SELMAannarbor.org

For those of you who haven’t yet heard, we had 160 of our community over for breakfast Sunday. Titled “Diner for a Day” we brought in a little over $2500 to support local growers and producers, Chris Bedford Films and a future edible schoolyard project (hopefully in our neighborhood!)

kickin' it out

Well, the long and the short of it is, we had way too much fun (and we have a bunch of bacon and jam left over!). So what better way to kick off the morning of my 50th birthday than to do it all over again. Selma Cafe is envisioned as a local foods breakfast salon. Come by and have breakfast or just a cup of coffee. Eat foods from our watershed. Talk with others about how we can improve on and build a local food economy that will nourish us.

Johnny Roos will be back fryin’ up the eggs. You can have the american-style version again (potatoes, bacon, toast) as well as a juevos mejicanos style (with chorizo, beans and tortillas). Lisa will once again provide the crazy delicious waffles and granola. RoosRoast coffee will share the menu with Arbor Teas, Almar Orchards organic cider and Tantre Farms raw milk.

The Cafe Store will be stocked with coffe and tea, jam and bread, local eggs, waffle mix and granola and Diner for a Day T-shirts.

722 Soule Blvd.
Feb. 20 – 6:30 – 10:00am
panchobush@gmail.com – 734-845-0079

Reservations are not needed, but for this first one, a “hi I’ll be there” would be appreciated. I hope you can come by and say yum.

Jeff

Hi!  My name is Zoe Crane.  I publish the Eberwhite Kids’ Courier.  It is a weekly newsletter FOR and BY kids!  It will be on this website soon!  If you want to contact me, email ljcranford@yahoo.com.

I hope you can join us. Please consider passing this information on to any and all you think might enjoy.

Repasts, Present and Future invites you to:

Please join us for a fundraiser breakfast to support Filmmaker Chris Bedford and our local food community.

With guest chefs Eve Aronoff, Jeremy Lopatin, Scott McIness and John Roos

Diner for a Day

Sunday February 15th.
8am to noon
722 Soule Boulevard

Seating is limited – Reservations strongly recommended
reservations@repastspresentandfuture.org
pick a time – on the half hour
many scrumptious choices @ $10 per person
children welcome

Featuring ALL local ingredients and suppliers, including :
TANTRE FARM – organic produce
ROOSROAST – fair-trade coffee
ARBOR TEAS – organic tea
CRESWICK Farm – organic bacon
ALMAR ORCHARD – organic apples and cider
BLUEBERRY HERITAGE FARM – organic berries;
BACKYARD CHICKENS – eggs
and more

Chris Bedford is co-founder and President of the Sweetwater Local Foods Market – Michigan’s first farmers market to exclusive sell locally grown fruits and vegetables raised in a manner that enhances biological diversity and builds soil
health AND meats, eggs, and cheese from animals raised humanely without antibiotics or hormones. His film, “What Will We Eat?” tells the story of a citizen’s movement to build a healthy, local food supply for Michigan.

Chris will be on hand to discuss his work advancing re-localization of agriculture and economics.  You can purchase advance copies of his latest project, Coming Home,
E.F. Schumacher and the Reinvention of the Local Economy.

click here to see the event poster.

We have beautiful 12″ x 18″ copies of it here at the house upon request.

Good morning selma-ites,

Zoe’s wonderful post about antics in our basement the night of the pizza party inspired me to share with the group the other purpose of our purple curtained basement. In addition to ping pong and “bloody murder”, I use our basement space to teach Kripalu Yoga classes three times a week.  Kripalu Yoga is a  lovely form of yoga practice that is appropriate for yoga beginners as well as experienced yogis and yoginis.  Kripalu Yoga focuses on breath practice and postures to build strength, flexibility and a calm mind through compassionate self awareness and an open heart.  I’m a certified Kripalu Yoga teacher, and registered with the National Yoga Alliance.

My classes are Sundays at 3pm, Mondays at 6pm and Thursdays at 5:30pm, and each class lasts about an hour and fifteen minutes.  The first class is free;  after that classes are $7 each.

Feel free to email me for more information,  at yogalisagottlieb@gmail.com

or check out my yoga blog for my sometimes randon musings about yoga and life: sweetsukhayoga@blogspot

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Hi. My name is Zoe Crane, and I’m going to tell you about what the kids did at the McCabes’ neighborhood pizza party.

At the party, we (the kids) were in the basement THE WHOLE TIME!!! We had a blast! First, we played hide~and~go~seek, and there were BILLIONS of good hiding places!

Then we played a game where everyone took a ping~pong paddle, and we tried to hit two ping~pong balls in a room that only had three curtains which had some stuff behind them on shelves, and the amount of space you had to walk in when you were between the curtain and the shelves was about two feet, and the ping~pong table was in the center of the room.

Then we played a game where one person was a monster, the lights were off, and the “monster” tried to scare the others by hiding behind the curtains and then jumping out and shouting, “AARGHH!”

Then we played a game called “Bloody Murder,” where there was a pillow that was the base, and one person was the murderer. The others would count to 50 while the “murderer” hid behind the curtains. Then, once the “murderer” was hidden, the others would walk around the curtains until the murderer jumped out, shouting, “Bloody murder!” Then the non-murderers ran back to the base, while the “murderer” chased them. Whoever was tagged, or got to the base last, was the next murderer.

Then we played “Froggy Murder,” where one person sat down with their eyes closed and a ping~pong ball in front of them. The rest would hide behind the curtains until the person with his/her eyes closed was ready. Then the hiding kids would come out of their hiding places and try to get the ping~pong ball without being heard. If they WERE heard, the person with his/her eyes closed would point at them, and they would have to go back to where they started. I have no idea why this game is called “Froggy Murder.”

We didn’t talk about any neighborhood plans.

THE END

In the post about the pre-meeting idea session, sharing a car was mentioned. That got me thinking…

I have a 1994 Ford Escort wagon rusting away in my driveway. I started a brake job on it last January, when a thaw promised enough time for a quick fix — but rusted-in-place bolts put ‘nix’ to my quick fix.

Which has turned out kinda well: I’ve lived walking distance from my work for years, and always thought I ought to walk, but never made doing so a habit: as long as I had a car, I used it. It took a stalled brake job to green me.

I’m wondering now if, together, we can squeeze more green out of my Ford.

I was thinking of this. (by the way, if you haven’t explored the ‘Instructables.com’ website, do! There’s something for everyone.)

There are probably many good reasons for not doing a project like this, but if we act hastily, maybe we’ll ‘just do it’ before they occur to us.

By the way, I started to give my car to WUOM via the Car Talk Vehicle Donation program, but have yet to finalize that. So I’m ready to give away this car, one way or another.

In addition to being a fun project, if we do it, we would have to work out how to share something like a car. Perhaps sharing other items/resources would follow from this?

Of course we don’t have to convert it to biogas to share it — that would be an extra, ultra level bonus point project. Probably lots of good reasons for not doing that aspect of this as well…

Pizza party re-cap:

The first pizza party was well attended and seemed to be enjoyed by all.

The Hathaways dominated in population being Mary, Julie, Steve, Joey, Lena and Daniel.

Also in attendance were Kirsten Elling, Duncan Callaway, Inger and Bill Schultz, Johannes and Kerstin with daughter Lena and friend Elisha (sp?), Peter Smereka, Leslie Ford and Zoe Crane, Dan McConnell, Jeff, Lisa and Nevon.  Did I miss anyone?

Several people brought pizza ingredients and three pies were baked.  Cottage Inn was the unanimous choice for deliveries.  A big salad and several lovely byo-wines rounded out the menu.

Overheard discussions included who lives where, alleys, water run-off, maple tree tapping, (please add stuff here!!)

The kids were only seen now and then darting in for a slice of pizza, mostly congregating at the ping-pong table and emerging then disappearing behind the purple curtains.

Kirsten had a petition for investigation of traffic calming measures.  Some ideas were exchanged regarding the pros and cons of speed bumps, the possibility of traffic islands, etc.

We also discussed the possibility of working with the church and or school to re-create local gardens post-Project Grow.

Duncan Callaway has volunteered to carry the torch.  Date of next pizza party tba around mid Feb.

POTENTIAL FUNCTIONS/ACTIVITIES OF SELMA
* Communal or shared gardening/food raising (perhaps by planting
volunteered lawn extensions with communal vegetable gardens).
* Socializing through neighborhood-wide rotating dinner parties.
* Maintaining a neighborhood “tool chest”, either centralized or
“virtual” and distributed across everyone’s properties.
* Maintaining a roster of the neighborhood’s “skill base”, identifying
the skills, trades, or specialized knowledge/training of those around
us.
* Collective purchasing of food (organic produce, staples, etc.) or
supplies.
* Promoting the sustainability of our neighborhood through
environmental initiatives.
* Fundraising for neighborhood initiatives (book drives for sale to
books by chance, etc.)

WHAT WE NEED TO GET STARTED
* Neighborhood map
* E-mail/contact list
* Two or three “starter” projects

ISSUES TO CONSIDER AS WE MOVE FORWARD
* Is the proposed (approximate) geographic vicinity appropriate?
* Should equipment/property held by the group be maintained in a
centralized location, or be distributed throughout the neighborhood (a
“virtual” collection)?
* The logistical complexity and need for management should be kept to
a minimum.
* The security/privacy of web-based member information is an important
issue.

NEXT STEPS
* Expand membership of SELMA Google Goup
* Spread the word about SELMA idea at upcoming neighborhood gatherings
* Schedule first rotating every-other-friday-night pizza dinner
* Set-up “tools offered” and “tools requested” for virtual tool shed
* Kickoff first lawn extension communal garden

Have you seen this? It’s actually a yahoo group. giving only, no buy/
sell.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnnArbor_eCycle/

Dan

New SELMA sighting at 722 Soule:

SELMA self-serve now up and running

Note: During the cold, cold days of Michigan winter, eggs and bread are best picked up directly from the house.

While they last: Bread – $5/loaf, Eggs – $2/6 pack

8:30 to 9:00 am or when you can catch us. Free samples!

Subscriptions available for a sure loaf and free Selma delivery.

The neighborhood commerce center is open to any and all who want to market their wares.

Ideas?  Suggestions?

Jeff