Tonight’s monthly Chanting & Chocolate was delicious. The music was so beautiful – one the participants, José, said he felt transported to another realm. I love my band and continue to be amazed that these superb musicians want to play with me.
This post’s feature photo was shot by photographer Anita Laura Fonseca at February’s chant evening. She said it will be part of her exhibit at an interfaith conference called Encountering the Other that will happen in May at Vancouver School of Theology where she studies. She’s photographing clergy and rituals from different traditions.
After the chanting, we hung out downstairs for tea and the triple-chocolate brownies I bake at home. I’ve been hosting monthly chant evenings since 2004, interrupted only when I went to live in Uganda. The donations we receive support the education of five orphans from the community where I lived.
Bringing farm-fresh, organic produce to us
One of my visions for Vancouver Cohousing was that because we have 31 households, a truck full of organic fruits and vegetables would come to our door so we could shop onsite. Well, a variation of that dream is bearing fruit, so to speak.
Olive sent out a community email about participating in a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) program. If 10 households sign up, Earth Apple Farm in Abbotsford will deliver weekly harvest boxes right to us.
The farm’s website says the program “recognizes the importance of the relationship between producer and consumer and is based on the understanding that operating a small-scale sustainable farm is a community-oriented endeavour. Both farmer and consumer share responsibility in both the benefits (fresh, local, healthy and ethically grown produce) and risks (bad weather, illness, pests) that are inherently involved in the practice of organic farming. The consumer gives the farmer one easy payment in the spring when the biggest expenses (leases, seed, fertilizer, equipment maintenance/repair, rentals, tilling, etc) are incurred by the farmer and the CSA member benefits from a weekly supply of the freshest and tastiest produce throughout the growing season.”
Hi friends of Lorne!! The conference in question, coordinated by Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, is open to everyone! We hope you will all attend.
More information at this link: http://vst.edu/events/event/inter-religious-studies-conference-religious-constructions-of-the-other?for=interreligious-studies&view=event