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Once a year it is good to set a day aside to reflect on the wonders of our planet home. As part of this incredible web of creation, humans with one of the largest’s brains, have become the caretakers, for better or for worse. Cutting edge physicists are proving what ancient wise men and other civilizations knew, that besides being made up of similar molecules everything is indeed connected on a vibrational or energy level. So what happens to one part of the earth, or to one group of people or animals or plants, affects us all.
Life is a mysterious process. Giving thanks and encouraging feelings of gratitude make us feel good inside. According to many, focusing on positive thoughts and feelings also primes the pump for more good to come. So let’s all give thanks for our precious lives and once again see the world’s amazing creations with a child’s eyes.
Why don’t we remake Earth Day into a combination of Thanksgiving and Mother’s Day and all give thanks to Mother Earth? In fact many of the major cities in the US including Washington, D.C, New York City, San Francisco and Chicago are hosting huge Earth Day festivities. This year Earth Day events will also be happening all over the world.
The Earth Fair in Barcelona, Spain, will focus on fighting “Genetically Modified Organisms that are poisoning the planet,” Tokyo will have a very green two day event, 100% powered by solar, bio-diesel and hydrogen energy with an organic farmers market and organic, locally produced, non-GMO food from over 40 different restaurants and cafes. A plate and cutlery lending and re-use station will be available on site to reduce trash.
Earth Day in Buenos Aires will target the 4 main environmental issues in Argentina: Garbage, Energy, Water, and Transportation. Earth Day in the Philippines will be spent cleaning up the Banica river. In Bangkok, Thailand, the Assembly of 100,000 Buddhist monks will meditate on Earth Day at the Dhammakaya Temple. Their advertisement reads “May people of the Earth come and meditate together. Just allow the mind to centre itself in the centre of the body. Relax and let go. Let time pass by for a while.”
Earth Day might be a day to start a new ritual family outing into nature. A hike, bike ride, or visit to one of the many scenic wild areas such as Ramsey Canyon Preserve or Kartchner Caverns that have been set aside. Earth Day could also be an annual opportunity to investigate or adopt a new outdoor recreation or earth-friendly practice.
All sorts of recreation, public lands and conservation groups will have experts, information and demonstrations at Saturday’s Earth Day to help you follow your interests. These include the Worm Guy & Worm Woman, Water Wise, Hereford NRCD, USDA, City of SV Recycling & Composting, SV Environmental Affairs Commission, , Huachuca Hiking Club, Huachuca Audubon, Huachuca Astronomy Club, Cochise County Master Gardeners, Sierra Vista Area Garden Club, US Forest Service, Gray Hawk Nature Center, Kartchner Caverns State Park, Southern Arizona Birding Observatory, SE AZ Butterfly Association, Friends of the San Pedro, Friends of the Huachucas.
An earth-friendly practice that my husband and I have embraced for the last 30 years is solar cooking. We built our first oven with scrounged plywood, insulation and cardboard and aluminum foil reflectors. It so won us over that we built six sturdier models with polished sheet aluminum, two of which we still use. We now also have a commercial sun oven.
Solar cooking keeps you very aware of the weather and the sun’s movement through the day. It helps you appreciate the sun, even on broiling days. And it saves energy both in cooking food and not having to cool your house afterwards on hot summer days. Follow your nose to the solar ovens on Earth Day that will be cooking lunch for participants.
To help you get started cooking with the sun, Baja Arizona Sustainable Agriculture will offer a discounted purchase of sun ovens, as well as two new solar cookbooks and plans for building a solar hot plate cooker and a solar oven. Its information booth will also offer free Native Seeds/SEARCH catalogs.
Rain barrels will be for sale to help you start collecting rain water off your roof. Rick Weisburg will offer several sizes of barrels (color-coordinated to match your home) along with economical Norwesco tanks.
Finally please bring plastic bags, aluminum cans and ink cartridges to Earth Day at the market for a one day collection by three of Sierra Vista’s schools. Deposit them in the “ball cage” recycling station on the north side. In the past year the schools made $9,600 by collecting 1,921 60-gallon bags containing 12-14 pounds of plastic bags each which kept around 25,000 pounds of plastic out of the landfill!
Earth Day will take place between 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be no farmers market this Thursday. Summer schedule will start next week with markets every Thursday from noon to 5 p.m.
White Mountains: essential oils, lotion, mist, shea butters, massage oil, eye pillows and computer wrist rests stuffed with organic flaxseed and their lavender. A yoga teacher himself, Richard will offer ‘yoga bags’ handcrafted with beautiful material made by an Arivaca artist.
Baked Goods & Treats: The Cochise County Youth Orchestra will hold a fund raising bake sale with lots of home made cookies, brownies, cupcakes, and breads. The Cochise 8th Grade Class will also have a bake sale with popcorn balls, cotton candy and lollipops made by the students. Mesquite breads, cookies and tortillas along with regular tortillas, 3 kinds of tamales, fresh salsa and corn chips fried in olive oil by Tortilleria Arevalo; health promoting baked goods (cookies, scones, graham crackers, lemon bars, brownies and breads) made with gluten-free emmer grain by River Organica. Chia chocolate chip cookies also available from the chia lady.
Produce: Agua Linda Farm (Spring Lettuce Mix, Asian Greens and arugala, fava beans, dried tepary beans, gourds galore); Grammy’s Garden (wide selection of unsprayed produce including tomatoes, peppers, summer & winter squash, local pinto beans, DeCio herbal pastas, Arizona Citrus & certified organic Mexican produce); Dragoon Marketplace (tomatoes & baby lettuce, pistachios); backyard growers with spinach, chard and lettuce.
Dairy: Fiore di Capra will offer a large selection of goat cheese (8 varieties of spreads, sweet and savory tortes, chevre logs and marinated chevre) plus raw goat milk.
Meats & Fish & Eggs: San Ysidro Farm (grass-fed, hormone and antibiotic-free lamb, beef, pork, chicken and free-range eggs plus bacon, chorizo, sausage); 47 Ranch (all cuts grass-fed beef and goat and Cowboy Flavor jerky); Circle T Emu Ranch (emu meat); Buckaroo Brand (frozen wild salmon and other seafood, salmon jerky, smoked salmon); farm eggs from the Garden of Eat’n; Five Star Jerky.
Snacks & Prepared Foods: Middle Eastern hummus dips, pita chips, tabouli from Dr. Hummus, dried fruit, trail mixes, unusual candy, salamis.
Jams & Jellies, Sauces & Syrups: RPMS (complete jam line made with organic fruits and berries including new 2 oz mini samplers & no-sugar added jams, BBQ sauces (old-fashioned, Chipotle with Peach, Raspberry or Prickly Pear, or sweet with pineapple and Jack Daniels Whiskey, Tequila sunrise syrup for mixer or over fruit salad, Mesquite marinade sauce, Mesquite Rubs for meats and fish, Mesquite jelly and Prickly Pear jelly and syrup. GranMa Koyote will be back with BBQ and hot sauces and her new Habanero Chipotle dry rub.
Honey: Simmons Honey Ranchito (honey & hive products, beeswax candles as well as pickles & jams); Berry’s Valley Honey
Desert Health Foods: Arizona Cactus Ranch sugar-free prickly pear nectar, chia seeds, agave nectar, NS/S dried heirloom beans and mole mixes.
Hot Stuff: Salsas, Chile Powders & Chutneys: Dragoon Marketplace (red chile powder, chile pastes, home-style chutneys with agave nectar); Burnt Orange (Chipotle Coffee, Black Bean, Tomatillo salsas); San Simon Chile Company (jalapeno jellies and products with sampling.)
Drinks: Hot coffee from Adventure Coffee that offers organic, fair-trade coffees from around the world; Just Coffee (locally roasted fair-trade coffee grown by a Mexican farmers co-op, decaff is available); Maya Tea Company (white, green, black, oolong and chai teas with samples of a hot and a cold tea, tea pots, infusers, do-it-yourself tea bags and french presses); cold bottled water and sodas by CCYO; prickly pear lemonade by RPMS.
Plants: Brandt’s Plants (Pecan trees, weeping willows, desert willows, elms, silver maple, evergreen shrubs, vines, flowers, herb starts); Little River Nursery (cactus and drought tolerant shrubs); Yvonne Jingle (miniature peaches, black currants, gooseberries, hollyhocks, sweet violets, indoor and outdoor succulents and decorated gourds; Sierra Vista Area Garden Club plant sale and free seeds; Fiesta Growers (tomato, vegetable and herb starts & seeds), In the Garden Nursery (culinary and medicinal herbs and vegetable starts); Hoodia and other “feel good” & hybrid tomato plants.
Crafts: Handcrafted wooden cutting boards in walnut, cherry, mesquite, ash, hickory, and maple by teenager Gabe Montoya. (finished with food grade safe mineral oil. Some of the boards have a hole in the corner or in the middle for hanging.) Colorful and practical pot holders and aprons made by 92 year-old, organic gardening teacher Pearl O’Neill; Baja AZ’s info booth (nest boxes and garden art by Cheri Melton, organic cotton clothing and critters by Kate Scott.)
Soaps & Lotions: Desert Oasis Soap company (kaleidoscope of handmade soaps, lotions, lip balm, bedding spray); Fiore di Capra (goat’s milk soap and lotions); Circle T Emu Ranch (lotion, cream, shampoo, conditioner, sports & muscle rub, bruise prevention formula, soap and lip balm all made with emu oil plus pure emu oil and emu oil gel caps.)
Pet Products: Mr. Dinky’s Dog Emporium (home made dog treats & bedding); Azmira holistic animal foods, remedies & treats.
Recipes
Zucchini Spinach Casserole
(from the Solar Chef, a Southwestern Recipe Book by Rose Marie Kern)
2 cups fresh chopped spinach
2 tblsp butter
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 small onion, grated
1 tblsp lemon or lime juice
1 medium russet potato, grated
1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 large eggs
1/2 cup jack or pepper jack cheese, optional
Preheat solar oven to between 300 and 350 degrees. While heating, place spinach and butter in casserole dish and melt together. Combine rest of ingredients, except parmesan and stir together. Remove spinach from sun oven and add combined mixture. Return to oven and bake for about an hour. Take out and sprinkle with parmesan, return to oven for 15 more minutes.
Caramelized Onions
(The Sunny Side of Cooking by Lisa Rayner)
4 large onions
Olive oil
Dice onions into ? pieces. Grease inside of covered black graniteware roaster or cast iron pot. Spread onions evenly. Bake 4 to 5 hours, stirring once an hour to prevent tops from burning, until onions have turned a rich medium brown color.
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