short notice, free play (in Moab. don't you only need one excuse to go there? )

EXPOSED Wednesday 11/12/2008	7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Plan-B Theatre Company's award-winning production of Mary Dickson's play EXPOSED will tour Utah as a free staged reading to mark the one-year anniversary of its world premiere, sold-out run. Featuring the original cast. Readings in Ogden (11/6), Logan (11/7), Salt Lake City (11/11), St. George (11/10) and Moab (11/14). All readings are non-ticketed, free events with doors opening at 6:30pm, readings at 7pm.
Various venues in Logan, Ogden, Salt Lak
http://planbtheatre.org/exposedtour	801-201-9791

f.y.i.

November Group Meeting

What: Utah Moms for Clean Air Monthly Group Meeting
When: Friday, November 14th, 11 a.m.
Where: Sprague Library (2131 S 1100 E, Salt Lake City)

Utah Moms for Clean Air needs more (wo)manpower. We are looking for volunteers to help us with the upcoming legislative session as well as other ongoing projects. Our monthly group meetings are a social and low-key way to find out how to help. Kids are always welcome at these meetings.

"Please don't tell me a pre-polluted baby is just fine."

The nation's current toxic chemical regulatory law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, is in drastic need of reform. Passed in 1976 and never amended since, TSCA is widely regarded as the weakest of all major environmental laws on the books today. 62,000 chemicals were grandfathered in under TSCA and only 200 have been tested be the EPA. Since then another 20,000 chemicals have been added to the books with little or no testing to support their safety.
I try to offer digestible bits of information, things you can read in a few short minutes or implement without too much stress. Here, I am asking a little more. I encourage you to watch a 22 minute video of a presentation by the Environmental Working Group on the sources of toxic chemicals found in our bodies. Please, put your babies to bed and save a few minutes in your evening to watch this.
The Environmental Working Group has proposed the Kids-Safe Chemicals Act to the United States Congress in order to reduce the exposure of children, workers, and consumers to toxic chemical substances.
Start now with the EWG's Everday Pollution Solutions tip sheet.

so long in distraction

I have been lost in the flurry for a great long while. Election, mostly, but the rest of life, too. Things that take energy and time and my motivation to get online for recreation sake. I'm feeling the draw back, as the season changes to inside things and I feel a re-connection to the fact that I am an animal, a mammal, not much different from those outside beginning to burrow and sleep and rest on their stores, cached away.
I have put up my food in mason jars and gallon freezer bags. The work outside in the yard and in my home I enjoy, but the emotional preparation for winter I stumble through. Here I look at darkness out my window. It's five p.m.
My crutches through this are:

• new, warm, waterproof winter shoes
• a stockpile of tea
• seasons of TV series on DVD
• chocolate
• holidays and the vacation time Jared is forced to use-or-lose here at the end of the year
• exercise
  

Keep Fire Retardants Out of Your Kids

The Environmental Working Group just finished the first investigation of toxic fire retardants (called Deca) in parents and their children, and "found toddlers had 3 times the levels of Deca in their blood as their mothers. That means young children in the U.S. bear the heaviest burden of flame retardant pollution in the world. Deca is a neurological and hormone distrupter, and children are more susceptible to its effects than adults." Read the report here.

What's a parent to do? Take these steps to protect your family:

1. Inspect foam items and replace any with ripped covers or mishapen/breaking down foam.
   
2. Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter.
   
3. Don't reupholster foam furniture.
   
4. Carefully remove old carpet because the padding may contain PBDEs.
   
5. Have small children wash their hands frequently so they put clean hands in their mouths!

consider the wealth of your worms

Tis' the season for taking your yard apart. Here is a post from my old blog that seems relevant now.Queen Midge, guarding the beloved compost cage

In my itty bitty yard, I feared a pile of decomposing food matter stinking up my little bit of heaven and avoided a compost pile, until this year. My motivation was three -fold. I was tired of paying big bucks for bagged compost for my flower beds and garden, I realized the amount of food scrap waste I was sending off to the landfill was unnecessary, and I read Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.Doesn't he look happy about his geometrically arranged flower bed? He is a real do-it-yourselfer when it comes to gardening and has some strong opinions, so naturally I liked his book.

About compost, Mel says: "No home should be without a compost pile--even those without gardens. In fact, I feel that if every family had a mulch pile and used it to recycle their kitchen scraps (except meat and bones) and all their leaves and grass clippings, local taxes would be reduced, the price of oil would drop because we wouldn't use so much, and the balance of nature would be greatly restored."

Well, I'm not going to test Mel's economic theories, but being too cheap to spend more than ten bucks on a compost container I tested one of Mel's great d.i.y. ideas with a few feet of chicken wire and three metal stakes (all of which I pilfered off of my mom's farm. Thanks mom!). Jared and I made a cylinder of the fencing and secured it with wire then hammered the stakes in the ground to form a triangle within the new compost cage to support it. It took us about ten minutes.
So, in goes all my kitchen scraps except meat, bones, citrus and seeds. In goes extra dirt, a little hose water to keep it moist and any other worm food that we produce around here. For the first couple months we transfered any worms, centipedes, potato bugs and other dirt dwellers we would find elsewhere in our yard to the compost cage. Since then, they have upped their numbers all on their own and I am on my way to some delicious "hummus" for my garden, come fall!
Does it stink? NO! Is is a pain in the butt? NO! Do I forget to add to it for weeks at a time and still it continues on? YES! This is my kind of do-good project.
Check out the following link to Mel's page for more tips on how to build and care for a compost heap:
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

let's eat

The following is one of my family's favorite meals we make. It comes from the Simply In Season cookbook with a few modifications. I have had some requests from friends for the recipe and offer it to all of you. I serve it with a good corn salad, whose recipe is below.

Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos
from Simply In Season cookbook
yields 8

3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 onion, chopped
Saute in a large frying pan in 1 tbsp oil just until tender. Add water or apple juice as needed to prevent sticking.

2 cups cooked black beans
1 tsp each ground cumin and ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Add and cook until heated through.

8 flour tortillas, each fried briefly in vegetable oil on both sides to soften
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded or Mexican cheese
Divide bean mixture and cheese among the tortillas and roll up. Place in a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Separate those burritos you do not want smothered in enchilada sauce by cupping them in tin foil. Smother the rest with prepared enchilada sauce (see below). Cover pan with foil and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with sour cream, salsa, avocado and/or fresh cilantro.

Enchilada Sauce: My favorite is found at Whole Foods and looks like this:
I mix it with a little oil and a lot of water, per package instructions. What isn't used for this round of enchiladas I store in a jar in the fridge for the next batch.
Corn Salad
from Mexican Family Favorites Cookbook
serves 6

12 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1 fresh tomato, chopped
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt/ pepper to taste
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
3 tbsp white vinegar
In a bowl, mix all ingredients and chill for 30 minutes. Garnish with avocado slices.