anything else.  Bravo, Office Depot.  It made me want to give you a little jelly jar full of herbs.  In fact, I may do that today, because my guess is there is someone working at your location nearest my city who may live in those apartments and who may need a jelly jar of nice.

What You Can Do Now: 

1. Get involved in your local government.  Get informed on issues.  Cast your vote.  In my city of 45,000 citizens (5% of whom are about to be displaced without ever having a chance to comment at City Hall), a voter turnout of 10% in two weeks is probably an ambitious projection.  The election could possibly come down to single-digit differences, and chances are it's the same way where you live.  Go.  Vote.  Make a difference.

2. Vote with your dollar for companies that help make healthy choices more accessible and those that are increasingly committed to triple-bottom-line sustainability (environmental, economic, and social).  Check their websites.  If you can't find mention of this immediately, they're not doing it.  Follow them on Twitter (you can follow me here, by the way), and send them comments.  They have someone assigned specifically to social media efforts, and your comment will get noticed and most likely replied to and acted on.  Don't waste time with letters, phone calls or even emails anymore. 

3. Give someone a "jelly jar of nice," however you want to interpret that.

Bottom line: Yes, I like to see the human.  I like to see the humanity in my city.  I like to see human health in choices offered to teens.  I like to see the full range of human impacts addressed by companies. And I like to see the good that we as humans can do when we are simply and truly kind to each other. 

See "Woes, Wows and What You Can Do Now" as special features in every single chapter of my book.  And take recommended actions that can make a measurable difference.

"Yes, I Like to See The Human" (Woes, Wows, and How We as Humans Know in Our Gut Which Is Which)

Operation Plant a Row: How You Are Necessary (The Grand Finale, Or Is It?)

Yes, I love that the garden we helped create at the food pantry in my city gets harvested so robustly by the food pantry clients every week (pictured is yesterday's harvest of lettuces, cooking greens, and peppers--five little beds puts fresh food on the dinner tables of 15-20 families each week). 

Yes, I love the long rows of lettuces, broccoli, and more, at the Chattahoochee Nature Center's Unity Garden urban farm (and the constant new supply of transplants being grown in the greenhouse), 100% of which is donated to those in need (pictured is from when I volunteered this past Tuesday, which is my final week for awhile because of something new and exciting, about which I'll tell you soon).  

Yes, I love our big community garden (where two tons of organically-grown produce have been donated in just two years) and my new Plant a Row at my home garden, and all the other "growing" efforts to help provide fresh, healthy food to those in need.  And these are good efforts, but food pantries are considered providers of emergency supplies, and true food security requires a whole lot more. As included in my book right near the beginning: Food security means all people have access to culturally-appropriate, nutritious food at all times without relying on emergency supplies.

If you are not interested in doing a Plant a Row, or if you want to go beyond that effort to increase local food security, some other ways you can get involved to improve food security (and more) where you live include:

1. Helping to eliminate "food deserts." These are neighborhoods where people simply cannot find healthy food.  Sometimes elimination of this designation for a neighborhood is as simple as finding a way for the local bodega to carry fresh food, or having a fresh food truck circulate the neighborhood a few times a week with affordable produce for sale. Ask what's happening where you live to eliminate food deserts and you may find a small (or big) way to get involved--making calls, signing a petition, introducing folks who can help each other.

2. Helping to change your city's zoning and ordinances to encourage food resiliency.  Something as simple as planting public fruit trees could literally change a city's food security long-term, as can allowing backyard chickens and front-yard gardens, enabling SNAP benefits (and doubling them through Wholesome Wave) at farmer's markets, and composting "green waste" (which could provide local jobs) and making it available to schools and citizens so they can grow their own food more affordably.  See more ideas in my book on pages 138-139: How to Help Where You Live Be a Model Urban Agriculture City.

3. Learning about the United Nations Right to Food.  See how policy change globally and nationally can encourage and support local food security.

4.  Showing up and doing what needs doing.  The number of volunteer hours needed each day or week by your local food pantry is astronomical, and the variety of tasks is endless.  You can pack and stack boxes and bags of food, help a local food waste gleaner collect bread from supermarkets or leftover food from catered parties or farmers markets (FYI: here in the United States, the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act provides legal protections that enable people to donate food this way), participate in fundraising drives, offer your professional services (tax preparation, website development, marketing services, you name it), or simply answer phones, stuff envelopes, or help set up for the food pantry clients.  These are ways to understand your local situation more and then see how you can get involved with other initiatives (that may not even be related to food) to make a measurable difference.  The original chairperson of our community garden, Rebecca Barria (meet Rebecca here--gosh, I just got teary looking back at that post) helped start a literacy program for young children at our local food pantry.  Every child who comes now can go to a special room (complete with rocking chairs) with a parent to read, and can then choose a book of his or her own to take home.

If you've read this far, you're clearly interested in getting involved or increasing your involvement.  Just give it some thought--you'll come up with your own ideas of how you are necessary where you live to help ensure that no neighbor of yours or schoolmate of your children goes to bed hungry tonight.   The simple act of forwarding this blog post to others, or copying and pasting the complete series below in your blog could, quite frankly, change the world, as seemingly small actions tend to do.

Thank you for joining me on this six-week journey.  It seems so long ago that I joined Fred Conrad of the Atlanta Community Food Bank out there on his urban farm, where a late-season field of sunflowers were just opening their arms to the sun, and where he asked me to encourage you to open your arms to the national Plant a Row for the Hungry effort.  Yet , here we are.  The seeds we planted, literally and metaphorically, have grown.  And together, we have taken positive steps forward, even if it has just been to grow awareness.

Want to be part of a global community of gardeners?  Check out my friend Roger's site at Kitchen Gardener's International. (And don't miss his TEDx talk on that link, or the fact that Roger had a thing or two to do with Michelle Obama's White House garden.  Here is a profile I wrote about Roger before that.)

I have included the links for my Operation Plant a Row 2012 series below.  It will also continue on the bottom of this site for ease of future reference as well.  So, if you haven't gotten your Plant a Row in yet and the first shoots of springtime come up and you hear a little voice in your head saying, "Wasn't I going to do a Plant a Row this year?" you can easily refer back to any information you might think helpful.  

All the best to you.  Please let me know how it goes.  

And, as always, I am . . . 

Learning as I grow,

Pattie

The Operation Plant a Row 2012 Series (written by Pattie Baker)

Introducing Operation Plant at Row 2012 (Resulting from Patience, and My Complete Lack of It)

Operation Plant a Row: Choose a Method and Get Going (Growing) 

Operation Plant a Row: "I Smell the Time" and It Is Now   

Operation Plant a Row: More Starfish.  Mas Semillas. 

Operation Plant a Row: "If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail"  
Operation Plant a Row: Someone Near You Needs to "Water on Wednesdays"

Operation Plant a Row: How You Are Necessary (The Grand Finale, Or Is It?)

Operation Plant a Row: How You Are Necessary (The Grand Finale, Or Is It?)

Live Tweets from the First Local Political Sustainability Forum in the Southeastern United States: UPDATED

The "Little Sustainability Forum That Could," that was almost canceled and then resurrected when a high schooler named Danny Kanso (in conjunction with a whole lot of folks, especially a man named Joe Seconder, who doggedly spearheaded the effort) saved it, happened last night in my city (which is almost three years old and was the newest city in the United States until just recently--welcome, Semmes, Alabama, to that title).

I was not there.  My older daughter had an arts performance at a public high school in a different city, and I watched an extremely talented, ethnically-diverse orchestra, band, and modern dance class perform, led by passionate people in love with what they do.  I got chills.  I got tears.  I got inspired.  And then, when I got up this morning, I saw this tweet diary from last night from Beth Bond.  

Along with at least a dozen other sustainability advocacy/leadership roles, Beth heads up Southeast Green, which is billed as "your trusted resource for sustainable and green business news."  She traveled "outside the Perimeter" (which is the circular highway that surrounds metro Atlanta--my city sits right on the northern arc of this) last night to attend this forum because, as she tweeted, it was "the first known Sustainability political debate in the Southeast" (which is the geographic term used here in the States for this part of the country, for global friends of FoodShed Planet).

Beth's tweet diary is particularly interesting because (1) she does not live in this city, (2) she knows none of the candidates, and (3) she knows sustainability inside and out, specifically in regards to best practices both close to home and around the world.  Although the details are perhaps hyper-local, I think you will find this interesting globally as part of my ongoing coverage (I covered this city from the day citizens voted for it on two other blogs besides this one: here and here) about what one city decides to do when given the opportunity to start from scratch and build its local government, policies, and practices with (or without) sustainability in mind. (For a great example of a city that is doing this truly from the ground up, after being completely wiped out by a tornado just four years ago, see Greensburg, Kansas). So, here it is (and I'd be happy to include links to other coverage, as it becomes available, for other points of view):

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Tweet Diary - Dunwoody Candidate Forum on Sustainability.

Written by Beth Bond

So this tweet diary comes a bit out of my normal range of events. I was invited by several residents in Dunwoody, GA to cover the event. I was intrigued since I haven't heard of a candidate forum, or debate for that matter, focused on the sole topic of sustainability. Is sustainability a sole topic, anyway? Needless to say it was interesting. Dunwoody is located on the northside of the the Metro Atlanta area. Straddling north and south of I-285 also known by locals as Hells Alley. The city comprises a unique blend of citizens. There is a thriving group of northern transplants who have created a community garden program, a sustainability minded community and then there is the typical Southern suburb Republican crowd. The other thing that makes Dunwoody unique is that it is only three years old. A good testing ground for sustainability issues. I hope you will find this enlightening. It sure was for me. There are some editorial tweets in there when I thought candidates were a little too, well, clueless. To help make this easier to understand please use this key so you know who is speaking. Bob Dallas - Mayoral Candidate denoted by BD: Mike Davis - Mayoral Candidate denoted by MD: Gordon Jackson - Mayoral Candidate denoted by GJ: Robert Wittenstein - District 1 Council post 4 denoted by RW: Terry Nall -  District 1 Council post 4 denoted by TN: Rick Callihan -  District 1 Council post 4 denoted by RC: Lynn Deutch -  District 2 Council post 5 denoted by LD: (Lynn's opponent could not make the forum) As usual to read this in the order the tweets appeared read from the bottom up. LD: there is no suitable development for seniors. People can't stay in Dunwoody because there is a lack of appropriate housing. RC: TSPLOST has no chance of passing (#really?) We need to take care of ourselves. TN: #Dunwoody is currently using a #texas firm to rewrite our codes. Not sure why. Trans is number one. RW: Zoning and Codes need to be priorities. Codes are based on DeKalb's 1970s so must be updated. GJ: Transportation and traffic needs to be fixed. Cos are turning down #Dunwoody because of traffic MD: it comes down to transportation. (Remember this is the guy who said this is suburbs people drive) BD: Create a priority list for parks. Want to be a destination for families. MD you are #scary. BD: perimeter college plans to expand. Encourage college to expand at perimeter mall and create bus service between two GJ: Monorail that runs from Doraville to Galleria. #cool MD: we live in suburbs by choice. We want to drive by choice. Live downtown to walk We may have additional funds that we can use for improvements. Why spend when we could wait for potential new tax dollars in a year. RW: Crossroads Community blessing and a curse. Addressing the slow rate of traffic improvements current council tax vote is coming... a personal choice. TN: #Dunwoody is a pass through city. Don't need to manage carpool programs because that is government creep. ...Traveling to work. RC: This is the south. People are not going to give up their cars. However should not widen streets. Carpool is... 85% of folks commute to Dunwoody in single occupancy vehicles. Your solution? LD: there is a security challenge in people's minds when... Currently the shops are not necessarily supporting local neighborhoods. LD: Buckhead "Buc" is a model for the mall but sidewalks need to put in place. Econ dev must be addressed shopping centers need to shops... TN: we have not spent enough money on fixing our transportation traffic and sidewalks. RC: Shuttles need to be encouraged around the malls. GJ: need to look at additional trans around the mall RW: has an elec veh and bikes everywhere. Need to encourage alt trans for citizens MD: need to work with schools GJ: during the day pop doubles because of commuters. Need additional modes to get commuters into the city BD: connectivity is the most important issue when solving transportation issues. All areas should be connected for walkability & bikes too ...but I shouldn't have to drive to Memorial Drive. BD: need to understand that DeKalb will be restructuring fees and we pay a low price now GJ: We need to understand that the DeKalb can and will raise prices. Everyone should be recycling. MD: everyone should do it... RW: also does not believe in mandatory recycling. Okay my personal note - wake up #Dunwoody has no landfill. What if #DeKalb starts charging the real costs of dumping? RC: Only 10% of businesses to do it. But City should not mandate. #what TN: the governments role is not to mandate it is personal choice. Currently less than 25% of Dunwoody residents recycle. How do we boost nos.? LD: shocked at the rate. Education and drive for sign-ups. LD: we need to maintain what we have first. Need a community green. Private/Public partnerships are the way to go. RC: we should do what the city can afford to do. We should partner w/ DeKalb & Sandy Springs. #what Dunwoody left DeKalb because of service TN: we have wasted too much money on consultants. Parks Director does have a priority list. Over time it is achievable. RW: priorities walking trails at Brook Run, roof on Dallas house repaired GJ: firmly committed to creating plan for parks. Regardless of referendum passing or not. Challenge right now is there is consensus MD: Master plan was not looked at holistically each part of the plan was looked at individually. BD: parks for older kids are not available. Parents have to leave #Dunwoody for older kids parks. BD: Zoning is a problem to needs to support farmers market. Green markets support community. MD: The garden should not be limited to #organics. He sees no problem with non-organic produce. GJ: Green Market can become an educational place for students. Dunwoody is limited by land. RW: there is no place in Dunwoody to allow for green markets. Current market is on Fed land. Only way Dunwoody could have the market. TN: also for free market. Ordinances should be in place to support it but not dictate operating constraints ...Can be improved. RC: no place for the city to be involved. It's a free market system. City can support location and encourage home growers. LD: sustainable agriculture "stalker" green market is small, not particularly local but is organic. Current market misses the community opp and... LD: we should ask for LEED certified city buildings, walkability, lead by example RC: improve our quality of life in #Dunwoody walkability and transportation susty = endure TN: the susty commission has already done great leadership. No. one prob for #Dunwoody is transportation in regards to susty. RW: spent the day at ARC learning about susty cities here in metro #ATL - create an environment for leadership MD: concerned about property rights and small business. Regulation = bad sustainability. GJ: he understands green building and paybacks What role should sustainability play in city gov? BD: leadership, setting the stage for the right questions and answers. Understands trans. Lynn Deutch - 2/5 - understands sustainability the best out of all the candidates. Yeah #girl power. She believes in economic susty. Rick Callihan - 1/4 - big supporter of community gardens. Also hunts and fishes. I guess that means he's for land conservation & clean h2o Terry Nall - 1/4 - is proud of the fact that he did not send one wasteful paper mailer to citizens. #snaps Robert Wittenstein - District 1 Council post 4 - incumbent proud of sustainability track record. Bicycles, parks and community gardens Gordon Jackson - Mayoral Candidate - is delivering the corporate definition of sustainability - people, planet, profit ...Is worried about government regulations forcing sustainability. Hmmm if he's running for mayor what does he think his job is? Mike Davis - Mayoral Candidate - at least he's honest. He looked up the definition of Sustainability. However, composts, rain harvest... Bob Dallas - Mayoral Candidate - need to look at green space and transportation in regards to sustainability Correction this is not a debate. This is a sustainability forum. So no back and forth between the candidates. Who knew? City of #Dunwoody has around 43,000 residents. That's about 3 times the size of #Decatur. And yes I'm OTP and in Dunwoody : ) Get ready for the tweets. Covering the first known Sustainability political debate in the Southeast. From macro to micro SEGreen covers it all : ) (@ Peachtree Middle School)

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UPDATE: See this article in the The Dunwoody Reporter and the entire event's video coverage, linked in this post by City Councilmember John Heneghan.

And, as always, don't miss my book, available online on Amazon and Better World Books, and in metro-Atlanta at Farmer D Organics' retail shop on Briarcliff.  It  includes lots of tips for how you can "dig in" in your city as well.

Live Tweets from the First Local Political Sustainability Forum in the Southeastern United States: UPDATED

"Because We Don't Have Any Other Choice"

Food pantry clients at our weekly harvest

I have long stopped believing in coincidences, so when I saw two interesting emails this morning, one right after the other, the juxtaposition of their contents seemed telling.  

One was a media release from my city, intended for broad distribution, announcing it was planning on acquiring 42 acres of land to build a sports complex (if a $33 million parks bond passes at the voting booths in two weeks) in a part of the city that shows up on national maps as a food desert, even though the Parks and Master Plan survey results (see Section 3.11 here) revealed that general park activities (e.g., walking on trails, visiting a playground, picnicking) and special events, not organized sports, were the most popular park activities "by a wide margin."  In this current media release, the mayor is quoted as saying, however:

“The City regrets the need to displace residents (785 apartment units), however, in a built out environment like Dunwoody, we have found it challenging to locate a sufficient amount of vacant land for the athletic facilities desired by the community. The City will work with Cortland Partners on a transition plan for the current residents, which includes 560 school age children who are in the Dunwoody cluster; all current leases will be honored without the threat of early cancellation.”

As I was thinking about those 560 children, many of whom currently live in poverty and are slated to be pulled from what are considered among the best public schools in the county, I opened the second email.  

It was from Luma Mufleh, founder and leader of the Fugees Family, originally a soccer team but now an organization that helps educate refugee children as well, who sent me footage from CBS This Morning this past Sunday.  Luma's organization recently bought 19 acres of foreclosed land not far from where I live, in Clarkston, GA (see 13 Miles and a World Away).  She intends to build sports fields, too (soccer fields), but as part of the first school for refugees in the nation, complete with a community garden.  You can see the plan for those 19 acres at 6:30 in this video and here (the picture of the sign and weedy piece of land is what it looks like now), but, honestly, take the time to watch the whole video, if you can:

I crossed paths with Luma and the Fugees Family a couple of years ago (along with my friend, Bob: see Bob's post, Why I Do What I Do).  I feel oddly drawn to them, as if I have some sort of calling to be part of them somehow, a feeling that has manifested itself in very small ways so far (organizating Watermelon Week two summers in a row, basically--see Rain, Patience, Beer, Soccer, and Ten Watermelons a Week) but hints at something larger that I just can't figure out yet.  

I was hoping to sell a million copies of my book and to donate 10% of proceeds to help build the community garden at the first school specifically for refugees in the Unites States, for which Luma is currently raising money. But that isn't really going according to plan right now.  (See The Lesson of the Watermelons, 2011, or Why I Know Now What I Need to Do Next.)  Book sales are slow, and I haven't even recovered the money I invested to produce it yet (although so many amazing things have happened since the book has been published that I am open to it serving other purposes in my life, besides, of course, its intention as a gift for my daughters) (and I did already donate money from the book sales to do the new Plant a Row at the food pantry garden in my city, where I have no doubt that some of those 560 children get their food--here is my Operation Plant a Row 6-part series so far--the final installment will be this week).  The Kindle version of my book (which is currently available on Amazon and Better World Books, as well as at Farmer D Organics in Atlanta and select libraries in the New York City metropolitan area) will be out in just a couple of weeks, and I will be selling that at the rock-bottom price I can, with the hopes that you will buy it and tell everyone you know to buy it as well.

The Oprah thing was nice, of course, but there is no mention in the print magazine or link in the online version to my blog or book so readers have no way to take action.  Rosie O'Donnell is back on TV (in Oprah's old studio, on Oprah's network), so I wrote to her producers about my book, but then I added, "You know what?  Forget that.  If you're going to read a book, read this one instead" and told them all about Luma and the excellent book, Outcasts United, about how she started the Fugees Family (see this post from my very first blog, Stone in the Pond, which I wrote before FoodShed Planet).  But I haven't heard of any calls from Rosie to Luma yet. (I also sent a copy of my book to Rosie's publicist, and am going to email her about Luma right now, so we'll see.)

I tried repurposing organic produce from a farm not far away that was "refused at market" for cosmetic reasons to the Fugees Family, and I built a team to help deliver it, but we haven't received the frequent pick-up opportunities we were expecting, so helping to feed the kids more healthy food isn't working. (See How Rotting Food Gave Me an Idea.)

I have two favorite parts of the video embedded above (besides the very moving footage at the beginning and end when Luma, who is from Jordan, recently became a U.S. citizen and children from more than 28 war-torn countries were there to witness it). 

1. When the police chief of Clarkston escorts the children as they ride 10 miles each way on bikes to Agnes Scott College each day for summer school, and the chief says, "They say it takes a village to raise a kid.  We are that village."  

2. And then when Luma talks to Peter Jennings about the fact that the school she is building is privately funded, that they take no money from the government, and that they need to raise a lot of money to make this happen, and the dialogue goes like this:

Peter: Confident it will happen?

Luma: It's gonna' happen.

Peter: Why so confident?

Luma: Because we don't have any other choice.  And if you want something to happen, you can make it happen.  That's what we tell the kids.

I guess my questions this morning are:

1. What are we telling the kids in my city?  What about yours?

2. What kind of "village" are we?  In our cities?  In our country?  In our world?

3. Do we really have no other choice but to displace people in need? 

4. And, as life keeps bringing me back to Luma Mufleh and the Fugees Family, I continue to ask: what am I being called to do? 

I am a member of Team Fugees.  You can be, too.  Click here, and make the choice to help build that school, and to be part of that very special village.

"Because We Don't Have Any Other Choice"

A Farmer Named Sue, A Weimeraner Named Rose, Two Sheep Named Cecil and Sam, and a Shout-out to Hollywood

I'm not ready for the goats, with their horns.  Let's start with the sheep.  I like the sheep the best.  Every time I go to my friend Farmer Sue's at the Art Barn at Morning Glory Farm (6 acres that looks like a movie set, where Farmer Sue offers hands-on animal encounters and creativity-boosting art lessons), I end up with the sheep.  I think that tells a lot about a person, but I'll leave you to figure out what that means about me (my younger daughter always ends up with the chickens, and my older daughter always ends up with the donkeys, so people are definitely attracted to specific species).  I had gone up to Farmer Sue's to specifically learn how to do some farm chores, species by species, in case I ever do end up on an urban farm that has animals as well as vegetables. This week, sheep.

Farmer Sue showed me where she keeps their feed and minerals, as she had redesigned the farm a bit since my last time there.  I was then tasked with cleaning out their shed, which was not only a rabbit-pellet-sized-manure mess, but was covered with cobwebs.  Farmer Sue went back about her booming business (which included three birthday parties on Saturday and two on Sunday this weekend), and I settled in with a Weimeraner named Rose as my constant companion. 

After reflecting on how lovely the cleaned shed looked and dragging the wagon with the manure across the farm to the compost pile, I sat on a stool and my two sheep buddies, Cecil and Sam, came and joined me.  (Considering Cecil had worn a diaper and walked around my kitchen when he was an injured baby and Farmer Sue was bottle-feeding him, I have always felt an affinity toward him).  

I just sat there with them, the roosters crowing and donkeys braying in the background, the sun shining, the leaves falling, and an incredible peace washing over me. I shot this little 3-minute video for you.  Then, as I got up to leave reluctantly, Cecil and Sam and a few of their other friends headed out to the huge pasture (for which Farmer Sue has some major exciting plans next year--stay tuned) and grazed on fresh grass in the golden Autumn sun (pictured at the top of this post).  

And I felt happier than a pig in, well, you know what.  In fact, the next installment of this possibly 4-part series may involve the pigs. As always, I love learning as I grow.  And Farmer Sue loves to teach.

Quick shout-out to Hollywood: As I was driving home, I got to thinking about how the state of Georgia is encouraging more movies to be shot on location throughout the state (Bette Midler, Billy Crystal, and Marissa Tomei are filming in my city right now), and I can't help thinking that Farmer Sue herself and the Art Barn at Morning Glory Farm are roll-'em ready for their moment on the Big Screen.

Here are some other Farmer Sue posts of mine, to help you imagine this location for your child's birthday party (or for your movie location).  Contact Farmer Sue here (tell her I sent you!):

When Pigs Fly (that one has one of my favorite photos, and stories, ever)

Donkey Fur (and What That Has to Do with My Lawn and Farmer Sue) (oh, that one kicks off with a really sweet photo)

A Positive Direction 

Introducing Farmer Sue!

And here are some videos I shot at Farmer Sue's:

Farmer Sue's Animals Are Just Waiting for You

Farmer Sue's Art Barn at Morning Glory Farm

Eco Lawn Mowing

Introducing the Stirrup Hoe

Sheep Shearing at Farmer Sue's

See "Hungry for the Most Basic of Human Expression--Art" in my book, available on Amazon, on Better World Books, at Farmer D Organics in Atlanta, and at select libraries in New York. (It is already sold out in Tasmania).

A Farmer Named Sue, A Weimeraner Named Rose, Two Sheep Named Cecil and Sam, and a Shout-out to Hollywood

The Sweet Spot for Economic Sustainability

I spread new wood chips around my bed (where cover crops, cooking greens, sweet potatoes, and lemon balm are currently growing for the food pantry) at the community garden in preparation for the Food Day Open House on Monday (company's coming).  I chatted with Farmer Bob as he built yet another bed (this one for a city council candidate who is new to our garden, with another one about to be built, sponsored by a different city candidate, that may be used by a coach from the middle school across the street who contacted me about bringing his health class over each week). I swung by the Plant a Row across the street at the church where the food pantry distribution happens every Wednesdays. (The row is growing!) 

And then I drove a short mile or so down the road, under the highway, and into an industrial park, where I found a local business which will soon be celebrating its first anniversary--by going national through the catalog of the gourmet foods pioneer, Dean and Deluca (where, by the way, I worked one winter, at its original location on Prince Street in the heart of SoHo, when I lived in NYC--this was around the time of the Brussels sprouts stalk story--see page 66 in my book).

Meet High Road Craft Ice Cream & Sorbet.  Rather, eat High Road Craft ice cream and sorbet.  And not just because, well, it's amazing, creatively-flavored ice cream (and we all scream for ice cream) but because it's a way that you can help the economy right now, today. Plus, you can help create jobs where you live through the simple action of voting with your dollar for other local businesses as well, and advocating at your city hall for an increased local business growth strategy for your city.  You see, according to a report that just came out from the National League of Cities:

* Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms and have generated 64 percent of the new jobs over the past 15 years;

* In 2008, Stage 1 businesses (2-9 employees) comprised 56 percent of all resident establishments in the U.S. and were responsible for 32 percent of jobs nationally;

* Local government policies help to support the creation of these jobs;

* The two policies that this report highlights as most influential for growth in Stage 2 as a business (10-99 employees) are regulatory assistance (permitting and zoning assistance programs) and partnering with small businesses.  

If you are wondering how you can take positive steps forward for your community, I have three simple questions for you that can lead to real actions that make a difference:

1. Have you attended meetings at your local city hall, and met your local leaders?  

2. Have you asked about your city's economic development plan, specifically as it relates to small businesses in regards to these two policy areas, and voted for the local candidates that support a robust local business environment?  

3. Have you visited and supported as many local businesses where you live as possible, and encouraged others to do so as well?

High Road Craft has about 10 employees right now, which puts it right at the cusp of becoming a Stage 2 business.  It is currently expanding its space and growing its operational capacity.  It partners with local chefs to create custom flavors for their restaurants; with suppliers such as Cacao Atlanta (the first bean-to-bar chocolate maker in the southeastern U.S. and the first female bean-to-bar producer in the U.S.) and with a family farm cooperative for its milk; with supermarkets (such as all Whole Foods stores in the southeast region); with a local coffee roaster (which created a custom blend dessert coffee--and is a small company about which I wrote years ago); and, of course, with Dean and Deluca, which is a large business now but when I worked there, Joel Dean and Georgio Deluca were right there next to me.  (Emerging idea: I'd love to help start a "green jobs" micro-enterprise where food pantry clients grow mint for High Road Craft's mint chocolate chip ice cream.  This is just a thought.  Just a thought.  Just a thought.) 

This Tuesday night, in my almost 3-year-old city in metro-Atlanta, is a Sustainability Forum for local candidates.  It is being hosted by high school students (led by the indefatigable Danny Kanso).  I've heard buzz that some candidates find the topic of sustainability "too narrow" (even though the city has applied for Atlanta Regional Commission's Green Community Certification at the silver level, after achieving bronze after only two years of operations, and that qualifying list touches a ton of topics and policies, and that's only one prong of triple-bottom-line sustainability).  All candidates have been provided with a great many resources, and it is my hope that they will see that sustainability is a wide net that, frankly, touches everything. Wanna' know the real sweet spots for creating a sustainable city (she asks with her spoon in the French Toast ice cream)?

* Creating public/private partnerships;

* Creating a regulatory environment friendly to small businesses;

* Attracting and retaining companies that keep dollars circulating close to home;

* Removing barriers for micro-enterprise initiatives that put people in need back to work.

As for you, wherever you live on our FoodShed Planet, consider visiting a local business this week that you have not yet visited, and voting for it with your dollar. Or you can buy High Road Craft's buttermilk ice cream or line of cocktail ice creams (and one select sorbet) from Dean and Deluca's next catalog, the one for the holidays (here is their Halloween catalog) and know that you are helping a local business, even if it isn't local to you.

For those in (or visiting) the metro Atlanta area, High Road Craft is open to the public every Saturday from 10 AM-1 PM, by the way, where you get free samples from Nicki and a tour from Lolo, two of the most passionate people I've ever met.  And you can buy "private reserve" flavors by the pint (I bought three: salted caramel, pistachio, and French toast, and a big portion of my dollars spent will now recirculate in the local economy). Tell them I sent you!  And while you're here, swing up the street a mile or so and come visit our community garden at Brook Run Park ("where the sidewalk ends, community grows") and food pantry garden at St. Pat's directly across the street from the park.  Maybe one day you'll even see a huge patch of mint growing.  And you'll know what that is for. 

The Sweet Spot for Economic Sustainability