Tonight was my first ever board meeting with Local Foods Connection. I've talked about the non-profit organization before: here, here, and here. I volunteer off and on for Laura, the woman who conceived of and runs Local Foods Connection. I try to make it down every week for at least three hours, and I would like to volunteer more often, but with my summer I've just been so busy. I plan on putting in a lot more time over the next several months as my life settles back down into the routine.

It's amazing, as ever, as I realize how little Local Foods Connection receives from the community in the form of donations and grants. Laura works as long as any person with a full-time job, and yet she makes less money than I do a year, which is mind boggling considering I don't have a job. Better yet, even though she isn't even making a real paycheck doing this job she does for practically free, she is supporting over thirty families in our community with a CSA share. Here is the report from the year 2007 on the families she supported. Here is the financial statement from the year 2007, which shows her paycheck - under employees wages. $1,847.22. How would you like to make that much a year?

If you have a little extra at any point over the next few months, even $5-15, I recommend that you find a local non-profit organization that tugs on your heart strings like Local Foods Connection tugs on mine. Can't find one? Perhaps you could donate to the political party of your choice. Or, if you are really struggling to find a way to spread the love, let me suggest Local Foods Connection.

Everyone I've met who works with and for a non-profit organization appreciates the assistance of generous people of the public. (Can't afford any money? See if you can find some way to give a little of your time. You can't do that either? That's okay - maybe some day you'll have the time or ability to do so.)

Labels: volunteering

Wednesday, June 11th Aaron and I woke up at 7 am. We had a nervous pit in our stomach, and we needed to call Sandals.

The day before, I'd been browsing Sandals's website, checking to make sure we had all of our documentation on us. In order to get married, you have to reside on the island for a certain number of days and you must have your passport and birth certificate. If you've ever been married before and divorced or widowed, you also need documentation on all of that.

While I was double checking I had everything, I noticed a form over on the right side of the screen. Under "commonly used documents," it was labeled "wedding form." I got to thinking in that split second that I had never filled out a wedding form. I'd talked to the wedding hotline a couple times to make sure I had all the correct documentation and the correct room to get the free wedding, and they'd never brought up this form either. Or, at least, not to my recollection. Once I opened it up and started reading, I started to panic.

On the form it mentioned needing a wedding reservation number, and that you had to send your documentation in 60 days before your arrival date.

Oh, crap.

I did not have a wedding reservation number, and I had not sent in any documentation 60 days ahead of time. Panic set in. I called Sandals and was told that the wedding department was closed, but that I could probably still get married as long as they weren't full for all of their available times. The man informed me that I had to call back the next day at 7:30 to talk to the wedding department.

Thus, why Aaron and I were up at 7 am on the day our flight left.

I sat on the couch, wringing my hands and mumbling things under my breath. Sure, Aaron waited until the last second to get a tux. Sure, he waited until the last second to get his wedding ring. Yeah, we weren't sure if he was able to pull off getting either. But here it was, the day we were going to leave. He had his wedding ring, and the tux was getting dropped off before noon. More importantly - look at how I'd screwed up. We might not even get married!

7:30 arrived and I called Sandals. I was told that the wedding department was still closed, and to try back at 8. I nervously sat around for another thirty minutes, waiting for the wedding department to open. Right at 8, I called. I was told that there was no way they would be able to get us in for a wedding. The 60-day deadline was a firm deadline, and they could not get our wedding together in such a time.

So then, my mind racing while I was sobbing on the phone, I asked if there was any way I could get married on the island. The woman sounded very doubtful, "I don't think so." My heart sunk. Then, she said, "But I'll give you the tourism board number. Maybe they can help." After I called the tourism board, and got a list of wedding companies on the island, I started dialing.

We got ahold of two wedding companies. The first said they'd send us some e-mails with information. The second was extremely snotty and told us there was no way they could perform any wedding for less than $1,000, that would be bare bones, and that they would not arrange for us to just have a JOP wedding, because that "just wasn't done on St. Lucia." I hung up feeling pretty dejected, but was waiting for that e-mail to see what we could get.

At 8:30, I had gotten in touch with Fenella at Awesome Caribbean Weddings. She soothed me, told me to stop crying, and that she could help. She sent us e-mails with the wedding location (Pigeon Island), and cost, plus all of the extras like cake and hairstyles and upgrades for bouquets. By now, Aaron and I were frantic thinking about how it'd look if we came back to Iowa and weren't married. We'd been talking about this for a year. We were upset with Sandals because they had never brought it up in our correspondance, it wasn't clear on the brochures and the website, and they had been extremely unhelpful on the phone.

We looked at each other and at the bottom line on the e-mail Fenella sent us. Free wedding via Sandals (not happening) vs. $1500 through Awesome Caribbean Weddings (that we didn't have).

Gulp.

Gulp.

Labels: marriage, traveling

For some unknown reason, Blogger has not been working on my computer for the last few days. Talk about frustrating! It appears to be working right now, so we'll see how this goes...

Aaron and I have been slowly updating the pictures in our St. Lucian Honeymoon set on Flickr. We write in little stories about the picture on most of them. We have a lot of pictures to go through, and very little time. Some of them are really beautiful though, so if you get incredibly bored, take five minutes to pretend you were there!

We could even Photoshop your body into this one right here.


Wouldn't that be nice?

Being married is one of the best feelings I've experienced in a long time. I was talking to my friend, Lowell, on the phone the other day and I explained that for the first time in years I feel like I truly belong somewhere and to someone. Growing up with the uncertainty of my childhood with a very busy and slightly disturbed single mother divorced from my alcoholic father, I never really felt like I belonged anywhere. I shuffled from house to house as I was kicked out of my home nearly every other month, and just tried to make it until I could find my own source of stability.

Aaron gives me that. Being married to him helps me realize that I truly do belong here, with him and my children in our fabulous house, in a way that I've missed out on for years. I don't really know how to explain it, and unless you've experienced that wild and constant shifting within your own being, you probably can't understand. I have a sense of peace now that I lacked for a very long time.

Two days ago, someone told me that I'm a very calm person. I snorted out a major laugh. I don't think anyone has ever told me that before.

I like the new me. And, I love my husband. Oh, boy. My husband.

Labels: random

Down on St. Lucia nearly everyone says, "No pressure, no problem." Coming home, Aaron and I have felt a little pressure, which of course leads to little problems. Any time you go on vacation in such a slow-moving place, and then come back to your fast-paced life of kids, work, and keeping up a home, there is a little pressure. Add on to that, that you just got married and are trying to get a gazillion pages of paperwork done. Add on to that, that Aaron just got a promotion at work right before we left. Add on to that, that our two nearest cities have been devastated by floods.

Whoa, doggie.

We'll be going through the pictures from our honeymoon soon, and accompanying those pictures with lovely stories. Meanwhile, we are getting back into the swing of things. What better way to do so than by grilling out on a fine Saturday evening? (We call them Summer Saturdays, and we grill out something every week on our charcoal grill.) This week is a fine 100% grass-fed, pastured beef product formed into hamburgers with green pepper, onion, mushroom, chives, and a whole hellofalot of seasonings. Yuu-mmee. (It was inspired in part by a delicious burger at Delirius on St. Lucia, a restaurant owned by our wedding coordinater and her husband.)

We'll be accompanying that with homemade baked french fries, seasoned of course (who do you think I am?!) and a nice beer, cider, or wine. We've got a bit of a stock in all three, as we like a nice beverage with dinner.

If we like the hamburger, I'll tell you how we made it. How's that for a deal?

Labels: cooking

Aaron and I are pretty wiped from our airport journey right now, but we will be posting and updating pictures of the next few days. Instead of leaving you hanging, I wanted to give you the link to our beautiful wedding photos taken by Mikael Lamber.

www.mikaellamber.com

Please click on "Recent Photos" and then "Jennifer & Aaron."

Enjoy.

Labels: random

I thought I would have nice pretty posts for you while I was gone (time delivered). I thought I would have nice pretty posts for you over the past few days.

I was wrong.

We're heading out to the Caribbean today, Aaron and I, for a glorious honeymoon/marriage. It's the dawn of a new day (or a little past), and boy am I excited.

We're leaving behind a state which has over the last month been struck by quite a few tornadoes. We're leaving behind a state which is flooding, badly. Enough to rival the Flood of '93, which we always say in a reverent hush. The flood where Des Moines was without potable water for 18 days. The flood where we had to gather the ever-coming rain water to flush our toilets and take a bath. Water is breaking levees and going over spillways, and its coming baby. But not for me. Not for us. We're heading for calmer seas and beautiful winds.

I'm going scuba diving (hopefully- if I can't pass the physical etc, I'll be snorkeling). I might go horse-back riding. I'll be laying on a beach on beautiful sand. I'll most likely get sunburned.

And I'll be with the love of my life.

(I will start posting again after we get back, some time after June 19th. And hey, thieves, we've got someone staying in our house. Nice try.)

Labels: random

We lost internet all day yesterday, and now I'm at work unable to make a significant post. We went to a wedding last night, and had a lot of fun. That's always surprising for me because I am really uncomfortable in large crowds and weddings/receptions give me panic attacks. I think it is the large amount of unknown people, the crowded environment, the inability to leave (for fear of offending everyone) after an hour, an unknown location, and then my family history. I've been in three of my mom's weddings, and I've witnessed two divorces and a "separation." I'm not fond of the whole process.

But, this was a lovely ceremony and reception. As usual, there was the snarky bitter women bitching about how the decorations weren't nice enough, and other such trivial ridiculous things. I always want to smack people - maybe that's another reason I can't stand weddings and receptions. It seems to bring out the bitterness in the married women about how their cake was better, or their decorations were better, but oh isn't that a lovely dress? Ugh. The whole process gives me the hives.

Well. That was a very unpleasant topic. Stream of consciousness writing always seems to show how much I dislike people, in general. I wonder why that is. (Oh please, please, don't let me be too much of a bitter, snarky woman.)

Oh, yes, my point. I'll have garden pictures up soon. (And, I'm leaving for the Caribbean in four days! Yay!)

Sorry, I've had a very busy day today and haven't gotten my post up like I thought I would. I'm going to try to post pictures of our garden tomorrow.

Meanwhile, you should listen to this song. It makes me giggle deep down inside in mild hysteria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64 (NSFW: Some cursing.)

Flight of the Conchords "The Humans are Dead"

Labels: random

I received the chance to walk around the Iowa City CSA Fair when I was volunteering there at the Local Foods Connection booth more than a month ago. I was most interested in finding a local source for eggs and chicken meat, but when I found the booth for Grass Run Farm I was instantly hooked. I've been avoiding nearly all meat products since November 2007. My reasoning is that too many Americans eat meat in huge quantities. The production of that meat consumes much more resources than vegetables and other food products. Therefore, I can reduce the total amount of meat consumed in my house by cutting meat out of my diet, and reducing it in children's diet. Aaron was on board, and he too started eating the vegetarian and vegan meals I prepared.

As a complement to that idea, I also started planning my garden (look for updates on my garden tomorrow or later in the week) with the eventual goal of getting at least 70% of our food from our own backyard.

As soon as I noticed the booth for Grass Run Farm, I visited it. Through talking with Kristine and Ryan, I learned that each piece of beef coming from Grass Run Farms was pasture-raised and one hundred percent grass-fed. The pork is also pasture-raised.

While I still have not visited the farm itself, I do believe that the way in which Kristine and Ryan are raising their animals coincides with my own beliefs on the way a farm should run. I, of course, reserve the right to change my opinion at any time based upon new information about their set-up or farming and agriculture in general.

Best of all? We ordered a CSA share a little over a month ago, and we love it. It tastes wonderful, and it is an easy way to determine how much meat we should eat. Simply - I only eat the meat that comes from our CSA share. May's share included 3 pounds of ground 100% grass-fed beef, 1 pound maple sausage, 1 pound Grandpa Restuccia's Italian Sausage, 1 package round steak (tenderized), 1 pacakge sirloin tip steak (tenderized), and 1 100% grass-finished beef roast (which made an amazing sauerbraten). It was around ten pounds. Now, ten pounds divided by four people divided by 30 days? That's definitely reduced meat consumption for our household.

Labels: environment

Lately with all of the papers I've been writing and books I've been reading, I have started to develop a bad attitute. In fact, I've felt about it all precisely as this quote suggests:

Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary.
- Evan Esar

I love Google quotes of the day.

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Instead of posting next about Mesa Verde, as that is what came next on our Colorado time line, I am instead going to post about the Durango-Silverton train trip. I'll cover Mesa Verde a little later when I figure out what I did with my brochure.



On Sunday morning, we woke up (early of course - sheesh, Dad), ate breakfast, and went to the train station. It was a beautiful morning, promising to be warmer than the 50 degrees it'd been the day before. Considering we were going up in elevation, I was seriously hoping the sun would be warming.



The sights on the three and a half hour train ride (there, and another three and a half hours back) were beautiful. Post card like, really.



We were sitting in a gondola car, which is a train car that has open sides. We could lean out and touch the rock and trees (sometimes you didn't even have to lean, you just stuck a pinky out and tried not to get it ripped off). The air smelled beautiful and when you went past water, you could feel mist on your face. The downside is that all of the soot from the engine flies back in your face, so you must wear glasses to protect your eyes. I had a thin layer of soot on my face, with soot rubbed into my skin where my glasses pressed against me. I wish I would have taken a picture of that.



In some places we were very high up over a ravine with the Animas river down below. In other places, you couldn't tell we were climbing up in elevation.



The residents of Durango and every town on the way to Silverton came out to say hello. We had people performing some of the tourist-y things you could do like zip lines and gliders. We also just had regular residents, out for their morning trot with their dog. This woman was beautiful on her gorgeous horse. I was a lot-bit jealous.



A breath-taking view of a man-made (I believe) lake on the journey. What I wouldn't give to live beside that (during the "good months").



Eeeeeek - are we going to fall off?



The sun was bright, the clouds were beautiful; the terrain stood out against such a backdrop in a stunning view of what nature should look like.



Once you stop over a certain river, the train expels all of the steam before it gets more water from a tank up ahead. (I can't remember why or any more details on this, but the information is in my guide book if anyone is curious.)



Water levels were high all across Colorado in areas where the snow melt was coming down. The rest of Colorado was in a drought. It was an odd juxtaposition. This is a seasonal (I think) waterfall based on snow melt.



Looking behind us at the caboose and river. So beautiful.



There's just something about bridges over rivers that makes me happy.



How can people live near this and not want to spend all day staring at it? I'd never get anything done.



We made it to the top! :)

Labels: traveling

Ever since I heard about via Garden Girl's website the wonderful benefits of rabbit poop, I've been wanting to raise some rabbits. My full intention is some day to then use excess rabbits for a sustainable food source, but I have no idea if I'll be able to do that. I tend to get really attached to my animals, and the first few times I had to feed pinkies to my bearded dragon, I cried. And cried. And cried. My dad raised rabbits as a child, and he ate and showed rabbits (separately of course). I think it would be an interesting way for our children to learn about responsibility (feeding, brushing, and taking care of the rabbits) as well as the cyclical nature of life (if people are going to eat beef without a thought, then we cannot get angry about eating rabbits).

On a related note, two of our friends (Jake and Julie) are moving from their current home which is two hours away, and will now be living within twenty minutes of us. We're very excited about this, but unfortunately for them, their new abode only allows cats. They've had to get rid of a passel of cockatiels and now their two rabbits. Luckily for us, we were the first people they thought of when they decided to find a new home for their rabbits.

We are very excited for several reasons. First, I love animals (more than I love humans, really). Second, I have been wanting rabbit poop for my garden. Third, I've been wanting to learn more about rabbit care and what is better than hand on experience? Fourth, I've been having a hard time locating rabbits locally.

These rabbits are beloved pets and would never be used for human food. I'm making that very clear. Instead, these are indoor house pets (and manure makers, yeeess!).





Jake made this rabbit cage. I want him to make the rest of my furniture, because his work is beautiful. They gave this beautiful piece of furniture to us for free.



Nate is already very excited about having two new pets, as can be seen here where he tries to kiss Teyla.



Trixsy is constantly grooming and seeking attention. Aaron has nicknamed her A&W (for attention whore). I wouldn't let him call her by his version of her full name around the kids. ;)



Aww, they are so cute.

Labels: mommy blogging, random

After a lengthy breakfast at Village Inn (boy, do they have a wonderful vegetarian scramble), Dad and I trekked up the side of a mountain to Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. It was really hard work, let me tell you. I don't think I've ever exuded such sweat, not even when I was in basic training for the U.S. Army. Even the views were dizzying.



Shite. You caught me. We rode up the mountain in a gondola (not to be confused with the gondola car we rode in on the Durango to Silverton train, but that's a story for Tuesday).

The views really were dizzying, though, with the beautiful early morning fog.







After we had our feet settled on terra firma up top, we looked around at their various rides. I hadn't wanted to spend the extra cash on any of them, so while we waited for the cave tour, we just walked around and explored what the amusement park had to offer. All in all, it wasn't too impressive, but still probably a lot of fun.

What I was most interested in, though, was the tour of the cave. It began at 9:30 (I think, man I'm getting old that I can't remember anymore), and was led by a teenager just out of high school who'd been doing the tours for three summers. He was entertaining and he had a super cute knit hat, so he has my vote.

You walk through a door into the caverns and are reminded that you are not supposed to touch the stalagmites.



Just in case you don't realize the significance of the sign above the doorway, they make sure to tell you the story of the "fondle-mite."



Apparently back around the beginning of the 20th century or so, some teenagers were visiting a cave with their father and he asked them to break off one of the stalagtites. They did, and took it home with them. About ten years later they felt really bad (it does take millions of years for those to form) and returned it hoping that it could somehow be utilized. Therefore, the owners (or someone affiliated with the caves) stuck the fondle-mite in this little alcove area and they tell everyone who enters the cave to touch away - because you aren't supposed to touch anything else in the cave.

I'm not going to show all the pictures from the caves (and I didn't even put them on Flickr), but I'll highlight my top five favorites. Eventually, I'll add commentary to the pictures on Flickr, too.


I'm a famous cave-explorer-and-rock-namer, and I hereby dubb this "Snot Rock." He told us what it is actually called, but I forget what he said. Instead, I'd like to point out (but not touch) that it looks like snot poured over a rock. The guide told us they call it the "Neapolitan" because it has the brown rock, reddish rock, and white rock. You know - chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla?


I have no idea what this is called and I don't really know anything about it. However, it looks pretty frickin' cool.


The oh-so-famous "Cave Bacon" (look at the bottom of the ridge of rock - hey, I don't know cave formations are called). Our guide informed us that cave trolls love to eat the cave bacon.


Beautiful.


The "Drooling Crab." (Do you see it?!)


The cavern with most of the formations, all lit up. This isn't my favorite of the cavern pictures, but I don't have time right now to go through all 300 shots from that day to try to find it. So - my apologies for the rail in the middle of the picture.

We took the short and less-adventurous tour, but someday I want to try to climb through the 18" crack that leads from the top section of the cave to the cavern below. You know, when I lose 50 pounds. Or more.

Labels: traveling