In the Garden of My (lucid) Dreams

Hold fast to dreams 

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field 
Frozen with snow.

-Langston Hughes

One of my New Year's resolutions was to keep track of my dreams. To realize this, I started keeping a journal by my bedside and made my best effort (not easy early in the morning) to write down the foggy details of each night's remnants. While I wasn't 100% successful (still am not) I did begin to notice that I was gradually recovering more and more of my sleeping memories. I also began to experience that phenomenon known as "lucid dreaming"; I started becoming more aware of my dreams and was able to influence their course of action, though modestly I admit.

My dreaming also led me to the vine-enveloped gates of nostalgia. Once opened, I found a garden overgrown in bramble and shrubbery. Searching through the dense abundance, I found so many moments I had left behind; like rotting fruit, each was tucked away and sealed within the compost of my childhood. One such memory (which came from a dream that I was walking through a garden) was of stealing berries from my grandma's strawberry patch when I was a little girl. The dream felt so real that when I woke up, I swear, I could taste the sweet juice of ripe strawberries dripping on my tongue and then down to my chin, as it once did a lifetime ago (I was, and still am, quite the messy eater).

Bush Plum Dreaming, Japingka Gallery

This Is Just To Say 

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold





The above poem, by minimalist poet William Carlos William, is one of my favorites. I can see, taste, and feel the situation as it unfolds, as though I were the consumer of the stolen plums. It's simplicity at its best.

On behalf of mother nature's wrath (aka storm Jonas) I have spent the afternoon cuddled up, getting lost in some rather voluptuous poetry while the snow blusters on by.  After coming across this old favorite, I was reminded of that simple joy, sensation, which I now share with you. This is just to say that I hope on this icebox of a day, you too have the luxury of curling up with some palatable poetry and indulging in your own (stolen?) plum, perhaps poached instead.

Lifting the Curtain on Organic Food

Organic food can be a good choice. Some of the time. But it can also be an expensive choice, that leaves us asking the question: What are we really paying for?  I’m not referring only to the high prices that we, as consumers pay, but also of the tremendous costs of certification required for a product to be labeled organic, which we also pay, indirectly. To understand this cost we need to understand the certification process. The following, taken from the Gale Encyclopedia of Diets, are the requirements that must be met by all certified organic farms:

"• The product must be raised or produced under an Organic Systems Plan that demonstrates and documents that the food meets the standards for growing, harvesting, transporting, processing, and selling an organic product.
• The producer and/or processor are subject to audits and evaluations by agents certified to enforce organic standards.
• The grower must have distinct boundaries between organic crops and non-organic crops to prevent accidental contamination with forbidden substances through wind drift or water runoff.
• No forbidden substances can be applied to the land organic food is raised on for three years prior to organic certification.
• Seed should be organic, when available, and never genetically altered through bioengineering.
Good soil, crop, and animal management practices must be followed to prevent contamination of groundwater or contamination of the product by living pathogens, heavy metals, or forbidden chemicals, and to reduce soil erosion and environmental pollution."

(Davidson et. al.)

In order to ensure that all these requirements are met, organic farms must spend more time and money keeping adequate records, checking soil, implementing proper pest deterrents and providing more manual labor for various maintenance and upkeep. And this is to say nothing of the environmental and monetary cost of shipping and storage for international farms. Lastly, organic food is currently in the minority of all food being produced, and thus is not as readily available. So, accordingly, organic food costs more.

But isn’t organic worth the high prices then? In theory I would say yes, but in reality, I would say well that depends.

So You Want to Know What I Think About a Farm Share?

Well, I'll tell you anyway.

I joined a farm share last year for the summer season. It sounded a bit pricy - 330 dollars for veggies every other week for 12 weeks, but some simple math told me it works out to only about 55 bucks a box. The farm share I chose (out of a few options) also did half-boxes for 198 dollars, so I only ended up paying 33 per farm box. They even had a delivery option for 7 dollars extra each week - so 40 bucks total - for fresh veggies on my door step every other week all summer long! Many farm shares also require you to pitch in somehow, but this one did not, and cost just a bit more than the others, which seemed reasonable.

They deliver, no time-expendature required, and they will give you half of the standard delivery - it sounded perfect for a couple who commute to the city! We signed up, waited patiently, and one Wednesday we came home to a big green box on our porch.

"Organic" Versus "Conventional" : Do You Know the Difference?

It’s no secret. These days organic food is très chic. It seems that every corner of the cosmopolitan world has its own Whole Foods, not to mention the myriad of smaller, specialty grocery stores offering locally grown and/or organic choices. Even in rural areas the “whole foods revolution” can be felt as farm co-ops and “natural” grocers begin to crop (pun intended) up. A steadily increasing stock of organic and local products are now being made available even at larger, traditional grocery stores such as Shoprite and Stop & Shop, to name a few. Hell, there are fully functioning holistic farms being cultivated on Brooklyn rooftops! A tree may have been the first thing to grow, but it’s certainly not the last.

The stats support this trend, showing that "sales of organic food and beverages increased from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010" (Davidson et. al). In fact, "during the 1990s the U.S. organic food industry grew at a fast pace of over 20 percent annually" (Valenzuela). Overall U.S.D.A. certified organic food has continued to grow in popularity and sales since the 1980's right up to our present day (Valenzuela). Chalk it up to trendiness or a better-educated public, or whatever you'd like, but the fact is that organic food is our future, while "conventional farming" is steadily becoming a thing of the past. But with this rise in popularity, how much do we actually know about organic food?

The Journey to Supper Begins with a Single Snap Pea . . .

(...and a glass of cabernet, while listening to my favorite tunes, yes that's DMX!)

Enjoying the process makes the final creation that much more delectable...

Sunday Supper!

Organic NY strip (mushroom, garlic, & red wine sauce), Sautéed sugar snap peas (garlic, red pepper, olive oil, salt), & freshly made garlic bread. Sometimes, simple ingredients are best. P.S. I love fresh garlic!

In Defense of Vegetables

Autumn, 1573. Guiseppe Arcimboldo. Musée du Louvre 

“I HATE VEGETABLES”