From "Inversnaid" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

What would the world be
once bereft
of wet and of wildness?

Let them be left
wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds
and the wildness yet.

NOW is the time.....don't wait

Now is the time we must all pull together to re-learn what our parents and grandparents know, or knew, about living in community. Communities are where people live among each other in a helpful way, knowing support is there from friends and neighbors. Community is also when friends and neighbors have the knowledge and skills to provide for the WHOLE COMMUNITY'S essential needs.

Who reading this can say truthfully they can provide their own food, water, shelter, clothing etc. without recourse to shops, internet, cars, etc? Probably none of us, really. And, I want to say that we do not each of us have to be able to do all of that on our own. What we do need, is to build resilient communities and neighborhoods where those things can be provided by the whole.

To become more resilient and self-reliant, communities move away from dependency on all our needs coming from far away, moved by petroleum, to our homes wired to a grid and surrounded by landscaping designed to be neat and conforming, but sterile with nothing in it to eat or build with and which requires expensive and damaging chemicals and machines to maintain.

That is why I'm sponsoring and leading a Transition Town Initiating Committee in my town of Bethlehem, CT. tonight. A wonderful movie, "In Transition" can be viewed on the Transition Town Network website www.transitiontown.org. Look under Resources and then Publications to find the 45 minute movie that explains what Transition is all about and why we need to do it.

Cold, Wet Spring - Mmm..Soup!

I learned from noted chef, Deborah Madison, how to make a really rich Wild Mushroom Stock from her wonderful book, "The Greens Cook Book" (Bantam Books 1987). This is a useful stock when you want a really dense tasting mushroom soup that is better than average. Have you noticed that a lot of mushroom soup recipes end up tasting weak and in need of more flavor? That won't happen when you use Deborah Madison's stock recipe for a soup base.

This being Connecticut, and this being May, any weather can befall us. True to style for some years (it seems like it's every other year) we are having a typical, cold, wet spring. Days and days of endless cool temperatures of 50 degrees or less, cold nights in the 30's or 40's, grey skies, and rain, rain, and more rain - that's what we are having. Needless to say our hot weather annual vegetables - tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc. are sitting in their pots inside a cosy (unheated but warmish) greenhouse waiting for some sun to kick them into gear.

However, all is not lost because we have tons and tons of lovely overwintered hardy vegetables. Some are real perennials, like lovage, and herbs such as sage, thyme and bayberry (Myrica pennsylvanica). And many others act like perennials the way we grow them in covered cold frames or unheated greenhouses. So, except for the mushrooms, I had everything on hand for this lovely soup stock - with a couple of substitutions.

Here is the recipe, and again, credits are to Deborah Madison for the inspiration:

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (I like to leave the onion skins on if they're clean, it makes a nice dark broth)
4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced or chopped
2 medium carrots (from the cold frame), cleaned and chopped
2 celery stalks (I substituted the perennial lovage which is already big in my garden and tastes like celery)
1/2 cup leek greens (I mixed the leek greens with greens from oversized scallions)
4-6 thyme branches (outside kitchen door)
2 bay leaves (I used my own bayberry leaves which are similar to the tropical bay leaf and is a hardy native shrub here in the northeast)
6 branches of parsley (from the cold frame)
3 sage leaves (in the herb bed outside my kitchen)
2 cloves garlic, smashed (from last year's harvest)
1 teaspoon salt
9 cups cold water

Cover the dried mushrooms with 1 cup of hot water and set aside. Prepare all the other vegetables and herbs. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot, add the vegetables and herbs and the salt. Cook over medium to high heat for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Next add the soaking mushrooms with the liquid and the 9 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes. Strain the stock through a fine sieve.

You can use the stock just as it is at this point or you can return it to the pan and simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes to reduce the liquid and intensify the flavors.

Then, use as the base for your favorite mushroom soup. Let me know how you like it.

See upcoming classes

BUILDING AND USING AN ECONOMICAL TOP BAR BEEHIVE on Saturday, May 21,9:00am - 4:00pm.
CONTAINER GARDENING is coming up on Saturday, June 11, 2011 from 9:30am - 12:30pm and RAISED BED and INTENSIVE GARDENING on June 18, 2011, from 9:30am - 12:30pm.

For more information and registration visit www.connsoil.com.

Registration for All Workshops

For all workshops being held by the Center For Sustainable Living, go to www.connsoil.com, click on Registration along the menu bar and download a registration form.

For information about workshops, click on Educational Events to read the details and for workshop fees.

Useful Green Apps for your iPhone

I get a warm fuzzy feeling when one of my children (grown up children) call with information or questions about green living or sustainability. A few weeks ago my son called and asked if I would come to his house this summer to give a presentation on sustainability to 8-10 of his friends! Knock me down with a feather!

I must be getting through to him!

Today, my daughter called and offered these phone apps she found that she wants to share with others:

GOOD GUIDE APP helps you "find safe, healthy and sustainable products while you shop. Scan the barcode of the product and immediately see detailed ratings for health, environmental and social responsibility for over 100,000 products.

LOCAVORE FOR IPHONE lets you find out what's fresh and in season for your location, including restaurants that feature these products.

SEAFOOD WATCH APP from the Monterey Bay Aquarium helps you to choose seafood that's not over-harvested or harvested in a way that causes habitat destruction, or is farmed in a way that is polluting or unhealthy.

IRECYCLE is a guide to local resources including recycling centers, how to recycle, pollution prevention and general information on how to protect the environment.

All these apps are free and very useful for people on the go.

Workshops Scheduled

The following workshops have been scheduled at the Center for Sustainable Living in Bethlehem, Connecticut. Contact information and registration form is available at www.connsoil.com.

Saturday, 14 May 2011, CLOSING THE LOOP WITH WATERLESS TOILETS, with Giovanni Ciarlo

Saturday, 21 May 2011, BUILDING AND USING A TOP BAR BEEHIVE, with Al Avitabile and
Stuart Rabinowitz

Saturday, 11 June 2011, CONTAINER GARDENING, with Cynthia and Stuart Rabinowitz

Saturday, 18 June 2011, RAISED BED AND INTENSIVE GARDENING, with Cynthia and Stuart
Rabinowitz

Saturday, 30 July and Sunday, 31 July, 2011, EARTH OVEN WORKSHOP, with Stuart
Rabinowitz and Larry Hunt

Saturday, 20 August, 2011, COMPOSTING, with Cynthia and Stuart Rabinowitz

Saturday, 27, August, 2011, COLD FRAMES, with Cynthia and Stuart Rabinowitz

Saturday, 24 September and Sunday, 25 September, 2011, BUILDING AND USING A ROOT CELLAR, with Cynthia and Stuart Rabinowitz

Saturday, 12 November, 2011, SEED STARTING, with Cynthia and Stuart Rabinowitz

Saturday, 28 January, 2011, GROWING AND COOKING WITH SPROUTED GRAINS, with Cynthia
and Stuart Rabinowitz