artichoke dip and wendell berry

catchy video matt showed me last night.  i realize plastic is a really hard thing to avoid, but what we buy really does send a message and if we try to avoid it when we can then it will (hopefully) become less readily available.  you can find tons of aluminum water bottles(got mine for 80 cents!) and reusable canvas shopping bags at the thrift store(much cheaper than the grocery store bags).  making your own is another cute option(or search etsy for some that someone else made!). 

ironically, i realize this is made of plastic, but considering it saves you from wasting a million breastmilk baggies, i'm intrigued.

on another note, that heidi swanson sure does know how to make a delicious artichoke dip that's pretty good for ya(no mayo, easy on the cheese)!  i highly recommend it!  although, if you are pregnant, you may not want to smell artichokes for a while afterward(similar experience with leeks making these).

on yet another note, two weeks ago adam and i made a valiant effort to go see wendell berry speak in arlington.  we didn't get there early enough as the Central Library auditorium was completely full and the lobby overflowing with people huddled around a tv screen that we couldn't get anywhere close to.  it was so sad to have tried so hard and looked forward to seeing him in person for so long(one of my top things to do before i die... and hopefully before he dies... the man is pushing 80) only to not make it in the door.  one of the librarians was yelling over the crowd that a video of his speech would be available in a few days on their website, so we resigned ourselves(after walking around the building to try to break in the back way) to watching it online and went on a date. 

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay.  Want more

of everything ready-made.  Be afraid

 to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

anymore.  Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you 

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won't compute.  Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand.  Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested 

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion-- put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep 

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn't go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.