I reflect on my experience with learning mindfulness cooking and eating practice during silent retreats at a Zen Buddhist Sangha in North Carolina. I examined the concept of gratitude when planting, harvesting, preparing and consuming food. Although these times were for deep contemplative study and complete silence, there was a common language spoken around the kitchen counter and table that I call reverence.
Posts filed under Food & Nutrition
Three Ann Arbor Gluten Free Pizzas That Are Worth the Trip
It’s refreshing to feel those serving you have had even two minutes of training dedicated to gluten free (GF) realities. It’s the simplest diet at this point in U.S. food trends, so there’s no excuse not to have the knowledge if you make your living serving food. When I told the first server on the line at Blaze Fast Fire'd Pizza that I was GF, the others heard it quickly.
Great Tastes in Local Food
Chive Kitchen’s menu is not sparse by any means, and I think it will surprise a lot of non-vegans. Take, for example, the oatmeal cream pie on the dessert menu with its “buttery oatmeal cookie” and “vanilla bean buttercream” filling. Or the orange cream cupcake with orange-infused buttercream. They have unique items, too, such as the kombucha float made with coconut ice cream (which is creamier than dairy ice cream, for the record). I would have tried one if I hadn’t been so full!
A Family Firmly Planted: HillTop Greenhouse and Farms
On a bitter cold and rainy day in late April, my husband and I were inspired to do our annual trek to HillTop Greenhouse and Farms to plot this year’s garden and bask in the warmth and stunning visuals contained within the expansive space.
Transformation Is Here — Capuchin Ministries of Detroit
Driving on Gratiot headed toward Mt. Elliott Street, I was in the heart of downtown Detroit, just a mile or so away from Ford Field. It seems only small businesses are here, a Mr. Fish and a crowded shop selling second hand furniture, likely for a charity. In this place on this map, blocks of the grid are disappearing. Fallow fields sit waiting in their place. I pulled up to a bright brick church anchored strong amidst open green plots and dilapidated, boarded-up structures. There is a man sitting on a milkcrate. He is sentinel of this corner.
Great Tastes in Local Food
The space at 113 E. Liberty Street in Ann Arbor has been home to a few different restaurants over the past five years. It isn’t a big space, but the current resident, Spencer, makes excellent use of what they have, and I hope they stay with us.
Fluffy Bottom Farms — A Buddhist-inspired Dairy Farm Begins its Life in Chelsea
“It’s definitely a time game,” Kelli Conlin says, sitting across from me. She is a woman with a kind face, working hands, and an indescribable amount of caring energy emitting from her heart. From our conversation, I gathered that Kelli was referring to the amount of time and care it takes to run a farm like Fluffy Bottom, one where treating animals with kindness and compassion and providing products that are fresh and delicious are top priorities.
Leaps of Faith - Tales of Local Businesses
Writer Mary Runser meets the owners of Ypsi's new CULTIVATE COFFEE & TAP HOUSE and Ann Arbor's new THISTLE & BESS.
Root Medicine and Winter Tonics
The life force in a biannual or perennial plant is evident in the greenness of its leaves and the vibrancy of its flower. As it begins to die back in the fall, that life force is not lost; it is transferred into the root, which embraces it and keeps it safe until the next growing season.
Conscious and Tasty Eating and Nutrition — Best Gluten-Free Menus in Ann Arbor by Brandi Lyons
Carefully curated by Brandi Lyons, this list will provide you with a very handy resource for seeking out the tastiest gluten-free dishes around town.
Permaculture Projects Take Root Across Southeast Michigan by Nathan Ayers
It was 2008, and the economy was crashing. I was scared about peak oil, climate change, and economic instability, and grasping for answers. A group of women in Ann Arbor were starting a new organization, and had heard about some of the community work I had done around sustainability. Through Transition Ann Arbor, I first hear the word “permaculture.”
Healing with Nutrition — Real Food is Real Medicine
By Darren Schmidt
For many years now, reports have shown that the American medical system could be doing more harm than good . . .
