Going Green: New Deli Style

"We were 'green' before green was a color." I said to husband Tom. He said, "Who said that?" Me! I told him I'd been thinking about how our business has been "going green" for 25 years now, and that I'd came up with that quote on my own.

The quote came back to me today when I looked at the headline on the MSN newspage: "Quotes of the Month". Yawn... I didn't see any exciting quotes there! But I thought of mine.

It was somewhat unheard of, back in 1985, for a food business to have a compost bucket on hand, to compost all those good kitchen scraps. How far we've come; now we even have a mandate, a San Francisco composting law, that will soon require all citizens in the area to recycle even their kitchen waste.

Our home garden benefited much from all the composting we did, thanks to our small sandwich business at The New Deli. At one point, it almost seemed like we had too much compost; yes, you do need a balance of dry stuff in relation to the wetter food scraps. We've resolved that problem somewhat, in adding all our brown paper towels to the compost bucket as well. It seems to be a good formula for our compost pile; we add some of the extra yard waste too, to make the perfect "recipe", and the plants reap the rewards of our efforts.

Ah, the compost bucket. Early on, we had a yard full of ducks and chickens; they just loved those New Deli scraps. So we called the compost bucket our "Duck Bucket". The name was easier to say, as we could always refer to it quickly with any new employees: "Yes, that goes in the Duck Bucket". Saying, "Put it in the Compost Bucket," just didn't have the same ring.

Eventually, the ducks became unwelcome in our yard. They really have a thing for creating mud, which isn't what your average garden plant wants. Messy ducks! We thought we'd solve our gardening challenges by sending the ducks to a local park with a nice big pond. But we only discovered that the chickens were causing problems as well: Fresh compost might tide them over, but they rather prefer young, growing plants, when given a chance. We loved the chicken manure, but eventually, the chickens had to go as well.

Twenty-five years later, it's hardly surprising that we have a composting bucket. So many businesses have gone green; besides being a good idea, it's also become quite trendy. But it's nothing new for us... we've been around a long time, recycling before you had to recycle, etc., etc. If you stop by The New Deli, just look over the counter. You'll see our "Duck Bucket". But remember: "We were green before green was a color"!

"He Makes Me Lie Down In Green Pastures"

St. Patrick's Day is coming up. What a good time to create some free desktop wallpaper, using the verse from Psalm 23: "He makes me lie down in green pastures..."

My friend Mike Trimble is an incredible photographer; he told me I could go ahead and use this photo in creating some desktop wallpaper. Perfect. I was hoping to find a good photo to use with a few verses from Psalm 23. This is it! You can check out the Psalm 23 Desktop Wallpaper at my website. Oh, and it's free. But of course :)

Don't Awaken Love Too Soon!

Song of Solomon 8:4 says, "Young women of Jerusalem, swear to me that you will not awaken love or arouse love before its proper time!". I was reminded of this verse as I pruned a few rose bushes today. In mid February, it's still damp here on the California coast. But as the days get longer, the roses are clamoring to burst into leaf. That might be an encouraging sign. One might get excited at the first signs of spring, much like the proud parent who shows off their youngster's beau, convinced that the adoration their offspring receives can only be a good sign.

But think again. Just as the young daughters of Jerusalem are warned not to awaken love too soon, so we must be on guard against that in our children. But what might be the damage in awaking that love earlier? Take a lesson from the roses: I just carefully removed all the premature leaves off of them. Those leaves were full of rust, a disease prevalent during the damp weather. I then pruned the rose bushes down to bare skeleton shapes. But I know, this way, the bushes won't have all that premature growth, so susceptible to disease. As the weather warms and the air dries, the new growth will be strong and healthy.

So, young ladies, if you get some premature leaves plucked off, maybe it's just that your parents don't want any potential blessings to be hindered. If they take the shears and clip you down, remember the roses. When the right time comes, everything will burst forth with new life. The conditions will be just right for a perfect spring, full of blooms, full of blessings.

More on Song of Solomon: I made a little desktop wallpaper, using Song of Solomon 2:16. Check it out here! Oh, and I ran across a wonderful commentary from a fellow blogger, here. Wise words :)

Atheist Billboards: Reaching Out?

Atheist billboards have gone up in the Sacramento area, paid for by the folks at the United Coalition of Reason. I can appreciate that the various agnostic and atheist groups are simply trying to reach out to others like themselves, in an effort to make a group of people feel less alienated. An article in the paper mentioned this purpose; the director of the CoR said, ""Many folks who think like us think they are the only ones".

I pondered this. I thought of the many atheists and agnostics, who perhaps felt so all alone in the universe, as if they were the only ones "not drinking the kool-aid". Perhaps they could gain some comfort from seeing the billboards: "Are you good without God? Millions are." But then I thought of how little comfort there can sometimes be, in knowing there are millions like you. Would it be comforting to think I was simply living this short time on earth, with millions of other people, and then, meeting up with nothing?

I suspect the life of an atheist or agnostic is not "comfortable". Yet the purpose of the billboards seems to be to offer some comfort to a group of people who this coalition believes need encouragement. Yet, there will still be those alienating times in our lives: Times when no one else seems to understand, no one else seems equipped to offer a solution, times when we may feel completely alone. For me, to know and feel the presence of my God brings an indescribable peace that does not depend on earthly or human efforts. In knowing God, I do not need to find solace from a bill board. (And that's a good thing, considering how many goofy billboards there are out there!)

The article about the billboards got me to thinking of how different the Christian faith is from that of the agnostic/atheist. I was reminded of how I am waiting now, in the cool dark days of February, with last year's poppy seeds laying dormant in the soil. As bleak as it is in the garden right now, I know that by springtime, a new crop of poppies will be flourishing once again. I do not see those poppies in the winter. Indeed, there is no sign of them! But that's the beauty of the Christian life, found in Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." I don't really need to see it on a billboard to know it exists.

Finding Peace, Joy, and True Love

I was a loner. A social recluse. I had a few friends in high school, but kept to myself a lot. Isn't that a typical story? Teens are a unique breed; they wrestle with "coming of age", with puberty, hormones, experimenting, exploring... Don't they?

I figured I would navigate the waters as best I could. I'd try to fit in with the popular kids. I'd try to invent myself. And reinvent myself. Other girls seemed so cool, calm, and carefree. I never suspected that might just be a superficial layer hiding the messy ball of nerves, obsessions, and compulsions common to man, at least man (woman) aged fourteen through eighteen.

When I blossomed past the completely awkward, nail-biting, over-sized nose stage of junior high, a few boys actually started paying attention to me. This was heaven for me. I had found an interested audience amongst some of the naughtiest boys in my freshman year. But they liked me. What more could I ask? I wasn't looking too closely at character defects. They liked me! How bad could that be?

Of course this brought great concern to my family. I had above-average intellect and artistic gifts that should equip me to be a successful person. I should be considering my future career path at this point; what school I'd be applying to, what major I might have. I should pass the time going to high school football games and voting on Homecoming Queens, shopping at the mall with mom and sis, finding the latest fashions and conveniences...

Much to my parents' chagrin, I'd become an outrageous teen who rebelled against society, ranting about free love and bucking the system. By age 17, I was living with my boyfriend and partying and denouncing the material world. By age 18 I had married my hippie boyfriend; a meager consolation to my concerned parents.

For the next twenty years of my life, I worked. The food industry seemed to welcome the wayward; I could always get a job as a waitress, bus girl, or the like. And I was a "seeker", looking for a hip religion. It could come in the form of Eastern mysticism, marbled with special dietary approaches to inner peace. It could come in the form of some occasional pot-smoking, or alcoholic escapades to the tune of the latest cool music. Just so it confined itself to the basic belief that Man Was King, controlling his own universe...

I kept working, became a mother of two, did what I wanted, and came close to leaving my husband. I hooked up with some other dreamer-musicians and sang some crazy songs (like, "Black Leather Monster"). I was hip, right?

Perhaps in all my rationalizations, in all my quests, in all my worldly desires, I was getting frustrated. I had tried just about every approach to bettering myself that I could find. I had even become a successful businesswoman. But really, I was no better off.

Finally, in September of 1996, at age 38, I rethought my whole approach. I needed to pray. I needed for God to hear me. I had an issue with my brother-in-law; his resurgence back into our life was bringing with it a haunting reminder of my strange and sordid youth. Our relationship needed mending. Badly.

I needed God. Despite my many years of self-sufficiency, I realized I really couldn't "do it all". I couldn't manufacture my own god to help me in challenging times. I needed the Holy Spirit. I needed to ask God for His Holy Spirit.

My Jesus Freak friend at our deli had been trying to explain this to me for years, but it had never clicked before. Well, it clicked the night I went home, started making supper, and stood by the stove saying, "God, PLeaSe give me Your Holy Spirit, so that I can pray to You and know You can answer!" From that moment on, I knew He was there. He put me through the "Quick Change" process, and I changed so radically that it was like night and day.

All the preaching about Jesus hadn't gotten through before; I'd heard the stories, I knew Jesus died for us... but it was all in my head, not in my heart. The Holy Spirit went beyond head stuff. I got saved, by His grace. God is So Good.

Listen to that body...

Ah, to be so led, like sheep... To eat what will truly feed us...

The way I've seen it at times, using self-control in our eating is a valuable discipline. God's Holy Spirit speaks to us, and our bodies speak to us too! But so often, we don't listen to what our actual physical needs are. And they are different from what the flesh says it needs.

The flesh says, "You want that pastry!" But the body says, "If you have that pastry, it really won't satisfy your body's nutritional needs. So you'll still need to eat more. Plus, after a pastry, healthy food won't taste as good. Plus, that pastry won't be easy to digest!"

I'm all for eating somewhat decadent foods on special occasions. But for daily eating, we need daily good habits. If we can take a nudge from the quiet, subtle speakings of our bodies, we might be that much more sensitive to even hear those nudges from the Holy Spirit. But if we grow calloused to what our bodies tell us, how will we hear an even more intangible voice, like that of God's?!

"Fast Food Linked to Weight Gain"?!

Jay Leno made fun of a headline about how fast food seems to lead to weight gain, as if it's a no-brainer. But I'd seen a similar headline, and what was intriguing about it was that people in the study consumed the same amount of calories, but it wasn't the calorie count that made such a difference. What made the difference was the kind of calories. A high-fat, high-sugar diet (as consumed from cheeseburgers, fries, and sugary snacks) seemed to change the balance of bacteria in the gut, favoring a type of bacteria called Firmicutes. This bacteria is very efficient at converting food into calories that the body absorbs.

In other words: Given the right fuel (high fats and sugars), the body can become a weight-gaining machine, readily absorbing the calories, instead of actually burning them for energy. You've heard the joke, "I might as well apply this straight to my hips"? Ha, it's fairly accurate!

In this study by Washington University scientists, it was found that folks with a preponderance of the less-efficient Bacteroidetes (another bacteria potentially found in the gut) could maintain a leaner physique. The healthy foods that promote the healthier bacteria in the gut also promote a better burning of calorie energy.

Yes, we are what we eat. If we make wise food choices, our bodies will thank us for it. We all know about those folks who claim they "hardly eat anything and still can't lose weight". Well, it's probably not just about quantity, but about what, in fact, we eat. Eat healthy!