Luck landed me in Canada during the yearly La Fête Bières & Saveurs at Fort Chambly. What a beautiful location!

While several locals were surprised to know that I was there all the way from the United states they quickly shifted into teacher mode sharing with my their favorite beer and stories about what they loved about their home, the french-speaking Canadian province of Quebec.

With three stages each devoted to different music, tons of local delicacies, and every beer brewed in the province, this event was a wonderful way to experience some of the beers and flavors of the region as well as the culture of Quebec.

This festival in celebration of an alum know by some as the stinking rose, avoided by those who seek to kiss their sweetheart, and banned from those on a sattvic diet because of its disruption of meditation practices and invigoration of the central nervous system occurs every October in Orange, Massachussets.

The Garlic and Arts fest is one of my favorite times of the year.  Occurring in the fall right around the time of the garlic harvest and replanting for the following year, this festival is jam packed with local foods, arts, music, handicrafts, and stinky breath.

Why does supporting local businesses at the Garlic fest matter?  Well without the numerous vendors peppered all over the lawn, the garlic and arts festival would not likely happen.  Many come to get maple sugar cotton candy – for which the line is always long – art, locally grown foods to bring home, and handicrafts.

While I was expecting the garlic ice cream to taste like garlic my first bite into the pungent coldness still shocked me.  ‘It tastes like garlic!’ I exclaimed causing my friends around me to crack up. For me, this novelty item was great to try once and certainly left me with the flavor of the event rolling around my tongue.

It is festivals like this that allow for a region to develop and celebrate its own flavor and feel at the end of a successful season.  Not only can fairs like this help people to feel more tied to their community, they give people something to look forward to every year, they also have the potential to increase tourism and local revenue in a way that an amusement park can’t touch because the ownership is local and spread out amongst many beneficiaries.

So if you are ever in Western Massachusetts in October, make it a point to visit Orange for the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival and check out part of what makes us special.

The most emotionally charged session that I attended during the Spring SVN member gathering at Skamania Lodge was Haiti Onward.  In part, this was because the rawness of the earthquake and its aftermath, and in part because of my experience volunteering for several weeks with AMURTEL had me feeling connected deeply to the stories that were shared.  The session touched upon several organizations that are working on revitialization and the rebuilding effort and offered the SVN community the opportunity to be inspired to participate in that effort.  Following are a few brief pictures of what was heard during the session.

~~“I have this vision” begins Samuel, one of the youth trained by Nouvelle Vie to be a spiritual leader for his community.  He and 350 youths across Haiti have gone through training to provide breathing and meditation exercise for their compatriots.  The 20 person youth corp, Nouvelle Vie’s next project, will spread concepts of permaculture across the nation while doing essential work to reforest the country.

~~With the arrival of Life Giving Force‘s suitcase-sized water filtration unit, 7,500 gallons of medical-grade clean drinking water is available for 2,500 people.  This unit is solar powered and is installed at a solar powered orphanage.

~~ AMURTEL works to empower the women in the camps through Animators – women trained to inspire and work within a community.  One of the big requests they are hearing right now is for micro-finance programs.  The people are asking for help to rebuild their lives.

~~ Jim Gordon, of Center for Mind Body Medicine, is seeking to bring a basic system of mental health for the country since everyone is affected by the earthquake.  Words he uses to describe the Haitian – sweet, resilient, and remarkably open.

~~ Indigenous Designs founders and SVN members Matt and Scott have made a commitment to help in this effort; so far ideas of how they will engage include selling products made in country on their site or providing orders to trained artisans.

~~ Fonkoze, a micro-finance group in Haiti, has a multi-step process to help life the people up out of poverty (yes they are already speaking to AMURTEL.)  They also have 50,000 women in their system.

~~ The journey for Haiti to move from being a disaster stricken country to one with a sustainable future has both immediate needs and long-term ones.  In response to supporting the long-term needs SVN members and  Halloran Philanthropies and Generocity came together to provide the initial seed funding for HaitiOnward.org.  This website was designed to catalyze and mobilize the sustainable business community into action by providing direct investment pathways and resource corridors to reach established grassroots organizations in Haiti.

There are many opportunities for SVN members to get involved through monetary or business support in the revitalization of Haiti; in addition to those mentioned above several SVN members have stepped forward including Tow Willits of YourOliveBranch.org, Brad Michaels of SociaLab, and Doug Hammond of ALIVE Communties to continue this important work.

To end, there is hope for this country.  In the words of one of the youth from Nouvelle Vie “In order for the world to be sustainable, Haiti must be as well.”

This post was written for SVN during their spring member conference.

Click here to see the rest of the SVN coverage of the 2010 Spring Member Gathering.

While catching up on one of the episodes of House, MD that occurred while I was away in Haiti, I noticed a theme that flowed quite well with my experience. So much so that I paused the video and began to write.

The theme was ‘privacy.’ While House and his team had a short debate on the topic and whether it was a modern innovation, totally unnecessary or socially irrelevant, I began to think of my visit to the town of Cabaret just outside of Port-au-Prince.

In Cabaret, I was surprised to see that when the doctors set up they were out in the open, under a big Tamarind tree that the residents used for meetings and to get out of the intense 120 degree heat. There was no attempt to keep people away from each other. They could see and hear the doctor’s conversations if they chose.

When I asked about the privacy and confidentiality, I was told that everyone knew everything anyway so it wasn’t an issue and that when you live as closely as the people do there is nothing that is hidden. Wow, what a difference from the multiple layers of confidentiality and privacy that we live our lives in in the United States.

One of the themes in CSR (corporate social responsibility) is transparency. Being open and honest about ones business practices. It’s important to doing business well.  But what about our personal lives?

I remember a conversation that I had with a good friend about a relationship trouble and saying I didn’t know how to tell the person I was having the conflict with what I was telling them. I realized that its that simple.  I should share my thoughts. If you say how you are feeling it might be a difficult conversation, but it is more transparent to your feelings and honest in turn.

Who is served by us holding parts of ourselves back? By doing that one makes the decision to not allow the other person to respond or react. Being more private forces people to go through things alone that otherwise might be easier to bear with support from friends and family.

Do we really need as much privacy as we have in the United States? Is it healthy? Does privacy serve only to further disconnect us from each other and living in community?

I’m leaving for Haiti early Monday morning and I am so excited that I am bouncing off the walls!  OK, so, I am not literally bouncing off the walls, I’m just giddy with anticipation.

Seriously?
Well, yes.  I’m heading down to volunteer in any way that I can, and while at it I hope to bring stories of what its like back for people to understand a little better what is going on there, how a country can be made a little more sustainable, and how to restore peace post-disaster.  I expect that while I have a lot of practical knowledge and an MA in Socially Responsible Business and Sustainable Communities from Goddard College I’ll be learning much myself on this trip.

I’m packing right now and the interior of my room is an explosion of outdoor gear, clothing, and donation items.  My conversation with Amurtel further helped me to realize that this is not a typical trip, and my packing list will be drastically different: for instance, I need to bring my own accommodations (a tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag.)  I guess it’s a good thing that I’m an outdoorsy person and have some of what I need.  But I will need to pick up some fun things like a super lightweight sleeping bag (its in the upper 90′s), (lots of) mosquito repellent, and a small solar charger.  Darn it! <– sarcasm

Some of what I’m bringing for donation:

• some barely worn t-shirts with me that I had been trying to decide how to re-cycle
• four freecycled tents and some rope *there are still families living under sheets and the rainy season is about to begin*

I’ve registered with the US Embassy in Haiti, wrapped up (most of) the loose ends with work, set up bill payments (thank God for online banking) and put everyone on notice that I’ll be leaving.

Any support to the success of this trip is welcomed, whether it is financial, prayers, compassionate thoughts, information, connections, equipment, et cetera.  I’ve already managed to engage the interest in a serious investor; the Jersey City-based fourth grade class of Ms. Litman is sending along $350 for the children of Haiti.

I need to go now because I should stop vibrating with excitement and get to everything that needs to be done before I leave.

Oh and on a final note I won’t post here until I return so please check the blog specific to my volunteer time in Haiti if you are interested in more.

A two hour drive from Wote in the Makueni district of Kenya lies the village of Ngomano.  The last 9 miles of the trip to the village center takes a four-wheel drive vehicle and nerves of steel.  Not only are you sharing the single lane road with goats, sheep, cattle and people heading to get water, but what is used as a road is often deeply rutted and washed out.  Hold on to your stomach for this bumpy ride.

Just before you arrive at the village center of Ngomano a small side road to the left takes you a hundred yards to The Clay International School.  This school was developed by PEI Kenya as an innovative way to teach, and in order to create a sustainable community.

I like that PEI Kenya is trying to work themselves out of a job, and the villagers like it too.  While initially skeptical, and who could blame them with the numerous abandoned or partially finished buildings put up by western groups seeking to ‘help’, the community is a shareholder in this process.

Some of the amazing accomplishments that I’ve seen:
- A women-owned cooperative in the village make beautiful traditionally woven baskets for sale locally and internationally
- The village now has access to clean drinking water after a long struggle with drought
- The school grows a variety of crops that are native, provide a balanced diet to the students, and are more resilient for when ‘the rains fail’

But the question remains, what does it take to help a rural village in Kenya to become truly sustainable?  While the answer is still in the process of being developed in Ngomano, it is clearly on its way.

I send my heartfelt congratulations to the first graduating class of The Clay International School!

Spending time in the Maasai Mara is amazing. You find yourself surrounded by lions, giraffe, zebra, and vast open stretches of land in a way not possible in the United States.

Despite the remote nature of this beautiful place, the Maasai people have made contact with the rest of the technological world. While the Maasai still dress in their beautiful bright clothing as they roam the land with herds of goats, sheep and cattle many of them also carry cell phones. While I was unable to determine whether this connection to the rest of the world was helpful or detrimental, I do know that i can now contact a wonderfully friendly man in his early twenties named ‘Dickson’ to chat.

While volunteering during a visit to Mara West, a side trip to the local Maasai village gave an inside view of the still viable semi-nomadic culture. The enterprising community which we visited or more like paid to visit gave us a warm welcome, a tour, and then laid out their hand crafted goods for sale. The community supports its chosen traditional lifestyle and a school for the village’s children with the proceeds from tourists. Who is behind this smart thinking? The college educated, handsome chief.

Yes, even after going to school and living with a ‘more civilized, modern’ group, traditional ways of life can be preferred.  In this case traditional life has been bolstered by the knowledge gained.

I’m referring not to the haunting of the hills but the abandonment of villages.

Empty buildings.  Why?  They have the food they need.  The homes are beautiful.  Why would they leave?  I expect that these typically family-centric communities of 5+ houses become nonviable as the younger generation moves away and the older one dies.  Driving around, we passed two of these housing clusters that were  empty and another that was at half its potential occupancy.

Another challenge evident exists in housing prices.  According to one local, after the release of the book Under the Tuscan Sun and then the movie, prices of Tuscan villas shot sky high.  It makes me wonder if those detritus filled decaying homes might be bought and inhabited if the locals weren’t priced out.  I wonder if this same effect happened after the release of the book Eat, Pray, Love in the countries it referred to.

The market at Monterci in Tuscany introduced me to a new gastronomic passion, porchetta.  Porchetta is a whole sucking pig, de-boned and stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel and liver.  This juicy and delicious meat is a regional favorite which makes for a delicious and inexpensive lunch at the market when topped with a crunchy piece of skin and stuffed in a crispy roll, its exact flavors varying based on the chef.

It was here in Tuscany that I was made aware that not only were the restaurant menu items, and market items locally grown, but that they are also seasonally available.  What this means is that should I go back to Tuscany in July the foods available would be what is ripe at that time.  Fortunately for me ‘in season’ during December is cingale (wild boar), black truffles, chestnuts, porchini mushrooms and persimmon.

In the Caprese Michelangelo area, locals who harvest the mushrooms, truffles, and chestnuts from the forest are able to bring the fruits of their labor to market with the assistance of a local Co-op.  Sounds like an easy and exotic way to get those truffles that you love?  It isn’t.  Each of the trees in the forest is ‘owned’ by someone and you would very literally be taking their livelihood.

Overall I have really enjoyed the regional flavors and the lessons that are evident when a locale seems to have  a more sustainable food system.

Learn more about the foods of Tuscany from our hostess.

I’m sitting in a kitchen in Caprese Michelangelo in the hills of Tuscany with a glass of a local white wine.  There s a fire going to keep the room toasty warm.  Jay is busy in our hostess’ kitchen preparing a tomato and fennel fish stew with ingredients that we picked up from the market that day, all of which were locally grown or brought in from the coast.

Is ‘local’ a theme here?  So far, it is and not just because it is a passion of mine.

Let’s start from the beginning:

In Sorrento, where I spent my first few days, the streets are lined with orange trees.  Small orchards of a few trees, herbs, and grape vines seemed to occupy all available space in backyards and on balconies.

Limoncello, a lemon based liquor, is not only regionally unique but also varies by producer.  One variety I tasted on a whim was far better, in my opinion, than others to the point that I might have though it was a different drink all together.

At night while enjoying a stroll down Sorrento’s small side streets, I caught a glimpses of the day’s catch – frutta di mare – in display cases visible from the outside of the restaurants.  No doubt this is meant to entice you in, and also to let you know what the fresh catch is for the day.  Fresh meaning that it was caught that day and brought up from the harbour.

Once seated at the restaurant for the evening I was pleasantly surprised with a local and superior in quality bottle of vino rosso – red wine.  This left no need to spend money on the otherwise pricey wine list, a pleasant occurrence which repeated itself throughout the trip until Rome.

Sorrento’s ability to not only feed me, but to do so locally and with great flavor was definitely appreciated.  I appreciated knowing that the locally produced and harvested foods comprised the entire menu.

Would this be repeated?  Find out about Tuscany in Italian Food Part 2: Tuscany.