Sustainable Influences

Sustainably Sadie

Sustainable Influences

Terry Tempest Williams, Wendell Berry, lexiconofsustainability.com, John Muir, frugallysustainable.com, Lynn Miller (my father-in-law) of The Small Farmer’s Journal, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Georgia O’Keefe, Walden…

When did you fall in love with Nature?  When did you realize that you are not separate from Nature but apart of it?  Who made you want to fight to preserve the natural world? 

A friend recently posted a picture online of the Hoover Dam with text, “Some of you may remember this.”  Our TBHS class got to travel to Las Vegas for our Senior Class Trip.  When it came time for us to visit the Hoover Dam, I squeezed my copy of Ishmael by Daniel Quinn to my chest and sobbed through the tour.  Carrying on as though my tears and The Monkey Wrench Gang could save the World, it was comical to my classmates and now to me as I look back on that adventure. 

Rachel Carson, Edward Abbey, storyofstuff.com, Western Sustainability Exchange, Buy Local, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Michael Pollan, The Lorax…

I live here in Southwest Montana because my parents moved to Waterloo in 1979.  Having grown up in the West, no part of me wants to live in a city. I don’t understand living in a box, tucked inside a massive maze of millions of other tiny boxes.   Even Twin Bridges – population 400- is too much town life for this country girl. 

This small-town, rural life isn’t just about Nature and The Outdoors.  It is also about community—living together, in support of one another in order to make the most of what we have. 

I recently came across, “Community in 17 Sensible Steps” from a speech delivered by Wendell Berry, November 11, 1994 at the 23^rd annual meeting of the Northern Plain Resource Council.  Check out the complete list for yourself, but I’d like to mention a couple of the steps pertinent to this conversation:

2.)     Include local nature—the land, the water, the air, the native creatures—within the membership of the community.

3.)     Ask how local needs might be supplied from local sources, including the mutual help of neighbors.

4.)     Supply local needs first

10.)     Circulate money within the local economy for as long as possible before paying it out.

15.)     Be aware of the economic value of neighborliness. 

Who has influenced your love of the place where we live?  Who do you look to for inspiration?  What is your role in your community?  Join the conversation on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SustainablySadie.  Comment at the blog, www.sustainablysadie.blogspot.com. 

Twin Bits

Weds. Feb 27: Mark Matthews will teach History of Social Dance and

dances at TBHS in the morning and SHS in the afternoon. Community Barn

Dance 5-8 pm. in the Square Building of the Fairgrounds. Please bring

a dish to share at a potluck supper before the dance! Music by Broken

Strings Band of Bozeman, with local fiddler Savanna Stewart sitting

in. Courtesy of your English and History Departments.

 

Thurs. March 7: Juniors Heritage Fair at Parent/Teacher Conferences,

Sheridan Schools Elementary lunchroom and gym from 4-7 pm.

From TBS Calendar:

Sat Feb 23:  FFA attending State

Feb. 20- 23:  Divisional Basketball tournaments, Boys & Girls @ Hamilton

Wed Feb 27:  Spring Picture Day; Madison County Spelling Bee @ Alder Community Center

Feb 28- March 2:  State Girls’ Basketball Tournament @ Belgrade

March 7- March 9:  State Boys’ Basketball Tournament @ Bozeman 

I am here to promote activities and events in the Ruby Valley.  Please contact me at sustainablysadie@hotmail.com, call me at 684-5222 or snail mail: P.O. Box 491, 59754.