Have I mentioned that it's hot here in Balmy-timore? Like the kind of hot that makes you feel like a bubble-head. Normally I enjoy the heat, but since the
derecho last Friday which knocked out electricity for over a half a million people in Maryland alone (and many STILL without it), it's more than most people can take, including myself. However, this is a first world problem to be inconvenienced from our devices, to be without AC for a few days, to lose food, to be in the dark, to be without "power". Yet, most of the world deals with this sort of powerless-ness all the time. Frankly, I got tired of hearing people complain about not having "power" and how awful it was to be in the dark. I get that and I get being hot, but think about how this week has been refreshing as well. Maybe you spent more time outside, or more time with friends, patronizing your community or perhaps you got reacquainted with your natural bio-rhythms. We saw our electricity outage as Advanced Camping and it made me think about how much time and noise is consumed and produced by our devices of convenience. Sure there were a couple nights when I couldn't sleep because I was roasting and we lost some yummy Venison that my Dad gave us but I also got back in the studio, dusted off my bike and swam with close friends. So when the "power" returned yesterday after we came home from our second swim we both were a bit disheartened. Yet, right now it is a 110 degree heat index and temperatures are expected to stay in the triple digits through the weekend, so I am pretty stoked to have AC right now.
This past week at the Eric Waller garden we have been harvesting like crazy. The beans are in and I spent yesterday morning at the garden picking another bucketful for our donation to Our Daily Bread. The evening before 10 of us worked the garden and harvested zucchini, yellow squash and tons of green beans. I love being in the garden, pulling weeds, investigating the bugs, fungi and being close to the earth. Having such an amazing local food source during a time that we can't count on BGE to restore electricity in a timely way is pretty darn powerful. When I got home I immediately set to work fermenting the green beans, zucchini, turnips, beets and radishes from the harvest. Fermenting is a very resourceful way to put food by that requires no electricity or gas. Just the power of microbial action; lactic acid and a anaerobic environment.
After I returned home from the garden I took Earl out for a moonlit stroll. It was so incredible to be able to experience the full moon without light pollution. We bathed in the moonlit and slept like babies.
