Yo Woodie Guthrie - Thanks for the Song!

It was on this day in 1940 that Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics to "This Land is Your Land" — now one of America's most famous folk songs (below is one of my favorite versions - love the brass!)



The melody is to an old Baptist hymn. Guthrie wrote the song in response to the grandiose "God Bless America" song, written by Irving Berlin and sung by Kate Smith. Guthrie didn't think that the anthem represented his own or many other Americans' experience with America. So he wrote a folk song as a response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," a song that was often accompanied by an orchestra. At first, Guthrie titled his own song "God Blessed America" — past tense. Later, he changed the title to "This Land is Your Land," which is the first line of the song.
Although Guthrie wrote the words to the song in his notebook on this day in 1940, he didn't perform it until 1944, and it was several years more still before he published it in a book of mimeographed folk songs. The song really took off in the 1960s. Bob Dylan did a famous version, and the song was huge in the Civil Rights movement.

Several other countries have appropriated the great American folk song. There's a Canadian version with the lyrics: "From Bonavista to Vancouver Island / From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters, / This land was made for you and me."

In a British version, which Billy Bragg often performs, it's "From the coast of Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands / From the sacred forests to the holy islands /This land was made for you and me."

And for the Irish, it's: "From the northern highlands to the western islands / From the hills of Kerry to the streets of Derry / This land was made for you and me."

There are Welsh and Swedish texts as well. Bruce Springsteen sang "This Land is Your Land" at 2008 rallies for candidate Barack Obama, and then performed it at the big Obama inaugural celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial, We Are One, which 400,000 people attended.

Lifted directly from Writer's Almanac. Thank you Garrison Keillor.

The Sun DID Come Out!

It is currently sunny, breezy and around 50 degrees here in Rutledge, Missouri today. I cannot tell you what a RELIEF this is. I never really thought that I was affected by the weather, and more specifically by the lack of sun in the winter. But I'm beginning to notice that I always feel happier when the sun is out. Coincidence? You be the judge!

I wish we had Smell-o-Vision, or some way for you to smell the amazing aroma wafting through the Mercantile right now. I just took a Triple Nut Chocolate Tart out of the oven...ooohh la la! (We're preparing for the Valentine's Day dinners tonight and Monday.

I'm also busily working on getting our 2011 Seminars up and online. Running the gamut from Family Adventure Weekend to Consensus Decision Making, we're quite excited about them.

OK. I've got to get back to work - time to put the chicken in the oven and begin the Flourless Chocolate Cake. More soon!

Valentine's Day Menu at the Milkweed Mercantile

Or, It's All About Dessert

Coeur a la Creme
We'll be serving ours with blueberries we picked last summer and preserved with a syrup of organic sugar and gin. Ooooh la la!

We're mixing it up a bit at the Mercantile this Valentine's Day. On Sunday, February 13th Kurt and Alline will be hosting a Celebration of Friendship. There will be no "tables for two in the corner in the dark." Instead, we welcome you to join us at our community table for a relaxing, delicious meal among friends and neighbors. Singles and those who hate Valentine's Day are especially welcome.

Monday, February 14th we'll be back on more traditional ground, with tables for two scattered strategically (and romantically) around our dining room. Make your reservations for a romantic, in-front-of-a-roaring-fire yet unstuffy Valentine's dinner now!


Valentine's Dinner at the Mercantile
$18.00 per person
Does not include alcohol, tax or gratuity
Serving dinner from 6:00 p.m - 8:30 p.m.


Dessert and Coffee (or tea) only
$6.00 per person
Does not include alcohol, tax or gratuity


For reservations please call 660-883-5522


On the menu February 13th and 14th:

Appetizer
Goat-Cheese Toasts and Pear slices

Choose an entree:
Bistro Short Ribs, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Italian Winter Greens
Roasted Chicken, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Italian Winter Greens
Pasta with Shitake Mushrooms & Cream Sauce, Italian Winter Greens

Choose a dessert:
Coeur a la Crème with Local Blueberries in Gin Syrup
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Organic Ice Cream (gluten free)
Triple Nut Chocolate Tart with Coconut Cream (dairy & egg free)


Vegan, Vegetarian and Gluten-free diets happily accommodated with advance notice. Reservations strongly recommended.

Flourless Chocolate Cake - our newest favorite! Get the recipe here.

Triple Nut Chocolate Tart - get the recipe here.

I've included links to the recipes because I believe that there should be no such thing as a secret recipe - life is too short to be stingy with great food! I also wanted to demonstrate that is is possible to make meals that work for specialized diets and are still FANTASTIC. We serve the Flourless Chocolate cake to all guests and receive rave reviews, while helping to make our gluten-free guests feel welcome and comfortable. How can we pamper you?

Any questions, please let me know!

Feelin' Alright!

Hi friends. Thought I'd take a quick moment and send an update from my angst-y last post. Don't know what gets into me sometimes - I lose perspective and from the bottom of my own little pond things momentarily seem much more bleak than they actually are. My last post was "inspired" by frustration with the process of community life, and the convolutions we must go through in order to get decisions made. This is not a bad thing - being a part of a consensus-based community is something I really value. I just get a bit fatigued by the day-to-dayness of it all.

Kurt and I had a lovely snow-covered Christmas. On the 26th I boarded the train and headed for Chicago where I was entertained in style by our faux-nephews Peter and Ed - oh, the stories they tell! On the 27th flew to SFO and then to Oregon. It takes a long time to get ANYWHERE from Rutledge, MO.

I am currently in Coos Bay, Oregon visiting my three fabulous nieces and their mom. On New Year's Eve I fly back to the SF Bay Area where I'll spend five days on a sort of a personal retreat - no cell phone reception, no wifi - just long walks, a chance to write, and time to think. Then another five days in Berkeley, hosted by the marvelous Miss Lindsey, where I'll have the chance to catch up with old friends.

Life is good. Thanks for all of your kind thoughts. I'll post more when I'm home and have access to my own computer.

love,
Alline

Feeling Torn and Tattered

It's a Jackson Browne kind of day. The song "Before the Deluge" keeps playing in my head - it reflects a bit of the gray day and sadness I am feeling right now.

Let's just say the building a village is a lot harder than it looks.



Before the Deluge
Jackson Browne

Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
With their hearts they turned to each other's heart for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge

Some of them knew pleasure
And some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in the moment they were swept before the deluge

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by
By and by...
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by
By and by...
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

Sweeping Chimneys

Cole Miller, Firefighter and Chimney Sweep

Just a quick note. We had our chimney cleaned yesterday. Kurt had called Miller's Up the Chimney and we were delighted when Cole Miller showed up. Not only did he have a van full or high tech equipment and a great big smile, he also had traditional black top hat on his head.

He was done in less than half an hour, and did it all from inside the Mercantile. He even had a Hepa filter - not a bit of ash escaped, and now our chimneys are better than new. He didn't even mind that Alyson, busily making bread in the kitchen, hummed "Chim Chim Cheree."

We highly recommend him if you're anywhere near Quincy, IL.

On Being Dangerous, an Heiress, and just a bit Nervous

One of the nicest things in my day is to open my email and read the daily Writer's Almanac. Sent Monday through Saturday, each missive contains a poem and info on authors, artists and other interesting people who were born on this day.

I especially love this poem. As I am often most adventurous in my imagination, I love the thought of being considered "dangerous" without, really, being much of a threat. Because after all, deep down, I'm basically just a girl scout.

To Be a Danger
by C.G. Hanzlicek

Just once I'd like to be a danger
To something in this world,
Be hunted by cops
And forced into hiding in the mountains,
Since if they left me on the streets
I'd turn the country around,
Changing everyone's mind with a word.

But I've lived so long a quiet life,
In a world I've made small,
That even my own mind changes slowly.
I'm a danger only to myself,
Like the daydreaming night watchman
Smoking his cigar
Near the dynamite shed.


It was also on Writer's Almanac that I found this quote from Fran Lebowitz:

"I have a hard time writing. Most writers have a hard time writing. I have a harder time than most because I'm lazier than most. ... I would have made a perfect heiress. I enjoy lounging. And reading. The other problem I have is fear of writing. The act of writing puts you in confrontation with yourself, which is why I think writers assiduously avoid writing."

I have decided to make Fran Lebowitz my new Patron Saint, right along side St. Dymphna, who is patroness of those afflicted with mental and nervous disorders (as the St. Dymphna website points out, "there are few people in the world who are not at some time or another troubled with their nerves."). Sounds about right.

More ecovillage news soon. I have to go practice being an heiress.