Celebrate Earth Day!

GREEN THUMBS

Farmers Dave (hubby) and Dick (neighbor) in our garden.

It's noon, which means our 40th annual Earth Day is half over and I'm just starting to think about posting green pictures. I'll make it short and sweet -- some photos, some quilts, and my movie, book and website suggestions.

MIDDLETON, WI (near Madison)

We visited Keith last week in Madison, WI, and he took us on one of the many local hiking trails. Everything was just starting to bud out, and it was warm and sunny.

ALDEEN PARK, ROCKFORD, IL

A few days later I took this photo in Aldeen Park, in Rockford. This is a gorgeous woodsy park that I walked in and photographed hundreds of times in all seasons when we lived in Rockford.

GREEN GRASS

Then it was back to Gig Harbor, WA, where I zoomed in on our neighboring cows nuzzling each other in the sun. Their pasture is right behind our mailboxes, and not long ago they were joined by a horse.


When I was photographing the above quilt ("Garden Gone Wild") outside a few years ago, a bee landed on it and wouldn't leave. I guess that's a compliment.

GREEN QUILT

"Common Ground," by Sherrie Spangler, 2006, with design help and beading by Sandi Uram
Size: 40x29 inches
Materials: Cotton fabric, yarn, beads, decorative threads
Techniques: Machine applique and quilting, beading

My good friend and art teacher Sandi Uram instigated this quilt in conjuction with Rockford College's Uncommon Women series in 2006. She helped with the design and provided the green fabric, and I did the sewing. Then she used her community connections to display it in a window at the Rockford Art Museum during the Uncommon Women events.


GREEN MOVIE: "The Real Dirt on Farmer John"

This award-winning film documentary shows how John saved his late father's farm near Rockford by turning it into a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm called Angelic Organics. People from Wisconsin down through Chicago subscribe before the growing season to a share in the farm, and in return receive a huge box every week brimming with freshly harvested produce. The film also examines the plight of family farms in the face of industrial agriculture and suburban sprawl. Click here for the farm's blog site. From there you can find info on the movie and on farm subscriptions.

We subscribed to Angelic Organics for about nine years when we lived in Rockford and felt righteously healthful and green because of it!


GREEN BOOK: Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring"

Carson is considered the mother of the environmental movement as well as a poetic writer.


GREEN WEBSITE: Stewart Brand http://web.me.com/stewartbrand/SB_homepage/Home.html

I just saw Brand a few nights ago on a PBS special about early environmental leaders. He's best known for editing the 1968 Whole Earth Catalog, but wikipedia gives an interesting synopsis of him (born in Rockford in 1938 and now lives on a tug boat in Sausalito) and his other ventures. To read more from wikipedia, click here.

NOW GET OUTSIDE AND DIG IN THE DIRT, PLANT A TREE OR EAT SOMETHING GREEN!