Category Archives: Blog

Garden Produce & Natural Living

darren organic tomatoesWe’re still in the dog days of summer here in the next lane, eating lots of goodies from Darren’s organic garden, but the hint of fall is upon us.

Just thought I’d stick in a few pics of some of the produce from our  garden. Actually all of the land here is certified organic soil. No chemicals, whatsoever and this is a relief. We don’t even need to wash these tomatoes–just rub them off and eat them. Another thing is that getting  vegetables from the garden and seeing them sit on the table shows quickly how quickly vegetables will spoil if they haven’t  been chemically “treated.” I’ve noticed that store-bought tomatoes will last  an unnaturally long time just sitting in the refrigerator or on the table, however our garden-grown tomatoes will begin to go bad in a bit more than a day!

These cherry tomatoes are so sweet. Adanna (granddaughter) loves them. She can eat about 15 of them without stopping! Since there’re no chemicals on them, she can pick them from the garden and plop them in her mouth.

darren organic corn 082015Here’s some of Darren’s corn. As usual, he has 3 corn patches this summer. He never plants in  the same exact spots since this would be too much of a drain on the soil and wipe out the nutrients. So, he rotates where he plants. Darren’s corn is known as some of the sweetest corn in the county! Yum-yum.

He also grew lots of beans, cucumbers, potatoes (white, blue, yellow, and red). I grew up on a farm where we grew lots of vegetables but that was a long time ago, so I had forgotten the taste of real tomatoes and potatoes. Trust me–there is very little similarity between the taste of the  tomatoes and potatoes bought at the supermarket and real home-grown ones–especially the ones grown in natural soil.

It’s a joy to get back to living more naturally.

My Second Chance

I’ve always been intensely interested in other languages and comparative cultures, but while in college and majoring in Cultural Anthropology, I wisely and unwisely listened to others who told me it was impractical to put all my eggs in that fruitless basket. They pointed out that there were barely any actual careers in Anthropology, and I did want a career and a well-paying one.

I had no mentors to direct me in the pursuit of  that career path, and I was too unfocused and maybe lazy to invest in finding a mentor. Mainly, I was too afraid to reach out enough to others and be either rejected or harmed in some other way. So it made me feel safer to listen to these others who discouraged me.

Still, I went ahead and majored in the discipline anyway and went on to marry interculturally and then interracially, which required a huge degree of immersion in other customs and backgrounds and to live an intercultural lifestyle, all of which I relished. On the educational and career fronts,  I went on to get a graduate degree in another area and have a fruitful career. However, late at night in bed, I held fast to my dream of pursuing  my passionate interest in Cultural Anthropology.

So, with this IINLL podcast, I get to do what I’ve always wanted to do! This is my second chance and I’ll enjoy this to the max.  I know now that I could have very likely had a  career of some sort in Anthropology IF I’d been willing to put my all into doing that. One thing I’ve learned for sure is that the more of the right type of investment you put into anything, the more you will get out of it.  Whatever the case, I’m thrilled I’m getting a second chance! Yay!