An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Renegade Lunch Lady Does Earth Dinner
Amanda's Moving Story
Earth Day Wedding
Meriah's Story
It's Your Turn
Bringing Food to Earth Day--an Idea Whose Time Has Come
By Sandra Steingraber
Say the word Thanksgiving and what images come to mind?
How about Fourth of July? Mother's Day? New Year's? Labor Day?
When I think about Thanksgiving, I see my Aunt Annie's oyster stuffing...
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Renegade Lunch Lady Does Earth Dinner
I have had the honor of participating in a number of Earth Dinners and they have all touched my heart. The discussions around the table bring a diverse group of people together to become a community around our communal story of healthy people and a healthy planet. The Earth Dinner cards are fun, keep the conversation lively and really get the community thinking and talking about life, love and all things organic. If you haven't been to an Earth Dinner, I highly recommend going--and if you need a "date," I'm always available.
Ann Cooper
Director of Nutrition Services
Berkeley Unified School District
aka "The Renegade Lunch Lady"
Thank You for the idea of hosting an Earth Dinner! I have been looking for a way to start a new family tradition now that my husband and I are parents, and this was exactly what I wanted to do. Shortly after coming up with the idea for the day, I found out that we were moving from our much-loved home. I considered calling off the event, but decided that we would have our dinner and celebrate the day, among boxes and bare walls.
In the end, it worked perfectly, because we never would have had space for the 22 people that came. We pulled our sofa and all furniture out of the living room (most to be sold at our sale the next day!) and rented two long tables. I spread them out along the living room and set them with linens and dinnerware, lots of wineglasses (we live in wine country and more than one winemaker was in attendance). I bought starter plants from the local organic farm and wrapped them all in newspaper, to be given as gifts to our guests. Each setting was adorned with one of these, and with one card each from the Earth Day Deck.
The dishes that everyone brought were amazing, the night was a true success! Everyone was well fed, shared stories while the babies played wildly in what had once been our dining room. Thank you again for this new family (and friend) tradition.
Sincerely,
Amanda
This Earth Dinner is a fantastic idea and one that we will do each year to celebrate our wedding anniversary! We were married in the Bicentennial Garden in Greensboro, NC on the Friday night of Earth day. As a Landscape Architect and volunteer, I had contributed to the design of the Garden and to some of it's features including the new stone bridge. It could not have been a nicer or more appropriate occasion with 150 family and friends gathered around the wedding gazebo and thanks to prayers from all attending it did not rain until after the service. A song from a play written about St. Francis of Assisi was included as part of the ceremony. A parade of 12 flower girls dropped rose petals in front of the bride who wore her wedding dress adorned with butterflies and flowers. We celebrated our earth dinner at a reception featuring Italian food and "Our Daily Red" organic red table wine. The Earth Dinner is a great idea and one that we will be celebrating each year for a very special reason.
Randal & Kimberly Romie
Our Earth Dinner ended up being just our family and one other whom we keep in touch with, usually meeting for dinners at our homes once or twice a month. For our Earth Dinner we made dishes from organic and locally grown foods, and our friends made a wonderful dish with raspberries frozen from their own backyard crop. Our toddlers colored pictures of the earth and organic farm images as we prepared the meal. Even keeping up with 4 toddlers, we were able to have an interesting conversation throughout the evening, sparked by the great cards. Food has always been a part of our get-togethers in the more than 3 years that we've been friends, but we've never discussed it so much. We learned so much about ways that food has been important to us and ways we've "grown" into our food over the years. We also spoke about how we could teach our children more about their food and the earth. We are very grateful for the inspiration that fostered such a lovely evening. It was an entirely unique way to celebrate Earth Day, as well as our friendship. Thank you!
Meriah
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