J.J. Buckfart* communications * environment * leadership * science *

One of my two composters. Photo taken January 30, 2009.

It’s a sad day, both my composters are nearly full and there’s still a bunch of sub-freezing winter ahead of us. Not much happens in compost heaps when the temperatures drop below freezing.

You might be surprised that a family of three would nearly fill two composters mid-winter. We’ll here’s the secret. All that lovely stuff in my composter is not ours. Each week a team of dedicated volunteers and I provided food to families in need at the Redwood Park Opportunities Centre. Local grocers donate to us perfectly good veggies and fruit that cannot be sold. It’s amazing how fussy consumers are. A tiny blemish or bruise and the apple -or whatever- cannot be sold.

As we sort through the produce at the Opportunities Centre, the stuff that is actually fit for the compost heap, makes it to one of my two backyard composters. That is until now.

In the fall, I rake up the leaves from the huge elm tree in our backyard and store the leaves in our shed. I then add the leaves as needed to the composters. The secret to good composting is having the right ratio of carbon to nitrogen. Rotten produce has a lot of nitrogen. Brown leaves have a lot of carbon. Too much carbon and your heap won’t do much. Too much nitrogen and you have a very nasty smelling heap.

As a side note. Here’s some funny comments from my facebook friends about the above picture.

Randy at 14:18, on 30 January.
looks like dinner was colourful!

Linda at 20:19, on 30 January.
Looks delicious…NOT!

William at 22:27, on 30 January.
YUMMMY!!! Canadian stew!!

Curries are spice blends originating from Asia and India. With the right blend, mixed at the right time in the cooking process, you get music on your tongue. I try to approach Christian spirituality and environmentalism with the same spirit. The right blend of various spices, and voila music.

Submit your favourite curry recipe by emailing J.J at jj@buckfart.com. I will post them on the “Curry” page.

Oh of course not! If you did, you would definitely go to hell*.

Yesterday, I was walking** through the Thunder Bay Centennial Botantical Conservatory. I had been there numerous times and had never noticed that Thunder Bay has its very own coffee tree. This was very exciting for me.

In the Genesis account God created trees and seed bearing plants on the third day. God saw that the plants were good, and who am I to disagree. I especially agree with God, when it comes to those plants that I have a particularly strong affinity for. I especially like apples (Malus spp.) and coffee (Coffea arabica).

I wonder if God put the coffee tree on the earth with pastors in mind. I have yet to meet a pastor who isn’t borderline addicted to the drink made from Coffea arabica. Doing ministry, studying the Scriptures, counselling people, writing sermons and lessons, practicing prayer, etc. is rarely done without a cup of coffee nearby.

I can quit drinking coffee if I wanted to … really … I just don’t want to.
I bet you heard that one before.

Interestingly, caffeine acts as a natural defence against the coffee plant’s predators, but it looks like that strategy backfired. People figured out that we could pick the “beans,” roast ‘em and grind them up, then run hot water through the grinds, then after our hard work, drink the remaining liquid.

Scriptures are clear that we should have no false gods before us. I wonder if our love for coffee approaches worshiping a false god. Would God may make an exception in this one case?

* You won’t really go to hell. That was a joke.
** OK, actually I was playing hide and seek with my three year old daughter.

On a shady note: Some folks know that it is more ethical to purchase shade coffee rather than errr… non-shade coffee, but don’t know why. Coffee trees don’t grow very tall, are very shade tolerant and naturally found in the understory of forests. Shade coffee is generally grown in a more naturalized setting which sustains higher biodiversity. Compare that to areas where natural forests have been cut to make way for coffee plantations which support less biodiversity and require more human inputs such as fertilizer and chemical controls.