Book Review and off on a tangent

I am always amazed that not everybody reads as a form of entertainment. Books are where I get much of my inspiration. They open my eyes to different cultures, history, unheard of philosophies on life, adventures and new ideas.

My latest read, Animal,Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/ is her most recent book. She is one of my favorite contemporary authors. She is a novelist and I believe this is her first foray into non-fiction.

In a nut shell this book documents a year in her family's life as they leave behind the industrial food supply in search of a better, healthier way to eat. She and her family move to their farm in Virginia to grow, raise and purchase locally (within a 100 miles or so) all the food they will eat for an entire year. Along the way she exposes for her readers the real health, environmental and economic hazards that are inherent in our current industrial food system.

I thought it would be a dry read, but oh was I wrong. Chapter after chapter I laughed out loud. Her experience is especially relevant to any one who has ever lived rural, grown a garden or given serious thought as to how to feed him/herself or family in a healthier manner than is standard in America.

She had chosen to try on a lifestyle that for our great grandparents would have been routine. Nowadays it is a unique enough lifestyle to warrant a book. In many ways it was the lifestyle of my best childhood friend's family. We lived in a small, rural town in northeastern Ohio and her family lived a mile up the road from mine. Theirs was a lifestyle of necessity whereas Barbara Kingsolver's was an experiment, of sorts.

Of course I did not know it at the time but my friend's family did not have a lot of money. What I did know was that I wanted to spend every waking moment at her house with her family. Even back then her mom, Mrs.Began, was somewhat of an anomaly in her generation....remember, this was the 1970s and frozen dinners were all the rage, having evolved from glorified cardboard to barely palatable... She had THE HUGEST GARDEN and would can, pickle, and preserve the excess. She sewed her children's clothes, baked and cooked from scratch and made homemade hard candy for Christmas gifts. As a child, I considered that the stars were perfectly aligned in my favor if I had the good, great fortune to be invited to dinner for homemade perogies. I did not take this invitation lightly either. I knew that if perogies were on the menu then all female members of the family had spent the entire day preparing; it was an event!

I harbor secret dreams of striking it rich someday and buying the Began homestead, if they ever sell it. ( I say "strike it rich" because real estate prices have gone up a tad since my days in Chardon, Ohio. This backwaters, rural town was "discovered" well over a decade ago by masses of Cleveland suburbanites looking to get away from it all. In the intervening years they have managed to turn it into the same insipid community as those from which they fled, replete with big box stores and banal franchises du jour.) The house is the perfect size for a family of four, although modest by today's super size 'em standards, and has enough land for kids to run wild and explore. And for me it is chalked full of great, childhood memories. (Unfortunately it is located in Ohio and although this area is blessed with copious amounts of snow there is not a mountain in sight on which to take advantage of this bounty.) Funny enough, while both our families were experiencing their respective disfunctionality during these years, this house was a haven for me.

Hmm...but I digress. Back to the book and its reverberations. It has been years and years since processed foods have been a staple in my household. Due, in no small part, to seeing the ease with which a particular friend conjures up memorable meal after memorable meal in no time with modest, fresh ingredients. (Don't get me wrong. If she wants to contrive five-star, haute cuisine for a dinner party she is quite capable, given an extra hour or so. ) So Barbara Kingsolver is singing to the choir in much of her book. But I am also enlightened and inspired in such a manner that it is time for me to up the ante on living consciously.

Submission to Healthy Planet Magazine

Walking the Talk
It's likely that if you are bothering to peruse a periodical called Healthy Planet you consider yourself an environmentally minded citizen. The truth of the matter is that if you have not seriously reconsidered the matter of your own personal transportation and its consequential carbon footprint, then you are more talk than walk. But the good news is that you are the perfect candidate for my Ministry on Two Wheels (or feet or even public transportation, if you must).

The solution, or at least part of it, is called a bicycle. You probably have a couple wasting away in the garage. It's not as hard as you think. It will save you a ton of money and your body will thank you with amazing results. Start small. If a trip is less than a mile or so, I beg you, try riding. It's fast, fun and easy. If you are diligent about it, you may become a convert .

Look, if any of us has been awake or even half conscious, we know, via every possible news outlet, except of course Fox, that we are swimming in carbon emissions. The USA's love affair with the culprit internal combustion engine on four wheel MUST change. Many people seem to know this intellectually but I see very few of us actually doing anything about it. Is it because, god forbid, it puts us out of our comfort and convenience zone?

Having come here from eastern Idaho, I see St. Louis as a bastion of progressiveness. Hey, everything is relative you know. We have an extensive metropolitan public transportation system that includes light rail lines, some bike lanes and an educated, politically aware populous. Why aren't we taking full advantage?

Think you can't do it because of the kids? Think again. They are the generation that will be left cleaning up the mess their predecessors have made of the environment. The least we could do is point them in the right direction. We could open their eyes to a different way to live; one that is more attuned to human's relationship with the natural world. Besides, I can't think of an easier way to combat childhood obesity.

There is a need for a paradigm shift in the way we think about getting around town on a daily basis. At first a change will feel foreign and uncomfortable. Then it will feel empowering and healthy. Let the change begin with me.

BIO: Wendy Russell
Wendy and family are temporary residents of St Louis, returning for their 2nd academic school year. She has logged 1,350 miles of commuting on her bike since September and has given up her membership to Ballys. Her 7 yr old son is closing in on 600 miles. She maintains a blog on issues of sustainability at www.idahodirtbagtravel.blogspot.com

A Cycling Advocate's Nirvana

In Belgium they truly "get" it. They understand how how to live without the car. It certainly doesn't look like they are suffering deprivation as a result. Bikes and more bikes everywhere. Gaggles of teenage girls, older, stately looking gentlemen, well-heeled movers and shakers cruising to and fro on two wheels . By golly I even passed a convoy of aged 60+ white haired ole gals out for a country spin together. I kid you not. I could not make this stuff up in my wildest imagination.

So allow me to describe for you some of this life style's manifestations.... I would say there are 200 bikes for every car on the road, but it could be 300. People don't just refrain from driving their cars, they don't own them. Morning rush hour does exist and it is dangerous but the danger involves bikes and buses and not a helmet in sight. Overflowing, double-length buses rush back and forth around town dodging cyclists as they merge, cross, cut-off, and pass on roads that were originally built to a width that would accommodate horse and carriage. Yet road rage seems not to exist. Bike lanes inside the city are a matter of course, and come with their very own bike stop lights and cycle-exclusive, round-abouts. Bike headlights, tail lights and bells are legislated and enforced.

Bike rental is cheap, 17 euro for three days. So off I went to explore the countryside. I bought a bike-by-number map of the region that laid out all of the bike paths that connect all small towns and cities. Most paths are not alongside roads but their own independent entities cutting through scenic pasture lands. My map contained over 600 kilometers of bike path and this map was just 1 of 6or 7 for the country. It was impossible to get lost with the map because the numbers on the map corresponded to the numbers on the paths, very well marked. I managed to spend two days, from late morning until the sun went down, leisurely (as in less than 10 mph) tooling around, drinking it in. This is the perfect place to take kids on multi-day tours. It is safe and there is a village to stop at every 10 k or so, a farm animal to stop and pet every few hundred meters, WWII bunkers to explore.

We attended a series C1 cyclo-cross race. This event was well attended by young and old alike, most sporting their obligatory galoshes. The fans were as fervent as any respectable crowd at a futbol match in England, minus the bad manners.

The highlight of Tony's trip surely occurred at a pub in which he was drinking (too much) deliciously hoppy (his words), Belgium beer and engaging in a passionate conversation with a local about this race and cycling in general. The local was so impressed that an American knew so much about Belgium's national sport that he insisted on buying him a sampling of Belgium's best beer. It was at this point that I excused myself and returned to my hotel to read my book in peaceful, non-smokey solitude and allow Tony a night out on the town with the boys.

Letter to the Editor

I moved to Idaho Falls in 2003 and it only took me a matter of weeks to discover Taylor Mountain and its extensive network of trails and wilderness solitude. Since then I have gone there regularly to escape the suburban sprawl that defines the landscape of the greater Idaho Falls area. I have logged hundreds of miles running those trails. The first few years I would see either moose, mule deers, badger, bear scat, or what looked like bobcat prints on almost every outing. Then the area seemed to be "discovered" by ATVers and the regular sightings dwindled. I am imagining that with a proposed 700 ( or 200) homes going in at the base of the mountain the opportunities to see wildlife will be slim to none.

What we need here is some good old fashioned outrage. Not for potential sewer problems or cost of support, maintenance and schools. Can't we just muster a little popular cry of indignation for the sake of lost habitat, open space, wildlife corridors? Once it is gone, there is no getting it back. Why doesn't that ever seem to matter in this part of the world. Edward Abbey once said, "The idea of wilderness needs no defense. It only needs defenders." What, never heard of Edward Abbey? Ah yes, perhaps therein lies part of the problem.

110 miles of the Katy Trail

The Katy Trail is the longest contiguous rails to trails conversion in the U.S. It runs from Kansas City to St. Charles, Mo (about 25 miles west of St Louis). Last week Owen and I rode the section from Jefferson City to St Charles. We took Amtrak from St Louis to our starting point and only got there 2 hours behind schedule due to a freight train stopped in the middle of the tracks about 30 miles east of our destination.

As the train pulled away I realized I left an important piece of luggage on the train, the one with our lunch and all the snacks for the trip. A very nice boy scout leader and his son insisted on driving us to our starting point, as to avoid the dangerous ride across the bridge over the Missouri River that has no bike lane . That was all very well and good but upon being dropped off at the Katy Trailhead it quickly became apparent that all the amenities of Jefferson City, for example places to purchase food, were back on the other side of the river. It was almost 2 p.m., we had not eaten lunch and the nearest food was 12 miles away. Owen was not pleased. But he did not complain, he just rode fast.

I had estimated we needed to do about 35 miles per day to finish by Tuesday and we were starting a bit behind the eight ball, having gotten such a late start. We did managed 28 miles the first day and ended up riding in the dark to find our camping spot. The Katy passes through extremely rural areas and the only places to eat are a few smokey taverns that specialize mostly in fry-o-lator food and burgers. I quickly realized the food mistake was a big one. The only admonition I got from Owen was, "I don't really like the idea of having to always ride to get our food". I saved a piece of the frozen pizza we ate for dinner that first night for Owen's breakfast because we would not arrive at any possible eateries the next day for at least 10 miles. Since it was late in the season, many of the few businesses that cater to the passing cyclists were not open, making pickings even slimmer.

This was also the day of the Great Stickbug Migration. Apparently there had just been a hatching of stickbugs and the mothers were carrying their babies on their backs across the trail, hundreds of them on a few sections of the trail. At first Owen came to a screeching halt and manually helped each bug across, so as not to get squished by other non-bug loving cyclists. After the third episode he suggested we get off our bikes, pick them up and carry them around the area. So we did.

Day two greeted us with perfect fall weather and postcard views of the Missouri River. We rode the 10 miles to the tiny town of Rhineland and were pleasantly surprised to find Trailside Bar and Grille serving up a yummy breakfast (horrible coffee), and a selection of about 10 freshly bakes pies. Owen had pancakes followed by fresh coconut cream pie. I had eggs and half his pie. A few of the taverns are open for breakfast since they do a brisk early business feeding the hunters before they set off into the killing fields. An interesting side note about the town of Rhineland: After the 1993 flood that inundated the lowlands with 6 feet of water, the entire town was moved, house by house, up the hill to higher ground.

This was the day of the flat tire, having somewhere rolled through a bunch of goat-head thorns (also known as Puncturevine) http://www.plantsci.missouri.edu/deltaweeds/images/sandbur%20control.pdf I had 4 flats, two on my trailer and one in each tire.

We also explored a "ghost farm." Evidently the people just left or died (many, many years ago) and their heirs did not want to deal. The house was filled with furniture and cabinets full of meticulously maintained ledgers of the owners' auto business, circa 1950s.

We ended the day, after 38 miles, in the dark just east of the small enclave of Peers. That night it got below freezing, so naturally I was freezing in my summer sleeping bag. Owen woke saying he had the best sleep ever. The child is like a furnace.

On our third and last day it was quite a bit colder and in the morning we had to get creative to keep Owen's feet from feeling like Popsicles. We alternately rode and walked for the first few miles and then I hit upon the idea of putting my warmy-shwarmy, extra mittens over the toes of his boots and that did the trick. It was a cloudless day with a coldish wind out the west that was both our friend and foe. It helped blow us to our final destination but it kept us in our coats for the day.

We rode 7 miles before breakfasting at the smokey Dutzow Deli. We sat in the "non-smoking section", a table length from the "smoking section" with nothing in between but smoke filled air. Missouri really needs to get up to speed with the rest of America in this respect. Afterwards we rode non-stop for 15 miles to Dave and Jackie's Bar in Defiance, MO. I am including a link that explains how the town got its name and it is pretty funny. http://www.defiancemissouri.com/history.htm On our last stretch of 22 miles Owen was on a mission to be finished and did not want to stop for anything except a few drinks of water. As we approached St. Charles the houses turned from modest, quaint farm houses to urban uglies of massive proportion. In St. Charles Tony met us and we all ate dinner together at a fantastic Italian diner.

The scenery along the Katy Trail is lovely, quintessential americana. It does not get much more bucolic that this. Yet it made me more than just a little sad and contemplative as I realized that we were traveling through a vanishing landscape. This is an area that was platted and settled in the days of Daniel Boone...beginning of the 1800s for those of you that skipped that day in school. The region is steeped in history and a tradition that barely still exists, family farming. I imagine that 50 years hence the visual experience for cyclists will be quite different than mine. All those many barns that I saw in varying states of disrepair, neglect and abandonment will have fallen down and much of the former farmland I passed by will be engulfed in the suburban sprawl-type developments that are the showcase of "progress". People probably won't even realize that they should feel sad and outraged.

A Few Words from Hollis

The Connection Between the Iraq War and NOT Living Green

My family and I joined about 750 fellow peaceniks this past weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah to rally against the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq. Almost one fifth of the protesters came from Idaho Falls, Boise, and Hailey. The Idaho Falls group was primarily composed of our local Drinking Liberally chapter and the Snake River Freedom Coalition, who, I am proud to say, got behind this movement in a big way. I am so proud of my fellow Idahoans for showing up and taking a stand for peace!

We gathered at the Utah State Capitol building and from there joined other lively and loud marchers down Salt Lake City's State Street to the rally at City Hall where various speakers (including war veterans), passionately and powerfully affirmed their patriotism in stark opposition to the unconstitutional aggressive war policies of the Bush administration. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson gave the concluding speech: an indictment of news media dereliction, presidential malfeasance, and public apathy.

Speaking of public apathy, I've been asking myself the question (actually for 4 years!) "So, what is this war really about? Is it coincidence that this particular area of our planet has one of the largest crude oil reserves? Former Federal Reserve Board chief Alan Greenspan hit the nail on the head, me thinks, in his new book, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

So what does this have to do with public apathy you ask? A lot! How does my lifestyle and yours contribute to war? The energy gluttony of the American people and the corporate greed of the oil companies who provide the oil to quench our never-ending thirst for the black stuff, are largely responsible for the invasion of Iraq.

Most American are waiting for the magic bullet, the right hybrid car, or bio fuel – any technological solution that will save us from ourselves and our own over-consumption. Maybe we should, instead, look at ways we can offset the oil we get from the Middle East. Perhaps if everyone would slow down and ride a bike whenever possible, turn down our heat and air-conditioning, recycle, air-dry our laundry, stop eating meat, etc. we could offset the oil we get from the Middle East. New bio-fuels and technologies get most of the press, but the fact that individuals can make a difference doesn't get much.

And while the Bush administration would have us believe that the war was/is about weapons of mass destruction, liberating the Iraqi people, fighting terror in defense of our way of life and promoting democracy, most of us -- at least in hindsight -- can see that those are excuses at best and outright lies at worst.

As Americans, taking a stand to make ourselves energy efficient and independent should be our top priority. And not only because of the real threat of global warming, but because, if we value peace, we are duty-bound to do so.

Isn't it interesting that conservatives ridicule energy efficiency and independence as something only liberals, tree-huggers and sissies believe is necessary and possible?. My response is this: living green is not some weak-minded, new age way of being on the planet. And it is definitely NOT for sissies! It is a tough-minded and patriotic thing to do. And if you do it right it isn't easy, either. I, for one, have had enough of this Bush-Cheney nonsense that conservation, energy efficiency and environmentalism are some "hobby" we can't afford. And I'm not going to take it any longer!

If we as Americans are not outraged by this war, we are not thinking. I can't think of anything more cowardly or un-American than to continue to support this war and disregard our own personal responsibility for living a greener life. Real patriots, real activists and real advocates of spreading democracy around the world live green!

Oh, and one last thing. Having been raised in a very devout, Mormon household (I no longer practice that religion) my favorite peace sign this weekend was: "If you support Bush's war, you are NO disciple of Christ!" Perhaps something the Bush administration and the Christian right, who continue to support this immoral war, should take to heart!
Salt Lake City Peace March (YouTube)

Pictorial Vignettes: Backwards through time.

It is difficult to get to passionate about life in St. Louis. It is always interesting but never stirs any deeper emotion. It does not have the sort of landscape that motivates me to wax poetic nor go off on a detailed narrative of any one event or place. It has the capacity to overload the senses (and the pocketbook) w/ its abundance or urban offerings. I do not complain (too often), mind you. There are much worse alternatives to "interesting".

I tend to derive a certain sense of self from my geographic surroundings. Landscape is ever-so-important to me. In New Hampshire I was never happier than on those solitary Sunday mornings in January that I would set fresh tracks on century old carriage roads. In Idaho my favorite place to be is heading south up Taylor Creek trail at either dusk or dawn. More likely to happen upon a moose or mountain lion.. hee hee..at those hours.

Try as I may, I am unable to compose a respectable blog-length piece on any one St Louis event thus far. So what follows is a series of descriptive photos on a handful of the exploits that have occupied our time since arriving in the Show Me State.

These are the Arch Rival Roller Girls flying by my camera. This is St. Louis' All Female Flat Track Roller Derby and yes, we attended a "bout". These events attract an eclectic crowd w/ a decided goth overtone. Owen did not enjoy it so much. The humor was adult (e.g. spanking booth for charity) and went over his head...oh the innocence.

Nellie in a state of repose.

Tony finds a handy new use for his rack.

Owen competing in the Halloween Pull Down in Kansas City. It is hard to tell in the close-up photo, but he is coming out from under an overhang. He placed 3rd in the recreational division beating out most of a field who was 2 or more yrs older. The kid is a sight to behold....if I do say so myself.



Red River Gorge, Kentucky. This is the best place I've been so far. It is truly a geologic wonder with over 100 natural land arches. It was the venue location for the Petzl RocTrip Climbing Festival. My parents and brother's family met us there. We had a blast! Owen won a lot of climbing shwag and rubbed elbows with some of his sporting heroes.





Who said you can't bring a baby camping?
Owen's favorite climb of the weekend? Up the pole of the big top tent. Hey, there were no signs saying "no climbing".
Hanging around at the Loop.

Sushi Festival downtown. The featured event was a sushi eating contest. Winner ate about 70 pieces in 10 minutes. Think you can eat more? So did they. Most predicted eating over 100 pieces.



An afternoon at the beloved CITY MUSEUM!! .....for Tony, Owen and friends. An afternoon of Harry Potter for Wendy!!! Thanks Tony.

Views from a bike ride home from Illinois.

Dining at our favorite restaurant. Perched along the bluffs of the Missouri River and with an ever- changing menu, each dining experience is unique from the previous. This time I ordered sauteed trout topped with a root vegetable lyonnaise served on a bed of italian parsley puree and crispy cabbage au gratin. Tony had a grilled strip steak with crayfish lobster butter, rosemary grits, beer-braised greens and smoked paparika dusted fried leeks. How do they come up with these culinary combinations?

Although Nellie definitely preferred last year's daily runs along the Chubb Trail, a 12 mile drive away, this year she is making-do with the off-leash dog park just a short walk from our back door. The Puppy Pool Party, held the final day of the season at University City public pool is a fund raiser that benefits the park.