MARCIA
POWELL -- Blog article (#14) – April 6, 2014 –
“The
Winter of Cold and Ugly”
In my last
blog of Dec. 5, I had just moved into my new house on my 20 acres of
alfalfa. But first, regarding the title of this blog, it came from
“The Winter of Our Discontent,” title of a novel by John
Steinbeck, from a quote by Shakespeare. Anyway, my plan was to ride
my bicycle from the house in Urbana to the new house, but from
November to now, there has not been a day warm enough to do that!
I'm sure you all heard the term “Artic Vortex” to describe the
weather in the Midwest and Northeast. It was indeed non-stop cold
and wind and snow. So that's the “cold” part. The “ugly”
part
Bob
Lawrason, a permaculture designer,
arrived on December 12—a cold (5
degrees!) snowy day. He spent the last 20 years in Florida, so
probably the only thing that saved him was that he grew up in
Michigan. The day he arrived he put together a cabinet for my
bathroom, and then attended an orchestra concert with me in the
evening! Immediate points. :-) We then got 6” of snow—I HAD to
make a snowman!
Bob fit
right in with the family at Christmas, playing Bananagrams and
napping with the dogs.
Not being
able to work outside, I/we spent many, many hours creating the inside
of the house. Here's a photo of the "island"--the piano and futon couch back to back with a drop-leaf table on the north and a wine-rack table on the south.
Spent many hours sorting 50 years of music and putting
it in a kitchen pantry cabinet I bought and converted; also many hours
spent gathering, framing, and putting up a Family Photo Wall.
Hosted our
first dinner party—Tom, Sue and Jake Smith, the people who have
been farming the alfalfa. Please remember that I'm not a cook.
However, I had purchased a book of vegan desserts, so chose the
brownie recipe. I swear EVERY ingredient was “exotic”! And I
used a blender instead of a food processor. Miraculously, they
turned out good. Bob roasted the pasture-fed chicken from our friend
David who runs the Bane Family [organic] Farm nearby. It was so
enjoyable to be able to sit, eat, talk (Jake even played the piano)
in a lovely quiet ambiance with no feeling of being rushed.
A book I
read recently advised eating organic liver twice a week (!). Bob has
never liked liver, but I bought some from David, who also passed
along a recipe which calls for soaking it in milk first. Result:
Bob liked it! So did I. I'm at twice a month now.
Although
one's tendency is to hibernate when it's artic cold, Bob and I braved
the weather to attend seminars, forums, meetings and such in order to
meet more people who are actually doing something to improve the
environment. We are now official “River Rats,” having attended
the Prairie Rivers Network's workshop on how to lobby.
I started
the winter with a Californian's viewpoint that the weather would not
stop me from doing what I wanted to do, but I had to “eat crow.”
On Sunday nights I would drive 1-1/2 miles to my sister Jane's house
to watch “Downton Abbey” (yes, I am addicted). But one Sunday
there was a mighty blizzard. I called her up and told her I was
going to make some snowshoes and walk over. She laughed and said
“Don't you dare!” Hard to do, but I finally gave up. Another
instance was an orchestra concert—Bob and I got dressed up, got in
the car, drove the mile to the freeway entrance, and then Bob refused
to go further. He has done racecar driving in the past, and I saw
him handle the car weeks earlier when we did a full spin-and-a-half
on an icy street in Urbana, so I capitulated and we went home. Sigh.
Then there was the time I drove to town for a Lady Landowners
meeting at the Farm Bureau. It started snowing heavily just as I
arrived, plus there was lightning and thunder (in the middle of a
blizzard??!!), so I bade them farewell and got my tushie home pronto.
Since we
have no trees, there is NO windbreak for the house. We've had winds
up to 55 mph, which have resulted in many shingles blowing off. Plus
these high winds create all kinds of odd noises that make it hard to
sleep.
I read
somewhere recently that a weather expert said “There is no normal
weather anymore.” See www.aircrap.org
for some data. I missed a global protest day against chemtrails last
January, but have vowed not to miss the next one.
Bob spent
a lot of time doing a design for Lockie Farm.
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(Lockie is a family
name—my grandmother, sister, and niece are all Lockie's). I am
Case Study #1 (see www.SavannaInstitute.org,
Lockie Farm), for Woody Perennial Polyculture. I've paid for 2 acres
($5000 per acre, on credit cards, gulp!) of trees/shrubs/berries.
Roundup was used last October to kill the alfalfa, as I was led to
believe there was no other way to kill it. Bob freaked, so we're now
remedying the situation by digging up the top 3” and then putting
purchased compost in. Bob set up and is making “bio-char” which
he will add to the soil to bring microbes and such to enrich it.
The planting will be done at the end of April.
The other
day he came in from many hours of moving dirt in 40-degree weather
and said something about the “… alfalfa-treated Roundup...” Of
course, he meant to say “Roundup-treated alfalfa” --anyway, the
verbal typo tickled my funnybone; took me awhile to stop laughing.
There were
a couple of days recently that were above 50 degrees, so I took the
opportunity to start going door-to-door with my music teaching
flyers. Have a new student starting tomorrow.
Ogden is a
small town of 850. Between Ogden and Urbana is the town of St.
Joseph, which is around 4000. A friend invited us to attend meetings
of the new “Love Your Neighbor” group that has started up there.
That's what we're all about, so we're enjoying interacting with this
group.
We're also
starting to meet some of the local farmers. “Restoration
Agriculture” by Mark Shepard is an brilliant book published last
year about how agriculture should be done. We're on a mission to get
farmers enlightened and inspired to start transitioning to this
method of farming. Thus I gambled and purchased a case (28 books) so
that I could get them into people's hands at a lower price. Have
sold 10 already!
We've
found that the parcel of land just south of us is owned by the Sadler
Family Trust, along with more parcels elsewhere in the area—290
acres in all. That trust terminates next March, and the
beneficiaries (my relatives!!) want to sell. Well, guess what's
percolatin' in Marcia's little head—yup! Put together a consortium
of some kind that will result in that land being owned by people who
will use restoration agriculture methods! Let me know if any of you
are interested. And, let me add, if you know if any young people who
are still trying to figure out what to do with their lives, please
let them know about sustainable farming. It is sooooo needed and
wanted!
Of course
I continue to run The Affinity Exchange. There are now twenty
success stories
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on the home page, http://www.affinity-exchange.com.
Anyone can go there and read them.
Overall,
even though there are still numerous threats to our survival, I'm
feeling more and more optimistic about the good things that are
happening to bring down the “bad guys” and allow us to create a
better world.
Hope you
all are flourishing and prospering (thriving)!
Please
write and give me an update on your adventures.
Oh, and it
would be great if you could subscribe to my blog so I could take you
off the email list. http://messagesfrommarcia.blogspot.com/
Love to
all, Marcia (217) 582-2112 home (818) 552-2211 cell
