Saturday, May 24, 2008

illegal wake time, justice gardens

i spent about 6 hours gardening with my parents a few days ago and my right shoulder, upper arm, & chest are in the final healing phase of that weird jello feeling you get from overuse. it feels good to get sweaty and filthy in the name of beautifying the earth. is it nerdy to like gardening so much? i scheduled the next garden club meeting for june 8th, wherein my friend and fellow garden nerd (sorry jared if you read that - the truth hurts!) will be talking more in depth about our plan to feed the homeless with our gardens. he has a great blog started up about justice gardens, hit it up folks. this idea springs from the idea of the victory gardens of wwii era but decidedly so it is a different sort of war effort involved. he and i have spent quite a bit of time talking on the phone, through email, brainstorming ideas how to get this idea Out There and into more hands (which means into more people's bellies). the idea so far i think, is for people to tithe their gardens and drop off the production to his house wherein we will prep the food and take it to a local home called rebecca's place, which is a home for women transitioning out of homelessness. excess will be taken to fruit of the vine (someone else suggested the clintonville food pantry of unknown name since it would fit with our idea of working within our "parish" specifically)

and sort of on that note, i saw this video yesterday and was riveted by it.



i really enjoy our neighbors, both literally and in the more general sense of the neighborhood at large. we are overrun with children in our area (but in a good way), jakken and andrew live directly behind us and we play in the commons area everyday and every night. (sidebar: why is everyday one word and every night two?) one child always seems to wind up with another mother, using the restroom, filling up a squirt gun, finding their oreo's and diving in without permission while no one is looking (this = augustine by the way). yesterday i got an email that there is a cookout in our neighborhood at the park, signed up to bring burgers. im just energized that i live near people that i am not friends with them merely out of proximity.

there should be a law against getting up so early and being demanded to be productive. It's not even 7:30 am and i've already nursed a baby, made a fort, breakfast (served within said fort to aforementioned waker-uppers), a generous and much needed pot of coffee, and started a load of diapers in the wash. it's hard to get mad at them though


me: don't you dare show me your belly!


two smiles in a chair


finally they get along!



9 comments:

saylor days said...

i think i will put that video on my blog too!! that's so what i feel. i think that way too about good lord it's only 8am and you are so on the go! i remind myself that he's had 12 good hours of sleep and i've had 6... maybe i need to start going to bed at 7:30 too.hmmm.i love love the picture of them on the truck. it makes me want a second child,stat.

Sarah said...

John Piper is awesome. i saw that video a few weeks ago, and i had to listen to it twice! i think Gardening will become even more popular as grocery prices soar. you're not alone in your love!

TeamDavis said...

Jenny, your blog has inspired me in so many ways. I've been a silent reader for some time now (I found it after desperately seeking for more information about homebirths). Your children are beautiful and some day I hope to have a family as sweet as yours. My husband and I have been married about six months, but aren't looking for babies anytime soon (although I am getting a head start on all learning all I can about my birthing options. Any who...just saying thanks :)

Oh...I also have an answer to your
side bar question about everyday/every night. "Everyday" as one word is used as an adjective to describe routines or other events that may occur daily. i.e. brushing your teeth is an everyday routine (everyday is the adj. modifying the noun routine). In any other context, every day should be two words. i.e. I brush my teeth every day. (here, every day is a compound adverb telling when I brush my teeth).

Thanks again for blogging...I hope you don't mind a stranger reading :)

TeamDavis said...

I should probably mention that I teach English :)

Olive said...

michelle - i had a weird feeling you are going to get pregnant really soon the other day. s'all im saying sista.

sarah - yes on all accounts!

teamdavis - of course i dont mind random readers. i welcome them! and thanks for the english lesson :)

Anonymous said...

http://phillyorchards.org/

They maybe someone you want to contact about gardening to feed homeless. The philly orchard project in a nutshell puts orchards in empty lots in the city in order to help feed neighbors they tend to go in low-income neighborhoods.

Anonymous said...

http://phillyorchards.org/

They maybe someone you want to contact about gardening to feed homeless. The philly orchard project in a nutshell puts orchards in empty lots in the city in order to help feed neighbors they tend to go in low-income neighborhoods.

Olive said...

anonymous you rock! that link is awesome

Anonymous said...

Loving the garden, the vid, and the TUMMYS!! Glad to see them getting along--I'm beginning to experience the same phenomenon!