Pray the news, part II

OK, fine. So I can't sleep. I went to bed early thinking I was tired, but my brain won't shut down.

This morning my pastor pointed out an article in January's The Lutheran magazine: "Looking back at the news of 2003: How do you pray for the headlines?" by an Episcopalian, Barbara Crawthorne Crafton. (I had commented on an LA Times article a year and a half ago about a group of nuns who pray the news online; when I discovered Mercy Street, I saw that the sisters' site was one of Sparrow's links.)

While not sleeping in bed, it struck me that praying the news is not only praying for remote situations seemingly unrelated to me. I might even pray about the NY Times article I linked to earlier this evening—what was so compelling about it for me? Why do I keep imagining learning to raise cattle or sheep or chickens or pigs or about growing a garden on my parents' three acre farm? How would I ever earn a living? And what about finishing my degree?

So I go to the end of Crafton's article, where she gets downright Lutheran, and read:

Pray for your ethical choices and the choices of others. Pray for what happens as a result of those choices. Stumble along and figure it out as best you can. Peer as far into the future as you can see, never very far, and try to see all the possible outcomes of your actions. Then take a deep breath and act. And throw yourself upon God's mercy.

Local dining

In today's NY Times Magazine is this article (free registration required): "A Short-Order Revolutionary," by Russell Shorto, about a diner in Vermont run by Tod Murphy.

The diner has a purpose: to support nearby family farms, or rather to demonstrate the conviction that -- economically, historically, naturally, logically -- food is supposed to be local, and that it can be again. Its business model is to swim directly against the globalization current. To that end, being a diner -- an icon of the American culinary and cultural landscape -- underscores the point: Remember what we used to be? Remember when taste and tradition mattered? Real food for regular people.

The article explains the challenges, not only of finding local sources of vegetables and meat, but also of figuring out a delivery system—"the challenge of recreating his great-grandmother's distribution system in the global age is difficult almost to the point of absurdity, as Murphy cheerfully admits"—and finding local meat processing facilities.

''The first thing I learned about trying to source local food is, meat is the issue,'' Murphy said. ''Vegetables are easy. A restaurant that uses locally grown vegetables, that's nice, but so what? If you're a diner, you need a steady supply of bacon, sausage and ham. Maybe you can find a small farmer to supply you, but he doesn't have the facilities for slaughtering. And who's going to smoke the meat? I couldn't find a processor in the state who wanted to do it. I didn't see how we'd be able to demonstrate the model without meat processing. So I bit the bullet and realized I was going to have to do that myself.''

Murphy wants to expand his model and has interested investors. However, as one analyst noted,

''The Farmers Diner works because Tod is willing to do the incredible amount of legwork and network-building,'' said Brian Halweil, a WorldWatch Institute researcher who made a study of the diner last year. ''He's really committed. Plus, it's a tight-knit community. It remains to be seen if what he's done can be duplicated elsewhere.''

(Via Meg's Food and Wine Page.)

Two recommendations

First, from a conversation with a title insurance compliance officer, this book: Measuring America: How the United States was Shaped by the Greatest Land Sale in History, by Andro Linklatter. I've just started reading it, but I'm hooked! How the development and use of standardized land measuring instruments and surveying practices changed notions of land ownership, and how America was measured and sold off to pay for the war of independence.

Second, via Rebecca's Pocket, a website called Theory of the Daily: The domestic and the everyday in literature, history, philosophy, and science. Thoughtful entries on domesticity.

Knitting projects list

Yesterday afternoon I catalogued my knitting projects and stash of yarn. The stash is not very large or interesting. But some of the knitting projects have gone unfinished all too long. Here is a listing by order of how long I've (not) been working on various projects:

• Project: Baby Blanket
  Started: 1986
  Pattern: Leisure Arts Leaflet 397 Baby Wrappers!, "Eyelet Lace"
  Yarn: Bernat Sesame 4 100% wool in "Baby Green"
  To finish: Sew one garter stich border to main blanket; knit second border and sew; knit top border.

• Project: Baby Sweater and Hat
  Started: 2001
  Pattern: Sirdar 3071
  Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly Baby Care Cotton Blend DK, baby blue color
  To Finish: Complete button placket; sew to body of sweater; sew on buttons.

• Project: Fingerless Gloves
  Started: November 2002
  Pattern: "Basic Women's Fair Isle Fingerless Gloves"
  from Knitting Fair Isle Mittens & Gloves: 40 Great-Looking Designs by Carol Rasmussen Noble
  Yarn: Filanda Extrafine 100% Alpaca, heather taupe color
  To Finish: Mark thumb of left hand glove; knit about an inch and a half to the fingers; knit the partial fingers.

• Project: Faroese Shawl
  Started: Summer 2003
  Pattern: "Barbara Shawl" in Stahman's Shawls & Scarves: Lace Faroese-Shaped Shawls From The Neck Down and Seamen's Scarves by Myrna Stahman
  Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fine (80% cotton, 20% wool), white "Cotton Ball"
  To Finish: Need to find my place in the pattern; have knit about 12 inches down from the neck—the rows only get longer and longer.

• Project: Black & White Jacket
  Started: Fall 2003
  Pattern: "Atherton" from Jean Frost Jackets: Fabric, Fit, and Finish for Today's Knits
  Yarn: Euroflax 100% linen, black; Ornaghi Filati Mohair, off-white
  To Finish: Have completed about 13 inches of the back; soon to start decreasing for the armholes.

• Project: Baby Layette
  Started: Fall 2003
  Pattern: "Rose" in Baby Knits from Dale of Norway: Soft Treasures for Little Ones
  Yarn: Baby Ull Dalegarn, pink
  To Finish: Start decreasing for armholes on sweater; knit second bootie; sew together first bootie; knit hat.

• Project: Assorted Barbie doll clothes
  Pattern: From Knits for Barbie Doll by Nicky Epstein

My first goal is to finish the top three projects, soon! I've started with the fingerless glove.

Just a note

From an article in today's LA Times, I learned about this site: The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln. For example, you can select "Today's Date in Lincoln's Life" and receive a listing of everything known about Lincoln's activities on a specific day throughout his years.

For example, "Monday, January 4, 1864. Point Lookout, Md., and Washington. Lincoln is honorary officer of Ladies Great National Sanitary Fair in Washington during January. Washington Chronicle, 4 January 1864." I wonder what the Ladies Great National Sanitary Fair was all about? Health and sanitation problems in cities?

Holidays' ending

Today the sky is clear blue with not one cloud to be seen. Yesterday it rained all day; in the afternoon it was even foggy, a rare occurrence around here. I could have been in Washington state.

This morning I successfully cleared up a lot of stuff in the living room, inspired by a new book, The Spirit of Getting Organized: 12 Skills to Find Meaning and Power in Your Stuff, by Pamela Kristan. I know, I know, why did I have to buy yet another book, a self-help book no less, but as I've written here before, I'll take help wherever I can get. The focus of the book is not so much how to sort and organize stuff (I know how quite well by this point in my life) but the attitudes and feelings around the whole process.

Today's lessons are to set time limits on how long I'm going to work on my piles, and then acknowledge what I did accomplish and not fret about how much more there is to do. The entire couch and floor space around the couch is cleared away, and the desk/computer area is tidy enough to be able actually to work.

Now I'm going to make lentil soup and then wash the dishes.

The eighth day of Christmas

"And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. . . . 'And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.'" (Luke 2:21; 1:31)

So today is the festival of The Name of Jesus. I am celebrating by listening to a Chanticleer Christmas CD. The Lutheran Sundays and Seasons 2004 liturgy book reminds me that "Jesus' name[ ] is a gift to us and marks us as children of God. Baptized into Christ, we begin the new year in Jesus' name."

On this eighth day of Christmas, I am also cleaning my house. I started in the bedroom, then moved to the kitchen. I was inspired by how peaceful and tidy my parents' house was.

I cooked half a butternut squash, also inspired by my mother. I had asked for a chef's knife for Christmas so I could cut up squash more easily being that I don't have a chopping block and ax, my mother's method. It only takes five minutes cooking time in the pressure cooker. My mother steams squash on the wood stove in the kitchen that was stoked the entire time I was at their house. There is no heat like wood heat and being able to back up to a hot stove to keep warm!