Magic Hat Stories

Exit 1 Bayshore Oyster Stout Thanks to the Oyster Restoration Project

I'll admit it, I'm just love a story like this. As I have written in a number of posts, Slow Foods USA has their Arc of Taste which is a catalogue of endangered native foods in the USA. Included on that list is the Delaware Bay Oyster;

For 200 years, Delaware Bay oysters have been prized for their fine flavor and plump, firm meat.  In their heyday, during the late 19th century, schooners and oystermen harvested the bivalves for local oyster houses and also for restaurants in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco.

It was a thriving industry, and let's face it Bivalve, NJ just didn't pick their name out of a hat. The industry fell on some hard times due to a couple of reasons;

For centuries, oysters have provided a sustainable food supply and contributed to the economies of Delaware and New Jersey communities. In fact, 1 to 2 million bushels were harvested every year during the 1930s, when the population initially began to decline. The introduction of the oyster disease MSX in the 1950s, followed in the 1990s by a second disease, Dermo, has resulted in a significant decline in the oyster population. Consequently, the industry has been imperiled.

Thanks to the Delaware Bay Restoration Project though, the Delaware Bay Oyster is on it's way back; 

During the summer of 2005, the Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Task Force initiated a large-scale oyster shell-planting and transplant program that, by 2009, had deposited over 2.1 million bushels of shell onto existing oyster reefs. These "seed beds" are needed because oyster larvae require a clean, hard surface upon which they can attach or "recruit." This effort has yielded a substantial increase in survival among juveniles; this, despite a population decline in areas outside the seed beds.

The success of this project has earned it a 2008 Coastal America Partnership Award, a 2009 gold medal from the Federal Executive Board, and a 2008 Government Award from the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin .

And now Flying Fish Brewery is using the Delaware Bay Oyster in it's Exit 1 Bayshore Oyster Stout. Flying Fish is a New Jersey based craft brewery, and for those who don't know, it's been a long running running joke here in NJ citing the exit off the NJ Turnpike that your from, and not so much the town.

It's great to see this. It's local, it's sustainable and it's all based on a local tradition and lifestyle that endured for some many years. The story can continue now, along with the heritage that inspired a town to name itself Bivalve. What a shame it would be to have this town become the home of some cheesy outlet mall with a caricature of a oyster as it's logo, and a Long John Silver selling some canned oyster stew imported from China. 

The Symbolism of Hats - The Baseball Cap

The baseball cap is one of the major reasons that hats haven never completed disappeared from society. They became a trend in the 1990's, and with the playing field becoming more level for women in society, the role of the baseball cap being for men only became obsoelte, there by  just about doubling the market for it. As societyy moves forward and changes, so does the role and symbolism of hats.

Previous to the trend that it was cool to wear baseball caps backwards, wearing a baseball cap backwards was symbolic of a catcher. It was a matter of function over form for the catcher. The catcher had to wear his cap this way so he could wear his mask. With the cap being a part of the uniform, another symbol of the game, not wearing the cap was not an option.

In a vignette that I wrote and produced at the Philly fringe Festival in the 1990's, I explored the this symbolism. Say a catcher from the 1920's came back in the 1990s  and saw someone who obviously was not a catcher wearing their cap backwards to be cool. What would that conversation be like? That was what this vignette in the fringe festival explored.

Society changes, and so does the role of hats in. While I find wearing a baseball cap sideways or backwards to be silly, I'm glad that people do it. Hat's stay relevant, and in the end that's what's important.

Earth Day at 40, April 22, 2010

Tomorrow, April 22, 2010 is the 40th anniversary if Earth Day. While great strides have been made in the last 40 years, with the prospect of climate change impacting our lives daily, it very important to note that we have a long way to go.

I remember the first Earth Day in 1970. I was in the fifth grade, and we planted a tree at my grade school. I thought it was really cool, and I do believe it had an impact on me. Having parents and grandparents who had an appreciation of the earth, and taught me the value of maintaining it, it was great to have it reinforced in the public domain.

On this 40th anniversary, take a few minutes to learn about Gaylord Nelson. He is the Senator whose story is one that changed the world in a positive direction, and was the driving force behind Earth Day. Let it inspire you, and with all good stories, pass it along to those you know and love. 

Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day.

Update on Testing Sun Chips Compostable Bag

In this post I wrote about the 100% compostable snack food bag that Sun Chips is now using for their larger bags of chips. As a composter, I was intrigued by this bag and thought I would throw it into the pile and see what happens.

Well a month later the bag looks pretty much the same, however there is something going on as it appears that the film is separating that makes up the layers in the wrap that compose this bag. It hasn't been hot enough yet here to get a good cooking temperature going, so I think the progress so far is good. It should take approximately 14 weeks for it to compost completely. Sorry I have no photos. I plugged the camera battery charger in to charge my battery, and it fell out of the socket after I walked away. Hence the battery was not charged when I was working on the compost pile.

If you would like more information about Nature Work LLC, the company that manufacturers the film used in these bags, click here. If you would like more information about this bag, you can go here. They have a lot of good information on the site.

The Symbolism of Hats

I love hats. I really do. For me there's just something about them that sets them apart from other articles of clothing or accessories. They have a certain edge to them. When millinery shops were prevalant, or when department stores had millinery departments, the ability to customize hats for specific people, events or looks separated them from the pack. Hats were, and is in some places, are a niche that women or men could express their individuality with a single clothing item with impact. It's in this expression that symbols reside about the person wearing the hat, and the wear's relationship between society and themselves. 

The role of hats in our society are not what they once were. There is a rich and deep history of the relationship between society and hats. In the 20th century as fashion moved forward with social change, hats didn't keep up. There's not one determining factor that could explain it. The symbolism however has survived. There's a distinct level of symbolism involved in hats and society, and in that symbolism there are stories to be told, including the role of hats.

Over the next couple of Saturdays, I'm going to explore this symbolism. I hope you find it as fascinating as I do.

Tsunami Recovery: Rebuilding Aceh, a Modern Day Storybook

As children we are read stories and fairy tales that talk of brave people who face insurmountable challenges that somehow over come them. Along the way of growing up, we encounter legends, myths and folklore which at times seems to exaggerate the realm of reality to deliver a moral to their story. As we become adults though, I think the power of these fictional characters and events gets lost. Daily life takes over, and a lot of it can seem stranger than the word we read in books, and the adventures those words took us on.

April 15, It's Just Not Taxes This Year

I never bought into the whole Starbucks craze. I just didn't get it. I could get better coffee in opinion from La Colombe in Philly. That said, I have to give Starbucks props for what they are doing this year. On April 15, 2010 at participating stores, bring in a travel mug and you will receive a free coffee. The idea is to enocurage people to stop using so many paper cups and save trees.

Called The Big Project, take a look at this film about what happened on day in NYC when a thousand people traded their cups for a travel mug. 

So why take a step forward on April 15, 2010 and bring a travel mug along to a Starbucks. It's a slight behaviour modificatione exercise but hey in the long run the planet's worth it.

Community Garden Update

So everything is coming together for my plot at the community garden program I’m participating in. The seeds arrived, and the peppers are just popping up. The tomatoes will be soon I’m sure. I got the peppers planted a couple days before the tomatoes.

I have the plot roped off and I’ve been there a couple times during the day so I could see the sac of the sun in the sky. This will help with the direction of the rows. Today we’re getting rain and this will help me see how drainage is overall.

Will Allen and Growing Power

This is a wonderful story;

In 1993, Growing Power was an organization with teens who needed a place to work.  

Will Allen was a farmer with land.  

Will designed a program that offered teens an opportunity to work at his store and renovate the greenhouses to grow food for their community.  What started as a simple partnership to change the landscape of the north side of Milwaukee has blossomed into a national and global commitment to sustainable food systems.

Sunday Dinner - Ginger and Sage Spiced Lamb with Cardone and Capers

Lamb is something I rarely cook at home.  I usually enjoy it as as an entree when I go out to eat, or see a lamb burger on a menu that a bistro type establishment will have.

Occasionally, I will cook it at home. Since I enjoy lamb grilled the most, the fact that I don’t have a grill right now is a big deterrent to me cooking lamb for myself. To me grilled lamb is the best way to have it. One night I used kabob baskets to cook a lamb sausage I was attempting to make. I thought the baskets would hold the meat together while grilling. They did. It was that night of experimenting that I tried ginger and sage together as rub for coating the sausage. It worked so well that I started to grill lamb at home more often.