Jolly Green Man

Anybody else look at The Green Giant and see the Green Man?

From Jung.org:
One of these ecological myths is the story of the Green Man. He has been part of our Western heritage for centuries. Depth psychologist Carl Jung says that archetypes are embedded in our collective unconscious and these archetypes are shared by all. That is why we find very early images of the Green Man in Iraq and all over Europe. His face, which has leaves sprouting from his lips, eyes, nose and ears, can be seen on buildings and signs throughout Europe that date back to the Middle Ages. He is a combination of man and nature; he shows us that we can never be separate from the natural world, that we are part of the earth. He signifies irrepressible life and represents the human longing for the natural world. He is an image from the depths of prehistory and his origins are much older than our Christian era and he is still honored today in England and Europe in May Day festivals where he is evoked to bring in a bountiful growing season.

Jolly Green Giant in a dickie:

Impatient

I am feeling overwhelmed by a lot of stressors, so I'm trying very hard to consciously change the focus of my thoughts from the negative (so fucking easy to get stuck in) to being present and remembering positive moments.

Some of this week's:

Sharing unexpected sunshine and peace on a warm concrete step with a mostly nonverbal client.

Watching the tips of the branches pinken and swell.  There are leaves in there.

Finding the first shoots of the bulbs I planted last year (daffodil, tulip, and iris).

Seeing a badass tough guy client help another one who is extremely physically ill.

Waking up to heavy wet snow that is melted in an hour, and imagining all the maple syrup that is coming.

A cup of hot coffee at exactly the right moment.

Irish whiskey buttercream.

I don't think it's a coincidence that so many of these moments involve being aware of seasons/the natural world.  Remembering plants' steady process of growing helps me connect with my own slow and steady processes, and know that it is a process, and be OK with that.

Agri-Intellectuals

It's nice to see a logical, well-written reply to the locavore/small farm/slow food movement. But I still think this writer is wrong

The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals — The American, A Magazine of Ideas:

"On the desk in front of me are a dozen books, all hugely critical of present-day farming. Farmers are often given a pass in these books, painted as either naïve tools of corporate greed, or economic nullities forced into their present circumstances by the unrelenting forces of the twin grindstones of corporate greed and unfeeling markets. To the farmer on the ground, though, a farmer blessed with free choice and hard won experience, the moral choices aren’t quite so easy. Biotech crops actually cut the use of chemicals, and increase food safety. Are people who refuse to use them my moral superiors? Herbicides cut the need for tillage, which decreases soil erosion by millions of tons. The biggest environmental harm I have done as a farmer is the topsoil (and nutrients) I used to send down the Missouri River to the Gulf of Mexico before we began to practice no-till farming, made possible only by the use of herbicides. The combination of herbicides and genetically modified seed has made my farm more sustainable, not less, and actually reduces the pollution I send down the river. "

Uncool

Proving that I am once again the least cool person ever (just ask my tween, she'll confirm for you), I am now going to complain about the weather.

Gripe, gripe, whine, moan (pause to scrape off mildew, repeat)...










Did I mention that this is my vacation week? It is. The good news is that I've finished a lot of house projects, but I was hoping to get at least a LITTLE Vitamin D on this vacation. Not a lot, just SOME. Instead I'm growing vestigial gills.

Phone envy

My new economic situation has led to more than weight gain; it has also opened the door to some serious technology envy. I think I might get an iphone.

Further weighing my decision is the fact that my current cell phone screen is cracked (apparently a high-speed collision with the post office floor can cause destruction--who knew?).

The point here is not my disgusting consumeristic drives, but the fact that I will then have two old cell phones bumping around in the back of the Everything Drawer in the kitchen. And today I visited a handy website that lists many many places where I can recycle them. You just put in your zip code and, voila... instant guilt removal.

Now about that iphone...

Happy Spring!

The city of Portland is offering discounted compost bins for residents. They're the nice ones too...

The home compost bins and how-to guide are available at a reduced cost of $40. The bin has a 10-year warranty and is made of 100 percent recycled plastic. Kitchen waste pails for kitchen food scraps cost $8, and the wingdigger compost turner costs $17. For the first time, people can also purchase a 55-gallon rain barrel for $55.

(pressherald)

But you gotta call public works to get 'em: 874-8801 or
http://publicworks.portlandmaine.gov

UPDATE: You only have until May 1 to get in your order forms for these sweet, sweet items. The order form is here.

A place I should not visit

More Holiday Anxiety

While having a tween daughter isn't all fun and games (ha. ha.), there is at least one reason to be grateful: she's (mostly) beyond the age of toys. Her holiday wish list this year is technology, clothes, books, stuffed animals, and music.

This morning's Press Herald article made me glad I'm not buying a ton of toys this year:

One of every three toys in a study of 1,500 products have been found to contain "medium" or "high" levels of lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, bromine and chlorine, the nonprofit Ecology Center reported last week in its Healthy Toys Guide.
...
A sampling of items that the Ecology Center says are dangerous are Disney's Hannah Montana two-heart necklace; the educational learning-game system by LeapFrog, Leapster2/Wall.E; Thistle Blocks, flexible nubby pads that connect together for construction; Little Tikes Bath Letters & Numbers; and Circo brand shoes.

Of course, the toys I did buy her for the past decade were probably full of toxins and poison, but at least I didn't know about it. I think lots of parents are going back to plain wooden toys and rag dolls. Couldn't we just ban plastic? Couldn't we?

Project Update

I spent most of the day today working in the "backyard."* The raised bed I'll be using for veg is built, lined, and 2/3 full of soil (I messed up the square footage calculation somehow and I have to go back to the hardware store for more dirt).

I also completely turned over the section of the "yard" that will not be a raised bed, and pulled as much glass and trash out of it as I could. There was a sizeable pile when I was done: slivers of glass, spark plugs, tiny pieces of plastic, bigger pieces of plastic (including the remnants of a set of venetian blinds), bottle caps, plastic coating from wires, a couple of unidentifiable rusty metal things, several juice boxes, a sock, and innumerable nails. I know there's more in there, but it's more than 6 inches underground, except for the glass shards, which I know I will keep finding every time it rains. And I pretty much just left the chicken bones, etc., because I figured they were feeding the soil. I was encouraged to find some grubs and worms and bugs (not many, but some) because that means the soil isn't completely dead.

As I was working the next-door neighbor came out to tell me that the reason one corner smells pissy is because the last guy who lived here pissed on it all the time. Also that he used to dump all kinds of things, including motor oil, onto the ground. Sweet. I try not to think about how much of that dirt I inhaled while I was moving it around.

So I raked it all level and put down two bags of cedar mulch (I think I will need two more). It's looking decent, I have to say. Like I might actually want to spend time in it. I can't wait until there are things growing in the beds.

While I was working my friend S from upstate came by to visit and gave me a fashion show with the free clothes she got from the church up the street. And she's lent me an 80's-tastic dress that I might wear to the prom I'm chaperoning next month.

I also got a genuine sunburn and have dirt embedded under my nails. It makes me happy.

*It deserves quotations because the whole thing is maybe 10'X10'. A mini "yard."