Now is your chance to get in on the fun of creating all kinds of ways to challenge me to live like Grandma!  I need you to respond to the pictures posted below by telling me what you think Grandma would have eaten or how she would have done things differently.  Pick one or two - you do not have to respond to all of them.  Your observations about these pictures will help me determine what my future Grandma Challenges will be.   You may have to go back a few generations before you find the “green” parts of your history.  Keep digging and keep the stories coming!  Your input will help make this journey a success!  Tip: Comment on the food itself as well as how it is packaged and served.

Picture A Lately I have been eating Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal with a banana and milk for breakfast.  I really like scrambled eggs with veggies.  My kids often eat oatmeal with banana and frozen blueberries, bread with butter and jelly, and milk with chocolate Ovaltine mixed in.

 

 

Picture B We drink a lot of water, coffee and milk from a local farm with chocolate Ovaltine for the kids.

 

 

 

Picture C We really enjoy coffee from a local company called Evo.

 

 

 

 
Picture D On a good day, I like to eat a salad for lunch.  I recently made a salad with romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, red pepper, green onions, cheese, and crushed hemp seeds with olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top.

 

 

Picture E The kids often eat wheat tortillas or tortilla chips with homemade re-fried black beans, cheese and salsa with grapes on the side for lunch.  We also eat this for dinner 2-3 times a week.

 

 

Picture F I recently made a lentil dish with curry, coconut milk, chicken stock, minced shallots, various spices, organic spinach (was in the plastic container) and cilantro served in a whole wheat tortilla with a salad on the side for dinner.  We also enjoy eating “homemade” pizza with toppings thrown on a store bought crust.

 

Picture G Here are some pictures of miscellaneous food items: A turkey club sandwich and water from a local coffee shop, coffee and treats from a local bakery, what’s left of a pizza dinner from a place my kids love, and ice cream (we love it in any form - from the store, an ice cream shop, or the ice cream truck)!

What Would Grandma Eat?  I look forward to reading your comments!  Stay tuned tomorrow for your responses from today and for the next question: How Would Grandma Bathe?  Things could get smelly!

As part of my two week break from blogging, I spent three days at a monastery called, St. Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan.  There is almost no quieter place on earth than spending time in the company of monks.

It was just what I needed.

From the moment I arrived until the minute I left, I found myself pondering one thing - the fact that my life has grown too noisy (again).  I knew very little about the blogging world prior to starting my own and while this has been a deeply satisfying journey, it does not fit well into the other parts of my life.

And so it is with a true sense of sadness that I have decided to close down My Grandma Was Green. 

I have struggled with this decision because on the surface it seems my reason is as simple as my life has grown too busy and full.  And in the American culture where a full schedule is praised, personal busyness hardly seems a reason to step away from something.  However, I have discovered that busyness can be and often has been a source of disconnectedness and pain in my life.  Consequently, busyness hardly lends itself to creating a more sustainable and simple lifestyle.

I never took time to define the word sustainability while writing my blog but I think I have started to form a working definition for my own life.  I believe living sustainably means taking only that which I need to live a meaningful, generous and connected life. 

In order to do this I need to be diligent in learning how to distinguish between wants and needs - no small feat in a culture that is saturated with advertising aimed at turning every single thing into a need!  I realize my definition is somewhat ambiguous because the words meaningful, generous and connected can be defined in a variety of ways.  However, when I view sustainability in this context, it puts me on a path of wanting to take less and give more.  It breaks down the walls of my everyday, ordinary life and forces me to consider the well-being of others in each decision I make.

I seem to have a passion for “s” words such as simplicity and slowness.  I am now committed to moving forward in my journey with another “s” word to pursue - sustainability.  Each of these words is connected in so many ways but the tie that binds them together for me is relationships.  I believe I can pursue deeper and more meaningful relationships with self, God, my family, friends, neighbors, community and the world if I commit myself to simplicity, slowness and also sustainability. 

Therefore, I am going to persist with the changes I have made and I will continue to make more changes in the future.  Only now I will have to record my journey in the old-fashioned way - in the pages of my journal, through conversations with friends and family and in the quiet moments of my days.

I am not sure which part of this short journey has been the most important - recommitting myself to a slower pace, my growing awareness of important changes I need to make toward a more sustainable lifestyle, or reconnecting with my grandparents and my own history.  I guess each one is important in its own way.

If you are interested in learning from and connecting to your grandparents or any older person who is significant to you and/or learning about sustainability by looking to the past, I would encourage you to make use of the extensive questionnaire developed by Virginia Allee called, A Family History Questionnaire.  It proved to be an invaluable resource in asking my grandparents to share their story.  I trust you will find the same.

Thank you for all of your support in this endeavor.  I have learned a lot and will continue to be inspired by the stories I have read and by those individuals who are making great changes through the blogging world.

Goodbye for now,
April

Today is an anniversary of sorts for My Grandma Was Green.  I have been writing this blog for exactly three months and have managed to see my way through twelve Grandma Challenges. 

It is time for me to pause.

The chair in the picture is my favorite reading chair.  It is tucked into a corner in my living room next to a table with a lamp.  I love to sit in this chair at night when the house is quiet and my kids are in bed.  It is a precious moment of the day when I can read, reflect and rest.

I have not been able to sit in my favorite chair nearly as much since starting My Grandma Was Green.  I am okay with that since I knew this would be a season of action.  However, I do feel the need to take a little break in order to rest, regroup and reflect on what I have learned so far.

Stay tuned for for my next post on Tuesday, October 7.  I will share some of my reflections and return with a new set of Grandma Challenges as well as some updates on the ones I have already implemented. 

In the meantime, please continue to collect your best “grandma” stories and dig around in the archives if you are new to my site.  Although I am taking a little break, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a note at april@mygrandmwasgreen.com  I will still check my site and take time to respond to your comments and stories!