sustainable sophia

The Sophia Conference - Near Zero Waste

The Sophia Conference brings together San Diego women to tend our souls every year. We sing, dance, listen to each other, and share beautiful food made with love. Because of the holistic nature of the Institute of Feminine Wisdom, we include Mother Earth in our sisterhood, and keep moving closer to zero waste at these events. With about 75 women in attendance, here's what we were able to capture and (mostly) divert from the landfill:

REDUCE (COMPOST) - About 3 gallons of mostly napkins and tea bags, plus a few food scraps and a nice big stack of uncoated paper dishes to work into the compost bin

REUSE - Two glass gallon jugs

RECYCLE - Two boxes, one paper coffee collar, and 5 recyclable plastic lids

LANDFILL - Veggie plastic spoons, plastic wrap, name tags, 3 black trash bags, 6 wax-lined coffee cups

Thank you to everyone who brought their own mug or water bottle. This allowed us to eliminate the "compostable" corn-based plastic cups from last year, once we learned that they are not recyclable in San Diego (or anywhere else that I know of) and sadly, they will not break down in a backyard compost pile.

Please remember that there is no such place as "away" for us to throw our trash. Modern landfills are lined with layers of absorbent material and sheets of plastic to keep pollutants from leaking into the soil and water. It's like a big Tupperware container buried in the ground. Not good.

We can improve next year by capturing kitchen scraps and trash from behind the scenes and all paper from the registration desk and vendor tables, for a complete snapshot of our waste stream. We can also encourage carpooling and public transit. Please share other ideas for leaving a light environmental footprint.

lemon in its many forms

Kwan Yin (the bodhisattva of great compassion) sits peacefully under the Lemon Grass in our garden. At our house Lemon Grass goes into Thai green curry and Tom Kha soup. I understand it can also be cleansing and a very effective anti-inflammatory tea. Applied externally, it's a natural insect repellent, and was a good friend to me in Vietnam.

This Lemon Grass lip balm was made (in a bottle cap!) at Honeyfest, a weekend of community events to raise awareness about the global implications of the dying honeybees, and benefiting Grow Strong, an organization that promotes self-sufficiency in rural Kenya.

Lemon Verbena grows just out the back door.

Drying Lemon Verbena, soon to be enjoyed as tea. That's Oregano on the right.

Meyer Lemons from a neighbor. A key ingredient in coleslaw dressing.

Even more Meyer Lemons from another kind neighbor! Fresh-squeezed lemonade anyone?

get involved with your food

I keep going deeper into DIY territory food-wise. Everything is fresher and there's no packaging, plus it is an awesome feeling to be intimately involved with my nourishment. A Grist article by Jane Mountain lit a fire under me last week! It's all about five packaged foods you never need to buy again, starting with soup stock.

I'm aware of the unhealthy BPA linings in many canned foods, so I already make my own beans, always with kombu! When it comes to soup I usually go the easy route and use a big onion, water and garlic as my base, but a stock with more complexity adds a lot of richness to the soup. I'll share my Vietnamese noodle soup recipe soon. It was noticeably better when built on this basic stock from Deborah Madison:

Basic Vegetable Stock

1 large onion
2 large carrots
2 celery ribs, including a few leaves
1 bunch scallions or chives
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, optional
8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
8 parsley branches
6 thyme sprigs or 1/2 teaspoon dried
2 bay leaves
salt

In a soup pot, I sweat the vegetables, garlic, herbs and yeast (if using) in a small amount of water (you could use olive oil) for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1-2 teaspoons salt and 2 quarts cold water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain.


Oh my! Who knew granola could be so easy, oil free and irresistible? I used what I had on hand, which meant a handful of almonds and about a cup of walnuts (no pepitas or pecans this time), plus raisins and no oil. Tahini and candied ginger are the secret ingredients! Recipe from Rivka Friedman.

Granola with Tahini

2 1/2 cups oats
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup tahini
1 tablespoon walnut oil, optional
2/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), either salted or unsalted, depending on preference
2/3 cup sliced almonds
2/3 cup chopped pecans
2/3 cup raisins, cranberries, or other dried berry (I like half raisins, half cherries)
2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves

Preheat oven to 325˚.

1) In a small bowl, mix syrup, tahini, oil if using, salt, and cinnamon until incorporated. In a large bowl, mix all remaining ingredients until well-distributed.

2) Drizzle the syrup-tahini mixture overtop, stirring with a fork until all dry bits are at least slightly wet and clumps have started to form.

3) Spread granola on a large rimmed baking sheet in a thin layer and bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes.

4) Remove from oven, stir with a fork to move pieces from edge to center and from top to bottom. Make sure pieces that have started to brown are in the center and well-surrounded.

5) Return to oven and bake 10-12 more minutes, until golden brown throughout. Granola will not be crunchy when it leaves the oven; don’t worry — it’ll crisp up as it cools. Once cool, transfer to air-tight container; granola will keep this way for up to 1 month.

giving stuff away

The Really, Really Free Market is happening this Sunday in University Heights. We're piling stuff up on the front porch and renting a car for the weekend, so we can give stuff away! Well, we also have a holiday party or two and a couple of choir performances, but having a car will let us unload a lot more stuff on Sunday.

The market always motivates us. My husband put a dresser out on the driveway yesterday, listed it on Freecycle, and it was gone before lunchtime today. He loaded up 75 LPs and rode them over to M-Theory Music to sell what we could before adding them to the porch pile. I'm going downstairs now to bring up some linen clothes I used to love, but they haven't fit me in five years, so they're on their way to a new home. And the BOOKS... I love my books but honestly, I have so many! I'll take a stack to Bluestocking Books to see if they want any for their shelves, and what's left will be down at the free market. We might even sing to you while you browse.

Anything left at day's end will go to the Animal Protection and Rescue League thrift store. It just doesn't get any better than that!

The next RRFM is scheduled for March 11.
http://sdrrfm.blogspot.com/

here comes the sun

Solar panels are being installed next door! It's so fantastic to see people wanting to use easily available, truly renewable energy. I'm going to do a happy dance...

giving birth to a dancing star

One must have chaos in oneself in order
to give birth to a dancing star.
[Friedrich Nietzsche]

Learning permaculture protocols for designing human settlements is broad and all-encompassing, and simple as well. I'm unlearning a lot of my old favorite gardening techniques that have created visual peace and order, and embracing more natural patterns and techniques that actually open up more productive time and space. It's a new take on Zen.

I haven't even fully unpacked from last weekend in Costa Mesa and have had two more seriously mind-expanding experiences this week.

A circle of nine women traveled out to Lake Henshaw for a day on the Double "J" Ranch on Wednesday. In a gazebo overlooking the lake, surrounded by free ranging horses, goats, chickens and dogs we connected and sent our deepest wishes for harmony with the natural world, for clear energy, and for open hearts. We trekked through the woods for a shared lunch under the oaks, and walked the perimeter of the nine-pointed Earth Star labyrinth. The silence and beauty at the base of Palomar Mountain is powerful, and the silence and beauty within each of my Sophia Sisters is positively glowing! Many thanks to Amanda and to our guide Jana, for facilitating the birth of dancing stars.

Yesterday I journeyed to the Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach via lovely Coronado Island to hear a talk by UCSD's Teddy Cruz. With the eye of an artist, he had a wonderful way of using provocative headlines and visual images to explore the flows and relationships between San Diego and Tijuana, through the "forensics of urbanism". Walking us along the border fence (with various maps and photos) observing the informal structures of Tijuana, he suggested that Density could be a measure of social exchange or level of collaboration, and that informal energies could be translated into economic value. We could view each parcel (each human settlement) as a small socio-economic system, where Democracy is redefined as the ability and willingness to coexist with others.

What if the border fence makes San Diego the largest gated community in existence? Does this philosophy of separation achieve highest good?

DIY shampoo

Aveda products have been a beauty and aromatherapy staple for me since my days at Deja Shoe. Our two companies were often at the same environmental events, and when I had a staggering fourteen Earth Day events under my umbrella in 1994, the Aveda people eased me into life back home with a few days of retreat at their wonderful spa in Osceola, Wisconsin. The nostalgic scent of "shampure" transports me to that retreat vibe - sleeping under fluffy organic linens, drinking filtered lemon water, sharing simple food, and feeling peace. Natalie Merchant (who has been a great source of inspiration) was there too, but that's a story for another day.

Lately, I've been migrating toward putting on my skin only things I can eat... aloe vera, avocado, coconut oil. With one spin through the little video below, I've become a huge fan of simple shampoo. Because my hair is big, like Janis Joplin big, after the shower, I'm so pleased with the way baking soda shampoo and apple cider vinegar rinse leave my hair fresh and clean, and remarkably sleek!


If you ever visit grist.org, you might find Umbra as charming as I do. Click on this link to see how to make your own baking soda shampoo and apple cider vinegar rinse combo.

the solution comes up every day

One day Candy and Jeff went up on the roof to think about the best way to capture rainwater and to see if the solar panels were clean.

We have an array of 20 panels that my husband installed for $15,000. After a $4000 rebate and nearly 10 years of being fully solar-powered, we're feeling pretty happy about our return on investment. We wash them once in awhile and top up the water in the batteries, and send energy back to the grid every month.

On top of the usual computing, heating and lighting, the sun can do cool things like bake cornbread!

It keeps our NoGas electric scooter charged. And with a little bit of water and care, the sun converts solar energy into a garden full of fruit and vegetables. Our fuel.

I'm worried about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the long term fallout of this puncture in the Earth's skin. Solar, wind, water and so many clean energy sources are here for us. As heard at Solfest "The solution comes up every day".

starts for amanda

Today I visited the adorable Southpark cottage my friend Amanda has just moved into with her husband Seth, to help decide where her new vegetable bed will go. I've potted up some starts for her: heirloom tomato, japanese eggplant, and some herbs and flowers. It's an immense joy to be supporting Mother Earth in this way! My inspiration is coming from San Diego Roots and their Victory Gardens branch. Once the prep work is done, we'll gather the Sophia Circle to install and bless the vegetable garden.

Right outside the front door is a beautiful spot for a south-facing raised bed. There is at least one active gopher in the area, so wire mesh under the bed would be a good idea. We talked about sheet mulching the area including the pathway surrounding the bed. It's easy to reach across two feet of plantings, not so easy to reach in four feet, so we're thinking a nice pathway all the way around the bed makes sense. Being so close to the beach, we can gather kelp to add potash, and we'll layer in some slow-release rock phosphate. She'll be getting plenty of nitrogen from her kitchen compost. Amanda is recycling household water and hanging her clothes on the line, already doing wonderful stewardship for the planet!

Lovely Amanda sent us home with some agapanthus starts. This Lily of the Nile looks like "Peter Pan" and I can't wait to find a perfect spot for him, to enjoy those gorgeous blue globe blooms.

may day!

May Day is all about flowers for me, and new spring growth! May poles and hit-and-run nosegays on your doorstep, and a humble cactus overwhelming you with a gorgeous abundance of blossoms.

You can barely see them, but look close... there are two cilantro seeds emerging... and just this morning... one tiny rosa bianca eggplant. (Upper right-hand corner.)

The peach tree is loaded.

The more I learn about fava beans, the more I love them. In the language of permaculture, they are nitrogen fixers (like all legumes) which means they extract nitrogen from the air and convert it to plant-available form. They're also soil cultivators with deep roots that penetrate, loosen, and aerate the soil. Freed from their pods when young, the beans are a tasty raw snack.

This sunflower planted itself, so it's already towering over the garden beds. Sunflowers attract beneficial insects (like ladybugs) and I just learned from Toby Hemenway that they are nutrient accumulators. They draw nutrients from deep in the soil and concentrate them in their leaves, making them a great addition to the compost bin. I've tucked giant sunflower seeds all over the garden. They can be harvested as sprouts, moved to another spot, or grown to maturity for the birds.

I was first introduced to permaculture concepts by Andy from Oregon Tilth, at Luscher Farm, the Lake Oswego community garden where I used to grow food in Portland. Toby Hemenway (author of Gaia's Garden) is teaching courses on permaculture design in the Pacific Northwest. I'd love to plan six weekends in Portland to participate at PSU. On Toby's recommendation, I'm exploring the upcoming training in Orange County instead. The focus will be more on plant communities for Southern California, and the commute makes more sense, sustainability-wise.

I love so many things about San Diego - the ocean, the cultural diversity, the sunshine that allows us to grow food all year long - but I my heart leaps at the thought of visiting Portland every month.

Americano for here, please

The independent coffee shop just feels better...Espresso Mio being my local favorite...followed closely by Costellos when in Irvington...and then Peets...no longer a small shop, but it has a certain Portland-via-Berkeley appeal for me.


In Italy, on the island of Capri, this family run shop wouldn't think of giving you a disposable non-recyclable paper cup with a molded plastic lid, even with 10% post consumer recyled content, when you could take a breath and enjoy your morning espresso on the spot. Italians seem puzzled, in general, by our habit of walking down the street with food and drink in hand.

Now Starbucks has done right by many...offering health insurance to employees working just 20 hours per week...creating recording projects for voice actors like us...and motivating the outpouring of love in the video you see here...


Click here: YouTube - 156 Countries Sing Together for the Starbucks Love Project (Thank you Peter, for sending the link.)

...but why? why I ask you? can I not get a ceramic mug at our neighborhood Starbucks?

I'll put a small ceramic cup into my tennis bag in case I'm surprised again by wet courts and an invitation to our local Starbucks. Nothing is less fun for me than having to choose between time with friends and my environmental conscience. All you need is love.

Regenerative and peaceful, new world order

Today we participated in the repair of a very special poetry bench where people gather in Balboa Park on the first Sunday of each month at noon to read poetry aloud in community. Architect Candy Vanderhoff is the inspiration behind the clay plaster bench installation, and she has committed to teaching workshops on natural building, and planning rainwater and greywater collection systems until we all have the skills we need to live in rhythm with our precious planet.

I shared the Rumi poem that is guiding me through 2010:


Birdsong brings relief
to my longing.

I am just as ecstatic as they are,
but with nothing to say!

Please, universal soul, practice
some song, or something, through me!


If you live in San Diego, Candy of RainThanks is teaching a greywater workshop on January 30 or 31, and you can help build a schoolyard pizza oven on February 6 and 7. The oven will be used by school age students to bake vegetables from their garden and bread made from their wheat field.

gathering rainwater

Today there's a lot of hammering and jolting going on up on the roof. It's a necessary step to get to an excellent rainwater harvesting system. First was the termite treatment. We chose the least toxic method that would still give us pretty good longevity. I think having a wooden house in Southern California is a shaky proposition, but we love our site on the canyon, and will do what we can to preserve it and use it for highest good.

Once we get the spongy wooden parts replaced and the roofing secure, we'll install new gutters that channel water into the garden and some kind of cistern for water storage. Then the painting begins. After much deliberation, we found a color scheme we like. It's more saturated than a Palo Verde tree, but has the same range of colors. It will remind us of our Thanksgiving camping trip to Baja.

Here's the palette...