Community Supported Agriculture shares now available

With all this snow and ice it might be fun to think about garden fresh produce for a moment.

We are now accepting registrations for our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Forty shares are available for the 2011 growing season.

Enjoy a variety of seasonal fruits, vegetables, and herbs each week — enough to feed a small family, or a couple of veggie-loving adults.

The cost for a full share is on a sliding scale of $450-$650 for 20 weeks. (This is the equivalent of $22 each week.) Half shares are on a sliding scale of $225-$425. Payment options are available

The program will begin in late May and run through September 2011.

Shareholders can pick up their produce on Wednesday afternoons at White Violet Center for Eco-Justice or at our centrally-located pick-up site at 113 S. 19th St., Terre Haute. Half shares are picked up every other week.

The registration deadline is March 28, but don't wait until then to ensure your spot.

For more information, contact Candace Minster at cminster@spsmw.org or 812-535-2933.

To register, share your name, address, phone number and e-mail address with Candace by phone or e-mail.

Please join us for an information meeting in Room A in the lower level of the Vigo County Public Library 6-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Websites for locating locally grown and produced food

Mixed greens harvested from our hoop house Wednesday!

A new year brings opportunity for a new understanding of food. If you begin to view food as the essential element in life you realize the greatest gift we have from creation is our food source.

Consider the importance of eating food grown locally. Some of the benefits are:
— not having food travel by truck or train hundreds of miles, wasting energy and fuel;
— knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown;
— and money from your food budget goes to your local growers as opposed to a major food corporation.

Do what you can do
Thinking only one person has no impact can be an excuse to ignore the issues. Even if you only make one or two changes in the way you look at food in 2011, that is what you can do.

Helpful websites
Don't know where to start or how to take it up a notch? To locate farmers’ markets, family farms and other sustainably grown food in your area go to www.localharvest.org.

Find sustainable meat, dairy and egg products at www.eatwellguide.org.

Marine says thank you for alpaca socks in letter

Below is a letter received by Sister Maureen Freeman, director of White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, on Jan. 13 in response to more than 30 pairs of alpaca socks sent by White Violet Center to a unit of Marines stationed in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Fromme is the nephew of Sister of Providence Betty Hopf. The socks and monetary donations were collected during December at White Violet Center and The Gift Shop at Providence Center. Many thanks to those who donated. The photo here shows Sister Maureen, right, and Robyn Morton, associate director, preparing the socks for mailing. Here’s the soldier’s letter:

Hello there,

My name is Sgt. Logan Fromme. I’m in charge of 12 other Marines here in Afghanistan. We have been through some rough times together, but nothing that the Lord couldn’t or can’t pull us through in future scenarios.

My great aunt Betty gave me your e-mail and told me to be on the look out for some awesome alpaca socks coming our way. I’m thankful to inform you that I have received your package and that my Marines were ecstatic when I handed them the socks.

It’s been really cold here in our area lately but no snow yet. The weather is usually dry but the rainy season is coming around the corner. Their rainy season is basically like our winter.

There are a lot of creeks that we have to cross all the time, and we always pick the least traveled route that usually takes us waist deep in the water. The water is not very clean either, the locals drink it but also use it to bathe and as a place to, well, you know, something that takes place in a bathroom…

I can’t even explain how excited they were when I gave them the socks, 2 guys even said that they were gonna throw them on before we have to stand post tonight (its kinda like a guard where you make sure that bad guys don’t get too close). Believe me those socks are going to be used many, many times again.

Well, once again, thank you for your support and thanks for the gift of warmth. God Bless

Sgt. Logan Fromme, USMC

P.S. I will send a picture of me and my guys when I get a chance to upload it to this computer.

Bees in Vigo County, Ind.

We've learned through the grapevine that plans are in place to propose an animal control ordinance for Vigo County, Ind. that would restrict beekeeping to parcels of land that are more than two acres and would limit one hive for every 10 acres of land owned unless the land is zoned agricultural.

This means that countless backyard and hobby beekeepers would no longer be able to keep their hives legally. White Violet Center for Eco-Justice is urging county officials not to include these restrictions in the ordinance for they would be a detriment to our local bee populations.

As many people are well aware, honeybee populations have been in extreme stress over the past six years or more and have been in rapid decline due to pressures from pesticides, parasites and Colony Collapse Disorder.

Honeybees are a crucial link in our food system and without them to pollinate our crops, much of our agriculture would suffer greatly or collapse altogether. Bees are essential pollinators for many crops, including a few that are of economic importance in Indiana; melons, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, apples, and more.

Now is not the time to limit the number of backyard and hobby beekeepers. In fact, it's quite the opposite! Now we need beekeepers more than ever, to help keep bee populations from collapsing, and that means that every hive counts.

In a time when the popularity of hobby beekeeping is finally on an upswing, it would be a shame to see Vigo County set back this exciting trend. We would like to see Vigo County at the forefront of this trend, allowing it to become an example of beekeeping for neighboring counties.

We hope county officials will reconsider including these restrictions on beekeeping.

Homemade lip balm

Admit it: your lips are so dry you hesitate before smiling because you're afraid they'll crack. Wouldn't your friends and family be impressed if they got homemade lip balm for a gift this time of year?

Here's the basic recipe we use for the lip balm we sell at White Violet Center for Eco-Justice:

20% beeswax
25% coconut oil
15% cocoa butter
40% liquid oil (we use cosmetic grade sweet almond)
A few drops of Vitamin E
A few drops of flavoring/scented oil (we use food safe essential oils)

Candace Minster, who gathers interested volunteers when making the lip balm White Violet Center sells, says we melt everything carefully in a double boiler, or a mug placed into an old saucepan, under low heat. Then use a glass dropper to get the liquid into a tube or pot. Use this recipe whether it's a small batch just for you or if it's a large batch to share.

We get all ingredients from Herbs & Heirlooms in Terre Haute (on 4th Street, just off of Hulman Street). They have online ordering. Sweet!

Finding your center

During the course of my day, I often go to Owens Hall, the main residence for retired Sisters. And somehow, almost without fail, I find myself there at 11:30am, during Mass in Owens Chapel. Today as I walked through, I overheard a bit of Father Hopcus’ homily on using resources, and stayed to listen for a few minutes.

In the homily, Father Hopcus said that if one holds Jesus as one’s center, then they will be lead naturally to use resources appropriately. I thought this was a fascinating point. Usually we think of resource use in terms of “what is cheapest” or “how much we ought to use”. But Father Hopcus was making a different point. Rather than admonishing people for what they ought to do, or what is most economically proper, or anything else, he was suggesting that by keeping a solid center, the right actions would follow naturally from that.

In my experience as someone attempting to live a more sustainable life, I find the choices one must make to be dizzying. And even more difficult than choosing what I ought to do is the ability to just stick with it. To stay true to a sustainable lifestyle, even though Wal-Mart is cheaper than the local farm, and my friends complain about how cold my house is, and that it’s so much easier to just drive instead of bike, and being tired of harping on the children to turn the lights off when you leave a room over and over again.

I believe that a sustainable lifestyle is more satisfying and fulfilling, but that doesn’t mean that it is always easier, and it is certainly swimming against the current in our society. I like the idea that having a solid center can help one to more naturally choose appropriate uses of resources. Keeping Jesus as one’s center is an obvious choice for the Sisters and many people; for others, perhaps keeping one’s family, or one’s children as their center will help lead them to use resources wisely. I can imagine many different “centers”, depending on what will be most helpful for that individual.

So have you found your center? That thing which keeps you on the right track, mindful of how you are using the wealth of the world? Is there anything that keeps you on the straight and narrow? My family and my community are my center. I love our town, and want to instill that love in my children. I worry about how I will feed my family in a town that cannot produce enough food to feed itself, in a world where food costs are increasingly tied to fuel costs. And so I work hard to strengthen our local food resources, support our local small farmers, and find new ways to make our town more self-sufficient. My center calls me to use the resources of Creation to build a strong and resilient community, and it’s my center that gets me to stick with it all. What does your center call you to do?

Join us this Sunday

There are plenty of reasons to spend the day at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods this Sunday and experience the spirit of Christmas. We’ll have our Christmas open house from 1 to 3 p.m. in the center.

Enjoy weaving, spinning and needle felting demonstrations and delicious homemade treats. Handmade items such as alpaca scarves, hats, gloves, socks, ornaments, pins and teddy bears are available for purchase. An alpaca afghan ($300 value) and a teddy bear will be raffled on Dec. 12. Tickets may be purchased at the open house for $2 each or six for $10.

Please ask us about alpaca and bee hive adoption opportunities as Christmas gifts. And, the two youngest alpacas will make an appearance at the open house.

Christmas concert
At 3 p.m. Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Chorale and Madrigals will offer their Christmas Concert in the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Brunch and Gift Shop
Sunday Brunch also is available in O’Shaughnessy Dining Room from 10:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. And just steps from O’Shaughnessy will be the “Light Up for Christmas” sale in The Gift Shop at Providence Center. Pull a Christmas bulb from the bag to see what percentage is taken off your purchase. Sunday’s Gift Shop hours are 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Advent
Some may be interested in Advent Vespers at 4:30 p.m. in St. Joseph Chapel in Owens Hall. The vesper service is the evening prayer of the Church. It is an opportunity to pray the psalms in song in an ecumenical spirit and to reflect on the Advent season’s scripture readings.

And don’t forget the Eucharistic Liturgy for the Second Sunday of Advent will be offered at 11 a.m. in the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Eco-friendly gift ideas

Looking for some ethical, fair-trade, eco-friendly and stupendous gift ideas? We have a few for you to check out.

Heartbeats, a ministry of the Sisters of Humility of Mary, offers a sizable catalog of fair-trade religious gifts. Many items are handmade in third world countries, though some domestic items are offered as well. Each purchase helps create dignified work that gives a fair wage to women worldwide. Go to www.heartbeatscatalog.org.

Green America’s (formerly Co-op America) Green Pages is a great resource to find dozens of fair-trade and eco-friendly gift ideas. Browse featured vendors or use a search engine to look for a specific item. Go to www.greenpages.org.

Heifer International is dedicated to providing indigenous people with animals that can be used for milk, fiber, meat, eggs or labor. Animal donations help indigent communities become more self-sustaining by meeting their own nutritional needs as well as making a small income. Partial or full shares are available and make wonderful gifts. Go to www.heifer.org.

The following companies have some great coffee and chocolate gift sets if you’re pressed for time and don’t want to assemble your own: www.equalexchange.com, www.dagobachocolate.com, and www.ancoracoffee.com.

Can I cook now?

As the associate director of the White Violet Center, it may not surprise you to find out that I am interested in food issues. WVC is dedicated to food in many ways—its sustainable production, its importance to family and community, its place in our spirituality. So really, I had better be interested in food issues, hadn’t I?

What might surprise you is how very much I am interested in food issues. I suspect that a great deal of my personal, professional, and volunteering life choices stem directly from trying to find more excuses to cook, share and eat good food. So, for my first post on the WVC blog, I thought I would say a quick (ahem) word about teaching cooking classes.

I’ve taught people to make everything from mozzarella to eclairs to lentil soup. Teaching people how to cook food, and seeing their amazement at how easy it really is to do wonderful things with raw ingredients, is so fulfilling. I love that when I show people how to cook, what I am doing is showing them a new way to care for people. When I cook for my family, the food that I prepare is a real, physical manifestation of my love for them. This is work that comes from my heart and my hands, and goes directly into their bodies. It’s work that sustains them, and warms them, and gives them fond memories of times sitting around the dinner table talking to each other. Having the opportunity to help others discover this joy is a blessing.

So you say you can’t cook, or you don’t know how? Let us teach you! Even if you think you don’t like to cook, it can be a lot more fun once you learn a few basic dishes that you can make from scratch. It doesn’t have to be a big deal, and it doesn’t have to be Beef Wellington—spaghetti and meatballs will be just fine. But cook something, and serve it to people you care about.

No recipe you find in glossy food magazines ever comes out the way the professional pictures look. The dish will taste wonderful and make everyone happy, not because it was coiffed by professional food stylists, but because you love your family and friends, and they can taste the love in your food (I swear it’s my favorite ingredient). Sure, maybe my favorite thing to do is something that involves the word “flambé”, but my kids love me most when I make them pancakes or mac n’ cheese. My youngest son’s favorite meal, hands down, is biscuits & gravy. Haute cuisine this ain’t. It’s just good, simple food, made with love. And in my house, at least occasionally, it’s also food made with an 8-year-old giving me constant (somewhat distracting) hugs because he found out he’s getting pancakes for dinner. Would I trade that in for the “convenience” of a restaurant? Not on a bet.

Advisory board member spotlight

Dennis Evers, of Terre Haute, is a member of the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice advisory board. Dennis has 40 years experience as a public health engineer, biochemist in waste water treatment and is a microbiologist with special interest and field experience in optimizing resource recovery from waste.

He invented the Viable Organic Waste (VOW) process, a total recovery and zero waste treatment system, based on bioaugmentation, that yields energy as biogas (methane) and organic fertilizer, single cell protein for aquaculture and animal feed, and recyclable water.

He owns Everstech Consulting and VOW Resources Pty., Ltd.  VOW has current projects in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, Greece, Egypt, United Kingdom and United States.

We thank Dennis and all advisory board members for sharing their time and talents with us.