Mind, Body & Spirit

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Friday we went to our son Peter's CD release party for his band April to Fall. 

Brian, left center, and my son Peter, right, are April to Fall;

Jeff and Jen contributed considerable vocal talent

to the new album "Straight Line to Your Heart"

Click this link to go to their site where you can listen to clips of the tracks on the album. Their sound is similar to Morrissey, with pleasing strong vocals and acoustic guitar, though in other venues they rock it out when Peter plays his electric guitar. I am not here to sell you anything, but you can figure out at the site how to buy the album on iTunes. I don't know yet how they are selling the CD. At the gallery at the site see photos of Peter and Brian I shot in my studio that Don and Peter converted from a chicken coop. At times I have felt that this studio - l'atelier - where I don't really create anything, except deep sleeping breaths in my hammock chair, is the center of the universe, my kilometer zero, so I'm happy this special place is featured at the center of the CD cover, below. The party was in Rochester, Michigan, which has a homey 100-year-old downtown. (Downtown Rochester photo found here.)

Brian and Peter inside the CD cover -- a photo I took in l'atelier

Besides the big celebratory joy of one of Peter's musical ventures, I was geeked to finally tour and eat in the first-and-only certified organic restaurant in Michigan, Mind, Body & Spirits. The upstairs dining room was the venue for the party. Mike, the owner, is also the one who started the record label (Lazy Day Records) releasing its premier album, April to Fall's "Straight Line to Your Heart". Mike has his entrepreneurial hands in several companies, all of them organic in one way or another.

That's Mike in the middle, with Dennis, my niece Amy's husband, to his left;

I don't know who the gentleman looking at the woman with the camera is - nice smile!

Last October, Mind, Body & Spirits was awarded the Certified Organic Restaurant status (the first and only one in Michigan). Mind, Body & Spirits is one of just thirteen restaurants in the U.S. that not only serves organic and locally grown food, but is also where each and every aspect of the physical building and furnishing is eco-conscious.

I ate certified organic rib-eye steak, though I eat beef only a few times a year;
the finger-length potatoes and Bernaise sauce were YUM;
(I didn't eat it all, there was plenty for lunch the next day)

From their web site:

Mind Body & Spirits was built to inspire and help people…

Mind..

Our 100+ year old building, which was renovated using many of the latest and century old technologies to operate as sustainable as possible, continues to provide a public classroom to progress our children and adults through its education.

Body..

Being a certified Organic restaurant, we only use the purest ingredients for our menu, and as our customers consume our seasonally inspired dishes it will help their bodies on its natural path to wellness without compromising the flavor or your pocket book!

Spirits..

I truly believe that when a person consumes food made with a “conscience” or love, your inner spirit begins to burn stronger….and I will toast to that with a nice glass of organic wine!

My inner spirit was flying around the room as I took pictures. Snapping photos really is a good way to sneak around and nose in and get closer to people you want to get closer to. They don't mind you doing that if you have a camera, at least that's what I've found. I just ate up their smiles.

Everything in the restaurant is made of recycled and/or sustainable materials, from reused and reconstituted brick, to bamboo and cork floors. Every piece of furniture is made from sustainable structural materials and fibers.

 Jeff, Lindsey and Andrea chatting
on furniture made from recycled and sustainable materials

The heating and cooling system is geo-thermal, which means plumbing goes 10 feet deep (3 meters) and water circulates through the earth with its core temperature of 55°F (12.8°C), naturally cooling the building in summer and heating it in winter. There are solar panels on the green roof. Mike would like to get off the electrical grid eventually, with a wind turbine and solar panels providing all the power they need on site.

The roof terrace is covered with tiles made from recycled tires. Vegetables are grown in pots, used for the menu and also for decoration, though the nasturtiums, peppers and tomatoes below are a bit summer-weary now that September is almost done. The tables and chairs on the terrace are manufactured from recycled plastic milk bottles.

 Roof terrace tiles made from recycled tires;
I think maybe a few glasses of wine have dribbled on these tiles

My niece Amy (Ginnie's daughter), next to terrace furniture

made from recycled plastic milk cartons

Potted terrace plants of vegetables, now a little summer-worn

My favorite part of the building is the greenhouse. To go to the restrooms, you have to walk through this space, which is brilliant, since part of Mike's vision is to educate not only the children of Michigan about renewable practices, but also adults. The "wall of water" consists of tubes full of standing water that absorb heat from the sun through the greenhouse windows, then radiate it to keep the greenhouse warm. The solid cement brick wall to the right in this photo absorbs the sun's heat in the winter months when the sun shines lower through the windows. I'd like to go back during the day, for lunch and a daylight tour.

 Wall of water lining the greenhouse

Don stands by the wall of water, which absorbs heat 

from sunlight through the greenhouse windows
for heat in long cold Michigan winters

Herbs and other plants for the restaurant are grown here in the greenhouse.

Amy is standing by the rain water receptacle;
rainwater is used to water the plants.

The quick composter takes 200 pounds of food garbage a day (vegetable and animal matter except bones), then dehydrates it. The water removed is used to water the plants throughout the restaurant, and the dried matter is composted further, since it is still too "hot" to be used by farmers. Restaurant staff set it out every Saturday morning for residents and farmers in the community to help themselves, and compost it for their own use. Have you ever seen a restaurant without a dumpster out back? Mind Body & Spirits has no dumpster. They recycle everything. The restaurant Director of Operations, Ed, along with his dad, take the leftover cooking oil from the restaurant and make bio-diesel for his 1970s Mercedes Benz, which smells like French Fries while he drives.

Quick composter-dehydrater

Dehydrated and composted food ready to take out back 

to the receptacle for pick-up by local residents and farmers

Among the savory food, the groove-inducing music of the band, Peter's musical accomplishment, family from Atlanta and friends from around Michigan, all wrapped in cozy intimacy, and the eco-consciousness of the restaurant, I was energized and stimulated in mind, body and spirit all the way until midnight! Me!

But will I be able to stay up all night for the Willow Ball? Two late nights in one week. Maybe Willow has a sofa, like this one I had my feet up on . . .

And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use.  And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried:  "Look at this Godawful mess."  ~Art Buchwald, 1970

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House of Straw

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Almost six years since moving to the farm in November 2003 we had driven by an RV sitting on a pretty plot of land on Meridian Road that had a sign reading "Green & White Acres." (This would be a reference to the TV show "Green Acres," which entertained my father-in-law to no end.) We passed it every day - winter, spring, summer and fall - going to work "in town" - about a 30-minute ride. I could see that people lived in the RV, and I admired their houselessness in some ambiguous environmentally conscious part of my brain. They had a little rectangular garden bed of tomatoes next to the road, and even a clothesline near the RV. Suddenly last summer a house started going up on that land, and then there were straw bales piled up for the insulation. How exciting!

The first little pig built his house out of straw because it was the easiest thing to do.

While chicory appeared like blue stars along the green firmament of farm fields, the straw house grew. The owners must be building it themselves. It doesn't look easy to me, and it certainly isn't quick. That "Green & White Acres" sign makes me think the owners work at my university or are alums, because MSUs colors are green and white. Our school tries to be green in more than just school spirit, with a good recycling program, and energy conserving incentives, but a lot could still be improved. Sadly, Monsanto develops seeds at my agricultural university, including genetically modified ones, like insect-resistant potatoes. (Here and here are brief articles listing some pros and cons of Genetically Modified Organisms - GMOs.)

One night the big bad wolf, who dearly loved to eat fat little piggies, came along and saw the first little pig in his house of straw. He said "Let me in, Let me in, little pig or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!"

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin", said the little pig.

But of course the wolf did blow the house in and ate the first little pig.

I took the pictures above one year ago. Here is the straw house this week, still not done, but the straw has been covered with stucco. I waited until the blue chicory bloomed again to take new photos. One of the color blue's characteristics in color therapy is that it is calming. It certainly does soothe me on my drive coming and going. Another trait of blue is that it promotes growth. Who knew? Slowly, slowly, country blue chicory is helping a little green house grow.

House of Straw 

It's a blue star bi-way,

a green house bouquet,

hay rolls, straw bales,

wolves fly, pigs prevail.

 ~ me

When the Big Bad Wolf comes to huff and puff and blow this house down, the owners can relax, because the bales make good load bearing walls and are extra sturdy - besides being three [little pig] times more efficient than conventionally built houses, for insulating against the cold and heat. Who needs expensive bricks? And will the owners of Green & White Acres be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!

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"They've messed with the wrong one now!"

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To read more about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, go here.
To read more about Rosa Parks, go here, or read her autobiography, Rosa Parks, My Story.
To see the story of the restoration of the bus, go here.
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