The Right Path, part 1

"Your life takes you directions you don't expect." So says Laura Stauffer, owner of Green Circle Organics at Lancaster's Central Market.

Life seemed to prepare Laura for her role as a Lancaster pioneer in the marketing of organic produce. In late 2002, a friend of a friend told her that a business at the market was coming up for sale. Laura, who then worked at Rhubarb's Market, had already done organic farming in upstate New York.

"I really wanted to be in business for myself and it fit in with my past experiences and my interests" she explains. So Laura bought the business, becoming one of the 1st retailers of organic produce in Lancaster County. Later when Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative formed, Green Circle Organics became their 1st retail account in the county.

This March 9th Green Circle will celebrate it's 8 year anniversary!

I asked Laura what advice she would give to others wanting to start a local business.

Here's what she advises:

" It definitely had it's challenges, but if you're on the right path things just kind of happen. Take that leap. For me, at the time, getting a small business loan and doing things on my own was a big deal ! Now I'm so glad I did it! I say take that risk. As long as it's a calculated risk, I think 'Why not?'

If you're doing something good for the community and you believe in what you're doing and you treat people well and you stand behind your product, it'll work."

Next: Some of Laura's hopes for future

Warm Feet In A Cold Month

I'm desperate for the answer.
I'm hungry for the cause.
I really want my mommy
And good old Santy Claus.

I'm certain my uncertainty
Is sure to entertain
Those clutching their security
While standing in the rain.

All those things that I have lost
Between my birth and death;
Like February's endless frost,
Before Spring's warming breath,
Are teaching me some paradox
About life's deeper rhyme.
So I'll keep putting on my socks
Just one foot at a time.

Yes, I'll keep putting on my socks
Just one foot at a time.

Asking The 2nd Question

I have a neighbor with a snow blower. This morning he didn't stop after he blew the 4-5 inches of snow off his driveway and sidewalks. He continued on to our driveway and sidewalk, a most neighborly gesture!

So I went out to say "Thank you!" and to engage in a little neighborly conversation.

"How's all your family doing this winter?" I asked.

"OH, we're making out." He answered.

"So everyone's healthy?" I continued the querying.

"Healthy? No, not healthy. The wife is having problems. Her hands are burning all the time and she hasn't been able to go back to work. The carpal tunnel surgery was supposed to end her problems, but it seems like it only made matters worse!"

I already knew that HE'D been laid off from a good job 2 years ago. Although he has been working since then , it's been at unsatisfactory positions and bad hours. "You gotta do what you gotta do," he's told me on different occasions. And now SHE is not physically able to work.

These are trying times for our neighbors!

I was sorry to hear about their difficulties, but glad I asked the 2nd question.

That got me to thinking: I wonder how often we miss making real connections with people because we stop after the obligatory "How are you? Fine. Thank you."

Neighborliness can grow into relationship and then community building. But only if someone is willing to take the time to ask the 2nd and 3rd questions. And after asking to listen!

Now the ball's in my court. How will I let my neighbors know we're here for them?

The Beat of A Jubilant Drummer

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

I know someone who embodies that wonderful Howard Thurman quote: my friend, Paul Montigny.
Paul comes alive when he plays the drums! Although he's already quite alive doing other things, especially for a man of his years. But when my friend drums he's ageless! "Jubilant!" is how one person described Paul's drumming.

Paul puts it this way: "I'm real when I play and dance!"


Many times I've seen Paul jump off the ground while he's playing the congas! And he really loves it when people dance to his jubilant beat!

I once introduced Paul as a local treasure because he has initiated so many people into the joys of cooperative music making through the numerous drum circles he's led the last 2 decades. For 5 years,the city of Lancaster employed him to lead a New Year's Eve drum circle for their city wide celebration. He's also known for the circles he's led at Lancaster's Long's Park, for playing at local churches and for many other organizations.

Currently Paul plays in a band called Streetbeets.* Streetbeets can be heard playing most 1st and 3rd Fridays each month at their favorite street location on the 100 block of E. Orange St across from the Prince St Parking Garage. On Friday, June 17th they'll be playing in the cafe at Ten Thousand Villages, Ephrata,PA between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.

What Paul Montigny is so good at is engaging people of all ages with his drumbeat and then inviting them to discover rhythm making for themselves. I can think of few things that build connections between people faster than drum circles. Yes, my friend is a community treasure.

Most of us are too used to being entertained; of being an audience. But the real joy and meaning in life comes when we join a circle of action, make our own music, design our own clothes, grow our own food, start a cooperative endeavor of some kind or even create our own local currency.
We can move from being consumers to being creators and energized citizens! We can come alive and inspire others to come alive. We can dance to the beat of a jubilant drummer!

If you're not yet part of such an endeavor, look for one to join. Or think about what you want to begin. Just get started!

It's how we build community. It's how we find the energy to overcome the inertia that keeps us chained to the life robbing forces of corporatism and globalization. It sets our imaginations free to envision a different world, the world of The New Jubilee!



*Full Disclosure: I also play in Streetbeets.

Have You Heard The Stories of The New Jubilee?

Have you heard the stories of The New Jubilee?

You'll want to hear these inspiring stories and I want to tell them! But first: "What is a Jubilee?"

And second: "Why new?"

The word 'jubilee' represents an idea that goes back thousands of years. The Hebrew Bible speaks of something called the Jubilee Year, which was to be observed every 50 years. In this Jubilee year you must forgive all debts, you must free the slaves and you must return land to the original owners who lost it due to a foreclosure type event. Also, you are to show respect for the health of the soil.

In other words, change things so the wealth will flow back to the ordinary person instead of toward those who already have the upper hand. Do a reset. Give people a chance to start over. Lift the heavy burdens from the backs of the poor and from those who will become poor if the current course of events is allowed to continue.

Be especially attentive to your soil.

Here's why we need something new today:

We live in a world where the forces of centralization and globalization have been stripping resources and power away from people in local communities for decades now.

Multi-national corporations own or control vast amounts of material wealth; more than many nations. They are gobbling up ever increasing political clout. The gap between rich and poor is growing wider by the minute.

This is an oppressive trend which impoverishes the common citizen, the local community and the natural environment. It makes mockery of the ideal we call democracy.

Here's an admittedly simplified but accurate example of what's been happening:

Not too long ago each community had it's local bank. The banker knew the people and, in fact, was one of the people. This banker's role was to serve the local economy. This banker had a clear stake in the vitality and prosperity of the community.

Resources were primarily invested locally rather than directed away.

The good of the community was seen as a higher value than the current practice of maximizing profits for the stockholders and CEOs.

Then something happened. Banks were deregulated. Deregulation became a kind of backwards jubilee. Banks were released to grow beyond their communities and even beyond their states.

Banks were also set free to consolidate with other banks. This consolidation process resulted in very large banks with headquarters far away. The interests of these ever growing banks were totally in their own bottom line not in the welfare of local communities.

Have you heard "Too big to fail"? Have you heard"Massive bailouts"? How about pensions of people who worked for decades being depleted right before their expected retirement? Foreclosures? Unemployment? Wage freezes for those still working while CEO's salaries go to the moon? A younger generation with little realistic hope of ever retiring?

Sickening,isn't it?

THE REST OF THE STORY!

But we are not powerless! Many everyday people are now taking positive steps to create something healthy. Theirs are the stories of The New Jubilee.

The New Jubilee, as I'm defining it, is exactly the reversal of direction we need. Under this idea of The New Jubilee, resources stay in local communities and people's energies are invested in serving one another rather than serving some absentee banker or corporate conglomerate.

This movement is also known to many as 'relocalization' and to others as 'Transition Towns".

It involves rebuilding the local food system, caring for our soil and water, supporting and investing in local businesses, people moving their money OUT of absentee owned financial institutions into local credit unions or in support of New Jubilee businesses, and learning what it means to live sustainably in place.

Yes it's a New Jubilee!

This movement is picking up speed in localities around the world! In this blog , 123 Jubilee, I want to tell the stories of one of those places where the movement is building:Lancaster, PA. I will celebrate the persons who are moving into the Jubilee spirit of relocalization.

These are the heroes who are rebuilding the local food system,restoring local control, strengthening community connections, starting sustainable businesses,teaching and learning needed skills, reclaiming democracy and leading the way in a time of monumental transition.

This path is not without bumps along the way, of course.Massive changes are unfolding rapidly in our world brought on by climate change, the end of cheap oil, economic instability and the global population explosion!

But the communities which are now moving with the New Jubilee spirit, those which are relocalizing and transitioning with focused intention, will demonstrate the greatest resiliency in the face of all these challenges.

Plus, they are increasingly experiencing the joys of living with purpose, of building satisfying relationships, of creatively meeting life's challenges and of bringing goodness and beauty into their worlds.

Isn't that what we all want?

for more info on Transition Lancaster and on Relocalization, see these sites:

http://transitionlancaster.pbworks.com/w/page/22427014/FrontPage

http://www.appropedia.org/Relocalization

"I Haven't Got My Food Stamps Yet"

Our home phone number is similar to the number of the Public Welfare office in Lancaster,PA. So, about once a week, we get calls like this one from last Friday:

"Hello. This is Charlene Cobalt* and I haven't got my food stamps yet!"
I sensed that Charlene wanted action not sympathy, so I responded with "You have the wrong number." End of conversation.Click. I wish I could have been more helpful.

I'm among the fortunate ones. I've mostly had plenty to eat and no worries about paying for food. While I foresee that changing sometime sooner or later, I know millions of people have huge concerns now!

For example,one of the causes of the current revolution in Egypt is the high price of food, brought on by climate related factors which took a toll on Russia, Brazil and Australia's harvests. The cost of food hit an all time high in January. Wheat, for example, has almost doubled since last summer!

Now, this Egyptian upheaval is disrupting the flow of food to their markets, causing them even higher costs.

Compounding the problem, investors sense an opportunity to make money speculating on commodities. So they jump in and drive the price up further.

We may be in for a long siege of ever higher food prices. The American Grain Council is now reporting that China will import NINE TIMES more corn than previously estimated. We can expect corn prices to rise significantly and along with them,of course, will be the price of meat.

I would hope for easy solutions to the problem. But that's pie in the sky. It's clear that you and I can have little impact upon international or national trends.

But WE are not helpless!

What WE can do is band together locally. WE can form as many connections as possible with people who grow and sell food. WE can start food co-ops, join CSAs, buy from local farmers at farmer's markets, and even grow our own.

Have you bought your seeds for this year yet? Have you joined a CSA or food co-op? Take action! Do it today!

We live on a finite planet. Unless we learn to live simply and cooperatively in local communities, we will soon all be looking for someone to call and the voice at the other end will say,"Sorry,Charlene.Wrong number."

* Not her real name.

THE MARCH

THE MARCH

We are on the march

Stepping out as one.

We know what we don't want,

So we've all begun.

We see what's ahead.

Seen it for awhile.

We march on together

Arm in arm for miles.

Out beyond the mines

We know what is ours.

Out beyond the city's edge

We can see the stars.

No one needs to say

What we really need.

Starlight is our teacher.

We say "NO!" to greed.

We say "NO!" to hate.

We say "Live as One".

We say "None can stop us!"

Our march has begun!

What Stevie Wonder Wants

I woke up at 2:48 a.m. yesterday morning. I had been dreaming about Stevie Wonder!
Can I tell you about it?

O.K. then. Here it is.

Stevie is being introduced to the large crowd. The announcer goes over a litany of Stevie's accomplishments. He builds in intensity and energy until he implores us,"Everybody, let's give Stevie a face!"
(My commentary: I would have said,"Let's give Stevie a hand!" But the guy in my dream said "Let's give Stevie a face!" I don't know what that means.)

As the applause and cheering dies down, I see Stevie Wonder sitting at the keyboard.He's playing softly and he begins speaking. This is what Stevie Wonder says in my dream:" The hype is good and all that, but in the real world I want company. In the real world I want company."

Isn't that what we all want and need? In the real world we each want and need company.

Another word for company is companionship.

Both company and companionship come from 2 roots. The first is 'com',which means 'with'. The second is 'pano' which means 'bread'.

Thus company or companionship literally means 'one we share bread with'. This can be the material bread we need to sustain our physical bodies. It can also be the bread our souls and spirits need, baked with love and beauty;baked with relationship and connection;giving each of us meaning, support and space to be who we really are.

What the world needs now; what you need now; what I need now are 'faithful companions', or lots of 'good company'. When we have a circle of faithful companions or an abundance of good company we have something called 'community'. Community includes those we enjoy a relationship with and those with whom we have a connection. It implies the baking and sharing of the breads with one another.
If I were asked what makes for true wealth in the real world, I would put 'community' at the top of my list.
What's on your list?

Here's a postscript. Those who know me well, know that just about anything can become a song. Here's the start of one:

IN THE REAL WORLD

In the real world

I want some company.

In the real world

I just need somebody

To touch me;

One I can touch.

They don't need to be much

Cause it's the real world

And I'm not much myself

On this lonely pedestal.

This is my real world.

All this happy hype

is ok for awhile;

Ok for a smile.

But is it real?

I want to feel

That someone is here with me

And we are company

for each other.

Let's be a real world.

Shadows and Storms

Weather.Everybody talks about it. Even the ground hog,I guess.

The dogwood tree outside the window where I'm writing is coated
with ice,making it a new work of beauty for this morning. The
county schools all have at least a 2 hour delay. The ground hog in
Lancaster County will not be seeing his or her shadow in 2011!

But there's a much more serious weather issue in the world as I
write. A category 5 storm, cyclone Yasi, is making landfall in
Queensland, Australia this very moment. Record high ocean temps
and a very intense La Nina pattern have created this monster!

If I were an Aussie in Queensland I'd be pretty desperate right about
now. I would hope that I have a secure place to batten down the hatches,
maybe in my basement if it's not full of water. Speaking of water, I'd hope
that I had planned ahead and had some safe water stored up plus a water
filtration system so we could purify what water we might have access to.

Food may be hard to come by for awhile. Grocery store shelves will be
barren if they aren't already. Trucks will not be making their usual deliveries
if everything is underwater or devastated. So, I'd hope I had plenty of rice,oatmeal,
beans etc and that we had done our canning and preserving.

I'd hope that my neighbors had planned ahead as well. Then we can help
one another with all the tasks related to a storm's aftermath. Those of us who
HAD planned ahead would be in a better position to serve the rebuilding efforts
of the community.

Soon, we'll be hearing the stories of destruction and rescue. We may be
asked to donate to the International Red Cross and other relief agencies.
This is a disaster of epic proportions..an emergency to be sure!

Speaking of emergent threats and predictions,
I'm going to stick my gray head out of my burrow here to say:
"Many are warning us that a perfect storm of climate change, peak oil,
and a global economic crisis is heading our way! I'm sure the next 20 years
will be totally unlike the preceding 20 years."

I'm making preparations to help my family and my community to prepare
and to find ways of flourishing in the new realities taking shape. As a wise
person once said,"It's better to be a year too early than a day too late."
As we prepare together, let's remember to look for signs of hope and to
celebrate them together.

I'll go first: I just saw the year's 1st robin outside my window, perched
in that ice covered dogwood tree.

What do you see?