"Bigness" is Last Year's News

Many of us are approaching this new year, this fabled 2012, wondering what the big change will be. Few still claim that next year will mean the end of the world as we know it, but as we watch and participate in a time of global uprising, more and more people lean toward the idea that 2012 will be a time of change.

Many will argue that every year is a time of change, and that 2012 will be no different. Of course, no one knows what kind of change will come about next year, but I believe--and I hope--to see a continuation of the positive movement we've begun this year.

In this entry, I will describe my hopes for the coming era. Understanding that I am no authority on the matter, I will set forth my hopes for the way our world is going. Because, if we think it and speak it and dream it enough, I believe we can make it happen.

***

Many Americans are ending their year feeling financially strained. And we ReTreeUS Co-founders can certainly relate. Starting a non-profit is just as it sounds: not profitable.

We are buying land for our trees and gardens. We are ordering seeds, rootstock and saplings. We have just enough to cover our costs--not enough to pay ourselves for the labor--and yet we're grateful for every penny we have.

As it turns out, this is the perfect opportunity for us to demonstrate what we hope others will do. It is our goal to take the exclusivity out of organic food, and to help communities grow organic produce for themselves and their families...on a budget.

As our pocket books shrink, however, the passion of the global community seems to grow.

It is my hope, and I do see some evidence, that we are distancing ourselves from the idea of bigness. Bigger cars, consuming more oil, bigger TVs, showing off the material wealth of a few privileged people, bigger supermarkets, containing bigger, shinier apples...these staples of our society are becoming less important.

I turn now to a quote from the late American political icon Robert F. Kennedy:

It is not more bigness that should be our goal.  We must attempt, rather, to bring people back to...the warmth of community, to the worth of individual effort and responsibility...and of individuals working together as a community, to better their lives and their children's future.

As ReTreeUS works to build warmer communities, stronger individuals, and a brighter future for our children, we have found far more success with individual membership contributions than with grantors and national corporate sponsorships. Those who are inspired by what we do have given generously, and we are happy to use those funds to further our mission. 

Of course, there is nothing wrong with support from The Big for a mission like ours, but it seems fitting that the real loyalty, the real driving force for our programs, is coming from our members...and those who choose to support us as clients of Votenet Solutions (visit their website to learn more). It's so fitting, because we are here for the communities, for the schools, for those who can't afford to buy organic food in the store, and for the children.

As we learn to thrive on a tiny budget, we will continue to share tips on how to provide nutrient-rich, pesticide-free meals. We will continue to draw connections between living well and loving the earth. And we will do this, I hope, with the support of a changing world. I see a world with new priorities--like environmental sustainability and social justice. A world that understands the importance of community is a world that, too, understands the part it plays in the planet's systems. A world where our children climb trees and grow apples; where they grow up and teach their kids to do the same. This is the world I want to live in.

Below is a recipe for not just one inexpensive, nutritious, and delicious New Year's meal, but also the potential of many more meals like it to come.

Impress Your Friends and Family with this Yummy Spaghetti Squash Dinner (and make more of it for zero dollars)...Because Fast Food is Last Year's Cheap Solution

Spaghetti squash dinner, served in its own shell.

Ingredients:

One spaghetti Squash

Feeds two to four people. This vegetable is easy to grow and provides many vital nutrients such as Vitamin A, Iron, Vitamin C, Omega 3 and 6-fatty acids, and more! If you're watching your weight, it is also a great substitute for pasta. 


Tomatoes
fresh (or canned, this time of year)

Herbs
basil, thyme, peppers, etc. 

1 Tbsp Butter


Salt


Pepper



2 leaves of Kale (chopped)


2 cloves of garlic (pressed)

Cheese (grated)
You can mix it up with mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, or Romano. You can usually find cheeses at a Farmers' Market. Most take EBT cards, and many cities have indoor winter markets.

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Carefully cut the squash into two pieces, length-wise. Remove the seeds and other loose material from the inside with a spoon and set aside. (Do not throw away!)

Fill a large pan with a 1/4 inch of water on the bottom. Put the squash, face-down, into the pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, cook the tomatoes down (add water if they are fresh). Add garlic, herbs, salt and pepper to taste.

Take the pan out and flip the squash over, exposing the inside portion.

If you have melty cheese like cheddar or mozzarella, there is no need for butter/salt here. Put the cheese into the hollow part of the squash and  put it back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Then, take it out one more time and add kale to the inside. Cook for five more minutes, or until you can easily remove the noodle-like squash pieces with a fork.

Once it is fully cooked, you can take the squash out of its shell with a spoon, mix it with sauce, and put it back in the squash shell for a lovely presentation. Then, add the Parmesan or Romano, pepper, and serve.

***Saving the Seeds: As your family helps you clean up (wink, wink), one person can do the dishes while another separate the seeds from the muck you saved. Compost the non-seed material, and rinse the seeds in a colander. Put a towel in and under the colander to dry them off.

We LOVE saving seeds for next year.

Then wrap them in a paper towel, store them in an envelope of paper bag, and set them in a dry, dark place until spring.

Then, you can plant them, and recreate this meal for free!

This is where we'll store our seeds. You could also use the refrigerator, just to preserve freshness.

New Year, New Hope, Same You

Stay loose, like a goose. Stay loose, like a goose,  a little girl tells herself as she zooms on tiny skis down one big mountain.

"Stay loose like a goose!" Her dad reminds her, flying past.

Those were the words he had used to teach her that skiing was a piece of cake. "Especially, for you," he told her every winter morning, "You're a mountain girl."

I had almost forgotten that memory, and many others, of skiing winter after winter in New Mexico and Colorado, where I grew up. I had almost forgotten that I am that mountain girl, shredding it every day, feeling connected to the earth and to myself.

Because I had forgotten, I was very nervous to start skiing again this winter. It had been a few years.

What if I fall in front of Richard and make a huge fool of myself? I had already talked up my skiing skills and passion for so long, he would probably find me utterly ridiculous if I were either too frightened or too out-of-practice to shine.

And then, he got me some cross-country ski boots to use with his late grandmother's classic wooden skis. What a special gift! I guess that means I'm facing my fears, I thought immediately.

I pulled on my boots and clamped in my skis, knowing I could do it but feeling the fear. "Could you please not watch me at first?" I said. "You might mess me up."

Not only had it been a while, but I had never skied on eastern snow, never with un-waxed skis (we hadn't gotten wax yet), and never on a front lawn with just a few snowy inches covering pure, solid ice.

But we didn't have time to go anywhere else. The sun had already set, and there was rain in the forecast. It's not that it was "now or never," but I pretended like it was. You see, I really wanted to go for it.

Zoom! I was off down the hill in our front yard!

It was a little anti-climactic, but at least I didn't fall. I went back up the hill and down again, then I went back behind the house to show off for Richard.

He was chopping wood and didn't seem too impressed, so I returned to the front yard to spell "love" in cursive with my skis. I was determined to wow him.

The cursive word was barely visible by the time he got to see it, but by then, it didn't matter anymore to me whether Richard was impressed. I had impressed myself! I had remembered that connection with childlike exuberance, and I had felt it once again. I remembered a part of myself, and I was glad for it.

Here I am kissing Agnes and Arigna, my new skis. (You can see my guitar, MoJo Hen, and our potted plants in the background.)

This may be a stretch, but I think that's how people are feeling about food right now. Even though it's been a while, even though we are used to going to the grocery store for dinner, we're moving back toward the land, back to our roots. And it feels good. More and more, we're choosing to buy locally, we're growing our own, and we're starting to remember our connection to food.

This Christmas, many of you honored that connection and your lovely friends by donating a tree on their behalf. (Find out who gave, and their honorees, by visiting www.retreeus.org.)

If your donation was enough to put someone's name directly beside one of our trees, your honoree received a unique, hand-made, recycled certificate and envelope like this one:

Just the top of a special gift for one of our supporter's friends.

Of course, the real gift is not the certificate, nor even the honor of having a tree planted in your name. The gift is to know you're a part of this movement--back to that feeling, that truth that we are a part of this planet, that acknowledgment of some forgotten part of yourself.

This New Year, we hope all our local and regional supporters can join us in remembering, and fostering that connection for young people everywhere. On January 31st at Flatbread Pizza, a deliciously conscientious Portland, Maine restaurant, we'll celebrate with some really good food. For every pizza sold, Flatbread Pizza will donate $3.50 to ReTreeUS.

Working on the hand-painted banner to be hung at Flatbread.

Posing by the poster I made to help us advertise the event.

So join us. It doesn't have to hurt, and you probably won't fall down. Because organic, locally-produced food is deeply ingrained in each of us.

Come back to your roots, with ReTreeUS.

A World of Marvels

In his famous work, Desert Solitaire, author and scientist Edward Abbey writes about the earth's magnificent landscape beyond cities. He points out brilliantly the fact that:

...out there is a different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which surrounds and sustains the little world of [humans] as sea and sky surround and sustain a ship. The shock of the real. For a little while we are again able to see, as the child sees, a world of marvels...and our journey here on earth, able to see and touch and hear in the midst of tangible and mysterious things-in-themselves, is the most strange and daring of all adventures. 

A student at one of our participating schools enjoys the wonder of this tree.

It seems to me that people who deliberately foster their connection to the land also inherently foster their own awareness of the same wonder about which Abbey writes. I imagine that two hundred years ago, when 50 percent of this nation's population were farmers, many more people here were in-the-know.

However, as we moved away from a culture of food production and our farming population shrank from fifty to one percent, everything--including our earliest childhood experiences--changed. Though ReTreeUS hopes to help bring nature back to children, I find that our foraging and harvesting memories now often come from grocery store aisles, not rows of growing greens.

And I'm sure that's why my mom had such a funny story to share with me recently, about a day out with her husband and one suspicious police officer in Nashville, TN.

The garden my mom and her husband planted where there used to be a lawn.

My mom and her husband, who grow beautiful food gardens in virtually every corner of what used to be their lawn, ventured down to a nearby park to pick mulberries one day last summer. As they feasted on these delicious fruits, which break and drip down your fingers at the slightest touch, a police car slowed and drew to a stop right next to them. The cop inside stared for a moment before he rolled down his window and demanded, "What are you doing?"

My mom, who is known for her childlike enthusiasm and passion for earth's wonders, spun around and extended her handful of berries to the officer. "We're picking mulberries," she exclaimed with a smile, "Would you like to try some?"

"No!" said the cop, who was glaring at her and already stepping on the gas.

Mulberries

Oh, well, some might say. It seems we have reached a certain pinnacle of ignorance about where our food comes from.

Yes, I believe we have reached that pinnacle, but I also believe there is hope. Not only is there hope, but also an undeniable trend back in the other direction--toward farming as a lifestyle, teaching children about nature, and remembering who we are as a part of this planet.

Almost every 20-something I meet is involved somehow in a land-based hobby or profession like environmental education, activism, nature-inspired art, or farming. Many of them are in constant communication with the earth, thus staying up to date on all of its many miracles. Of course, that could be a result of the lifestyle I lead...but I don't think so.

Many 50 and 60-somethings have noticed the same thing about my generation. And maybe it was their generation that taught ours to appreciate the land.

I spoke with an old friend recently on a trip to Nashville, where my mom lives. The friend is about my age and was raised by parents of that back-to-the-land mindset, like myself. He and I were excited to hear what the other is doing these days. We are both eagerly pursuing the land like a romance, and we are reaping many rewards. I am, of course, quite focused on planting trees and assisting home gardeners, and he is deeply involved in the garden he and his girlfriend have planted. The two spend many hours working and playing in their garden, as well as foraging for food in the forest nearby.

We talked about some of the rewards of our adventures: edible mushrooms, herbs, and berries we'd found in the woods, and he told me about fig and persimmon trees he hopes to graft onto one day. He also has some ornamental plum trees and asked about grafting fruiting branches (called "scion") onto that "rootstock," or existing tree.

Photo from another blog of a proud child and her reward--a mushroom like those my friend and I discussed. He finds it in the woods near his TN home and says, for anyone else foraging there, it's the unmistakable orange streak at eye level as you venture through the forest. ********Please note that mushroom foraging is only fun and gratifying when the utmost caution is used. Do your research and be sure your find is an edible mushroom before you proceed.*************

This is certainly a noble effort.

While ornamental plants and trees have their place in the greater ecosystem, often times a fruiting tree is a much more natural and positive addition to the forest. Besides, it's efforts like these that help lead us back to the land and into the world outside the city. It certainly is "a world of marvels."

Below are some links and tips for my friends and others interested in similarly fun and fruitful pursuits:

- On general grafting: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/dg0532.html 

- On grafting in Maine: http://umaine.edu/fruit/growing-fruit-trees-in-maine/rootstocks-and-dwarf-fruit-trees/ 

- Though there are differing opinions on how well grafted persimmons grow, here is a how-to link: http://www.ehow.com/how_6692973_graft-persimmon-trees.html

- As for fig trees, I'm reading now that most of them are propagated by rooting and planting cuttings from the tree, rather than grafting per se. If you do want to try grafting figs, however, the T-graft works best. Use any type of fig rootstock (such as the fig tree in my friend's yard).

I was thinking about these conversations on my way back from Tennessee, reading Desert Solitaire and adding to my thoughts more interesting stories from the people I met.

I wouldn't have spoken with one woman, who was sitting next to me on the plane, if I hadn't overheard her say something about her 6 year-old daughter. This sparked a lively conversation between the two of us, since I am an environmental educator using art and music in my lessons, and she is an artist using nature as her primary inspiration. (See more of her tree and plant-inspired work at http://www.etsy.com/shop/tigerlillyshop.)

Handmade maple seed necklace by Baltimore artist Allison Fomich. You can find her work at the Tigerlillyshop on Etsy.com.

The artist, Allison Fomich, plants trees in her urban Baltimore neighborhood, and we at ReTreeUS will plant over 1,000 trees next spring. We shared in the wonder of meeting someone with whom we had so much in common, and relished the hope we feel as we watch the pendulum swing back to a world of marvels.

Have Yourself a Meaningful, Sustainable Christmas

There are as many differing thoughts on the holidays as there are needles on a tree. I have entertained practically all of them as I have grown and learned about the interdependence of social and ecological systems. I love the lights, the cookies and cheer of the season, but I don't love the obligation to buy. It's unsustainable, of course, for our pocket books, and it's also unsustainable for the earth.

In an attempt to reject commercialism and consumerism, I have gone through periods of refusing to buy gifts during the holidays. I have celebrated Christmas by decorating a living tree in my yard, and I have "celebrated" by not decorating a Christmas tree at all.

Sometimes, by trying so hard to maintain my philosophies on living responsibly, I have Grinched the whole season and moved on to January, probably hurting some feelings along the way.

But, as I appreciate magic and the balance of nature more and more each year, I think I have finally reached my own sense of balance during the holidays.

For example, Richard and I have been planning to take down a hemlock tree which has been leaning on the power line by our house for years. (After all, it is a safety issue and we will be planting 1,000 more trees next spring.) I thought perhaps we could use the top of that tree for Christmas this year, since we were cutting it down anyway...

And that would have been a fine option.

But when we had no plans to cut that tree any time before January, and Richard got a job harvesting trees at the very sustainable permaculture operation down the road, I thought that might be an option, too.

This "tree farm" is nothing at all like a monoculture. It is a diverse forest which has been altered by humans so that all the trees are crowding each other, and few trees have any room to grow.

So, the humans running the property now have decided to alter the forest selectively, in a way that benefits the overall health of the ecosystem. Some of the overcrowded tree population is removed (and used for a little seasonal magic) so that others are allowed to grow into healthy adults. Then, they are better able to contribute to their forest community the way we hope adult humans will do. 

A healthy Maine forest with a festive wreath.

And when Richard came home to surprise me with a tree from that forest one day, I was elated! I ran out into the cold to greet him (and our new tree) with bare feet and a huge smile.

One day soon, we will use that tree as new acidic soil for our blueberries, which will raise support for our programs and eventually be planted in our orchards. For now, I am enjoying our beautifully decorated tree and the togetherness and magic that it brings.

Richard and I embrace the season and pose before our sustainably harvested tree.

If you are interested in giving the gift of sustainability this season, please consider one of our holiday trees. Time is running out, so please order at www.retreeus.org before December 20th to receive your certificate on time.

A student at one of our participating schools hugs a tree.