[Editor's Note: Earlier this week during one of my nightly jaunts to do some chores outside, I was captivated by my surroundings in a way I hadn't felt before. It's been a long time since I wrote -- and shared so quickly -- poetry. I hope it can deliver a sense of what I experienced.]

The cold –
piercing shiver of solitude
Riding the back of the bitter wind
it impales with feelings of frailty

The night –
enveloping velvet black simplicity
Swift softness of its caressing touch
so quick to calm this burdened brow

The stars –
cascading cosmic hailstorm of divine light
Holes to the heavens give the spirit glimpses
into that which unites us with All

Lay with me. Cover me. Deliver me back to my true Self.

space

[Editor's Note: This post originally appeared in the Tiverton/Little Compton Rhode Island Patch, where I've started blogging on redefining the suburban experience as a way to help drive dialogue in my community on issues that I believe are important to our vitality and resilience. Given that you could easily replace Tiverton and Little Compton with your own community, I thought I would share it with everyone. Feel free to view the original and read the ensuing comments.]

Communities are living, breathing entities. Thinking, feeling things guided by a collective conscience and general moral compass. A whole that in many ways is the sum of its parts.

The laws of nature also apply to communities: There is life, there is passing; there is the constant of change that weaves its way through all the moments in-between; there is internal and external growth and evolution sparked by day-to-day experiences.

Amidst the challenges and struggles, successes and accomplishments, communities thrive on. How might you ask? Remember those “parts” from a few paragraphs before? Those are you and me; our families and our neighbors. Everyone coming together not only for the benefit of each other but the collective whole. Community living is all about the give and take; a real live stone soup of sorts, where everyone has something to contribute to make it the best it can be.

But alas, we continue to live in polarized times fraught with pointing fingers, blaring bullhorns, and internet anonymity that makes it okay to belittle and degrade your neighbors; economic, social and environmental tensions that unfortunately only seem to drive the wedge deeper instead of inspiring innovation, collaboration and good old fashion ingenuity.

I haven’t spent much time on The Patch, but from what I’ve observed and partaken in terms of “dialogue” has been far from uplifting. Given that, I’ve taken the liberty of capturing a list of five surefire ways to take the “unity” out of community, snuff out resiliency and not help it thrive:

1. Scream From the Sidelines. Communities are participatory in nature. Playing armchair or Monday Morning quarterback won’t change anything. If you don’t like how things are, get involved and apply your thoughts, time and talents directly.
2. Beat Down Ideas. Similar to #1, if you’re not adding ideas to the mix, you shouldn’t be so quick to shoot down those of others. Bring your chips to the table if you want play a hand.
3. Spew from the Ideologue’s Pulpit. Whether you drift far to the left or right, communities balance best when positioned from the center of the political and social fulcrum. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinions and positions, but at some point, if the center can’t be found, you’re only sliding off to one side or the other.
4. Spend Your Dollars Elsewhere. Not supporting (y)our local economic base only fuels the budget and tax debate (debacle?). It’s been proven over and over again that supporting local businesses allows money to stay in the community and be paid forward. Can’t find what you’re looking for here? Maybe that’s your cue to pursue a business opportunity yourself.
5. Think It’s an Eternal “Us” Versus “Them” Struggle. This is so old. It doesn’t work in Washington. It doesn’t work in Providence. It sure as heck doesn’t work at the local level either. We have to find the courage to get away from playing this card, find common ground and fix the problems that we believe are before us.

When are we going to get past all of this, roll up our sleeves and get down to work? Our communities, so fortunate to be nestled in this neck of the woods continue to set the stage for great things – smart, sensible and resilient things that pave the way for communal prosperity at every turn.

We teach our kids to share and play nice in the sandbox; to practice compassion and kindness; to use words to build up, not hurt others; that they can do anything they set their minds to. Why is it that all that flies out the window when you become a taxpayer?

We all can do better.

[image: sara gerlach]

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In a few short days, 2011 will come to a close and the new year will begin. Naturally, there is reflection. Passing time is like a rearview mirror of sorts; a window back into our lives that is cast wide open when we want it to be.

With each passing year, time feels to move quicker. I wonder why that is. Perhaps it is because we find ourselves trying to live amidst a world in warp-drive. Or maybe the journey out of childhood dulls the senses and clouds our ability to get lost in the innocence of the moment.

Regardless, I wanted to share a few things that I’ve reflected on these past few weeks:

Know-How

At the start of the year, I set out to learn a few things intentionally. Building out my self-sufficiency “tool kit” is important in my eyes — and believe me, I have a long way to go!

• Seed Saving — This was high on my to-do list. Learning to save the seeds from what we’re growing in the garden is a win-win on so many fronts. From saving money to becoming more self-reliant, learning how to propagate what you’ve already invested in is a throw-back skill worth reviving. A busy summer of Little League Baseball (I coached three teams) didn’t allow me as much time to devote to this as I would have liked, but I did manage to harvest and prepare seeds for some melon, sugar snap peas, asparagus, and even a hosta for one of our flower beds. The book I learned from is Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Gardeners (not an affiliate link).
• Preparing Foods from Scratch — Most of this came out of our two-week 125-mile local food challenge. Preparing certain kinds of food from scratch (as opposed to buying them already made in the store) allowed us to know exactly what went into it and gave us the opportunity to learn a few more self-sufficiency skills. It didn’t hurt that with a little investment of time, you saved some money in the process. Here are some recipes we used: yogurt, ghee, bagels.

Insights

For me, insights represent more internalized learning than external. They stem from a particular in-the-moment experience and leave a meaningful imprint on your being.

• Living in the NOW does not mean that all your life’s work must also happen NOW. Plans need time to unfold and come to fruition.
• Learning to look at life through another person’s eyes gives you an important perspective on any experience. This is particularly true in parenting.
• Nature is the lens through which we can observe simple perfection in action. It is the true mirror of what the human experience should reflect.
• Bad habits cannot be allowed to continually define you. You cannot hang the proverbial coat of your being on them. They must be broken and buried, especially when very important people are counting on it.
• Only the empty vessel can be filled; interference will block signals from coming through; baggage will keep you from traveling light and free. (Various metaphors for the need to shed what is unnecessary in our lives in order for more important, more fulfilling things to carry us.)

Favorite Finds

I love how new “discoveries” happen. You’re searching for one thing (or not searching at all) and there it is — something or someone who opens your senses a bit more to the world around you. Here are a few that you might want to check out too.

• Favorite New Blogger — Hands down, this is Ben Hewitt. He’s an author, blogger, activist, off-the-grid-living family man who I heard speak at this year’s Bioneers by the Bay Connecting for Change Conference. Ben’s writing is simple and powerful, fueled by perspective and experiences that challenge the status-quo at every turn.
• Favorite New Author — I mostly read non-fiction and admittedly have a tough time making it all the way to the end of a book because I read so slowly. But not the case for author Daniel Pinchbeck. While he’s written for the likes of Esquire, The New York Times Magazine and Rolling Stone, it’s his book-length writing that captured me. I recently wrapped up 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl — his amazing exploration of the various prophesies, scientific research and cultural exploits around what many feel is a forthcoming evolutionary step in consciousness. His writing is deep yet hip all at the same time.
• Favorite New Music – A few months ago, we discovered Spotify, a (free and legal) music service that completely rocks. There hasn’t been an genre, artist or album we haven’t been able to listen to. My two new favorites: This Will Destroy You (amazing acoustic/electric instrumentals) and William Fitzsimmons (ranks up there with Ray LaMontagne for song writing). Because of Spotify, I’ve begun a new round of CD purging. Why keep them?

What’s next? I am thinking through what is in store for 2012 — on the home front, here at The New Pursuit, with my other writing, in our community, etc. After nearly two years here, I feel it’s time for a facelift of sorts. I would love any feedback you have on the site and my writing. Feel free to leave a comment below or send me a note. Thanks for your candor and continued support.

Wishing you well in the New Year,
Bill

[image: collette v]

“Hitch your wagon to a star.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most nights, after the kids have nestled into bed and the kitchen is cleaned from dinner, I undertake an almost daily ritual. Grabbing the compost bucket from under the counter and donning my headlamp, I venture outside into the night to do some chores.

It’s a quick walk to the edge of the backyard — past the raised beds of the garden to the edge of the woods where our chicken coop and compost piles sit. Every once in while the shimmer of eyes in the beam of my light will catch my gaze or the rustle of brush and leaves will cut through the stillness. I’m reminded that I share this space with others.

I’ll toss the content of our compost bucket into one of the piles, grab a handful of straw to cap it with, and then top off the water and feed buckets in the coop (the kids have already grabbed the eggs).

It is then that I look up and behold the most amazing of sights: the night sky.

Since childhood, I’ve been awed and humbled by this celestial envelope that wraps around us; those pin-pricks of light taking shape and form to tell the stories of ancient conquest and love and wisdom; the lunar illuminations shining down to create subtle shadows of black and grey hues.

As I’ve gotten older, awe and humility have been joined by a reverence of sorts. A reverence for what lays beyond that relatively thin veil of atmosphere separating us from the rest of the great and unfathomable vastness of the – no, our – universe. For it is indeed our universe – ours to behold, to contemplate, to connect with and through to that which is greater than us.

The concept of inter-being allows us to understand that everything is everything; that all things are connected through not only the shared building blocks of life, but by our experiences as beings in this universe. When I’m outside gazing up at Orion high in the winter sky or Jupiter arcing over the tree line or the Big Dipper perched so perfectly above my kitchen windows, I feel such a tremendous connection to that vastness. It draws me in and wraps its celestial arms around me – almost as if to cradle my simple human form and give comfort to my passing earthly woes.

Quickly, such feelings give way to thoughts of who else might be out there staring up at their patch of sky and experiencing much of the same. Not necessarily those here on Earth, but those elsewhere in the universe – for I do not accept that we are alone in this journey. The numbers and odds are against it: Up to 400 billion stars in our galaxy; more than 80 billion galaxies estimated in the observable universe. All stars within this galactic patchwork having the potential for supporting planets where life – “intelligent” or otherwise – has manifested. The possibility of a multiverse layering around all of that.

It’s daunting, uplifting and mind-expanding all in the same moment.

For millennia, before we had so many things to distract us inside buildings, people were always gazing skyward – observing, learning, connecting and proclaiming. Stars and their movement across the heavens were the entertainment, the “reality shows”; one of Nature’s best lessons in the most amazing of classrooms. I wonder how different things would be if we all spent a bit more time losing ourselves in the night sky.

Here’s wishing you well as we gaze up at the stars together.

Be well,
Bill

[image: seng1011]

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Our youngest child, a boy, is smack-dab in the middle of his Terrible Twos. Over the past month or so, he has come into his own quite nicely in this regard. Why is it that the third child is so unlike the first two? Granted, there are four years in-between he and his sister (our middle child) and time has that unique way of helping you forget life’s day-to-day memories, but my goodness, I NEVER remember the other two being like this.

He oscillates like a sine wave on a steroids between smiles and screaming, happy dancing and hitting, and “I wuv you”s and “I fwustrated”s. His attachment to mom and dad (especially mom) seems to be exponentially increasing rather than waning. Just when we think we might have a quiet night to ourselves, he decides to burn the midnight oil and hang out with us. Even his brother and sister are at their wits end with all the craziness his two-and-a-half-year-old self is mustering.

But as we work to cope with all of this, I’ve taken great care (and a few sessions of counting to ten) to remind myself that this behavior is only temporary — a fleeting period in our family’s life that before we know it will pass like a summer thunderstorm. He will not be this way forever. Our frustrations will undoubtedly provide us with quite a bit of comic relief at some point in the years to come.

The idea that so much in our lives is temporary has really stuck with me though. And to think that so many of us (myself included) attach such great angst or anger or worry or fear to such fleeting things should give us pause. We are draining ourselves emotionally, socially and financially for stuff that will not be with us for our entire lives, hung from our necks like the Ancient Mariner’s dead albatross. How much more living could we embrace by letting go of these things?

With that, I sketched out a small list of other temporary things we would be grateful for remembering as such. Many of these reflect my own personal experiences.

• A crappy job or dead-end career
• Dark clouds (literal or figurative)
• Traffic jams
• Troubled finances
• Leaky plumbing
• A less-than-fruitful gardening season
• An argument with a friend or loved one
• Lines at the gas station, pharmacy or grocery store check-out
• Not being able to find that thing you swore was just here
• Flowers in bloom
• Writer’s block or other obstacles to your creativity
• The meal that didn’t come out just so
• Changing diapers
• Potty training
• Bread dough that won’t rise
• Stretches of cold, snowy weather (or heat waves)
• Headaches
• Misplaced keys
• Life

It’s a matter of learning the wisdom and insight of this perspective. I, for one, feel like it’s a journey rather than a one-off lesson. It will take time to undo the tendency to attach emotions to these things. Time to cultivate an awareness and appreciation of the temporary nature of so many things. Time to learn how not to be so “fwustrated”.

What have you come to realize is only temporary in this world? How have you worked to cultivate this understanding?

Be well,
Bill

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As we drawer closer to the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to take a brief moment to wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe day with friends and family. I continue to be so very thankful for your readership, comments and sharing. It is truly humbling.

In a world so full of hustle and bustle, I hope you can find time to pause and reflect on all those simple things which make each day worth living. To help, I wanted to share one of my favorite poems by Gary Snyder, Prayer for the Great Family, from his book, Turtle Island:

Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day—
and to her soil: rich, rare and sweet
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Plants, the sun-facing, light-changing leaf
and fine root-hairs; standing still through wind
and rain; their dance is in the flowering spiral grain
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and silent
Owl at dawn. Breath of our song
clear spirit breeze
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets,
freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk;
self-complete, brave and aware
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Water: clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers;
holding or releasing; streaming through all
our bodies salty seas
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Sun: blinding pulsing light through
trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where
bears and snakes sleep— he who wakes us—
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Great Sky
who holds billions of stars— and goes yet beyond that—
beyond all powers, and thoughts
and yet is within us—
Grandfather Space.
The Mind is his Wife.
so be it.

after a Mohawk prayer

Be well,
Bill

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“Every formula of every religion has in this age of reason, to submit to the acid test of reason and universal assent.”
~ Mohandas Gandhi

File this post in the “Pink Elephant In the Room” drawer. Or even the “Topics Never to Talk About” one. This post will either strike a chord — or a nerve. Here goes…

Stop for a moment and consider how much divisiveness organized religion has created in the world throughout history. The tension, the wars and the death. The in-fighting, the group-think and the intolerance. The hatred, the hurt and the hypocrisy.

For as much as any particular religion is based on the virtues of love and peace, humankind has (taken a largely human construct and) wielded it as a weapon of dominance and destruction — all because one group thought their way was the better, more perfect way over another. “My Way or the Highway” has been the unofficial rally cry for centuries.

Now imagine a world where we all acknowledge and respect an individuals choice to choose a spiritual path that resonates best for them. A world where we accept the idea that the same destination (union with some higher power or life force — or a finite end through death) can be found through many different paths. A world where tolerance and appreciation for different expressions of faith and spirituality (including none at all) leads us all to a more lasting peace and prosperity.

Really, it’s no different than other expressions of individuality: clothes, hair style, mode of transportation, house color, foods, beverages, pets…

So why is it people (some, not all) feel the need to ram their particular faith down others’ throats? As if political party affiliation wasn’t polarizing enough, why has religion seemingly overtaken the political machine? Here in the U.S., one does not have to look very far to see how futile the separation of church and state is. 

Many faiths call their followers to evangelize — to spread the faith through direct engagement and interaction with others. To use a business analogy, it’s akin to marketing your product through a form of direct sales. And if no one is buying your product, your business dries up and folds. But in most cases (Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses aside), evangelization no longer takes the form of the door-to-door salesman. Instead, evangelization has taken a play straight out of the Big Business playbook — harnessing mass media to blanket their message AND pushing blatant product placements within everyday things that we are a part of, namely politics, education, war and quite sadly, even funerals.

This is nothing more than another play in the “My Way or The Highway” playbook.

And therein lies what I see as absolute hypocrisy: What “God”, whose very nature is touted as Love, would condone such intolerance, prejudice, hate and death? How can followers of any religion twist and manipulate so-called sacred scripture to validate actions that in reality do nothing more than divide and destroy?

Our home is an amalgamation of spiritual traditions — some we’ve practiced directly at points (Christian, Buddhist, Eco-spirituality) and some we’ve learned about and experienced indirectly (Islam, Mormonism, etc.). Our children are learning the best of those traditions we are exposed to — taking those common threads (love, peace, compassion) and learning to weave them into their daily existence. We’ll say a prayer here, practice a kind of meditation there and wrap it all up with lessons in tolerance, generosity, humility, science and becoming caretakers of this world. I’m not espousing this is the right way — it just works for us.

************

The world is not in the midst of a War for Souls. It is on a quest for a common consciousness and universal moral compass. One that rises above what we perceive in our adolescent consciousness as “different” and “better” and “the only”.

Unity is the path. Love is the sustenance. Peace is the destination.

What has been your experience with the divisiveness of religion? How have you risen above it?

Be well,
Bill

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Quietly and with modest fanfare, the Earth welcomed its seven billionth human on Monday.

And like all who came before this child across the millenia, the Earth surrounded this human with an abundance of life-sustaining gifts: Air to breath, fresh water to drink, and fertile land to grow food. As this child grows, the Earth will continue to selflessly give of itself: Trees for wood to build shelter, stores of fossil fuels for energy and plastics and so many other things, oceans for travel and food, precious metals to adorn, plants to derive medicines from… Everything that this child will ever need — or could want — will come from the Earth.

So what does that mean to you and me?

Everything. With this new child, there are seven billion reasons (and counting) for all of us to challenge the status quo of how we live our lives and the burdens we bring upon this beautiful planet of ours. Seven billion reasons to embrace a new earth ethic that returns and restores the awe and magnificence of the natural world to our senses and livelihoods. Seven billion reasons why we must approach each day as a single human family with common values, selfless respect and deep compassion instead of billions of individuals with selfish egos and agendas.

Have you ever stopped to reflect on the beauty of this world we are a part of?

Our oldest son has been showing a strong interest in astronomy as of late. With that, we’ve been spending time with a lot of library books and talking about all things meek and grand within the cosmos.

But it’s been the simple pictures of Earth that have given me such pause of late. When paired next to images of the other planets in our solar system, the Earth just beams with beauty. A perfect sphere of deep blue with green-brown masses intricately connected across its surface and the wispy white of cloud cover seemingly brushed on here and there. With just a passing glance, you know we are somewhere special in the cosmos.

Yet, the path we have set in motion as humans has the potential to render this idyllic picture unrecognizable to those who will come after us. Selfishly, we will have stripped the Earth to its core, burned its contents to ashen relics, poisoned its air and water, rendered land barren and unable to bear life-giving food, and brought fellow creatures to the brink of or sadly to the demise of extinction. For what? So called “gain” and “prosperity”? The illusion of “growth” and “innovation”?

With the seven billionth human among us, we reach yet another critical milestone in our brief but tumultuous history; another fork in the Road of Life. Decisions both big and small regarding our future are more critical than ever.

If the annals of history are to be kind, all of we must shift our perspective on Nature and our place within it. We must return to a balance point that respects the gifts the Earth gives freely to us and enables all to share in a way that redefines “prosperity”. We must live choose to live deeply in a shallow world. We must live simply so that others may simply live.

The fork is there. We have the power and means to turn the right way. All that is needed is the collective will — the will of all seven billion of us.

Be well,
Bill

Enjoyed this post? Feel free to share it with your circle using the Facebook, Twitter and/or Google+ buttons below. Not a subscriber to The New Pursuit? Subscribe today. Thanks. You might also enjoy these posts:

• Meditation: To Nature We Turn
• Roots, Reconciliation and Renewal
• Minimalism, Mindfulness and the Moral Imperative of a New Earth Ethic

[image: NASA via Flickr]

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Our youngest carries our first two eggs from the coop

(Editor’s Note: This is the final post chronicling our two-week 125-mile food challenge. You can read the other posts here. A special thanks goes out to all our friends and family who offered lots of support and encouragement along the way. Food does create community!)

On October 1st, our family took on a little two-week challenge to only eat food that had been grown and/or produced within 125 miles of our home in Rhode Island. It was part of the 2011 EcoChallenge sponsored by the Northwest Earth Institute.

The Challenge is over and we’ve started eating some of those non-local staples like orange juice and rice again, but what our family experienced leading up to and during those two weeks was nothing short of eye-opening.

For fourteen days we ate the freshest food around, meeting the people who grew and made it. We embraced a new sense of resourcefulness, trying our hand at many new homemade things – from yogurt to bagels to butter. Our kids were troopers as they learned first-hand what it meant to really ‘eat local’ as we seized the opportunity to talk about the hows and whys of eating things grown and made close to home. Our Rhode Island Reds even starting laying eggs just in time for us to take advantage of them.

The Harsh Reality (For the Moment At Least)

Let’s be clear though: It wasn’t all peaches and cream. It was a LOT of work.

There was all the driving to get to the many farmers markets for food and supplies. While local veggies were plentiful here in the Sakonnet area (our neck of the woods in Rhode Island), it was a 25-minute drive to Providence to score our local flour (yes, you can get local flour in Rhode Island courtesy of Schartner’s Farm!), cheeses, popping corn (what a treat!), and other items that quickly became staples in our local diet.

Most nights were spent making or prepping something for the next day’s meals. That led to what seemed like a never-ending line of pots and pans to wash, use, and wash again. My wife, Sara, deserves so much credit for putting all that time into ensuring that what hit our plates was nothing short of amazing! My forte has always been playing “B-Team”, swooping in after the melee and cleaning up. It’s a good team approach.

Two Things That Make or Break a Local Food System

All of this quickly uncovered two of the glaring glitches in our local and regional food system for both producers and consumers: access and convenience.

On the consumer side of things, it’s (unfortunately) unrealistic in today’s society to expect most nine-to-fivers to be able to get to these once-a-week mid-day markets. Or to give up their few precious hours of down-time at night.

And while I have no first-hand experience with this, I imagine it is less than ideal for farmers and producers to be hauling here, there and everywhere to get their products to market. One farming family we know in the next town over (Little Compton) could be hauling one day to Providence and another to Jamaica Plain, MA. You do what you have to do, but there has to be a better, more efficient way.

What if the obstacles of access and convenience could be overcome? Could improved accessibility alleviate the hassle factor? Could a more convenient local food system bolster demand, thus creating a strong enough incentive to boost supply? In her book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” (which Sara was reading during our challenge), Barbara Kingsolver explains that only one percent of the food the typical American consumes comes from a local source.

Think about that: Only one percent. Now think about the food you’ve eaten today: Do you know where it was grown or produced? Or how many miles it’s journeyed to get to your plate? While these questions might sound academic, it’s really about getting the average person to sit up and take notice of these things; to care enough to see how un-sustainable a food system like this is – and decide to do something about it.

Here in Rhode Island, we have a fantastic non-profit called Farm Fresh Rhode Island. Their Market Mobile Program, which connects farms with local restaurants and other food service businesses in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, are making headway in creating these necessary market exchanges. But it’s only one slice of the customer spectrum — to be really successful this food needs to reach individuals and families every day at more of the places where they shop.

What You Can Do to Help Create Your Local Food System

Even as we head into fall and winter (here in our corner of the northern hemisphere), there are ways you can help create a local food system, drive our local economy and eat healthy – all at the same time:

• Support grocery stores that are committed to local food – You might not get this with the big box grocery stores, but smaller, family-owned ones do a great job at sourcing locally grown and produced food. When you purchase these goods it helps drive demand and sends a clear message to store owners that you value these options.
• Buy direct from local farmers and producers – We’re fortunate enough to have the big Wintertime Farmers Market at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket running from November through May. It features food from all over RI and southeastern MA. If you Google “wintertime farmers markets in [your city/state/area]” you’ll undoubtedly get some tip on where to get local food even when it’s cold outside.
• Sign up for a winter Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program – More and more farmers are extended their growing seasons to support increased demand for local food.

So now what do we do that our local food challenge is over? We’re going to stick with it as best we can through the winter months and into the spring, hopefully inspiring others to give it a try. We hope you can join us.

What have been your experiences with eating local? Easy? Hard? What opportunities do you see to strengthen our connection to local food and all the benefits that come with it?

Be well,
Bill

P.S.: Here’s a list of all the local farms and businesses that made our food challenge a success. If you live in the southern New England area, be sure to check them out!

Arruda’s Dairy
Beanhouse Farm
Beltane Farm
Brown Bear Peanut Butter
DeCastro’s Farm
Farming Turtles
Gray’s Grist Mill
Gray’s Ice Cream
Hill Orchards
Lees Market
Like No Udder
Milk and Honey Bazaar
Narragansett Creamery
Old Stone Orchard
Olga’s Cup and Saucer
Provender Foods
Roots Farm
Sakonnet Farm
Schartner’s Farm
Skinny Dip Farm
The Providence Granola Project
Walker’s Farm

Wishing Stone Farm
Young Family Farm

Editor’s Note: The Deep Living Digest is a round-up of some of the best content I’ve found over the past few weeks on the topics of Life, Nature, Being and Community. The DLD comes out once a month on (or around) the full moon. A bit of a way to help keep on tuned in to the natural rhythm of things around us. Want to get future editions of the Deep Living Digest delivered right to you? Take a few moments to subscribe to The New Pursuit via RSS or email. Many thanks.

LIFE

With each passing day, there is more and more of a tug on our collective sense of what it means to live and live well. What is meant by ‘prosperity’? How can we live our lives so that all life can prosper? In many ways, it’s about letting go of a system that we found ourselves apart of — not by choice, but by default.

• Less Work, More Living
• Income Ethics: A Framework for Ethical Income

NATURE

More and more people are (re)discovering how reconnecting with the natural world can lead to new sense of self and purpose. It’s a more deliberate and — in many ways — practical existence. Nature is not just some ethereal thing outside our door. It is you and I and the amazing interconnectedness that binds all life together to nourish and sustain our collective existence.

• I Went Back to the Land to Feed My Family
• Nature’s Own Stimulus Package: 7 Ways to Improve Our Lives in Tough Economic Times

BEING

The spiritual path — with its roller coaster of ups, downs and twist-arounds — can sometimes appear as an oasis from the ‘real world’. Yet, separation from the world around us might just create a spiritual framework that can crumble with the slightest jarring of our day-to-day selves. Learning to navigate all that happens to us each day with a spiritual compass can help make the journey as real and engaging as possible while helping us grow with each step.

• Making Friends With the Real World
• The Voice of Patience

COMMUNITY

The #OccupyWallstreet events of the last few weeks have sparked something in so many of us. To see people of all different backgrounds unite for a cause that is so important — so much bigger than themselves — is inspirational. It is another chapter in the return to true community. Yet while many gather, many cannot — and must show solidarity in spirit. Still, the take-away is that each one of us has the power to act. To change what you believe is worth changing — whether it’s what you see in the mirror, outside your front door or on your screen half-way around the world.

• You Have the Power
• As the 99 Percenters gather, 1 percent could make a difference

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[image: mindfulness]