Farm Fresh January 2022: Love, Serve, Remember, Winter Clothes for Standing Rock

Farm Fresh News - January 2022

In this issue:

Love, Serve Remember
A Past Life
Winter Clothes for Standing Rock
Carrot Salad Update

Return of the Light - photo by Steve Brady

Dear Friends,

First, I want to share my hope for a joyous year ahead, calling on the energy of another Hindu God, Ganesh, the remover of obstacles!

And drawing from the wisdom of India, I like the simplicity of the teaching of Nim Karoli Baba, guru of Ram Das, when asked,

Why are we here?

"To Love, Serve, Remember."

To love everyone, those closest to you, to love yourself, to love the beauty all around and the mystery itself.

To serve, to be of service, to give from yourself to the greater good.

To remember our oneness, our connection to the all, which is the great mystery.

Remember to be humble, in awe, and to appreciate this opportunity called life.

And remember to be especially grateful if you are one of the lucky ones to whom much has been given.

Peace,
Douglas

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Winter Clothes for Standing Rock

We have a saying on The Farm, "If it was real for you, then it was real for them too." Which is to say, if you went through something heavy with somebody, something that left a mark on your life and was meaningful for you, then that connection also went deep with the other person and trancends time and space.

When I was 16, I fell in with a group of radicals in the antiwar movement. You see the army had shipped all their troublemakers from around the country to the brig at Fort Knox, which put them together, making it easier for them to get organized. They started an underground newspaper called FTA, an acronym in the Army for Fun, Travel and Adventure, which they repurposed as F__k The Army!

Some of my friends from high school and I had gone to the town where we heard FTA had a coffee house near the army base and invited them to send someone to speak at our debate club. A man named Hal Muskat, by that point discharged from the Army, came out to meet with us, and in true organizer fashion, he also began meeting with us outside of school to bring us into the Movement.

Hal Muskat, before and after

It wasn't long before Deborah and I were spending as much time as possible at his apartment, located in a building full of young people a bit older than us. There were a handful of guys from the coffeehouse, gays and lesbians, an interracial couple, women's libbers. It was a real counterculture smorgasbord. I left home at 16 and moved in with Hal and his wife Lela. I guess you could say they took me in and my conversion to hippie radical transitioned to a new level.

Not long after, Deborah and I got married, bought a VW van and headed west. After about a year on the road, we moved to The Farm and Hal and I lost touch.

Our wedding day - 50 years this April!

Fast forward 40 years, and my son, now grown up and on his own, was at a club in Asheville, North Carolina, and one of his friends said to him, "Hey the guy running the light show asked if we were from The Farm and if we know your dad." It turns out Hal had built a business out on the west coast doing old style San Francisco light shows and occasionally went on tour. So we have reconnected. It has been good to catch up on what we've been up to these last decades, and learn Hal never lost his radical roots.

Standing Rock 2019 - from Hal's Facebook page

A few years ago during the occupation at Standing Rock, Hal arrived on the scene with a flattop grill and cooking skills and worked under the leadership of Native American cooks to feed the masses. Now he is raising funds to send them SEVERE WINTER CLOTHING. You see often when people donate clothing to go to a place like Standing Rock, a lot of it is inappropriate, not really suitable for the deep winter cold out in the Dakotas. Please join me in supporting this effort.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/severe-winter-clothing-to-reservations?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet

one of the paintings in a collection of Native American Art

Hal was one of the founders of San Francisco chapter of Veterans For Peace, "whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars.” One of Hal's close friends, a Viet Nam vet and member of Veterans For Peace, passed away recently after dedicating much of his work over the last 20 years to working in support of Native Peoples. He left Hal in charge of a large collection of beautiful artworks created by Native American artists. Take a look at the collection and purchase something for you home. All proceeds go to support youth & cultural programs at Standing Rock, ND, Rosebud & Wounded Knee, SD, Four Corners, NM and Pyramid Lake, NV.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10226839250112219&type=3

A podcast interview with Hal, Courage to Resist
Hal also appeared in the film Sir No Sir about the GI Resistance of the Vietnam War.

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Vegan Carrot Salad

This recipe and instruction is a throwback to one of my newsletters from many years ago, updated with some new information.

I like to include a certain number of raw vegetables into my diet, and a classic like carrot salad is a delicious way to get more carrots, pineapple and dried fruit (raisins) into your menu options.

Although many people will typically use canned pineapple, fresh pineapple is especially beneficial because it contains bromelain, a protein-digesting enzyme known for its anti-inflammatory properties. There is also more fiber, and you are able to utilize the natural sweetness with less sugar than processed pineapple, and have less, excess liquid to deal with when making your recipe. We have found it to be something easy to make when on the road camping, using a hand grater.

3 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise – We prefer Veganaise made from grape seed oil.
1/2 cup diced pineapple or pineapple chunks

Grate the carrots by hand or use a food processor.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and then chill for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to merge.
A great way to get more raw carrots into your kids!
Click here to see my web page about growing carrots.

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A big thanks to everyone who has become a patron of Farm Fresh!
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Peace,

Douglas

Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com