Found Exhortation
Found yesterday. Today, I managed to stay inside working.
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State of the Garden
I think during World War II, backyard gardens supplied something on the order of 40 percent (don’t quote me on this) of the nation’s produce. Were we to do that, how much it might contribute to alleviating any shortages–with so much of our food from beyond closing borders.
How might it help shift our growing climate imbalance and social inequality and the hideous chaos it unleashes? Wouldn’t growing some of your own food be a healthy strategy?
The generous harvest from today’s garden all came up from prior year plantings. I may joke about how many variations of greens and grains and pulses I can come up with, but the greens are from my back garden, bursting with nutrients, and everything else is a long storage pantry item (including in recent years, dried beans, for having grown enough of them). Most anything else is a luxury. I can go a long time between trips to the grocery store and still have well-flavored, healthy, and inexpensive meals.
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Morning Walk
I have been walking earlier and earlier to be with those seeking communal isolation and not with those who simply have not yet managed to grasp that the severity of the situation also applies to them. This morning I was called to go to Congressional Cemetery and walk among the markers and spirits of the dead. I found it sparkling with light and new life.
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Blossoms Around Town
I feel compelled to make clear that I have avoided going to the tidal basin. All the blossoms I have visited have been in my neighborhood at times when few enough were outside that I could maintain full social distancing.
The continuing disregard for the need to social distance–whether out of willful selfishness or ignorance or both is truly alarming.
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Penne with Leeks, Greens, in a Yoghurt-Feta Sauce (Dried Pasta and Greens from the Garden Variation)
In this upcoming time of shortages, how are you preparing? Are there ways you can use more of the food you get? Can you grow some?
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Social Distancing as a Spiritual Practice
This morning Maitri and I participated in Quaker silent worship with Friends Meeting of Washington via Zoom. I have friends offering for the first time, or expanding their offerings through various on-line platforms, of both meditation and asana practices.
For those of us able to do so, it is critical to stay home to slow contagion and alleviate burden on our already stressed by poor and inequitable policies health care system. It is also critical to reach out to elected officials and into our own means to help others be able to stay home and get any needed care.
What capacities for adaptability and generosity might we find in this situation?
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State of the Garden
Growing some of your own food–even if just herbs on the countertop–connects us to the earth and the rhythm of growing things and to the place we are inhabiting. And if we all grew some of the basics, what needs to be shipped to us is reduced.
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