by Dawn | Jul 17, 2014 | food, parenting
“Miss, you ain’t had Kool-aid till you had it in the projects!” I’d been in and out of this neighborhood a million times, but no one ever stopped to offer me Kool-aid before. My student was going into the Marines. His family invited me by for...
by Dawn | May 29, 2014 | family, food, parenting
The school nurse called. I didn’t pack Declan the right lunch. Declan doesn’t eat, but worse than that there seems to be some suspicion as to whether I feed him. It appears the boy “outgrew sandwiches.” We’ve been making jelly sandwiches...
by Dawn | May 20, 2014 | food, gardening
I’m growing my own food again this year. Last year, I didn’t get it quite right. The bugs had dinner before I could. I read every book on organic farming, yet still, they ate my veggies, impervious to my reading. There were grubs, slugs, and beetles, and...
by Dawn | Apr 21, 2014 | family, food
The season of egg salad has arrived. Spring is a sacred time for all religions–a time of renewal–buds on the trees, plants poking through the ground. I was told by one of my farming mentors Wiccans advise planting parsley on Good Friday and say it’s...
by Dawn | Apr 11, 2014 | self-improvement, simplicity
“We traveled to school in the snow. We only had one pair of shoes between us. And we liked it!” Senior citizens have a way of remembering. As a historian, I’ve learned to filter this. It’s something I teach my students when we examine primary...
by Dawn | Mar 23, 2014 | self-improvement, sustainability
Fiber. That’s all it is. I ate the sticker on the tomato. They’re insidious. Hidden on every piece of produce, down to the last pea. My fault for not eating in season. These tomatoes were grown far, far away. I try to eat locally. Tomatoes are grown in...