the detailed hospitality of l'abri

I imagine most people, like me, have felt the desire at some point in life to take time out to really rest... in every sense of the word. To feel no guilt in taking the time for quiet reflection. To consider what you are living for and what you really believe in the deepest part of you. Rarely is this yearning able to be realized, for we are always in the middle of a million things, and people need us and school and work calls us to continue plugging away at our lives at a faster pace. L'abri fellowship, a shelter for weary souls situated in the Swiss Alps, provides those who come with a unique opportunity to rest and reflect, and the atmosphere there is a large part of l'abri's ability to facilitate such rest. I am so thankful for the few months I spent at l'abri last fall, and I often remember those months with an impossible wish to be instantly transported back to that place and time. I won't for a moment pretend that 35 people living in one chalet isn't often loud with bursts of laughter and ping pong tournaments and hectic with meals for hungry 20-somethings involving pots of soup so big you could drown in them and 7 loaves of homemade bread. Yet, even with the hectic times there exists at l'abri a feeling that sitting and reading for several hours if desired is entirely appropriate and not at all a waste of one's time. Or that spending an evening knitting and listening to someone read aloud is a perfect idea, or that stopping for long, meaningful conversations during the day should occur regularly. In fact, though in our day to day lives we often experience guilty feelings for indulging in what may not be "official" important work, l'abri makes activities like sitting and talking with friends while sharing nibbles on a bar of chocolate seem like one's calling.

I think this aspect of life at l'abri is brought about partly by the way small things are given attention. This shows that nothing is too insignificant to deserve our time and effort. When I first arrived, weary from a long flight and a gorgeous train ride that forced my sleepy eyes to stay open, I was shown where I would sleep and I was struck with the neatly made bed I was directed to with a towel folded on the foot of it with a small piece of swiss chocolate on top of that. Someone had taken the time to prepare for my coming, and I felt welcome because of their effort. As I made my way into the main gathering room at l'abri, I was invited to join the other students for tea time, which i soon learned was a twice daily occurance. No matter how much work there was to be done, at 11:00 am and 4:30 pm, hot tea (black and herbal) with milk, sugar and cookies on the side, was served on a little cart which was wheeled out of the kitchen. Whoever was on work duty gathered at Chalet Bellevue to relax for 1/2 an hour. A ping-pong game often followed tea, and usually someone picked up a guitar to strum a little or sat at the piano to play. This first tea time immediately struck me as something to note for my future...something to include in my own life own day.

One of the first meals I helped prepare at l'abri was memorable because of the details involved. Every evening meal involved candles lit and the table set just so, but this late september evening we finished preparing the food early, so my friend merrie and i were sent on the important mission of collecting wildflowers for the table. As we hiked along the small roads and trails alongside the steep cow pastures, listening to the tinkering of cow bells and carefully searching for the last few flowers before the frost, I felt that there was nothing more pressing to be doing, nothing more urgent or significant than gracing the table with flowers. I imagined that Edith Schaeffer would have done just the same thing when she was there managing the meals. I believe that Edith largely created this atmosphere at l'abri of detailed hospitality, which most importantly involved caring about individual people. This is true hospitality. No matter what material things are able to be offered to a friend or stranger, a listening, caring ear and a loving word is what we all need most. L'abri managed to provide both listening ears and an atmosphere where beauty was valued, and for that i am thankful and inspired to do the same.

The Revolution will not be Microwaved

I stole this title from a book by Sandor Katz, the talented author of Wild Fermentation who has recently published this second work. I am only on page 32, but already I have learned so much and his enthusiastic writing propells me forward. The book is about food, to say it succinctly, but its message reaches in its relevance to nearly all areas of our lives. He takes a close, and therefore often disheartening, look at the current state of food production and consumption in America. But he also tells the stories of grassroots movements which are making incredible changes in the way some people are eating.

I have been interested in food and in the organic farming movement for several years now, and I have spent 2 summers working on small scale, chemical-free veggie farms. When I first entered this world I experienced a huge epiphany that as I dug my fingers through the healthy soil and ate the strawberrys from plants I had carefully placed in the ground, went something like wow, i can really grow food all by myself! this isn't so complicated....plants want to grow, and....mmmm...this [insert: pesto, tomato sandwhich, stawberry rhubard jam] tastes amazing!! i am so dirty but i feel so happy and fulfilled and i have the skills to actually do things!

Now I feel a second epiphany coming on. As I become more educated in what is good for our bodies and souls and planet and as I gain more experience in the garden, I feel more sure of the absolute importance and central role that good food should play in our lives. In the past, everyone was involved in the history of the food on their plate. Less than a century ago people could not have comprehended the ease in which we can purchase and eat food today. Everyone had a garden, and people bought what they couldn't grow mostly from local farmers. One ate seasonally: radishes in the spring, tomatoes in the summer, and home-canned vegetables and potatoes in the winter. There were no semi-trucks bringing New Yorkers raspberries from California in February. Now we have been apparently freed from this drudgery of farming. We have the luxury of fast food restaurants around every corner and an endless supply of oil and cheap labor to bring us everything we want to eat at all times. I too enjoy convience and flexibility in my diet, but I sincerely believe that each of us should return to our agricultural roots in some degree or another and become participants and not merely consumers when it comes to our food.

There are so many reasons to start caring, grow a garden, and buy your vegetables in season at the farmer's market. I'll just mention one today to keep this blog from becoming a short novel. Our health is an obvious reason. Did you know that in 1989 the money Americans spent on healthcare surpassed what they spent on food? This alarming trend has continued to grow. It is not a surprising statistic when we consider that conventional, widespread agricultural methods today involve genetically altered plants and large amounts of pesticides, designed to kill plants, insects, and soil organisms. Is it shocking that cancer rates have soared the past 50 years as our use of chemicals in every day life has increased? And it makes sad sense that our food has few nutrients left in it when we realize that our food is laregly eaten in processed form and when "fresh" is still shipped from miles away and is days and weeks old when consumed. And beyond our own health we must consider the health of those involved in bringing us the out-of-seaons luxuries. Tomato pickers in South America who bring us this late-summer vegetable in the winter are often women, including pregnant and breast-feeding mothers who transfer pesticides from their hands to their babies, resulting in birth deformities and serious health problems in their young children. To end on a positive note, where changes are made and people in an area being eating more local, organic food, the results are real and exciting. Some schools in the US have school garden programs and connections with local farms, and when children are served fresh, local food, perfomances soar and behavior problems dwindle.

Stay tuned for more posts about food as I dig through this book and get inspired by the tomatoes growing in our garden at home.