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Archive for the ‘philosophy’ Category

A different mindset

Posted in philosophy, tagged , , , , on February 17, 2009| 2 Comments »

So, you know when you go to the store for milk, you can never get just milk? After the gym last night I ran in to New Frontiers for…milk. But the apples were calling to me. They were local, See Canyon apples, and they looked DELICIOUS; they also looked different. Different than the typical apples I see in most stores. Oddly, the small, mottled, blemished organic apples appealed to me more than the large, shiny, symmetrical apples. (Yes, I think about this kind of stuff all the time. It drives Denette crazy.)

And here’s where I started getting philosophical. (Denette is rolling her eyes right now).

Until recently the mindset has been shiny = new = good. There is some logic in this. After all, bruised = old = good doesn’t sound very reasonable. (Sounds pretty gross, actually). However, the little red orbs of waxed perfection represent something completely different to me: shiny = commercial = bad. shiny, conventional apples

The main issue here is not that perfection is bad, or even that striving for perfection is bad—those are both goods in my book—but that the appearance of perfection is bad. In the case of the commercial apples, the process of making pretty things is actually deceptive: it hides the imperfections that exist and creates a false impression of fresh loveliness. I’ve bitten into the shiny commercial surface before only to be surprised by the woody dryness of an apple well past its prime freshness date. Because the apple had to drive 2,500 miles to get here, it’s bound to be old and tired after a journey like that.

And do I even need to mention the hidden chemical badness? Probably not.

I’m seeing a trend away from the shiny/new/good perspective, and I hope it will continue. Because if more people develop a different mindset about what indicates good food then demand will go up. Then maybe producers and distributors wouldn’t need to spend so much time and money prettifying, packaging, and preserving our foodstuffs. Instead, they could focus on getting us the best tasting, healthiest local products.

Speaking of healthy and local. Check out this new Co-op in SLO. Good things are happening!

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The Other Half Speaketh

Posted in philosophy, tagged , , , , , , , on December 20, 2008| 1 Comment »

I recently saw a special on PBS about how the brain works. It said to keep it in good working order it has to be constantly challenged and stimulated with new and different kinds of activity.  I thought at this stage of my life I would be retiring and taking it easy.  Instead, I am learning what OIS, SP, and 1600 other new switches and gadgets are on a DVX camera. Just figuring out the difference between DVD RW and R was a challenge. Then there is the How to Upgrade Firefox without losing all my tabs and coordinating 15 different emails accounts as another source of “stimulation.”  I should be a fricking genius. They say, “Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your kids,” but in this case I would go insane if Samson had not inherited a ‘nerd’ gene. Must have gotten it from his father.

How old am I, you ask?  How rude.  But, if you must ask…well, Samson is 30 something.  I had him when I was in my late 20 somethings.   I can remember when Eisenhower was elected and I am one of the original flower children.   My kids like to think I was roaming the earth about the same time flowers originated.  All I know is that I am now officially old enough to qualify for everything with a number attached to it.

Over the past 8 months I’ve discovered that filming is another fun-filled activity that keeps the mind in a constant state of panic.  Learning to go with the flow helps, and when my grandson, Logan, strolls onto the ‘set’ with a wiggly lizard tail in his hands, or when Kaia darts in and out of a frame chasing the family dog you just have to go with the flow. We’re all about reality here.

Making time is the real trick. Samson is juggling a full time job, raising a family, and starring in a 30 minute TV series every month.  Needless to say this requires a superhuman effort on everyone’s part.  I would like to especially thank my dear daughter-in-law, Denette, for ‘going with the flow’ (riding the rapids might better describe it) and allowing this ‘adventure’ to unfold, such as it is.  Thanks Love.

What, exactly is this ‘adventure’?  It’s mostly a “how to” series, and in the coming weeks you will watch us build a solar oven and worm bins, grow a winter garden, visit SLO farmers market and an organic farm in Paso, and, hopefully, have some personal interviews with interesting people who are actually being the change they want to see.  We will show the upside and downside by doing it. We’re not going to try to make it all shiny and pretty.   This is life!

We also hope to make this ‘adventure’ a focal point for information and networking that has to do with becoming self-sufficient, sustainable, and viable as a community.  There is a lot going on all around us and we hope to make Hole in the Fence grand central for these new ideas, which feel to me like old ideas revisited and revived.  Remember how old I said I might be.  But don’t you dare say anything!

Get this address to anyone you know who has something to share.  Look forward to meeting and talking with you all very soon!

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