Whew!

Oh my! This past week has been a full one!

This past week was the last week of the AmeriCorps Public Allies program that I have been blessed to be part of. In the ten months, I helped a non-profit implement a new marketing campaign, taught some hundred or so classes on sex education in the Bridgeport high schools, helped to paint public murals (two in Bridgeport, one in Hartford), took part in the installation of two community gardens (one in Bridgeport and one in New Haven), coordinated youth engagement workshops, volunteered at Staples High School painting scenery for their theater program, took part in a multitude of professional development trainings, designed invitations and post cards, and created a book documenting our amazing Team Service Project.

 This past week, each Ally had to present to the group a fifteen-minute exposition detailing their ten months of learning. I had to write it all up and figure out how to present it in a creative way to engage the audience. I ended up with a little video, and a Power Point depicting my year. Not being able to contain my love for poetry and language, I spoke as deliberately and pointedly as I possibly could. I received accolades. I am definitely content!

Little Video  of "Ten Months in Public Allies is Like..." Here!

Friday was our graduation ceremony, followed by a sweet Happy Hour at Two Boots in Bridgeport. Another great night with superb people! I am going to miss this crew of innovative, motivated change agents are building a healthier and happier world. I'm so glad I have been accepted for a second year in Public Allies, starting in September. And starting July 5th, I am in the MYOthello AmeriCorps program for eight weeks! I am looking forward to working with this creative program!

Then the weekend came! Yesterday, we did a little shopping for the house, some summer clothes, and some herbs for the garden (the ones I started from seed are still so tiny!). We hung out with friends and had frozen yogurt and Starbucks. Delicious! 

Today was a big day! After a morning run and yoga, Lover and I took out the ugly bushes in the front of the house. We replaced them with the following: two zebra grasses, two Karl Foersters, one fountain grass, one bee balm, one yarrow, two sedums, two salvias, and one hydrangea. Pictures of the garden itself to come!


Also coming soon, an update for Tread on Trafficking. I've got some miles to make up!

Happy Solstice!

I wanted to let everyone know that I will be back to the regularly scheduled programming after this week. It is the final week for AmeriCorps Public Allies, and I have a fifteen minute presentation for tomorrow and graduation on Friday.

In the meantime, enjoy your first day of summer!

Public Allies receive Citation

Thanks to our champions Angie Staltaro and Lydia Martinez, Public Allies Bridgeport for the first time in PACT history received a Citation! Mayor Bill Finch and the City Council of Bridgeport honored the work of Public Allies for our Bridgeport Beautifies project. We are extremely grateful and pleased to have our work highlighted by the city.

Thank you to all of our partners, donors, and volunteers who have made our project such a great success!

Tread on Trafficking - Week 5

I'll be making some phone calls this week, as I am still at $218.00 of my $500.00 goal. However, I have been sticking to the pledge.

Sunday -               Nothing - Pre-BBQ!
Monday -             Memorial Day - Gym Closed - BBQ Day!
Tuesday -              3 mile run on treadmill
                             45 minutes weight lifting
Wednesday -         3 mile run on treadmill
Thursday -             Zumba
                             45 minutes weight lifting
Friday -                 3 mile run on treadmill
                             45 minutes weight lifting
Saturday -             3 mile run


Whoop whoop! If you'd like to help end human trafficking, please check out my page.

Celebration!

The most important part of any project is to celebrate a job well done. Public Allies Bridgeport coordinated nearly twenty workshops with youth, plus a city clean sweep, resulting in 21 cleaned neighborhoods/parks, 1 community garden, a stone etching for the garden, and two new outdoor murals. Overall, we engaged over 200 residents, and several non-profits in the area.

Present at the celebration included representatives from buildOn, Green Village Initiative, The Mentoring Institute of United Way Coastal Fairfield County, Groundwork Bridgeport, Bridgeport Community Land Trust, Cook & Grow, and of course, the Bridgeport Public Library. We also had Mayor Bill Finch of Bridgeport, Mayor Pat Murphy of New Milford (the mother of one of our Public Allies), and two mayoral candidates, Mary Jane Foster and John Gomes.

There were a lot of hands involved, and we are extremely grateful to all our collaborators. We hope you will take a stop down at the garden and check it out. Take some lettuce - it's ready!

Memorial Day BBQ 2011

What Memorial Day weekend is complete without some kind of cookout? I think in years past, I've always ended up somewhere with friends and food, even without planning for it!

This year, Lover and I were hosts for two cookouts - one on Sunday, and the other on Monday. My camera was MIA on Sunday though, so I only got pics of Monday's BBQ. However, I am happy to say that both days included delicious menus and awesome people.

For Sunday's menu, we grilled BBQ chicken (and a veggie chicken cutlet for me). I made a salad with mixed greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, gorgonzola, glazed walnuts, craisins, and an organic raspberry vinaigrette that was delightfully tangy and sweet. Side dishes included cole slaw, chili-lime corn-on-the-cob, and cranberry punch. Homemade chocolate cupcakes were dessert, thanks to Liz.

On Monday, Lover and one of his friends tried out Dr. Pepper BBQ Pulled Pork Empanadas. They had to prepare the pulled pork in the slow cooker the night before. I made a BBQ version with kidney beans, black beans, and corn. They were a hit! I ate the bean version until I was completely stuffed. We made more chili-lime corn-on-the-cob, broke out the salad and punch, and everyone had their fill. Dessert was ice cream sandwiches - a summer favorite in this house!

Check out the pictures and recipes below:

 

I almost forgot about the snow cones! Our old roommate gave us a snow cone machine for Christmas. We got to try it out this weekend! The snow cones were smack-your-lips-tacular.

Recipes:

Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Empanadas

BBQ Bean Empanadas

Ingredients:

1 can corn

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1/2 onion, chopped

5 garlic cloves, chopped

1 bottle BBQ sauce of choice

1 tbsp olive oil

empanada shells

Fry up the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Once the onion is tender, add the cans of beans and corn. Stir while it warms up. Add the bottle of BBQ sauce. I let it simmer for about 45 min before the boys put them into the empanada shells, which you can then fry or bake. We fried ours in Canola oil, and they were good. Next time, I'm going to try baking them. I bet either way is delicious. I might try some spices, too, like cumin or chili powder. All depends on how you like them!

Chili-Lime Corn on the Cob

Ingredients:

corn, still on the cob...

chili powder

fresh limes, sliced

cumin

garlic salt

butter or margarine

Butter the cobs up. Squeeze the limes over the cob (depending on how limey you like it...I did quarter a lime per cob but I like it limey!). Then sprinkle on those spices! Lots of chili, a touch of cumin, and some garlic salt is how we did ours. Then put it on the top level of the grill for about twenty minutes. Check to make sure the kernels are tender. Voila! You have done it.

A lot of my cooking isn't exact. But, I like to experiment, and some days I'm feeling some kind of spice more than other days. I can't wait until the herb garden really gets going, and I can try out different, fresh flavors on my food! 

Feel free to share your favorite cookout recipe in the comments!

Memorial Day Workend 2011

As some of you may know, there's a farm in my life. The farmer, Paul, is like extended family to me. His land stretches for four hundred acres over rolling hills, pastures, and riverbed. There is a group of us who camp on Paul's land from time to time, and come to hang out in general. My friend Bruce moved into a house on Paul's land with his fiancee Jess. I envy their living situation. I dream of waking to fields and hills and farm animals. I kid you not. I spent my adolescent and teen years growing up on a farm - we had sheep, goats, chickens, peacocks, rabbits, and even a cow at one point. I loved taking long strolls through pasture and woods, and setting myself up somewhere to read a good book in the relative quiet of the outdoors. I kind of want that again.

Back to this past weekend. It was one of our "Workends," a weekend in which some of us gather to help Paul out on his farm. There is always work to do, from building stone walls for directing the river to clearing underbrush and killing invasive species of prickers.

This time, I was there for only a few hours. But the hours were rich with friendship and relaxation! We planted rows and rows of peppers - cherry, serrano, and jalapeno. Bruce shared some hungarian wax peppers that he had canned the year before with vinegar and lime. Tasty! Then Jess and I created a small feast for the few present.

 A colorful, veggie-ful salad, steamed artichokes with garlic-butter, and shish-kebobs - both veggie and meat-lover. Would you believe that out of the six people eating, three of us were vegetarian? Also, got to hand it to fresh food, and home-canned!

When we were joined by some others, we went for a walk by the beehives. I stood and watched a while for foragers returning home with pollen stuck around their little legs. I can't wait to have my hive.

 Eventually, we went to the pond where the big dogs swam and fetched sticks. (Malai is not a swimmer. She can swim, but she hates water.)

The below is cinquefoil, though I mistook it for wild strawberry. My friend Rose explained the difference to me. Wild strawberry has white flowers and three-fingered leaves, while cinquefoil has five leaves and blooms yellow.

My camera battery died at this point, but we walked along the henhouses and duck pond as well. Baby chicks were sitting below a heat lamp. One had died, which made Jess sad. But the rest were lively and healthy.

Oh! I almost forgot to show you. Inside their house was an incubator filled with hatching duck eggs. The hairy mess under the light in this picture is actually a Cayuga duckling.

I guess farms make me so happy not only because I frequented them as a child, but also because they symbolize hard, worthwhile work, and abundance. There is sustainability on a farm which diversifies their livestock and crops. There is life, and there is death, and there is more life. You work and live by the rhythms of nature.

 Do you have a place you like to go?