Got squash. Got Cans. Insta-Relish

After picking up my last pannier from Jardin de Resistance in Montreal I offered to buy some excess yellow squash they had on hand to make relish out of (actually I hadn’t found the recipe until I ran home and deeply searched the net — this recipe is now locked down so I liberate it just for you).

Each year I try to challenge myself to can as much local food as I can (either freezer, dehydrated, or in cans) to perserve and have healthy fresh food in the winter (which is loong In Montreal, we tend to only get food from way south even as far as South America after having been on a plane for many hours and not really tasting that fresh in the winter. So I’m trying to reconnect with older traditional ways of keeping food safe and yummy for the winter

What you got cookin’??

It’s a pickled spicy relish using tumeric and mustard and works really well with meats, burgers (veggie or meat) and just a great addition to any dish that needs a bit of relish! Thanks to the amazing folk at Coop Les Jardins de la Resistance for letting me buy some extra organic CSA veggies from them to make this beautiful relish!

Putting cooperate back into cooperative

[I recognize that some people might read this article and find it hard -- or _I hope not_ offensive. Please comment and write in the comments cause really the point of this is to create a discussion not prove my point]

It’s interesting working in several organizations and seeing the various dynamics and relationships that exist within them. Most recently I’ve been working in a pretty large cooperative that contained at moments up to 35 people and now more around 25 people (on a good day). Our mission is to support other organizations attain their goals online through the use of open source software. It’s interesting, nerdy, and fun to help people realize new and cool things they can do online. And most importantly, at least for me, is to be able to break that _hard-ass_ bubble barrier that technology creates for folks. Yep you go it technology empowerment!

Andrea Smith talks about Violence against Native Women and First Nations Land Struggles

On Friday night I attend a talk by Andrea Smith who spoke about the racism that exists in North America around the Violence against Native Women and the struggle of indigenous peoples.

Andrea Smith is a Cherokee feminist and anti-violence activist who is the the  co-founder for INCITE! An aloquint speaker i found that I was really drawn into the points that she made around systemic racism that exists in our North American culture around peoples of colour.

Michael

[Written for Michael Freeman - a man of many talents - wait for the audio I reckon it will be better]

A progressor of progression
Towards a new – open world.

Not so cold
Not so old
So so so much more bold.

A spoon deep in a vessel
Sizzling senses of hot sauces

Brewing…
Of deep support,
sustenance,
and spirit.

His hands like a magician
Crafting unseen grace in the food he touches.

A tapstry of local foods -
a plate of possibilities.

Casting people in a revolution of trance for
Change with their mouths.

A magician unlike others
He’s ready to teach
- You and me -
The magic!
And remove the smoke and mirrors…

Michael
Your a friend I respect
A laugh as contagious as a winter cold
A heart solid like a beetroot freshly picked.

Your not buying into this cash train
Finding possibilities,
Spreading messages,
In the actions you take
The actions  you make.

- An actor nota talker -

I thank you
For inspiring, encouraging, and loving me

It’s true -
Our friendship is like glue

Founded on canned foods,
Long talks,
and all the shit that will shift this revolution onward upward and forward.

SALUT!

From Baltimore to Heart

A city of ghosts
Poverty dripping from buildings…
With bordered windows, silent streets, and meandering men.

A desperation for change – for newnesss -
The rich have diserted
Fled for suburbs, fled for gates & locks
The rest have stayed… have stayed…

And yet.

Ode to Dan the Lady Man

[I found out just the other day that a dear friend of mine from Australia has passed on after having a diabetic coma. It's really hit me hard as I really saw her as a sister, friend, and awesome person in this world. So to her I wrote this...]

Eastern Conference on Workshop Democracy

I’m in the process of writing more reflections but for now I’ll post the two blogs that I wrote for work…

Conference Day 2

Workshop: Technologies of Collaboration and Cooperation

A fallen warrior

A brave warrior fell today…
A life taken by her own hands
For why we will now know.
Skill, Drive, and Smart…

An active activist,
A pusher of progression for progress.

I stop to reflect
On my own dialect,
My own rederic.

A world filled with people
Stronger, faster, and more fit.

Resist an urge to be weak,
To seek individualism.

“We are strong & not meak.”
They cry to passers by.

But my world is different and full.

We need more courage
To stand up to this mirage
Of instant strength…
Of instant strength.

It’s okay to be weak.
To discuss fears & shed tears.
Of Shame and Sorrow.

The breadth of my voice
Speaks gallons of emotions
Gallons of reflections.

My arms open to embrace,
The emotions you face.

To be there…
Solid like a tree – determined to absorb – and transform.
To not mask
These therapeutic tears of growth and trajectory
To something new and less blue.

Death of a friend

The news came to me a week ago that someone I had known in Montreal had died – taken her life in an abrupt moment.

I question all of this in my mind. This womyn was positive, an activist, deep thinker, adventurous and really seemed to have so much going for her.

Her close friends, foreign friends, distant friends are all left wondering why? To most there wasn’t any signs that indicated that she was struggling.

But it really begs the point for me. Is there a stereotypical type of person that defines suicidal? No. Not really.

The sea

The sea

Full of emotions
Moments of anger, stillness, soothing, and caressing…
Emotions.

It’s heard so many truths,
Felt so many things,
A keeper of keep sakes,
Never to be revealed to anyone but itself.

Headlands creating great divide…
Between the fury and force
Of the sea and source.

Exposing moments of intensity,
Exposing moments of beauty.

I open my heart
To this memory, this land, this place.