Month: July 2019

I’m grateful for getting most of the garden cleared of the real invasive stuff, blackberries and quaking aspen sprouts.  The blackberries are highly invasive, thorny and delicious.  The have these long canes that snake through everything else.  That plus a vibrant and overgrown wisteria, makes my garden look a bit like a jungle.  They hang over the fence from both neighbors so I harvest all I want and prune them back as much as I like. Blackberries in yogurt for lunch, delish, although I spotted my white tee shirt with several vivid purple spots when I mashed them before adding the (fake) sugar and yogurt.  And such a lovely color yogurt!  I love that I can just walk up to the fence and pluck juicy berries for my lunch.

I’m grateful for finding a wan but living rhubarb plant and two way wan asparagus plants.  They will finally be able to get some sun and may grow.  I want to transplant the rhubarb, the deer don’t like it and it will get much more sun outside the garden because it’s tucked up against a bush on the other side of the fence that’s shading it half the day.

I’m grateful for a serendipitous collection of ingredients for supper, an ear of corn, ¾ of an orange sweet pepper, a handful of cherry tomatoes, some cut up rotisserie chicken, a couple glugs of salsa (my favorite low cal tomato product) heated and served with plain yogurt.  The cat loves the salsa/yogurt sauce as much as I do. I think I could eat this for supper daily for a month.  

They were haying as I drove north up the Willamette Valley, a week ago on a big scale

After toiling in the garden I looked around and up in gratitude.

My patio has one lovely sturdy snap dragon between the concrete patio and gravel drive

July 18^th

I spent part of the evening outside after sunset.  I went out to check the viewing and watch the International Space Station pass overhead (well, almost overhead, or so it seemed.)

After a cloudy start to the day, the evening ended up almost clear. The sun sets about a half an hour later here than it did in Windsor, so when the ISS went over it was still some light outside.  It was interesting to see how much brighter got as it reached the apex of its travel passed me, although I’m unclear as to why this was.

Certainly, it is true that I am now living in a much more crowded area, and there is a constant hum of moving vehicles in the distance, sounding not unlike the deep sigh of the wind through the white pines in Maine.

I sat quietly for a time after the space station past, listening to the peepers in my bit of canyon.  The evening was cool, with just enough warmth to make the mild breeze comfortable. I’m told that there are mosquitoes in the bottom of the canyon, but up above where I was, at least, and with the breeze, I escaped assault.

And suddenly the peepers stopped peeping, as though frightened by something, some predator, and then after a while, resumed their song. This happened several times.  I don’t recall noticing this phenomenon in the past, but perhaps Anne can tell me if these interruptions are a regular occurrence, given that her house lies in such close proximity to a colony of them.

A peaceful evening in which to contemplate the universe.  Seeking joy in the magnificence, its rich hugeness aswirl with detail. Wondering what journeys will present themselves. I’ve found myself here where two roads diverged in a yellow wood, one door is closing, I have yet to see what the next will reveal.

July 20th

I got my first share of fruit from the Home Orchard Society in Oregon City this morning after a tour. I’ll get 3-5 lbs a week for 20 weeks into November. A couple of lbs of plums, small and only some of them are ripe, a ripe fig, a pint of blue berries and 3 early apples
I was most excited with their paw paw trees, all mine have failed back east but I’m told they do well here. They also have Fuji persimmons. The place is surrounded with fencing with grape vines on them, such abundance.

I have blackberries growing over my fence from the neighbors and I shall feast when they ripen, but I look forward to planting some other fruits here too.
I cut up all the plums, removing the stones but keeping the skins, and added sugar. I’ll cook them down tomorrow into jam. I plan to use them in yogurt or for fish or chicken. I squished a couple of handfuls of blueberries into the plums. Now I wonder what I’ll do with that fig . . .

1/3^rdof the world supply of chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast where forced child labor is prevalent. 

I get nothing for this, but with current legislation in the news, I’d like to share this letter I received a while ago, when I inquired about where my favorite chocolate comes from, and to bring the matter to your attention generally.

Dear Ms. Cox,

Thank you very much for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in our products. The sourcing of raw materials – their origin, production and quality – is a topic of central importance for the whole Lindt & Sprüngli Group. Your inquiry has been forwarded to me at the Lindt & Sprüngli Headquarter in Switzerland by our daughter company, Ghirardelli. I take this opportunity to give you some Information on the efforts we take in this field:

Lindt & Sprüngli strongly condemns all forms of child labor. We are therefore actively involved in ensuring that child labor no longer has any place in cocoa production. Since 2005 we have sourced our West African cocoa beans – and subsequently our entire supply of consumer cocoa beans – exclusively from Ghana.

Cocoa beans from Ghana meet our high quality standards. One key aspect of our activities is the traceability of cocoa beans. This gives us an opportunity to directly address some of the difficulties associated with the cultivation of cocoa beans. The cocoa farmers, their families and village communities are the focus of our efforts, and one of our top priorities is therefore to ensure that they are able to benefit directly from our financial support.

In 2008, after intensive preparatory work, we launched the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in Ghana. By paying a price premium on every ton of cocoa beans purchased from Ghana, this program allows us to promote traceability and verification. Additional funds from the Lindt Cocoa Foundation (http://lindtcocoafoundation.org/) make it possible to improve the living conditions of the farmers and the infrastructure of their local communities. The goal of our program is to boost the crop yields and subsequently the income of cocoa farmers and their families.

Our commitment focuses on the farmers who are not organized in cooperatives: this is the case for around 80-90% of cocoa farmers worldwide. We therefore help these farmers to organize themselves into groups and encourage greater cohesion so that in the future they themselves will be in a position to offer the services, products and the know-how that we currently offer through our program.

Up to the end of 2015, we had already invested over USD 10 million in traceability and verification, as well as in the development of farming communities. This has involved the digging of more than 100 wells for clean drinking water, the distribution of over 38,000 mosquito nets, the reconstruction of a local school and the creation of 20 or more Village Resource Centers equipped with IT facilities for teaching and training use.
More than 45,000 cocoa farmers are registered in the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in Ghana. Our local partner for the logistical roll-out of the program is the non-profit organization Source Trust (www.sourcetrust.org).

The following elements are included in the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in Ghana and help to reduce child labor:
1. Traceability and organization of farmers
a. Registration of farmers.
b. Every bag of cocoa beans is labelled so that we know exactly which village the beans come from.
c. Building a database with information on the farmers and their communities (for example: number and age of cocoa trees, number of children in the farmer’s family, distance to the next school, etc.) These data help us to support the farmers in increasing their productivity and improving their living conditions. It also allows us to assess the risk of child labor more accurately.
2. Promoting specialist knowledge and skills
a. Farmers are trained in good agricultural practices (such as the best way of cultivating cocoa trees), good environmental practices (e.g. handling waste, dealing with wildlife on the farm) and good social practices (for example raising awareness of child labor, health & safety, etc.).
b. Training locals so they can spread specialist knowledge (trainers, monitors, etc.).
3. Community development 
a. Farmers receive more extensive support (e.g. access to micro credit, improved planting material, and access to farm shops for better farming equipment).
b. Communities receive support in improving their living conditions (e.g. construction of a school, mosquito nets to combat malaria, wells with clean drinking water, and Village Resource Centers with IT equipment that function as schools during the day and provide agricultural training for farmers in the evenings and at weekends).
4. Internal monitoring and external verification 
a. An internal monitoring system is in place with regular visits to the farmers in order to evaluate the progress made regarding good agricultural, social and environmental practices. Remedial measures are introduced if necessary.
b. External audits verify and control the internal monitoring system and check samples of farmers.

One aspect of verification that we consider extremely important is not just internal monitoring, but also external audits. In 2012, for example, Lindt & Sprüngli introduced the audit of its cocoa bean suppliers by independent organizations. The main focus of these external auditors is to check for problems relating to human trafficking, forced labor and the worst forms of child labor. In the 27 external audits carried out during the cocoa harvest season 2014/2015 in Ghana, no child labor violations were discovered at any of our suppliers. We are however aware that these external audits only provide a snapshot of activity at a given moment. We are therefore striving to design our verification system so that it is even more effective in identifying exploitative child labor. Even so, these external controls provide us with a wealth of other basic information as to how we can continue to improve our Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program.

Over the coming years we plan to extend the model we have successfully introduced in Ghana to include our entire global supply chain. The visible progress and successes in Ghana have encouraged us to extend the program. In 2014 we launched a pilot project of the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in Ecuador, from where we obtain most of our “flavor” cocoa beans.
We would also like to point out that Lindt & Sprüngli has been a member of the UN Global Compact since 2009. This important sustainability initiative submits an annual report to the United Nations on the progress made in 10 global sustainability principles: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/participants/2087-Chocoladefabriken-Lindt-Sprungli-AG.

For example, in setting up the Lindt Cocoa Foundation in 2013, we have established an institution that engages for social and environmental sustainability in the cultivation, production and processing of cocoa beans. Above all, this includes sustainable use of raw materials and fair working and living conditions for cocoa farmers. Information on the current projects can be found by clicking on this link: http://lindtcocoafoundation.org/.
Lindt & Sprüngli has defined clear guidelines on combatting child labor, which are published on our website, at http://www.lindt-spruengli.com/sustainability/. Here you will also find our “Supplier Code of Conduct”. This sets down the criteria that our suppliers are expected to meet in areas such as compliance with laws and regulations, corruption and bribery, social and working conditions, child labor and environmental protection. They must agree in writing to be bound by this Code. At the same time we require the suppliers themselves to ensure that these criteria are also respected by their employees, contractors, subcontractors and other suppliers with whom they cooperate in delivering goods and services to Lindt & Sprüngli.

The cocoa industry is a very complex area and – in spite of all our efforts – we are of course aware that there is still a lot to do. For this reason, we maintain our commitment and continue working hard to constantly improve our cocoa supply chain and the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program.
We are confident that our activities make a major contribution to improving the living conditions of the cocoa farmers that grow our cocoa beans and preventing child labor.

We hope this information is of help to you and we are pleased to count you among our valued consumers.

Many regards from Switzerland,

Tullia Mussetola
Corporate Consumer AffairsLindt & Sprüngli (International) AG
Seestrasse 204 
Kilchberg  8802
+41 44 716 22 33 

If you made it this far, thanks for your interest.

A cougar was photographed near Southwest Portland last weekend, while I slumbered in the woods.  It was seen in a residential area.  I was camping among thousands in the woods so I was more in danger from the sun and maybe brown recluse spiders than one lone mountain lion, but I prefer my first sentence for the drama!

Speaking of this large member of a favorite fellow creature family, there are an estimated 6000 cougers in Oregon

From the San Diego Zoo website:

“Mountain lion, puma, cougar, panther—this cat is known by more names than just about any other mammal! But no matter what you call it, it’s still the same cat, Puma concolor, the largest of the small cat species.”

“The mystery of the small cat: Like the unicorn, small cats have been the stuff of legends. Many of these cats have never been studied in their natural habitats, which are often in rugged, remote areas. Some small cats are active only at night, making it hard for researchers to study them. Until recently, the bay cat of Borneo was known to exist only in stories and identified by a few skins in museums; it was not studied in the wild until the late 1990s! There are reports of a cat known only as the onza, from Mexico, which may be related to the mountain lion. It is as big as a mountain lion but more slender. Scientists have only seen one, which had been killed by hunters.

There is also the Iriomote cat (named for the small Japanese island near Taiwan where it lives), which was only discovered by scientists in 1965. It has been declared a national treasure by the government of Japan, but there may be fewer than 100 of these cats left. And have you ever heard of the kodkod? Only people who really know small cats can say they have, and almost nothing is known about this cat, native to a small area of Chile and Argentina.

Surprisingly, some of the “small cats” are rather large, like the mountain lion (sometimes called a puma or cougar), which most people think of as one of the big cats. Zoologists group cats by certain physical features, not really by size. Here’s what they look for:
Roar or purr? The group of small cats cannot roar like the big cats do, because the bones in their throat are hardened and close together and can only produce smaller vibrations. Instead, they mew, scream, and growl. Anyone with a house cat knows that small cats can purr nonstop whether they are breathing in or out, but big cats can’t purr continuously; they can only purr when they breathe out, and the purr is interrupted when the cat breathes in. As a result, some big cats make a noise keepers refer to as a “chuffle.”
Eyes: The pupils of small cats close to a vertical slit, while the pupils of big cats close to a circle, like a human’s pupil. 
Nose: Small cats have a strip of leathery skin across the top of their nose, directly above the wet tip. On big cats, this area is covered with fur.
Resting: Big cats prefer to stretch out when they rest, but small cats like to curl up with their paws tucked underneath and their tail wrapped around their body.

I’d include a picture, but I am wary of copywriter and I don’t have any pictures of a mountain lion of my own. Well, not exactly.