When I was in high school I participated in a male quartet. While I was wandering the Friends Meeting book sale display I came across some old music I had sung. I have always wanted to mix my own voice for recording purposes so I thought this male quartet would be fun to try out as a starter run. Enjoy!!
Download De Animals a-comin’
Peace and Love
My amazing friend Lisa, whom I love dearly because of her never ending ability to inspire, led me to a very informative website:
http://www.betterworldshopper.org/
BETTER WORLD SHOPPER is a site dedicated to providing people with a comprehensive, up-to-date, reliable account of the social and environmental responsibility of every company on the planet AND making it available in practical forms that individuals can use in their everyday lives. Coming out of more than 5 years of intensive research, this work is based on a comprehensive database of over 1000 companies and utilizes 25+ reliable sources of data to cover everything from the environment to human rights, community development to animal protection.
Basically this website has everything you need to get a general idea of what products you can buy to promote a greener future for the world. If you are buying products that are listed in the general list you can easily compare that product with other products to see how yours stacks up socially and environmentally to the rest of them.
I hope all of you take advantage of this resource. Thank you Lisa. We all appreciate you fighting the good fight!
Peace and Love
Yet again another week has passed, and another one is about to start. Today Nathan and I have settled in our office chair and started looking at plane ticket prices to and from South America. It is our plan to go WWOOF on an Organic Farm somewhere in either Brazil or Argentina. We have also looked at Portugal and a number of other countries, but they don’t appear to be as promising.
Either way, wherever we end up should be pretty interesting. Most of the places we will be sleeping in tents and will be miles from any town. I am pretty nervous about the adventure, but I think I will have much more confidence with Nathan by my side. I feel like this is something we can accomplish together. Wherever we end up for the winter it will be an experience.
Peace
It seems these days that the weeks pass like the hours. I move from day to day without a moment to even reflect on the last. I find myself today at the end of yet another busy week wondering what I have done to get here…
The work here is challenging with long hours. I don’t particularly like working the long hours at the markets, but I work them because it is what this farm needs to survive. I know that in my future career as a farmer I will not run what they call a “truck farm” (where all the produce grown gets trucked to a farmer’s market). I plan on providing for myself and then to the world.
I really don’t mind the hours I work. I am very aware that in the future I will be working much more than I am now, but the hours I work will be more fulfilling. As of now the work I do sustains only the farm in a material way. The farm as it stands would have to make changes if it couldn’t truck its produce to the market and it is that problem I want to avoid.
I know that I am going to be working on a lot of different farms to learn all there is to know for when Nathan and I bear the yolk for ourselves. I know we are going to need the help of lots of people. And I know that we will accomplish any dream we want if we are persistent to challenge ourselves to try again and again.
Even as the weeks fly by Nathan and I are working towards this goal. Today I read about canning and some basic farming techniques. Day after day we are left with much more knowledge and even brighter dreams. Every day we are one day closer to our future together.
Ever since I realized how much energy is wasted every day with food transportation and how much food is taken for granted or even wasted, I have wanted to buy more local produce. Everyday for me at silverbrook is an absolute blessing because I have the opportunity to eat locally (my back yard) every day and I am able to provide that food to other people statewide. I also give back to the planet by contributing to a local market that only uses that fraction of the petroleum to transport the food to where it is going… Why aren’t all people doing this???
As you all know I work and live on an amazing organic (not certified) farm. Some of you may or may not know that someday I plan on having my own farm. My plan is for a community of people that all live and work for sustainability and independence from any sort of large scale infrastructure (i.e. electricity and oil). I haven’t thought much about how this is going to happen all I know is that it is a dream that I wish to see to fruition.
Earlier today I was talking with the owner of the farm on our way back from one of our markets and I asked him how many acres he thinks it would take to support a four person family without any supplementation. His response was 4 acres! So here I stand with a better notion of how much space I’m going to need for a small community’s food supply.
As it stands today I am going to start planning what, how, where, and when I am going to grow. I am going to plan out the barn, the root cellar, the processes and the costs of starting this farm. If anyone would like to contribute or join the community please let me know. It will be open to anyone who can offer something to make this dream reality.
I realize this dream is a ways away, but right now I have the chance to start making choices to get a bit closer to my goal.
Peace and Love