Support Farm-to-School Projects

    By teaching kids exactly where their food comes from, they will grow up to make informed grocery choices and strengthen their local economies. Start a farm-to-school project in your school district; all the know how is at farmtoschool.org

Open Your Home

    I think that once the pandemic is truly over, it's time to start thinking about treating ourselves to vacations. The gift economy is a really helpful concept for the budget-conscious, and it can help you, too. It may be time to reexamine everything you thought you couldn’t do and see if there is another way. Vacationing is a good example- you can trade homes and explore what you could not afford before, while offering the same in return. This free accommodation exchange will give you a really unique and much more personal view of a new place as well as a way to connect with people who live there. The idea is not new; Servas International (servas.org) was founded in 1949 and is recognized by the United Nations as a hospitality network. Check out the wildly successful and well organized CouchSurfing (couchsurfing.org) and Hospitality Club (hospitalityclub.org). And take time to look around the web; there are many similar, smaller initiatives online catering to the budget traveler or people wanting to take a volunteer vacation in another hemisphere.

Support Farm-to-School Projects

    By teaching kids exactly where their food comes from, they will grow up to make informed grocery choices and strengthen their local economies. Start a farm-to-school project in your school district; all the know how is at farmtoschool.org.

Participate in the Gift Economy

    Free markets are one of the ways that people have figured out how to cooperate when finances are uncertain. It is one of my absolute favorite examples of a gift economy, where people come together with items to give away or share. The Really Really Free Market (reallyreallyfree.org) is a great prototype. No money exchanges hands. Participants simply bring their offerings and display them communally, but also social distancing, of course.

    People also bring their expertise and talents to share: lawyers, musicians, jugglers, gardeners, ecologists, hairdressers, tarot readers, and cookie bakers are all there enjoying this unique marketplace. It provides as much diversity as the market economy, and for free!

    The Really Really Free Market website lists 34 regular free markets happening in states across the US and another ten or so worldwide in places like Pertgh, Australia. Your city could be next.

Making the Most of a Rainy Day

It's about to rain here today so I am excited to have a thirsty rain barrel at the ready:

• Install the rain barrel at least six feet from your house. Locating it near the area you’ll be watering the most makes for convenient use later.

• Ensure that your rain barrel has an overflow at least as large as your inflow—for example, if you have rigged it so that water is collected directly from your eaves’ trough downspout, your overflow valve should be as large as your downspout as well. This will allow your barrel to get rid of excess water as fast as it collects it, which might be necessary if you live in a city with crazy, unpredictable weather like my brother does.

• If you are using the rain barrel to water your garden, consider using a soaker hose. You can attach the hose to the rain barrel and then run it through your garden so that it covers the area you’d like. 

Now, every time you see a rain cloud, you’ll get really excited!

Think of Our Future: Be A Seed Saver

My Aunt Ruth in Flat Rock, West Virginia, raised me to save seeds. I was a preschooler, barely able to toddle along after her but I took in as much as I could. Aunt Ruth, who was a child of The Great Depression, was teaching me thrift when she showed me the art of harvesting, drying and saving seeds from veggies and flowers. Thrift an important survival skill for that time and I see thrift as a “forgotten virtue” who time has arrived once again. I remember being very impatient about how long it took for spring to come so I could sew the marigolds, alyssum, and Four O’ Clocks. 

What can you contribute to the “Gift Economy”

Free markets are one of the benefits of the bumpy economy wherein people figured out ways to liven in cooperation. It is one of my absolute favorite examples of a gift economy, where people come together with items to give away or share. A free market can move around freely and is a lot easier to realize than a free box. The Really Really Free Market (www.reallyreally free.org) is a great prototype. It is a pure gift economy where no money changes hands. Participants simply bring their offerings and display them communally.

People also bring their expertise and talents to share: lawyers, musicians, jugglers, gardeners, ecologists, hairdressers, tarot readers, and cookie bakers are all there enjoying this unique marketplace. The free market constitutes an entirely different economic system that can provide as much diversity as the market economy, and for free!

The Really Really Free Market website lists 34 regular free markets happening in states across the US and another 10 or so worldwide in places like Perth, Australia. Yours could be the next.

The lungs of the planet

Tropical rainforests take in vast quantities of carbon dioxide (a poisonous gas which mammals exhale) and through the process of photosynthesis, converts it into clean, breathable air. In fact, the tropical rainforests are the single greatest terrestrial source of air that we breathe.

What’s truly amazing, however, is that while the tropical rainforests cover just 2% of the Earth's land surface, they are home to two-thirds of all the living species on the planet. Additionally, nearly half the medicinal compounds we use every day come from plants endemic to the tropical rainforest. If a cure for cancer or the common cold is to be found, it’ll almost certainly come from the tropical rainforests.

Tragically, the tropical rainforests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. According to Rainforest Action Network, more than an acre-and-a-half is lost every second of every day (refer to the entries below to see, quantitatively, what that translates into). That’s an area more than twice the size of Florida that goes up in smoke every year!

“If present rates of destruction continue, half our remaining rainforests will be gone by the year 2025, and by 2060 there will be no rainforests remaining.” http://www.savetherainforest.org

Try walking a mile in an amputee's shoe

When I lived in the Panhandle District, I would occasionally wonder to myself from whence the name came. It is actually a skinny strip of land at the end of San Francisco’s spectacular Golden Gate Park, like a handle on a skillet or big pan. But with so many down and out, there is a good bit of panhandling, the verb- asking for money. In fact, it sometimes seems overwhelming, especially when on any given day, I might be hit up over a dozen times.  I noticed that after 9/11, it became especially grim, as there was a scary economic downturn that accompanied all the other chaos. So, I developed a system of my own and I always kept change in the little pocket of my driver’s side door handle to be ready for when I was driving.  Here is my system and I just did it today: moms with kids, children, and amputee’s, anyone who really seems to me to need help now.  If I am driving an author around on tour or out-of-town visitors, they have, on occasion, been startled when I mutter,” Oh, an amputee; let me see what I have on me. “ I explain my seeming rudeness by saying this is my personalized system and that I was almost an amputee when I was hit and run by a drunk driver a few years back and managed to talk my doctor out of that idea.  I had to learn to walk again and it took a looong time and a lot of pain. So, I always think, “that could have been me” and I want to help.   Many a vet who served their country came back without a limb and even fewer options.  This really is the least I can do and wanting to do more is one of the reasons behind this book

Help the helpers

Empower an entrepreneur with a loan through Kiva. You can give as little at $25 dollars to entrepreneurs in developing countries to help eliminate poverty. Throughout the life of the loan, you will receive updates on the progress of the project and will be repaid by the borrower with Kiva Credit—which you can use to fund another project or withdraw. http://www.kiva.org/ I have bought some really lovely pillows baskets and bangle bracelets made in India by women whose creativity was sent soaring by Kiva!

Stop Interrupting Others When They Are Speaking

We have become a nation of interrupters as though what we have to say is more important than anyone else’s opinion or thoughts. Think before you speak.  If a friend is confiding in you and seeks advice, think about how what they have said makes you feel and consider how your words can truly help them. Many people interrupt or relate the problem back to themselves instead of thoughtfully responding to the person who is confiding in them. Reflect on what you have heard and then reply. This is not only basic politeness but also means a lot to the person to whom you are listening. I guarantee you will start to notice when you are interrupted once you have stopped. Listening is an act of love