World Hunger Relief, Inc.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Climatize the Body
Most Texans are well aware right now of the heat. Most Texans, however, choose to escape that heat with air conditioned homes, cold cars, and shopping malls. Here at the farm we work from 9-12:30 then half work after lunch into the evening and the other half seek shelter in the fanned buildings (notice I did not say air-conditioned buildings). Being here, working outside, and not having the luxury of moving in and out of air conditioning my body has become acclimated.
A while ago my friend suggested that I read a book called Better Off, by Eric Brende. It is a recent book about a man and his wife’s journey into the land of the pseudo-amish to try life without modern technology for one year (This man had been studying at MIT previously). I personally loved the book and getting into the thoughts of an educated, modern man leaving modern-day amenities. It also stirred longings for experiencing different adventures with someone else (and so I continued reading about people going on adventures with their significant others-walking across America, traveling the world on nothing, ect) but that is another beast to tackle.
In this book, Eric related a story about working in beginning summer heat. He and his wife repositioned their bed for maximum air flow from the window, sat outside in the evening for the breeze, welcomed sweat as internal conditioners. One two-week period of time they took a driving trip back to civilization to find their next home. When they returned, Eric told how the heat was unbearable to him. He was working with the other men and experienced sever heat sickness, but the other men were hardly affected. In researching why he became so sick, he found information about the body’s ability to acclimate. We know from science that the seasons and temperatures that our immediate environments go through change gradually for the most part. The other men in the area had been working outside in the summer while the heat increased, while Eric was driving around staying in hotels. When he returned, their bodies had adjusted but his had not.
I think about this practically now. The temperatures are ranging from 100 to 106 depending on the day, and time of day. We are sweating inside and outside of buildings. I know it is hot, believe me-it gets me, but my body has had a chance to acclimate over the past two months because I am for the most part without air conditioning (except 7 hours at nighttime from the window unit). However, I can sit in a room that is 95 degrees with minimal air flow and hardly notice it. Even the sweat on my own body is largely unnoticed. It is normal.
Last night, a storm blew in. It sprinkled twice last night, and cloud cover lasted the entire day, and the sky finally dropped a river onto the ground after lunch. I may be used to the heat and sun, but the breeze, rain, and shade have never been so welcomed and a source of relief. The rain must stop though; otherwise, the plants would drown and stop their photosynthesizing.
Metaphorical Analogy: Seasons and times. Dry, hot, scorching, shadow, sunny, cloud, drizzle, humidity, cool breeze, frigid air, sunny, dry, wet, numb cold, warm sun, cool air, hot, dry, humid, scorching, shadow…..each is not an evil in itself. At least not when compared to the everchanging cycle of seasons and times. Instead of thinking of the metaphorical “season” of life as a large chunk of spring-summer-autumn-winter, I am beginning to notice the smaller seasonal moments. How in each season there is hot and cool, dry and wet….each has some difficulty and benefit. The sun makes the plants grow but dries out the ground. The rain feeds the plants but shields their leaves from the sun. The sun and rain exist in every season really.
It’s all about perspective.
“Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. It is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect…Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Now I must run off to doctor my spotty poison ivy.
Cheers and itches,
Melyssa
Money Maker
This is a great rap video about a treadle pump. http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/business_of_good/particulars.shtml#moneymaker
Sunday, August 3, 2008
WHEN STEWARDS BECOME OWNERS
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
Our world today is far from what we desire it to be. As I sat reflecting on what is happening today in our world and how we treat what is in our possession what comes to my mind is that instead of stewardship we have become masters of what the creator kept us in charge off.
We have “colonized” resources to an extent that we possess the power to determine who gets what and who should not receive anything. After doing all that we then turn around to ask questions as to why some other people lack certain resource or are suffering.
God in His own wisdom know what the inhabitants of a world that He decided to make will need at any point in time. As a result of that foreknowledge He provided what will be enough for all. However, the irony is that a majority of our world are not getting what they should have or need and a few are having more than they need.
The question then is why? Because stewards of what God has provided have become owners of what He has provided. Indeed, the excess you are about to throw away was actually meant for a neighbor who is struggling and if possible crying allowed that he/she is actually interested but you have pretended not to hear or notice the neighbor’s cries and struggles.
Our hearts have even become such hardened that we no longer even think about what is happening to our next door neighbor and all we are concern about is “me” “I” “mine” individualistic life. If God did not have in mind a good atmosphere of fellowship and a united and loving community he would never had talked about multiplication.
I am not going to talk about how Christians who are supposed to know better and behave differently are contributing to this situation of inequality in this write up but watch out for it soon.
I am just trying to give us a reminder that God put us in this world and by the position of where we come from, or are located, or have access to, He has placed us to be stewards of his provision for our world and He expects us to diligently watch over them as well as see to it that those that are for others which we have the privilege to watch over will be shared with them.
Be blessed as you reflect, criticize and pick up some thoughts.
Samson Abukari
Saturday, August 2, 2008
King of the (Sawdust) Mountain
Recommended Reading:
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Trash, by Heather Rogers
http://www.gonetomorrow.org/
Compost Toilet: A toilet system which treats human waste by composting. A bulking agent (in our case-sawdust) is added to the waste after each use to consolidate the waste and aid the composting process. After many months, the sawdusted waste can be shoveled out and finished in the sun. This end-product can be a soil-additive rich in beneficial bacteria. As opposed to expensive, water-wasting plumbing systems and waste-treatment centers, composting human waste can be a beneficial, responsible, yet smelly way, to handle waste.
Anecdote: The farm employs the hardy services of four composting toilets; a bin of some sort sits next to each toilet filled with sawdust as the bulking agent. In the girl's dorm, we have a small trash can that must be refilled with sawdust every few days or so. In the Education Building, the box can go for a week or two before needing to be refilled. Who's job is the sawdust refilling? That depends: in the dorm, whoever scoops the last dust has the responsibility. In the ed. building, no one really knows: a volunteer from town? a chore? an apartment dweller? the pregnant office manager?
We have eight giant barrels filled with sawdust on porches. Refilling trash cans and large boxes should be as easy as scooping form the big barrel. Last Thursday, after dorm and ed. building sawdust containers had been empty for about two days, we finally figured out together that there was no sawdust in the barrels. It is tricky. Each person thinks someone else is taking care of the empty bins because the job never gets assigned to just one person. The stench of each toilet finally became too nose-scrunching.
Friday after lunch, W-J-D-R-and myself loaded all eight barrels into the farm truck and trailer and headed north to the Pallet place. On the side of I-35, there is this barn-type building with wooden pallets stacked inside and all around. A few mechanized contraptions whiz and whir, but nothing was actually being done. What exactly does the Pallet place do? Recycle old pallets? Store old pallets? Resell old pallets? Make new pallets? Nobody knows.
We drove across grass and weeds, around the side of the building, nobody giving us a second glance, and parked next to a giant mound of sawdust. Assembly-line style, we pitchforked sawdust clumps, scooped sawdust into buckets, dumped buckets in barrels, and began again. Was the heat index 105 yesterday? It is possible. Imagine 3:00 p.m. scorching sun, no wind, sawdust flying and sticking to skin, and repetitious scooping, passing, pitching. (saving grace was the watering hole for swimming when we returned)
After loading all barrels, W cautiously drove us back to the farm where we wheeled the barrels back into position for future use. Remember earlier, I mentioned that the stench had gotten nearly unbearable in some of the toilets? Imagine fresh waste, without being covered by sawdust (because no one noticed it was gone) stacked up for a day or two by 15 or so people. Waste turns into heaps of waste that must be knocked down and spread out in the holding containers. Oh yeah, I'm not kidding.
I found the short handled hoe (dubbed a dubious name from former T), kneeled down over the trap door, and scraped the heap down as flat as possible. Up close and personal. The heat was intense from the fermenting, composting sludge. The ammonia burned my eyes. Determined to not be deterred, because I knew some of the waste was my own, I viciously hacked at the mountain. W poured more sawdust into the toilet to help with the more freshlies. I kept thinking, one day this is going to be safe compost and give plants and micro-organisms food and life----keep hoeing!
You know, who's going to do the dirty work? Whether it is kitchen waste (we've had our share of maggots in the kitchen compost or rank smells from fermented produce), toxic waste, or human waste, someone will be processing or handling it. Turn of the century affluent U.S. citizens placed cleanliness next to godliness, and women campaigned through poor districts of cities advocating for trash pick up and all wastes removal to clean up to "souls" of the inhabitants. They saw crime and immorality as inexorably linked with physical dirtiness of any kind. Honestly, when does clearing out all trash, waste, bacteria, unused items make a person more moral, righteous, or holy? Ask W-he is pro-biotic. The only problem with removing trash and waste from your sight, is that it is just moving into someone else's site (i.e. treatment plants, landfills, incinerators: all operated by a person on some level). Besides, psychologically we tend to consume more when our trash and waste are invisible than when they are visible. Sending your waste, rubbish, trash for someone else to touch and dispose of (or just dump in a hole in the ground) does not make it go away. When I throw things away, I like to remember every bit of trash that I have every sent off, and also to remember that it is most likely sitting somewhere still.
Reduce: You probably don't really need it. Buy from bulk bins if possible (it's cheaper usually and the packaging really is the worst waste. If you can't stomach or zonefully compost your human waste, try flushing less. Use both sides of paper when printing or writing
Reuse: Compost your kitchen scraps! It makes great fertilizer. Reuse glass bottles, plastic bottles for storage containers or drinking containers. . Make your own paper from used paper. After raking up leaves and grass, use them as mulch instead of tossing out.
Only after those options are gone...Recycle: Even if you feel good about yourself for recycling, remember that you are still creating demand for virgin resources to be processed into products by buying them in the first place.
A Good Resource for what goes on in the trash world and how we got where we are.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Trash, by Heather Rogers
http://www.gonetomorrow.org/
Cheers and Serious Winks,
Melyssa
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Trash, by Heather Rogers
http://www.gonetomorrow.org/
Compost Toilet: A toilet system which treats human waste by composting. A bulking agent (in our case-sawdust) is added to the waste after each use to consolidate the waste and aid the composting process. After many months, the sawdusted waste can be shoveled out and finished in the sun. This end-product can be a soil-additive rich in beneficial bacteria. As opposed to expensive, water-wasting plumbing systems and waste-treatment centers, composting human waste can be a beneficial, responsible, yet smelly way, to handle waste.
Anecdote: The farm employs the hardy services of four composting toilets; a bin of some sort sits next to each toilet filled with sawdust as the bulking agent. In the girl's dorm, we have a small trash can that must be refilled with sawdust every few days or so. In the Education Building, the box can go for a week or two before needing to be refilled. Who's job is the sawdust refilling? That depends: in the dorm, whoever scoops the last dust has the responsibility. In the ed. building, no one really knows: a volunteer from town? a chore? an apartment dweller? the pregnant office manager?
We have eight giant barrels filled with sawdust on porches. Refilling trash cans and large boxes should be as easy as scooping form the big barrel. Last Thursday, after dorm and ed. building sawdust containers had been empty for about two days, we finally figured out together that there was no sawdust in the barrels. It is tricky. Each person thinks someone else is taking care of the empty bins because the job never gets assigned to just one person. The stench of each toilet finally became too nose-scrunching.
Friday after lunch, W-J-D-R-and myself loaded all eight barrels into the farm truck and trailer and headed north to the Pallet place. On the side of I-35, there is this barn-type building with wooden pallets stacked inside and all around. A few mechanized contraptions whiz and whir, but nothing was actually being done. What exactly does the Pallet place do? Recycle old pallets? Store old pallets? Resell old pallets? Make new pallets? Nobody knows.
We drove across grass and weeds, around the side of the building, nobody giving us a second glance, and parked next to a giant mound of sawdust. Assembly-line style, we pitchforked sawdust clumps, scooped sawdust into buckets, dumped buckets in barrels, and began again. Was the heat index 105 yesterday? It is possible. Imagine 3:00 p.m. scorching sun, no wind, sawdust flying and sticking to skin, and repetitious scooping, passing, pitching. (saving grace was the watering hole for swimming when we returned)
After loading all barrels, W cautiously drove us back to the farm where we wheeled the barrels back into position for future use. Remember earlier, I mentioned that the stench had gotten nearly unbearable in some of the toilets? Imagine fresh waste, without being covered by sawdust (because no one noticed it was gone) stacked up for a day or two by 15 or so people. Waste turns into heaps of waste that must be knocked down and spread out in the holding containers. Oh yeah, I'm not kidding.
I found the short handled hoe (dubbed a dubious name from former T), kneeled down over the trap door, and scraped the heap down as flat as possible. Up close and personal. The heat was intense from the fermenting, composting sludge. The ammonia burned my eyes. Determined to not be deterred, because I knew some of the waste was my own, I viciously hacked at the mountain. W poured more sawdust into the toilet to help with the more freshlies. I kept thinking, one day this is going to be safe compost and give plants and micro-organisms food and life----keep hoeing!
You know, who's going to do the dirty work? Whether it is kitchen waste (we've had our share of maggots in the kitchen compost or rank smells from fermented produce), toxic waste, or human waste, someone will be processing or handling it. Turn of the century affluent U.S. citizens placed cleanliness next to godliness, and women campaigned through poor districts of cities advocating for trash pick up and all wastes removal to clean up to "souls" of the inhabitants. They saw crime and immorality as inexorably linked with physical dirtiness of any kind. Honestly, when does clearing out all trash, waste, bacteria, unused items make a person more moral, righteous, or holy? Ask W-he is pro-biotic. The only problem with removing trash and waste from your sight, is that it is just moving into someone else's site (i.e. treatment plants, landfills, incinerators: all operated by a person on some level). Besides, psychologically we tend to consume more when our trash and waste are invisible than when they are visible. Sending your waste, rubbish, trash for someone else to touch and dispose of (or just dump in a hole in the ground) does not make it go away. When I throw things away, I like to remember every bit of trash that I have every sent off, and also to remember that it is most likely sitting somewhere still.
Reduce: You probably don't really need it. Buy from bulk bins if possible (it's cheaper usually and the packaging really is the worst waste. If you can't stomach or zonefully compost your human waste, try flushing less. Use both sides of paper when printing or writing
Reuse: Compost your kitchen scraps! It makes great fertilizer. Reuse glass bottles, plastic bottles for storage containers or drinking containers. . Make your own paper from used paper. After raking up leaves and grass, use them as mulch instead of tossing out.
Only after those options are gone...Recycle: Even if you feel good about yourself for recycling, remember that you are still creating demand for virgin resources to be processed into products by buying them in the first place.
A Good Resource for what goes on in the trash world and how we got where we are.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Trash, by Heather Rogers
http://www.gonetomorrow.org/
Cheers and Serious Winks,
Melyssa
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The Farm in Print
About two weeks ago a reporter, Jessica Sidman, from the Dallas Morning News came to the farm for two days to write a story about young adults who move to organic farms from cities. She went to school in Philadelphia, and many of her friends from college graduated and moved to organic farms around the area temporarily. The idea piqued her interest, so when she moved to Dallas a couple of months ago, she looked around for organic farms in Texas that take volunteers.
World Hunger Relief surpassed her story criteria.
Yesterday, the story made the front page of the DMN, and the website also featured the story along with video and photographs.
Check out the link and view your favorite farm and the current farmers.
New volunteer Chris Becker, a chef from New York, was the highlight, and we are proud to portray such a wide variety of backgrounds and ever-changing interests.
Click here to go to the article.
World Hunger Relief surpassed her story criteria.
Yesterday, the story made the front page of the DMN, and the website also featured the story along with video and photographs.
Check out the link and view your favorite farm and the current farmers.
New volunteer Chris Becker, a chef from New York, was the highlight, and we are proud to portray such a wide variety of backgrounds and ever-changing interests.
Click here to go to the article.
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