Lest Thou Think Us Vogue

I sat today, giving myself a self-righteous pat on the back for knowing exactly which family each of the food items on my plate came from. What wonderful people we have become.

As our increasingly “Last Child in the Woods,” locavor, yogurt-making family moves out of the mainstream and into the 'vogue ideal' of 'sustainability – I thought this would be a good time to remind myself and let you all in on a few secrets.

We burn our garbage. ALL OF IT. Polluting the world, and specifically the air, right outside of our children's window, with toxic plastic fumes.
I sometimes considering 'going somewhere' just to have an excuse to get away from hand washing cloth diapers.
And yesterday, in a moment of weakness, at a hardware store while Jarod was making keys I spent over $15 on fertilizers and pest control for the garden. I am depressed and dejected at growing things in this climate and am tired of only being able to grow things that are “carne de perro.” I want spinach. After 200 mangos - I want a carrot. This 'local eating' – preindustrial lifestyle is hard.

So, there you have it – we are garbage burning, fertilizer using – cruddy gardeners, energy sucking polluters living on the edge of virgin rain forests, that will in all likely-hood be gone before my kids enter school. Because; here is the secret: The people cutting down the rain forests are not evil monsters who just don't care about humanity. They are people just like you and I. People trying to “make a buck,” “support a family,” or “get ahead.” The people who are still hunting and eating endangered species are my neighbors. And they are just hungry. The world is in the condition it is, because it is full of human beings, like you and like I who can not – no matter the effort put forth – no matter what the new great 'vogue' idea to help our children and save the world is – meet the ideal. The ideal of, “Loving God above all else and our neighbor as ourself.” We can only succeed in getting 'good enough' to become self-righteous in our effort and looking down upon others. We cannot save the world by just 'living simply' – by going back to some made up ideal lifestyle that never has exsited. And this is good news. It takes all the pressure off. Not the pressure to do good. But the pressure of perfection. Because the perfection has already come. The world's salvation is already guaranteed. We are then free to live in grace. Toward ourselves and others. Doing the best we can, motivated by love and gratitude.

We had the joy of being joined by a 'crazy canadian hippy volunteer' for a month this summer, who was continually striving to live with the least footprint upon this planet. She challenged us and laughed with us. She lived as consistently as she could, striving for perfection in herself but being ever gracious with failings and open to conversation. She was an inspiration, but mostly because she never looked to herself as the savior or as having arrived. So here is to you Bethany – may the fuel in your plane to arrive safely at home keep you humbled. :) And here is to you, our granola eating friends in Portland – may you continue to buy food at the local farmer's market – always knowing that it is an act of love – to a world beyond your repair – but never beyond His. Here is to you Olga who still grinds your home grown corn every morning, wash your laundry by hand every afternoon, walk the hill every evening for church, and puts your ever so pregnant body to bed every night. And, here is to me – and all the garbage I burn, until we all find a better way...

Don't look to men for help;
Their greatest leaders fail;
For every man must die.

His breathing stops, life ends,
And in a moment
all he planned for himself is ended.

But happy is the man
Who has the God of Jacob as His helper,
whose hope is in the Lord his God -
the God who made both earth
and heaven, the seas and everything in them.

He is the God who keeps every promise,
and gives justice
to the poor and oppressed,
and food to the hungry.

Psalm 146:3-7
Living Bible



We have green beans that grow this long and yummy... okra too, and cucumbers - at times. That giant thing behind him is a mazapan... a giant fruit you can fry like a potato. Actually - you'd be surprised what fruits you can fry in animal fat :)


Although I may be ready for a change in diet - Lucy will never tire of the mangos - and alas I will never tire of changing her lovely runny diapers. They work better than prunes.