LIVING GREEN

LOVE Your New Year’s Resolutions Resolve to

Colleen Campion, Watershed Specialist, Wayne Conservation District

How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? February is a good time to reflect on your chosen goals. Some of the best kept resolutions are ones that result in a lifestyle change. For the month of celebrating relationships, make a commitment to your relationship with yourself! The Cooper age Project is sharing resolutions that are inspired by engaging, challenging, enlight ening and loving yourself.

Resolution #1: Live a healthier lifestyle.

Most will concur that what we put into our bodies is practically paramount. Eating freshly prepared seasonal foods is one of the best ways to improve your diet and health. Medical experts, like the Mayo Clinic, agree that diets rich in fr esh pr oducts provide more nutrition than processed meals. The Cooperage hosts the Main Str eet Far mers Market to pr ovide local fruits and veggies, greens, baked goods, meat, eggs, and savory snacks in a climate controlled market venue during those unpredictable winter months. We pair the Market Cafe lunch menu with items from the vendors, and provide r ecipes you can make at home. Love yourself and obey your body’s need for quality sustenance!

For others, a healthier lifestyle refers to getting out more often. That takes us to…

Resolution #2: Spend mor e time with family and friends.

Many people resolve to make more time for gathering with those that bring us joy. We feel

good when we surround ourselves with good people, so why not do it more often?! Honesdale is a welcoming town in central Wayne County. There are plenty of activities (indoors and out), shops and restaurants to visit on your morning out, day trip, or evening excursions. The Cooperage serves as a gathering place for individuals and families alike, offering a variety of opportunities to engage with your community members. For folks new to town, it pr ovides a friendly atmosphere to meet new friends. Cherish your loved ones and make a few more moments of memories together. Others feel a healthier lifestyle means it’s time to explor e and be mor e active. For them...

Resolution #3: Volunteer in the community.

Everyone benefits when we come together to get big jobs done! There are a slew of ways to volunteer your time, talent or skills at a local non-profit or community or ganization. For some folks, spending your time on such tasks is a strategic way of building a r esume or gaining professional development. Grade school and college students are

often required to complete com

munity service hours and should look for meaningful opportunities that explore their interests. Volunteering is an effective means of giving back to your community or meeting your neighbors. For some, volunteering opens the networking doors to a new career path! We enrich each other’s lives with our individual experiences and knowledge, and that is some thing to recognize and celebrate. Love yourself, cherish your community and obey your inner needs!

Jenna Wayne Mauder is the agriculture and food program manager at The Cooperage Project. The Cooperage Pr o ject is a nonprofit community hub that aims to meet the needs of the community in a warm, inclusive setting. Check out all of their good times, learning, performance and market happenings at www.thecooperageproject.org. Follow on Facebook and Instagram, or sign up for our newsletter at www.thecooperageproject.org. Reach out and expr ess your needs and inter ests! They look forward to meeting you at the Cooperage or around town.

THE ROCK SUNNING TURTLE By The Reverend Mrs. Silence DoGood

Dear Editor,

I first noticed it when the turtle did it. Then I saw the duck do it. And now the groundhog does it. I call the groundhog Moose.

Our priory sits on top of a hill that overlooks a small valley and our neighbor’s five hundred acre black angus beef cattle farm. At the bottom of the three acre hill behind our house is our half acre spring-fed pond. I think any cottage cheese manufactur er would be pr oud to put our view on their package. In fact, if they saw our view I think they would be jealous. Some mornings the small valley fills up with mist just like a glass fills up with liquid. The top of the gr ey and slightly glowing mist gently sways and moves. It is as though the mist were alive and stretching … awaiting a kiss from the sun.

As I start my day I often sit at our kitchen window and look out. Some fields are not obscured by the mist, and on them I can see the black angus cows eating their organic breakfasts. Grass. Because we are rather high up, I can often see birds floating on the rising drafts of warm air. These birds are at eye height.

Yes, the view is good for marketing cheese, butter or even grass fed beef. But that would diminish its importance. What is most important is the human effect of such beauty. At any time of the day and in any season, the view reveals and reveals and reveals. It is as though the view is a stor y book, and each day is a page that tur ns to tell more. Sometimes when I look at the view it changes me. Especially when I look at the mist in the valley. Yes, the floating moisture is in the valley, but somehow it is also within me. It fills my mind gently and quietly . It fills it to the brim. There is no more room for thoughts, diversions, or stress. I am one with the mist. A communion. A unity. A blessing.

And it’s not just me. The beauty of the view also calls to the fauna that sur rounds my house. The turtle does it. It climbs on the stepped rock that functions like a keystone on the western shore of our pond. Then it slowly moves into position so it can always face the view. Why? I thought that it must feel like I do. It is one with beauty.

Then one day I was sitting down by the pond when a duck flew onto its rippling surface. Soon the duck sort of hopped up the stepped rock. How amazing! It turned, stood there and looked at the view. It didn’t face the house which was to its back. It didn’t look at the fields to its left or right. It only looked straight ahead. It too became one with beauty . Finally there is Moose, our groundhog. I regularly see it motionless, standing on its hind feet looking at the hills and valley. The quiet which surrounds our priory allows it to sit there for long periods of time. Willie, my husband, wants to get rid of him, but I say no. Moose is now one with the tur tle, the duck and me.

William Wordsworth in his Ode to Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood wr ote ”To me the meanest flower that blows can often bring thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.” I think “meanest” means a common flower like dandelions. And when he speaks of a flower blowing I think he refers to the seeds of a dandelion being carried away by the wind. Wordsworth knew of the human communion with natur e. It is a unity that each of us can shar e. One need not have a cottage cheese view. One can have a communion with nature by looking at a common flower. When one does commune with nature, that person becomes connected to all of us who look.

The Reverend Mrs. Silence DoGood Senior Pastor Executive Director Pr esident Chairman Choir Master (part-time) The First Church of God’s Love