On Absolutism

I recently ate lunch at one of the Chinese buffets in town. When I told a new acquaintance where I was going to eat, he was extremely surprised.

I write, think, and talk a lot about sustainability and living my beliefs. I have worked hard to reduce the negative impact I have on our planet, and to increase the positive impact I have in my own community. I am working on growing and preserving more of my own food, and I buy a lot of local, bulk, and organic foods. And like everyone, I am also human.

 A mostly local breakfast with a kiwi from California

When I was vegan, people often said to me "I would be vegan if it weren't for ________," where the blank was cheese or ice cream or even bacon. I hear people make similar statements about other things "I would do x, if it weren't for y exception."

My response is always "So go for it." There are always going to be exceptions and shades of gray. If we wait until circumstances are perfect, chances are we'll never do anything. I do think commitment and follow through are important, but getting started is more important, and many people need that gradual easing in or the occasional exception.  

That's OK. Give yourself permission to not be absolute about everything, to not be perfect, to allow yourself exceptions without having to feel guilty. I enjoyed my Chinese buffet lunch, and that's OK. Those exceptions and shades of gray are all OK, as long as you are moving in the direction you want to be going. So get started. NOW.

Winter Feast for the Soul Update

With only a few days left of Winter Feast for the Soul (a 40 day commitment to spiritual practice), I thought I'd share how it's been going for me.

When I committed to the Winter Feast, I did not anticipate being sick, attending a conference, and being out of town for two weeks during the 40 days. If I had anticipated those things, I probably would not have committed to it. It was definitely challenging and at times my commitment was not very strong.

Reflecting on the experience now, I am glad I did it. Life always has a way of getting messy and making a commitment to self care difficult to follow through on. Sticking with this commitment makes me understand that it is possible to do so even when conditions are not ideal. I meditated at off times, while sick, in an airport, in other people's spaces, and with noisy people and/or a TV blaring in the background.  These are not the conditions I want for meditation most of the time, but for me part of the purpose of meditation is to bring more space and calm into all of my life - not just the brief periods of time that I am quietly sitting on the cushion. Meditating in less than ideal conditions seems to me a way to begin to bridge the gap between meditation and the rest of my life.

Now I am healthy again, and back in my own space. Barriers to meditation still arise regularly, but they are the more familiar ones - my own hectic mind, scheduling, too much to do, etc. I intend to meditate in my own quiet space on a more regular schedule. But I also plan to keep pushing my comfort zone a bit and continue meditating even when things aren't perfect.

What I Do, Part 2 - Food Not Bombs

Read my first post on what I do (an overview) here. Over the next few months, I intend to write more about the specifics of some of my current projects and interests, as well as more generally about what it means to be a Scanner.

I've already mentioned a few of the ways I try to live my beliefs... including eating locally, growing my own food, and dumpster diving. Some of these changes mostly just affect me, others have a larger impact. I guess I'm always looking for ways in which my own small changes and actions can have a larger ripple effect .

One project I'm involved in that I hope falls into that category is Food Not Bombs. Food Not Bombs is an international organization with autonomous regional chapters like the Binghamton chapter which collect food that would have otherwise gone to waste (through arrangements with natural food stores, grocery stores, food pantries/food recovery programs, and yes, occasionally dumpster diving) and use it to prepare meals which are then shared with the community. 

Like other programs that offer community meals, one of our intentions is to help those most in need. But some of our other goals differ - we strive to reduce food waste, build community and bring people together (by allowing anyone to participate in preparing, eating, and cleaning up after meals), and also to serve food that is both tasty and nutritious.

 

So how have we done with these goals?

• We have absolutely reduced food waste by using food that would have been wasted to prepare meals. All leftovers are given away or taken home by volunteers and all food scraps are either fed to our chickens or composted. 
• There is a strong sense of community at meals. I love coming and eating and chatting with different people each week. One of my favorite parts of each week is listening to the person who brings and plays a different musical instrument each week. This was not something we arranged, but something that grew spontaneously out of this community.
• We serve vegetarian food. Most of the meal consists of well-seasoned fresh vegetables (we do incorporate canned and frozen veggies as needed, but that is usually less of the meal), grains, and beans. We provide exposure to a type of food that many regulars on the community meal circuit do not get anywhere else and try to get people to realize that vegetables are both healthy and delicious! We also share our recipes and cooking tips with anyone who is interested and many people try our recipes at home. Volunteers also learn a lot about cooking and safely utilizing food that others might throw away.

While Food Not Bombs has no formal leadership structure and is a non-hierarchical organization, it seems common in many chapters for a few individuals to take on the majority of the responsibility. While we have many wonderful volunteers, I think Dan and I have fallen into that position and gotten a bit stuck there. There are pros and cons to this, but at this point my goal for working with Food Not Bombs is to make myself obsolete. I'd like to continue to be involved because I enjoy it, but know that the chapter would be able to continue with or without me. Towards that end, I intend to continue trying to help develop leadership in others and examine whether there are ways that I am unconsciously clinging to power and control (and try to let go of them).

I hope this will make the organization stronger, grow my skill set a bit, and free up some of my time and energy to work on other projects. Because there are always other projects.

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

Winter Is Certainly Here and I have a tendency to complain about it.

And when I recently posted on Facebook that it was minus 8 degrees Saturday morning, I certainly got a lot of responses. Well, it was minus 20 this morning!!

I am not a winter person. I don’t like going outdoors when the temperature is in the single digits and less so when it is in the negative zone. Most of the year I don’t use a hair dryer and only do so when the temperature is below freezing. I hate driving up Belden Hill when it is blowing snow and I still remember sliding out on black ice four miles up I88 on my commute into Binghamton and that was at least ten years ago.

It no longer makes sense for me to drive to a local state park to go skiing or snowshoeing because when I do go out it is for such a short time. I’ll go up and down the hill behind our house a couple of times and then rush indoors for a cup of hot chocolate.

In July I wrote here:

I intend to not grasp summer. And I’ll try not to complain when it is SO hot and humid...to remember that this summer weather is what I crave when months later I’ll complain about icy winter roads. But now I want to get outdoors to breathe in the summer air, to pick a few weeds out of the garden, to pluck a few berries off a backyard bush to top my cereal, to read on the back deck. Summertime...the living is easy...the time is now.

So, I do appreciate summer and spring is my favorite season….the season of promise and new blooms, of fresh bursts of color, of the re-awakening of smells and tastes, the time to shed the coat, to be outdoors more. I get impatient for spring to arrive.

But with focus on my One Little Word, Present…it is my intention to be more Present in winter. To both be mindful of winter's positive seasonal attributes and to be aware of the Gift of each day.

Some of my favorite winter activities include:

Reading novels  in the living room with the woodstove cranked high, cooking and eating a pot of hearty soup accompanied by good bread, more Netflix watching, more online volunteering (Voices of the Future at World Pulse), working on organizing old family photographs and scrapbooking and participating in online workshops and classes (I’ve already mentioned Strathmore’s free art journaling workshops and One Little Word at Big Picture Scrapbooking). I also taking an online class via Ed2go.

And  traveling, getting away from the cold. I am.looking forward to seeing family in FL and being warm.

Alan has a number of winter activities outdoors like stacking wood, and preparing equipment for maple syrup season. He continues to walk/run most mornings outdoors -- while I am indoors "jumping around" with an  aerobics DVD.

One of the winter activities I most appreciate watching Alan do is plant. The photos are of him planting onion seeds. This week he planted 200 onion seeds of three different varieties. He'll tend them for the next few months and they will be ready to plant this spring. Alan said that last year he didn't start onion seeds till February -- and showed me that the results, onions that we store and are eating now, were smaller than they could be. To me, the whole process is magical and hopeful. In essence, we are now eating in winter 2011 the seeds that Alan planted in winter 2010.

Add to the reality, the provocative metaphor....What will I start this winter and grow throughout the year? 

How does your life change seasonally?

Where do you spend winter? What do you like/dislike about winter? And what are you starting to grow now that you will tend through the year?

Winter Feast for the Soul 2011

If you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you may know that both of us participated in Winter Feast for the Soul 2010, a 40-day commitment to spiritual practice inspired by a line from a Rumi poem:
"What nine months does for the embryo,
forty early mornings will do for
your growing awareness."

The recommended commitment is for 40 minutes of spiritual practice each day for 40 consecutive days; we both modified the commitment a bit to suit our needs and schedules.

Barbara posted a bit about last year's Winter Feast here and here.

Last year's feast ended in February and we are both participating in Winter Feast for the Soul 2011 from January 15 - February 23, 2011. We decided to share a bit about last year's experience and our intentions for this year in the form of an interview with ourselves.

What was your commitment last year?

R - I aimed for a minimum of 15 minutes of sitting meditation per day. I also allowed myself to do text contemplation instead on a few days when I did not have time to meditate or resisted doing it.

B - I intended to sit quietly/meditate for a minimum of 15 minutes a day on at least 4 days a week.

How did you do? 

R
 - days of meditation - 29 (13 days, 15 min; 16 days 20-25 min)
 - days of text contemplation - 4
 - days of neither - 5
 - days I forgot to record - 2

B - I didn't record it... I think I started strong and then slowed way down.

How did it feel?

R - Depended on the day - some days meditation feels good and other days it drags on and can be quite frustrating to watch my mind jump around so much. It felt helpful to have stronger motivation to sit more frequently.

B - I felt my usual resistances to commit time for silence and contemplation. I liked the call of the Winter Feast -- to connect with a worldwide movement for peace.

Did you continue after? 

R - I did, though the frequency abated pretty quickly. I continued and continue to have a sporadic meditation practice throughout the year.

B - Me too.

What is the benefit of participating in Winter Feast specifically?

R - Before the Winter Feast, I rarely spoke about my meditation practice to others because I wanted to meditate for myself, not to be able to seem good or holy to others, or to build up my ego. I still have some hesitation about that, but have come to realize that if bragging and fear of humiliation can get me to the meditation cushion, that is the most important part for me.

Side note: There are many other online challenges which serve the same purpose for other practices and projects, such as writing and knitting.

B - I appreciate this quote of Thich Nhat Hanh, “If we do not change our daily lives, we cannot change the world.”  Committing to a meditation practice and devoting time during the day to other foundational activities (exercise and writing) energizes me and I like the idea of connecting with other people around the world who also want to create a more peaceful world. For me, this challenge motivates me to begin again... and committing for a specified period is helpful.

What is your commitment this year?

R - My commitment is similar to last year's - a minimum of 15 minutes of sitting meditation per day, longer if possible, with a few opt out days of text contemplation. I intend to match or beat my record from last year - meditating 29 or more of the 40 days and doing text contemplation 4 or more days.

B - I would just like to sit quietly more often. On most days I'd like to meditate or do yoga. I hope to incorporate the practice back into my life this year, not just for 40 days. And 40 minutes still seems too long for me to manage. I like Rebecca's option of text contemplation -- and I will either reflect on a daily reading or read or listen to one of the many talks on the Winter Feast website.

What do you plan to do the same as or differently from last year?

R - I want to keep talking about it with other people since the bragging does seem to be motivating for me, and some interesting conversations came out of it last year. I also want to utilize the recordings and resources on the Winter Feast website, which I did not do last year.

B - I want to check in with Rebecca more and for both of us write about Winter Feast here. I invite readers to join in and comment. Also, I will try to meditate during the morning... I have the tendency to put it off and then it seems like a pressure, another item to check off my to-do list. I feel clearer and calmer if I sit in the morning.

I want to be optimistic yet realistic.... in terms of my expectations (hence the 15 minutes rather than 40, the goal of at least four days a week and not expecting seven).

We'll keep you posted on how it goes!

What I Do

I've always hated the question "What do you do?" It seems like the answer people are looking for is something simple, something they can use to quickly categorize me - administrative assistant, sex educator, retail salesperson - but that's never the answer I want to give. Sometimes I just say "It's complicated..." and wait for their response. Recently I've taken to saying things like "I'm marginally employed" or "I volunteer a lot" or "I am gainfully unemployed." Occasionally I'll start rattling off a list of projects and commitments (personal and otherwise) that I have on my plate at the moment, which usually includes but is not limited to Binghamton Urban Farm Project/VINES, Food Not Bombs, Southern Tier AIDS Program, knitting group, raising chickens in my backyard, and thinking about starting my own business.

I guess this relates to being a "scanner" (mentioned by my mom in this post), a term coined by Barbara Sher, author of I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was and Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams. I have so many hobbies and interests and projects it often feels impossible to represent myself in a nutshell or elevator spiel. It's also not uncommon for someone to be extremely surprised by some aspect of who I am (former sex-shop employee, former vegan,  farmer, world traveler, hunter, knitter, rock climber, etc.) based on knowing certain other things about me.

This also challenges me when it comes to getting to know new people - not just how to represent myself accurately but also how best to tease out the important stuff about them, which that question "what do you do?" usually fails to bring out. Sometimes I ask about hopes and dreams, but a lot of people are reluctant to talk about those in casual conversation. I've had limited success in asking new acquaintances what they are passionate or excited about. Sometimes I just bring up political or social issues and ask them their views.

I'll write more about some of the specific things I do in future posts, but I imagine this is something I will continue to struggle with.

What about you? Do you have a good way to represent yourself quickly in an elevator or at a party? How do you best get to know others in more than a superficial way?

TV and Movie Diet

I just finished a one month TV and movie diet. Originally I was going to do a fast (as in no TV or movies for one month) but that seemed unrealistic, so I set some conditions - it's OK to watch TV or movies with other people (so if it has some sort of social component) or if I am feeling sick. I took advantage of these exceptions a few times, going out to the movies with friends once, and watching a few TV episodes and a movie with friends on 3 or 4 occasions. I also had two days during which I was not feeling well and allowed myself carte blanche to watch whatever junk I wanted.

Overall it felt really good. The idea was not that all TV or movies are bad, just that I tend to get sucked in and watch more than I want to once I get started. Sometimes they are a good way to decompress and when I am watching them I am entertained, but often when they end I feel a little crappy - sometimes headachey, not energetic but also not sleepy, not inspired, and unsure what to do next. Other things I do to decompress - reading, writing, doodling, knitting, going outside, physical activity, dancing, hanging out with friends - engage me more and make me feel better not just during, but at the completion of the activity. I feel like my time was well spent, which is not usually a feeling I have after watching TV or movies. So I wanted to create more of those feelings in my life, and also make more space and time for engaged and potentially creative time.


The other piece of it is that I am a fairly busy person and I wanted to make more time in my life for certain things, especially creative pursuits. While I want to make sure I allow myself time to veg out and decompress when needed, there are several activities that fill that need while still bringing out my creative side.

Overall, I feel like this "diet" was a success. I stayed within my guidelines and felt better about the way I spent my time. I still felt like I was taking care of myself, but had more time for reading, writing, knitting, and other things I enjoy. I intend to continue this diet with occasional exceptions or "treats" and am thinking about imposing some sort of restrictions on my computer/internet usage as well.

My mom does something similar by going "computer-free" one day per week. There are a number of bloggers out there that have similar computer or electronics policies (check out here and here).



Do you impose any restrictions on your technology usage?

Winter Feast for the Soul - will you be meditating in 2011?

Rebecca and I are women of many projects...we are what Barbara Sher has termed Scanners (a topic we will be writing more about in the coming months).
Both of us also like to look ahead...to plan projects and at times commit ourselves to challenges and to join larger efforts for inspiration and community. One of our mutual interests is meditation and cultivating a sitting practice.

Last year we wrote about Winter Feast for the Soul       
 which is now an annual 40-day worldwide spiritual/meditation practice.
It is suggested that participants meditate for 40 minutes daily from January 15 - February 23, 2010.
The website is full of related news and resources and during the specified time period they add various free online audios and visuals.

But I know myself...I'd like to return to a meditation practice, just sitting quietly on most days of the week, of the month. I don't want to commit myself to 40 days and 40 minutes.
So I will join in -- peripherally
and use this wonderful program for inspiration.
A reasonable goal for me is 20 minutes on 4 or 5 days a week.

That's one of my goals for the upcoming New Year.
What about you?

What are you doing in the New Year?- Winter Feast for the Soul

OUR GOALS

• To create an annual worldwide period of spiritual practice for people of all faiths to come together in prayer and meditation.
• To support people around the world in finding inner peace in their lives through the creation of a daily spiritual practice.
• To recognize that every person and every group is entitled to their own unique form of expression of these goals and is encouraged to practice them without discrimination.
• To work toward a global consciousness of peace.

OUR HISTORY

A Winter Feast for the Soul was born from the inspiration founder Valerie Skonie received through a line from a Rumi poem:

"What nine months does for the embryo,
forty early mornings will do for
your growing awareness."

In its first year in 2008, the event gathered about 150 people in the Wood River Valley and beyond who committed to a 40-day meditation period organized by Skonie, with help from the Light On The Mountains Spiritual Center, in Sun Valley, Idaho. The idea grew beyond her wildest dreams. People in various cities took up the idea. Even the Iranian press wrote about what was happening in Sun Valley. Soon, people from 29 countries had committed to the second annual event in 2009.

2010 WINTER FEAST AT A GLANCE

The success of the third annual event in 2010 shows participation numbers have more than doubled around the world.

• We estimate the number of participants doubled over that of the 2009 Feast, reaching totals of about 20,000 people worldwide.
• Our Children’s Feast for the Soul found its way into countless schools and homes around the world.
• Our Prison Outreach program found its way to prisoners in state and federal incarceration centers throughout the United States.
• We expanded our Online Meditation offerings to include:
  • Christian Contemplative Prayer
  • Insight Buddhist Meditation
  • New Thought Meditation
  • Tibetan Buddhist Meditation
  • Universal Interdenominational Meditation
  • Four Minutes of Stillness for Young Children
  • 15 minutes of Stillness for Older Children and Teens.
  The response to the online meditations was overwhelming! A total of nearly 35,000 downloads of these meditations was tabulated during the 2010 Winter Feast and the meditations continue to be used daily since then.
  Listen to the 2010 Winter Feast Mediations Here
• Our Web Traffic has doubled over that of 2009.
• Our Daily Inspirational Quotes for the forty-day Feast were translated into Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish by volunteers from around the world.

PARTNERS

Charter for Compassion, Dharmata Foundation, Companions for the Silent Journey, Global Coherence Initiative, Oneness Experience, Rising Tide International, Sun Valley Film Festival, Children of the Sun

RECOMMENDATIONS AND ENDORSEMENTS

His Holiness the Dalai Llama, Anam Thubten Rinpoche, Deepak Chopra, the Episcopal Third Order of St. Francis, Scripps Institute of Alternative Medicine, Andrew Harvey, James O’Dea, and Coleman Barks.

Inspiration and Intention - Bike Riding

Since I got back from Spain, I have been riding my bike quite a bit, mainly just to get from one place to another without using my car. I intend to continue using my bike as much as possible for commuting, errands, and general getting around purposes. I also would like to ride a bit more for fun and try to encourage others to ride more too.

I used to hate riding my bike anywhere with cars and other vehicles around. I am just starting to get more comfortable with it, and I thought I'd share some of the strategies that have helped me out for those who are interested.

1. Go slow and steady
The whole experience of getting around on a bike can be pretty daunting for a beginner - getting in shape, keeping your bike upright, avoiding potholes, paying attention to traffic, not getting hit by a car,  navigating, etc. I think the best way to deal with this is to start out slow - literally riding at a slow speed, so you're not breathing hard, and also taking fairly short jaunts to start with. As you get more confident, you can gradually build up to riding longer distances and/or a faster pace.

2. Ride with others
Especially on a longer ride or a ride to a new place, I feel much more confident and enjoy myself more when I ride with a friend. Riding with one or more people also increases your visibility to motorists.

3. Don't skimp on safety
Please buy and use a helmet. Ditto for a bell, and front and rear lights if you ever ride at night. Having the right safety equipment not only keeps you safer, but in my opinion makes you more confident on the bike. It is also wise to carry a multi-tool, a spare tube or patch kit, and a pump or a CO2 cartridge. You may also want to invest in something to carry cargo on your bike instead of your person, whether that's a rear rack with a milk crate attached, or some sort of fancy basket or panniers. Keeping your bike in good working order is also essential. You can take your bike to a shop for regular or tune-ups, or pick up a book on bike maintenance and do it yourself.

A pretty and functional bike basket seen on the streets of NYC

One resource I have been inspired by lately when it comes to bikes is Let's Go Ride a Bike, a blog written by two women who make riding year round look easy, fun, and even stylish. One of them lives in Chicago and rides her bike year round! The blog features how-to instructions and videos, photos of cute bikes and cute people riding bikes in stylish outfits, and plenty of inspirational ideas for ways to have more fun riding your bike, build connections with other cyclists, and more. I recently went on a bicycle picnic excursion with a few friends, after seeing it suggested on their blog. Photos from the picnic are below. I forgot to take any with the bikes, but I swear we rode them!

Local Eating

One of my intentions in the last couple of years has been to eat more local food and less food that comes from really far away. One of my small changes was to start purchasing more of the meat, eggs and dairy I consume from local sources. I was finding this challenging for a while, but it has been getting easier as I find more sources and incorporate it into my routines.

One of the local sources that has been most helpful is CNY Bounty,  a local non-profit which my boyfriend Dan recently started working for.


How it works [from the CNY Bounty website]: Each week, Bounty staff coordinate weekly product availability with farmers and producers and upload the products, prices, photos and descriptions on the website. Consumers can go online to www.cnybounty.com between Friday at noon and Monday at noon to place an order.  Orders are collected from the farm on Wednesday morning by Bounty staff, taken to the shared distribution center in Sherburne, NY, and distributed by Bounty staff to customers’ doorsteps or strategically located drop off points on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon.  Delivery is free for orders over $35 or for orders of any size to drop off points.

CNY Bounty operates year-round and currently works with over 90 farmers and producers.  All processed/prepared products contain at least 25% locally grown ingredients, except where products are not grown in the region (ex: coffee and cacao).

Some of our favorite items from CNY Bounty:

Evans Farmhouse Creamery Orange Yogurt

Dried Elm Oyster Mushrooms

Raspberry Apple Juice

We've eaten a few meals lately which have consisted of mostly local ingredients.

One was a stir-fry with whole wheat noodles, sunflower oil, bok choy, cabbage, carrots, oyster mushrooms, and beef - all from CNY Bounty. And that's local raspberry apple juice on the side.


Another was local chicken wings from CNY Bounty and sauteed asparagus and kale from the garden. The kale was in a delicious soy coconut ginger sauce. The asparagus is the first of the season and it is very early this year - and very delicious!

What local eating have you been doing?

Garden Intentions

It has only just started to get warm here in the last week, but garden plans have been in the works for a couple of months now!  My parents have a big garden at their house which I will be helping with, and I also plan to have a small "salad garden" at my apartment. Here's what is on our list to grow:

"Salad garden"
cabbage
kale
chard
salad greens - lettuce, arugula, mizuna, sorrel
cucumbers
zucchini
broccoli
scallions
hot peppers
herbs - chives, garlic chives, thyme, oregano
johnny jump ups

My Parents' Garden
potatoes
onions
winter squash
tomatoes
red cabbage
Brussels sprouts
celeriac
beets
carrots
salad greens
Belgian endive
parsnip
peas
beans
belgian endive
sorrel
kale
spinach
broccoli
turnips

My dad does much of the planting, and I do much of the planning (we play to our strengths). I typed up a planting schedule for everything we plan to grow, which includes dates of planting, whether it's being planted from seed or a seedling, and where it will be planted (started indoors, direct sown in the hoophouse, or direct sown outdoors). My dad has already started several flats of seeds inside, and I will be going over to help plant and transfer some things in the hoophouse very soon! More garden news and photos to come (these photos are from a previous season).

What are you planning and planting?

One Small Change - Month 3

I feel successful with my February One Small Change - increasing the amount of eggs, meat, and dairy that I buy from local sources. I was already doing this to some degree, but was not very disciplined about it and I was unwilling to spend the extra money to purchase local meat. This is partially because I rarely buy meat anyway and I don't have an accurate sense of what it costs in the supermarket, so the prices on local meat seem really outrageous. When I actually compared though, I decided the extra effort and cash are worth it, especially considering I don't eat very much meat. Yogurt and eggs I was buying locally when I came across them, but would purchase conventional versions of these products when I couldn't easily find the ones I wanted. Again, I am putting in the small extra effort it takes to get these even when I have to go a little out of my way.

This month I attended the local Winter Farmers' Market on February 6 (good thing I did, I found out the next one is not until March 27) and I purchased organic stew beef, free-range eggs (including an extra dozen for my parents), and free-range pork chops from three different local farms. I also spoke with a couple of the farmers and got information about visiting the farms. This month I also bought local yogurt and cheese at one of the natural food stores (unfortunately the one furthest from my house, but the only one that carries the local yogurt I like). This will actually become more convenient soon, as I will soon be going there at least once a month anyway to do pick-ups for the local Food Not Bombs. There is one more place on my list to shop, but it will have to wait until next month - the food co-op on the local university campus. It's not too far away, and they have some good stuff at reasonable prices, but parking is a bit of a pain and there's not really a good way to walk or bike there.

The most delicious brand of yogurt ever. 

Double Maple is good, but the best flavor is Orange.

My One Small Change for March will be water conservation. I contemplated this for last month, but knew I couldn't do much until I got the shower working (previously could only take baths). I'm now ready for this change, having fixed the shower with the help of my dad. We even installed a low-flow showerhead with a soap-up switch and I plan to start using the kitchen timer to time my showers and remind me not to dawdle. I also plan not to flush the toilet every time it's used. I'm familiar with the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" philosophy, but our toilet seems to stain easily and I also find that policy a bit smelly. So my plan is to stay well hydrated, and then as long as what's in the toilet is more clear-ish than yellow, I'm fine letting it mellow. I will also try to use a lower flow of water when I wash my hands, do handwashing and rinse dishes.

Intentions for this Year

It's a bit late in the year to talk about resolutions, and I'm not really one for resolutions anyway. But I do have some intentions for this year and the future.

For 2008 I wrote out a list of goals and aspirations for the year (click on Read More below). Reading them over, many of them still apply - I have made progress on a lot of them, but they are all journeys as opposed to final destinations. When my boyfriend Dan read them over, he pointed out that a lot of them are about stuff. He's right. Plus they're long.  They're all things that are still on my mind, but I think my focus is shifting (mostly to numbers 5 and 8). So here are my (simplified) intentions for 2010 -  live with as much joy and love as possible, spend lots of time with people I care about and am excited to be around, and just generally treat this year as if it could be my last year in this body. Because it could be.

To read my goals and plans from 2008 click below...

One Small Change - Month 2

My One Small Change for January was to get rid of things in creative ways and use things up. (See my first post on this topic here.) How did I do? I still own too much, but I am making good progress and will continue to work on this. One category that I focused on was craft supplies. I have pulled most of my supplies out of storage, organized them, made them as accessible as possible, and picked out my next few projects for both knitting (earflap hat for dad, wristwarmers to sell, rip out and re-knit a sweater for me) and sewing (finish reusable menstrual pads, bloomers, hem pants, pajama bottoms). I also have a sewing date scheduled for tomorrow and have been working on expanding the weekly knitting group I am a part of because I think adding a social component to crafting is both enjoyable and a good motivator.

In honor of last month's Small Change, I have a giveaway to offer to one lucky reader who likes sending mail: an assorted pack of cards, stationery, envelopes, and stickers. I will mail anywhere in the US. Please post a comment by Feb 11th the end of February (I am extending the contest) if you are interested in being eligible for the prize. Be sure to post your email address in the comment, so I can contact you. Or you can email it to me at beccamonstr [at] hotmail [dot] com.

I went back and forth on which small change to implement for February. After some deliberation, I  decided that this month I will only purchase meat, eggs and dairy that are locally produced. I have already been trying to make a larger portion of my diet come from local sources, but I have not done very well with these food categories. Specifically, this month I plan to buy local meat from at least one source, and find a reasonably priced place to purchase local yogurt and eggs. I also plan to attend the monthly winter farmers' market this weekend and check out the natural food store in town that I have not been to so I can compare prices and selection to the other stores.

One Small Change

I am participating in One Small Change, a challenge started by Hip Mountain Mama to encourage people to increase their positive green impact.

Since I already use cloth bags, cloth napkins, dish towels and hankies, buy in bulk, have switched to CFLs, and bring my own container for leftovers, I was struggling to find a small-ish change to work on for this month. I decided that my change for January is to get rid of things/use things up. Being a packrat and an environmentalist, this is always a challenge for me.

So I am looking for creative ways to use and give away some of my stuff. I am also giving myself permission to recycle and even throw away a few truly useless things. So far, I have given things away to friends and through freecycle, and have sold some items via Amazon and craigslist. I am also preparing to sell some of my handmade items locally. And I am making an effort to use the materials I already have around the house. Keeping things to prevent them from being thrown away is not positive if I'm not actually going to use them and they are taking up both physical and mental space. Also, the more organized and usable my space is, the more I am able to utilize the limited amount of project supplies I do decide to hang onto.

One of my projects - tagging my handknits for sale with repurposed materials (gift tags, paint chips, wallpaper samples, old postcards)

Anyone else participating in the One Small Change challenge? I'd welcome suggestions for future months (but I don't think I'm quite ready for the family cloth yet).