Nature

Walking home this afternoon I noticed some pumpkins an apartment building was displaying for Halloween, which was yesterday. They were like these, only uncarved. Just plain pumpkins. Suspecting they wouldn't use the fruit after the holiday, I acted on a whim and asked the doorman what they did with them. He said I could come by tomorrow to pick them up. Learning to cook from fresh fruits and vegetables doesn't stop changing my perspective on food. I didn't used to know how to cook a pumpkin. I still haven't done it, but I've cooked a lot of squashes and loved them. I can't wait to cook a pumpkin. I was only a block and a half from home, but suddenly I noticed how many pumpkins…

The New York Times front-and-center headline yesterday declared "Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun." The article of nearly 4,000 words contained not a hint about prevention. Nothing about reducing pollution or changing our behavior that is causing the problem. We all know we're seeing the effects of what people have done for centuries, but mainly the past few decades and, since we can't change the past, we'll keep seeing the effects for centuries, maybe millennia. That doesn't mean changing our behavior today is impotent. In particular, if more people had talked about and implemented reductions decades ago, we might not be seeing these effects today. We might learn that reducing our waste and producing less carbon dioxide can mean improving our…

I forget it I've reported here about planting my first plants in my apartment, or rather repotting and watering the plants my sister gave me from her garden. As food and diet have become more important to me for leadership, health, discipline, integrity and, most of all, delicious eating, I'm getting closer and closer to plants from the ground. Last summer's trip to the farm where most of my produce comes from was a big step. My sister gave me two small pots with some mint from her garden. Sadly, the mint in one pot died, but a tomato plant started growing. She says that happens a lot because tomato seeds survive the composting from her kitchen scraps. All summer the tomato plant has grown.…

Last year a friend told me a doctor found a congenital issue with his heart that it could stop at any time and there was nothing he could do about it. I don't remember the medical details. Last month I found out he died. I don't know how since we only have one mutual friend, who didn't know him as well. I presume it was the heart condition because he was 29 and otherwise physically healthy. The mutual friend emailed me to tell me he saw people posting condolences on his Facebook page and he knew I didn't have an account. It's odd not knowing how a friend died---mildly unsettling, but when your connections are tenuous, what can you do? Sometimes a year or two…

Eight score and eleven years ago today, Henry David Thoreau moved into the home he built for himself in the months before by Walden Pond in Massachusetts. The United States turned 69 that day, starting from the date of the Declaration of Independence. The book he wrote about his two-year stay was formative for me, though by now I've forgotten a lot of it, as I can tell from skimming its beginning. America hasn't realized the vision it could have had it learned more from his experience. What he satirized seems more plentiful than ever. We've outlawed slavery and a lot of Jim Crow, but could he have imagined Edward Snowden's struggle or overweight and obesity rates at seventy percent and rising? This morning I…