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November 2008 Blog Posts (23)

Under 10 hours a day- Greenhouse and Transition Kitchen report

As the days get shorter, the plants in the greenhouse slow down. It's as if we've turned down the volume on the growth. Not that no growing happens, it just happens more slowly (really active growing and especially germination and growth of young seedlings needs 10 hours of light at least each day). I planted field peas about two weeks ago, and they're coming up in no particular hurry. They are coming up, but we'd get hungry waiting for them. As kids love field pea sprouts (which taste like… Continue

Added by Nisa B. Hallesy on November 29, 2008 at 8:02pm — No Comments

In my transition kitchen

In my transition kitchen I nearly always have dirty dishes and dirty pots, pans and assorted gadgets needing to be washed.. Cooking most of your food from scratch and conversion to a local diet is a pretty messy business and I've decided that it's best to philosophical about it, wash things up as regularly as possible (we weekly have several days or parts of days in which we catch up and then the dishes and pots get ahead of us again). I often have the following on my counters: Greens (usually… Continue

Added by Nisa B. Hallesy on November 29, 2008 at 8:00pm — No Comments

ONE SHOT LEFT: A sobering post from an important voice

One Shot Left

The latest science suggests that preventing runaway climate change means total decarbonisation.

By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 25th November 2008

[Original here]

George Bush is behaving like a furious defaulter whose home is about to be repossessed. Smashing the porcelain, ripping the doors off their hinges, he is determined that there will be… Continue

Added by Michael Brownlee on November 26, 2008 at 11:39am — No Comments

The Fruits of November

One thing people ask about eating a local diet is always, "So what do you do in the winter?"

November is a perfect month in Colorado for hearty dishes like butternut risotto, garlic mashed potatoes, and a big turkey dinner. We can get some fresh kale, spinach, and braising greens for salads and stir-fry. The Cornucopia of Local in Boulder this weekend was full of delicious ingredients for vegetable-rich dishes.

This November's fruit dishes are really special, because… Continue

Added by Steve Morgan on November 25, 2008 at 9:27pm — 1 Comment

http://earth2100.tv/

http://earth2100.tv/
Check it out, folks....anyone up for submitting the Transition view?

Added by Dana Miller on November 25, 2008 at 5:57pm — No Comments

My experience of Transition

My experience of Transition came from my time of service in disaster response. I responded to Hurricane Katrina. The majority of my efforts were focused through the lens of volunteering and leading volunteers. I was a team leader for the AmeriCorps NCCC and had a team of 10 that I stayed with for a year of service work. It was not only New Orleans City proper that I worked in, it included the greater metropolitan area, Mississippi, and Alabama. This built upon my previous volunteer experience;… Continue

Added by Stephen Blaes on November 22, 2008 at 8:11pm — 2 Comments

Transition on Denver's Ch 4!!!!!!!!!!

Watch Molly Hughes on Ch 4 this Sunday evening (Nov. 23) at 10:00 p.m......we're getting tv coverage, folks! Yahoo! If you can't watch it live, it is our understanding it will be available online.

Added by Dana Miller on November 21, 2008 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

Communal Platter

...beyond potluck

All,
I wanted to share an inititiative we came up in Newlands Neighborhood.
It brings members of community together over local food.
Http://communalplatter.ning.com
Http://newlandsgreenlands.com/communal-platter

The concept is simple and FUN!
Sign-up and set up your own Communal Platter!

Cheers,
Sanjay

Added by Sanjay Rajan on November 20, 2008 at 8:55am — No Comments

Three Thoughts on Transitions - Speech by Naropa President, Thomas B. Coburn on Community Practice Day, October 2008

Three thoughts on transitions

Thomas B. Coburn

Practice Day, October 2008

1. No individual or organization has ever lived a seamless, transition-free life.

Some of the transitions or interruptions are predictable and happen on a

regular calendar (holidays, birthdays, etc.).

Many are not, but are disruptive or intrusive.

A common human response to these transitions is to weave ritual around… Continue

Added by Teresa Foster on November 19, 2008 at 12:19pm — No Comments

Vision for America

For the first time that I can remember, a president or president-elect asked the American people to share their vision of what the country should be. Soon after his election, Barack Obama provided a Web page for doing just that; and I added my opinion, as follows.

First and foremost, the United States must be true to its core principles, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Most critical among these… Continue

Added by Brad Jarvis on November 19, 2008 at 7:39am — No Comments

THE NEW COOP DE VILLE (or, THE YEAR OF THE CHICKEN!)

The craze for urban poultry farming.

by Jessica Bennett

NEWSWEEK (see original here)

For Brooklyn real-estate agent Maria Mackin, the obsession started five years ago, on a trip to Pennsylvania Amish country. She, her husband and three children—now 17, 13 and 11—sat down for brunch at a local bed-and-breakfast, and suddenly the chef realized she'd run out of eggs. "She said, 'Oh goodness! I'll have to go out to the garden and… Continue

Added by Michael Brownlee on November 18, 2008 at 2:23pm — 1 Comment

Creating Our Future Together

Today we have the incredible opportunity to change lanes on the global superhighway. The election of Barak Obama offers us a short window of opportunity to propose bold strategies to assist our country, and by example, the rest of the world towards a new vision of the future.

President Elect Obama has stated that he want to focus on job creation so I though I would add in my two cents worth. Please look this over and let me know your thoughts.

Together we can be the… Continue

Added by Zev Paiss on November 18, 2008 at 8:30am — 2 Comments

DREAMING THE FUTURE CAN CREATE THE FUTURE, by Kenny Ausubel

by Kenny Ausubel (founder and CEO of Bioneers)

The original appeared in Huffington Post.

Dreaming the future can create the future. We stand at the threshold of a singular opportunity in the human experiment: To re-imagine how to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations. It's a revolution from the heart of nature -- and the… Continue

Added by Michael Brownlee on November 18, 2008 at 8:28am — No Comments

TRANSITION: GEARING UP FOR THE GREAT POWER-DOWN (Times, U.K., Nov. 17, 2008)

Climate change is upon us and the oil is running out. Is mankind's darkest hour really approaching? If so, a growing army of local heroes is determined to turn it into our finest

by Luke Leitch

See the original here.

In Sandpoint, Idaho - birthplace of Sarah Palin, who really wouldn't approve - residents have prepared the community garden for its… Continue

Added by Michael Brownlee on November 18, 2008 at 8:00am — No Comments

May be of interest: Organizing the Grassroots & Finding Solutions Conference next Saturday

A PROGRESSIVE RESPONSE TO THE ECONOMIC CRISIS:

ORGANIZING THE GRASSROOTS & FINDING SOLUTIONS CONFERENCE

Sponsored by the Alliance for Real Democracy

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2008

9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At the AFSC, 901 W. 14th Avenue, Denver

While Wall Street investors and banks are rewarded with hundreds of

billions of dollars in taxpayer money for their irresponsible and

reckless speculation, millions of working people are losing… Continue

Added by Guy M on November 16, 2008 at 4:58pm — No Comments

A Tasty Local Meal for November

Tonight for dinner, we had a delicious feast! Baked chicken with potatoes and veggies, with sauteed collards on the side.

The chicken ingredients are many, but the prep work took us maybe 20 minutes. This is enough for 2 large baking pans, and could feed 6-8 adults easily.

8 chicken legs and thighs (Wisdom Natural Poultry)

1 large turnip (garden)

1/2 red onion (Abbondanza)

1/2 white onion (the couple at the market with those delicious candy onions!)

6… Continue

Added by Steve Morgan on November 15, 2008 at 8:55pm — 1 Comment

What's the deal on energy?

If the energy in one barrel of oil were converted to food energy it could power 584 workers for a day. The United States uses about 20 million barrels of oil per day. This is like having 11.7 billion extra workers (who work 24 hours per day) to do our labor. Is there any hope of replacing this energy supply without producing a catastrophic climate change?

Yes! The earth has a great power supply that rises in the east and sets in the west. The energy in the sunlight that falls on the… Continue

Added by robert easton on November 14, 2008 at 10:38am — 1 Comment

Saving the planet, but can you balance your own budget?

Well now that the party is over, is the hangover bad enough to consider sustainable ways of managing our personal budgets? I would like to initiate a thread to discuss what we can learn from decades of saner money practices from places like Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Because debt and mortgage interest is bleeding us even more than taxes, I invite you to contribute anything you know of alternative ways of being in the system but not of it. Various consumer advocacy groups have been… Continue

Added by Dana Harden on November 13, 2008 at 3:19pm — 3 Comments

Reluctant harvest and Local Quiche Recipe

Ok, when I go out to the new greenhouse which is now a significant source of vegetables for this family of five, I am faced with the fact that this November is indeed the Month-of-Kale. My kale continues fat and sassy, while even my chard slows down. When I give people gifts of food, I give them a little kale (knowing it doesn’t have universal appeal), and the nicest chard, leaving my family with the “house kale” Some of the “house kale” even comes complete with aphids, giving me the choice… Continue

Added by Nisa B. Hallesy on November 12, 2008 at 8:30pm — No Comments

David Suzuki Rocks!

I urge you to take the time to watch this video of David Suzuki. He's a dynamic and very engaging speaker. Very passionate about what needs to be done to save the planet and the interfering role economic growth plays.

He's speaking at the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) in Ottawa, Canada. This year's forum was entitled "Securing Canada’s Future in a Climate Changing World".

I think this would be an excellent video to show at our Local… Continue

Added by Alice Kelsey on November 12, 2008 at 4:30pm — 1 Comment