Reminder and Farewell

All, don't forget to go and lend some money at http://www.kiva.org/team/tablog. How cool it is to have an opportunity to help global brothers and sisters become self-sustaining!

On a separate note, I have decided to stop writing this blog after 5+ years. It's been a blast and given me a much needed outlet for my writing and thoughts. However, for several months, I have felt called to start a new blog focused on living simply and how we might be able to end poverty if we all take only our share and relearn what it means to have enough. As such, I have decided to stop writing here.

If you are a friend/family, I'll see you on Facebook. If I don't know you, but you enjoy my writing, please follow my new blog here: http://livesimplyenough.com/

Have a blessed and relaxing holiday! Remember those who have less than you and keep your friends and family near.

Peace,
Tabita

Blog with Heart

I was thrilled to read a post on zenhabits.net this afternoon with the title "How We Can Help Alleviate World Poverty in Three Easy Steps." As you know, this topic is near and dear to my heart. In fact, the topic of this blog is slowly morphing into living simply so others can have enough. It's a simple concept, really.

Anyway, the blog post mentioned the "Blog with Heart" challenge, which is a great opportunity to lend a helping hand. This is a challenge to blog communities to lend money though kiva.org during the month of December. You may recall that I tried this micro lending site out back in September.

So, of course I'll be one of the first to jump on the bandwagon. Go to the tablog team and lend a hand to an entrepreneur in need: http://www.kiva.org/team/tablog

Thanks!

Note: Picture courtesy of Agnieszka Bialobrzeska at stock.xchng.

Reflections on My Internet Fast

As you may or may not know, I took the month of October off from the Internet. Well, not completely off, of course. It would be hard to do my job otherwise. I also allowed activities like getting directions, checking email (on occasion), paying bills, and looking up vital information (like how to toast pumpkin seeds).

But I didn't write blog posts, read blogs or other articles, participate in any form of social networking, or shop online.

The motivation: more time, less stress, and just to get away.

I have to say, I didn't miss it a bit. Well, I missed writing, but that was about it. I had some good blog post ideas in October, but I just let them go. Productivity was fantastic. Think about it...

You get to work early (to get things done) and turn on the computer. What is the first thing you do? Work? Probably not. You likely glance at the news headlines, and potentially get sidetracked into an interesting story. You then move on to email where you find a dozen notifications from Facebook, which leads you to that time-sucking site. You see an update from an old friend and go to her profile to see what else is going on in her world and who her friends are. You see a common acquaintance who is not yet your friend, so you send a friend request. Before you know it, it's 9 o'clock, time for your first meeting of the morning and your day is shot.

During my Internet fast, my morning started with my MITs (most important tasks) and allowed me to feel good about my accomplishments by the time 9 AM rolled around. I'm trying hard to maintain this discipline.

I also enjoyed being disconnected for a while. Checking Facebook, especially, can become quite addictive. It's not like I was on there all the time before the fast, but I felt like it was almost a duty to check in several times a day. What if somebody had a baby? What if a good friend was sick? What if, what if, what if...? Like Facebook is now the only socially acceptable form of communication?

The best part was that friends really appreciated what I was doing. Almost like, "wow, I wish I could do that..." Well, you can. It's pretty easy. Even now, 14 days into the world of Internet again, I find myself not using it at all as much. I check personal email once a day. I check Facebook when I feel like it and not out of some weird 21st century cyber duty. I read blog posts when I see a title that looks really, really intriguing, maybe one or two daily.

My fast allowed me to detach from the Internet and find out that it is okay. The world will not end if I don't show up on Twitter for a month (or two).

Nice.

What Needs to Happen to Save our Planet?

As I was going through my notebooks this morning, making sure that I had captured all my "todos" in a safe place (aka OneNote), I found a page that I had written a while back.

It was titled: "What needs to happen in order to save the planet?"

I am certainly no expert in the field of "Earth Saving," but I do ponder this topic a lot. Our planet is in real danger. We have abused it to no end over the past several hundred years. Things need to change and we know what changes are needed. Yet, we fail to take the steps to make it happen.

So, with no further ado, here is the list from my notebook:

• Americans & Europeans need to stop taking more than their share. (This includes housing, transportation, stuff, food, etc)
• Stop making poor-quality products that end up in landfills.
• Manufacturers must be held responsible for the recycling of their products.
• Organic farming must become the norm. (I would add that we should go back to eating local and seasonal food.)
• Create sustainable villages where people can bike and walk. (and work!)

I think this is a good start. If we did the above, the planet (and its inhabitants) would have a fighting chance.

Want to help?

• Buy only what you need. (This year, I started with clothes... It has been liberating indeed.)
• Reward manufacturers of high-quality, low impact products.
• Eat organic/local/seasonal and cut down on meat.
• Live within walking/biking distance to work/shops/dining.

If this sounds hard and boring, it isn't. It's actually quite a fun adventure to figure out how to live sustainably. And it's amazing to discover how little you really need. Make one small change today, another tomorrow, and pass it on. We need to change our ways to save planet Earth.

It's the only home we've got...

Note: Picture courtesy of Horton Group at stock.xchng.

IKEA and Thoughts on Cheap Food

I visited IKEA, Shaumberg, IL today. We arrived right around lunch time and headed straight for the restaurant. Todd was excited about meatballs. I was excited about dessert (since I'm not eating meat this year). We marveled over the cheapness of the food ($15 for the two of us) and wondered (once again) how they manage to keep it so cheap. Knowing IKEA's "socially responsible" take on things, I fervently hoped that the beef in the meatballs came from "happy cows" and that my salmon had been caught in the wild (and especially not raised on corn). However, one can never be sure...

So what is a closet food activist to do? Never eat out? Eat only at "Certified Green" restaurants? (Guess how many there are in Wisconsin... One: Cafe Manna)

Well, at least one can try to avoid cheap food (unless it's at IKEA...). Cheap means highly subsidised which means big company which means industrial which means hidden costs. Let's take a McDonald's burger... Imagine the energy and water that was required to produce that burger. Think about the health care costs we incur to treat people who've had one to many burgers and now suffer from diabetes and heart problems. And what about the salaries of the people serving the food so that you can have a $4.00 Big Mac? Not enough to make it above the official poverty line... Cheap food doesn't work.

A complimentary strategy is to support grocery stores and restaurants that are socially conscious and buy local food and meat from farmers who treat their animals humanely. CSAs are another good option for supporting local agriculture.

It's not going to be cheap up front, but you will feel good about putting your money where you're heart is. In addition, your money will help stop the insanity of the cheap food and hidden costs which ultimately ends up costing society more than if we had just stuck with the original small-scale, sustainable, local food economy.

Eat like food matters.

Sugar Addiction

Sugar makes my stomach hurt... Why, oh why did I have that piece of cake? (Because it was in the hallway and I am addicted to sugar.)

Per "The End of Overeating," I need some cognitive behavioral therapy such as repeating to myself: "This will make me feel sick."

It's good to be back in the blogosphere!

Peace.

Taking an Internet Fast

I like the Internet. I think it's really cool how it allows people from across the world to connect in seconds (or less). However, at this point in time, I have a strong feeling that I should take a month break from this virtual world and do some more living in the physical world.

What I'm thinking here is no reading blogs, no writing blogs, no Facebook, no mindless surfing, no Twitter, etc. I will check my personal email once a week, just in case. I will also use the Internet for things like buying plane tickets and look-ups that would require a phone book (since I don't have one).

I've unsubscribed to a bunch of emails, set filters for the rest, turned off notifications from Facebook and other such sites so as to avoid inbox pollution.

I'm super psyched about this experiment and hope that you check back in November to read all about it.

Until we "meet" again...

Everyday Efficiency (or I Need Help)

One of my favorite mental activities is to think of ways that I can be more efficient in my everyday tasks. I'm not sure if this is normal or not (I'm thinking not...). Regardless, I find great pleasure in finding a new process that shaves a few seconds off of any routine.

For example, my evening bathroom routine consists of seven steps (worst case):

• Remove contacts
• Wash off makeup
• Apply toner
• Apply moisturizer
• Brush teeth
• Floss
• Use mouthwash

I have devised a process that minimizes the time I have to spend on these activities, so I can get to a more enjoyable activity (read in bed!). Here it is:

After washing off makeup, rather than moving on to apply toner, I brush my teeth, floss, and then while I'm swooshing mouthwash around in my mouth for 60 seconds, I apply toner and moisturizer.

I know! Groundbreaking, isn't it? I mean, over the course of my life (assuming I live to 90, which I plan to do) I will save 167 hours by using this process. That is not a trivial amount of time. Everyday efficiency rocks!

This one's for you, Katie. :)

September Donations (and related Books)

I recently read the book "Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money" by Woody Tash. This book is all about investing in sustainable agriculture and food companies as if good and healthy food matters. It's an inspiring and fairly dense book which outlines the principles of the Slow Money Alliance. As soon as I finished reading the book, I signed up to become a member of this organization. It makes so much sense to invest in the earth without which we cannot survive on this planet. It's so sad to read about farmers struggling to get by and the big corporations taking over everything. Irresponsible farming and other malpractices are destroying valuable topsoil that takes hundreds of years to build up. Drastic times call for drastic measures. I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in socially responsible investing.

One of my other favorite books of the year is a book called "The Better World Handbook," which I picked up at the Luther College bookstore. One of the authors, Brett Johnson, is a professor there (along with my dear husband). It is a great tool for coming up with more and more ways to make the world a better place. It is specifically geared toward people like me who work full time and probably don't feel like they have the time to really make a difference. But we do! Every little thing matters. From transportation to eating, there are good choices and not so great choices. The one area that I've been wanting to do more with is "money." We've kind of settled for the default options that come with work and the city in which we live. For various reasons, this is not a great time for us to make a bunch of financial changes, but I wanted to do something! So, this month, I tried microlending for the first time. I went to kiva.org and signed up to lend a certain amount of money to Afi Katako in Togo. She is essentially the village cook and needed a loan of $875 to buy more supplies to meet an increasing demand. She is now fully funded and is on a 17 month repayment plan. What an awesome concept!

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

-Chinese Proverb

Note: Farmer image courtesy of Hans Thoursie at stock.xchng.

Poem on Injustice

Am I So Valuable?

Am I so valuable that I should earn more money each day than many people earn in a year?

Am I so valuable that I should have others do my cooking and cleaning and gardening and childcare?

Am I so valuable that I should have too much to eat while one billion brothers and sisters around the world go hungry every day?

Am I so valuable that I should have a comfortable home while others live in the streets?

Am I so valuable that I should have the right to consume the world's resources to a point of unsustainability?

Am I so valuable that I should have ready access to the doctor of my choice while billions live without affordable health care?

Am I so valuable that I should enjoy a long life while many children do not see their first birthday?

I think not.

-----

I think I am valuable. But I think the single mother who is struggling to raise three children, the teacher working in a rural Afghani school, and the 12-year-old boy who is now head of the household after his parents died from AIDS are just as valuable.

Everybody should be able to eat healthy food, drink clean water, have a cozy place called home, enjoy excellent education, and have access to quality health care.

Anything else should be considered gross injustice.

Injustice is the enemy of peace.

NOTE: Photo by Charlie Balch at stock.xchng.

Cutting Down on Processed Food

For a long time, I have been thinking that cutting down on processed food would probably be a good thing. The more I read about slow food, local food, and fresh food, the less I want to eat food products that have been processed to the point of unrecognition. However, I was finally convinced when a friend informed me the other evening that processed food actually slows down your metabolism. I did not know this!

I know that sugar and fried foods, as well as lack of sleep, slows down your metabolism. But I didn't know about processed foods. It makes sense. Processed foods are much harder to break down, so the body doesn't have a choice but to slow down.

So, here is another beginning... Eventually to eliminate highly processed foods from my diet. I'll start off with simple stuff like granola bars and factory-made cookies and snacks. The harder part will be Bumpers. I'm pretty addicted. It has nine ingredients. Another processed food I cannot live without is soy milk. This will just have to be treated as an exception.

I'm not sure what the definition of "highly processed food" is, so I'll just make up my own.

Another Beginning - Eating Local

There was another beginning that I meant to include in my blog post on September 1. In fact, it was one of the key beginnings that I wanted to highlight, so I feel kind of foolish for forgetting.

Anyway, September 1 marked the beginning of the 2009 Milwaukee Eat Local Challenge. The point of this two-week event is to raise awareness for the beauty of local food. The Braise Culinary School summarizes well the top five reasons for becoming a "locavore:"

• Helps to support family farms
• Retains food dollars in the community
• Exceptional taste
• Unique varieties not found in stores
• Maximum freshness
• Grown locally instead of traveling thousands of miles
• Helps to sustain the environment
• Promotes stewardship of the land
• Nutritious and affordable
• Promotes healthy lifestyles

The good thing about this challenge, is that it is completely up to you how far you want to take it. Perhaps you want to try to eat 100% local (hard!) or maybe eat one local meal per day. My own challenge is pretty loose... Buy mostly local produce (can't live without bananas just yet) and buy local dairy and meat products.

Just now, I had some of the best yogurt I've ever tasted (at least in the US) from Kalona Organics in Iowa (I am in Iowa right now). It's appropriately named "Cultural Revolution." It's the real deal. Sure, I probably had to pay a bit extra for it, but it was so worth it. I can't even eat the "normal" yogurt you find in the grocery store. It's too sweet and slimy.

Once you get used to eating local, you'll wonder why we ever stopped.

Living in a Messed-Up World

As I walked through Terminal C at the Atlanta airport the other evening, I saw something that reminded me (once again) of how messed up our world is. An airport employee was taking all the left-over food from one of those "street corner" food stands and dumping it into large, black trash bags. Salads, sandwiches, fruit cups, and the ubiquitous yogurt and granola parfaits. Perfectly good food being dumped as waste into those thick black bags. To be sent to a dumpster. To be sent to a landfill. To sit there and decompose for years.

How hard, I wondered, would it be for someone to come to the airport each evening and pick up all this food and distribute to the city's homeless? Or at least, compost the leftovers and recycle the containers…?

As I returned, a day later, to the Milwaukee airport, I got on the moving walkway to get to the parking garage where Elmer was waiting (Elmer is my car). This got me started on the messed-up world thoughts again. We have created escalators, elevators, and moving walkways to reduce the amount of energy we have to expend getting around at airports, malls, apartment buildings, and office buildings. And rather than using our own energy (which is free and clean), we use electricity (which is expensive and dirty) to power these "human energy savers." In addition, we spend $147 billion annually on treating obesity-related illnesses, the occurrences of which could be greatly reduced if we just moved more.

At this point, the floodgates of my mind were opened and I knew I had to write a post about this craziness. What follows is additional evidence that we're living in a messed-up world with a final plea help for ideas for how we can affect change. (Also, when I say "we," I really mean "we." This is not criticism, but rather reflection.)

The average American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate. That's a lot of CO2. What happened to eating local? When I was growing up in Sweden (not that long ago!), we ate food that was in season. We enjoyed strawberries in June and apples in September. What we couldn't eat, we froze, pickled, canned, or otherwise stored in the root cellar. I didn't even know that you could buy applesauce in the store until I moved to the US.

We have created cities that are so spread-out that some people can't even get to the grocery store without getting in the car. Let alone work, school, the library, shops, place of worship, friends, and family. So much unnecessary disconnection and pollution.

We work long and hard hours to make lots of money to buy what?

• Professional-looking clothes required for work.
• A nice car to get to work.
• Lunch out with colleagues.
• A spectacular house to impress said colleagues.
• Expensive vacations to recover from work.
• Dinners out, because we're too busy to cook.
• The latest electronic toys which a year later will find itself in a landfill.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't work, but do we need to work as much and as hard, especially in jobs that are not fulfilling? Is it worth it?

The distribution of wealth and income is getting larger and larger and larger. Woody Tasch asserts that "the top 0.1% of Americans collectively enjoy almost as much income as the bottom 50%...". That's messed up.

The average NFL football player gets $1.4 million per year to chase a ball (and knock opponents to the ground). The average public school teacher gets around $50,000 per year teaching, mentoring, and caring for our children. That's even more messed up.

65% of all grain grown in this country is fed to cows. Cows are not supposed to eat grain. Cows are a huge source of pollution. Yet, we continue to eat beef like everything is OK. While 1 billion people in the world are starving.

We eat "food" that has been processed to the point of unrecognition and contains more ingredients with longer names than players on the Finnish hockey team. And we're OK with paying more for it than we would in its unspoiled and natural form. Because it's convenient.

I could go on, and on, and on, but I won't, because I think you get the point. It's messed up. We need to do something. How does one bring about change at this level? I know it starts at home, but then what?

Is it an unrealistic dream to think that the world could be a better place? (Please say no.) Where everybody has food to eat and a warm place to sleep. Where every child has an equal opportunity to get an excellent education and good nutrition. Where community reigns and loneliness is eliminated. Where we eat when we're hungry and not because we're bored, sad, lonely, or stressed. Where we get to experience nature on a daily basis and breathe clean air.

Is it?

A Day of Beginnings

Today is a day of beginnings...

A pretty obvious one is that it is the beginning of September. This morning, Rebecka kindly reminded me of this fact and pointed to our "Glimpses of Bangladesh" wall calendar (created by my cousin Jacob) which was stuck in August. Later when I got home, I flipped the page to find a semi-toothless older man and the words "Rural life in Bangladesh." I learned that rural life is slow-paced and families are mostly self-reliant. The main things they purchase are kerosene and tools. I need to visit!

Today is also the first day of school in the fine school district of Elmbrook. Rebecka said goodbye to summer with mixed feelings. She definitely enjoyed lazing around and traveling all over the country this past summer, but is also excited about seeing old friends, meeting new friends, and taking some new classes (including Build a Business!). I packed her lunch, complete with a special first-day-of-school Hershey's bar and relished the realization that our routines are back to "normal."

As I took Sophie for a very early (pre 4 AM) walk this morning (she definitely hasn't caught on to the back-to-school routine yet), I had the privilege of breaking open a new roll of poop bags in the apartment complex poop bag station. Even poop bag rolls have beginnings...

I am also starting to read a new book today. I finished "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (awesome read) during lunch. Now it's on to "Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money" by Woody Tasch. I'm pretty excited about this concept. My understanding of the full scope of the book is limited, but I know at least one of the premises is putting money back into farming and the earth. Makes sense. We need food to live. Shouldn't we invest in it?

Finally, I am flying AirTran on purpose for the first time this afternoon. I haven't had great experiences with AirTran to date, but they had the best schedule, were pretty cheap, and now they have WiFi. Although, one of the things I like about flying is being disconnected... So I may not go there. It's just nice to have the option.

Here's to new beginnings!

Saturday Sabbath

I'm a big fan of Sabbath. In fact, I think this is one of God's best ideas ever. It's so essential to take a break and relax from the daily grid.

I also don't think Sabbath has to happen on Sunday. Really, just find a day each week when you take a break from work and enjoy spending time with friends and family (or yourself).

Last week, I had a Saturday Sabbath. I woke up at a hotel room in Chicago with Todd and Rebecka. At 6:40 AM, we took the shuttle over to Midway Airport (love Southwest!) to escort Rebecka to her flight to Orlando and Disney World. Once she was airborne, we took the train up to Loyola University, where we started walking to a restaurant that I had picked out for our brunch. It is a place called Uncommon Ground that has the country's first certified organic rooftop garden. How cool is that? We both decided to go with the granola pancakes and it was a good choice. Those may have been the best pancakes I've ever had (it's a toss-up between these and the sweet potato pancakes at the Pancake Pantry in Nashville).

After a leisurely brunch, we took the train even further north to Evanston. This is one of our favorite spots in the Chicago area. It is the home of Northwestern University, including the Kellogg School of Management (I can always dream...). We walked around the campus for a while and then started wandering along the lake shore. We passed through a neat park and continued walking through what must have been one of Evanston's more affluent neighborhoods. The proud old houses are so beautiful and inspiring. Why did we stop building houses like that?

We eventually ended up in downtown Evanston (thanks to Todd - you know me and directions...). It is so nice to see a town with a real downtown. Feels like Sweden. When we started getting hungry, we found the cute little Italian place we went to last time and ordered delicious food off of their ridiculously cheap lunch menu. We sat there for a good while enjoying the atmosphere and the food, of course.

Finally, it was time to go so we could catch the 5:08 PM train back to Milwaukee. Seems like every time we manage to be running late for the train. We were slightly lost (mostly my fault), so I asked some people, who looked like locals, for directions and we arrived at the gate just as the train was boarding. At least we didn't have to wait around in the less-than-attractive Amtrak "lounge."

It was good to be welcomed home by a tail-wagging Bichon and settle in for a calm and quiet evening.

Sabbath at its best.

Biggest Loser Update

So I was doing really good the first week. I got down to 137.6 lbs. Not bad for one week. Then we went to Chicago (see next post), and I had a business trip, and I stopped by Kopp's yesterday because the flavor of the day was Red Raspberry (my favorite). And it's almost the end of summer.

However, it's all good. I'm back on track today. Will probably be until Tuesday when I leave town again. Travel and eating healthy do not go well together. Any suggestions on this?

Biggest Loser - I Continue Alone

This morning, I stepped on the scale and the unforgivable happened... The digital display crept up over 140 lbs. It used to be that my max threshold was 135 lbs. After overindulging during several trips to India followed by two years of intense travel, the threshold increased. Last year, I lost some weight and was feeling great. Now my jeans are tight again and I'm feeling heavy during my runs.

Even during our Biggest Loser contest, I got really close to 135 and then I'm not sure what happened since then. I've been pretty diligent about exercising. I've been eating a very small meal consisting of a sandwich and tea at night. What the...?

Well, I suppose there are a few causes... I've been trying the "Eating for IBS" diet over the past week or so. This is pretty heavy on soluble fiber (think white bread, pasta, rice, etc) and does not restrict sugar at all. My stomach has been better on the inside, but is growing on the outside. Hmmm, interesting dilemma. We have also frequented Kopp's (awesome custard place) a bit more than we should this summer.

So, I am now ready, once and for all, to get back to my old threshold of 135 lbs. My goal is to be below this weight (like 134.9) by the time I run the Race for the Cure on September 27.

Here is the plan:

• I have started using fitday.com again to monitor my calorie intake, at least for a couple of weeks. This is a pretty awesome site and they've added lots of features over the past few years.
• Per fitday.com, I need to reduce my calorie intake by 495 calories per day to meet my goal. What I'll do is increase calories burned by 200 by adding 30 minutes of cardio each day and reduce intake by 300.
• Go cold turkey on sweets (candy, cookies, ice cream, desserts, etc)
• Start drinking tea without honey (if I can stand it)
• Avoid foods with more than 10 grams of sugar per serving
• Drink herbal tea at Caribou/Starbucks rather than sugary drinks
• Eat less at each meal (isn't it sad that so many people around the world are starving and I have to force myself to eat less. There is something really wrong with this picture.)
• Don't eat within two hours of bedtime
• Drink more water in the afternoon (I do pretty well in the morning)

I feel confident that I can do this and keep my stomach happy at the same time. Please hold me accountable. I'll provide a weekly status update on my progress.

Off to ride my bike with my beloved husband...

Julie & Julia

Todd and I went to see Julie & Julia yesterday afternoon. We were in a sold-out theater with mostly retired folks and a few other "young" people like us. It was a totally inspiring and creative movie with lots of laughs, a few tears, and lots of great food. It reminded me that it is never too late to start the process of changing the world.

I must say, I was relieved that I had cooked salmon, new potatoes, and fresh summer veggies as well as an apple crisp earlier in the day. It made me feel like a respectable cook.

"If a pot is cooking, the friendship will stay warm."

- Arab Proverb

Taking the High Road

Yesterday, the sermon at the church we attended was something like "Taking the High Road." In the sermon, the minister referenced the website www.ehow.com where there is actually an entry for "How to Take the High Road." Check it out: http://www.ehow.com/how_2063030_take-high-road.html

August Giving

I'm sure you've heard the expression:

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”

I am a big fan of this concept. I mean, I appreciate the importance of emergency relief in disaster areas. However, I don't think continuously giving people money/food is good use of time and money. Rather, we should educate and empower people so they can make a living (i.e. make enough money to live on) for the rest of their lives.

One organization that is very good as this is Heifer International. Heifer reaches out to depressed areas of the world and teaches people to farm in a sustainable way. They may give a family a few animals to get started and the know-how to care for the animals and create a business. The best part is that recipients of the animals commit to "passing on the gift" to another family in the community. For example, if there is a new baby goat, this is passed on to the neighbors. This way, it is really a gift that keeps giving.

Heifer has a great gift catalog where you can select to give (among other critters) a cow or a llama or a flock of geese in honor of a loved one. We like to do this around Christmas time and for birthdays. You can also fund a project, which is what we did this month.

It's a really neat organization. Check it out!

Ending Hunger, Caring for the Earth

-Heifer International