The book starts with a simple, yet profound question: “What should we have for dinner“. This question is relevant to me in many, personally significant, ways, not the least because, lover of food as I am, years ago I posed a very similar question to my mom, asking her “What do we have for dinner“, which sparked my first argument with her and initiated my quest for… God… But that is another story for another day…

The book takes us on a journey (and I love journeys; what with this site being subtitled “Journaling my spiritual journey”) across the main ways we put food (or what we think is food) at the table. From the fast food restaurant (which does not require a table per se, as you can consume it in the car), through the industrial agricultural chains which start with massive fields of corn and end with massive shelves at the “regular” grocery stores, taking a detour through what is labeled as “organic” food at your local Whole Foods, to the most fascinating destination — for me personally at least — the Polyface Farms in Virginia.

Now, this is a truly inspiring and thought-provoking destination, not the least because my parents retired as subsistence farmers and because the example of Joel Salatin and his Polyface Farms validates some of the principles with which I grew up, but also enriches them.

The book finishes with the adventures leading towards the “perfect” meal — the meal where everything is grown or gathered or harvested or hunted by one’s own hands, and those of the friends with whom you share the meal. Michael Pollan is the first to admit that such a meal is not practical, not at least on a daily basis. But as he rightly reflects, a fast food meal is not sustainable on a daily basis either.

I once wrote a song called “Sapling” with a verse paraphrased as this: “There are many fruit trees in the orchard of humanity but not a single one of them would give you the satisfaction of the fruit you grow with your own hands”. I will do my best to garden more and explore more, foraging Mother nature’s offerings; I will also sign up for a share of a community supported sustainable farm. But I will also do my best to share more meals with friends…

As I was sitting today at lunch with my team mates celebrating one of their birthdays, I surveyed all of them asking them how often they ate their lunches at the desk: three to five days a week, most answered. And I myself have become equally complacent in this regard. So, here is to new year resolutions, and to resolving the omnivore’s dilemma: I will eat more healthy, sustainable meals among friends and family. Will you join me? If so, let me know.

My steps today are simple:

• I biked to work
• I planted a garden on my balcony
• I am teaching my daughters to appreciate nature

When you make such first steps, as small as they are, it is good to know what the vision is. Here it goes:

The earth is but one county, and mankind its citizens.
Bahá’u'lláh

For every part of the universe is connected with every other part by ties that are very powerful and admit of no imbalance, nor any slackening whatever…
Abdu’l Bahá

Now living in a major city I have a challenge of influencing the choices of how my children grow up despite the limited time I have with them.  I am no longer welcome at the garden I helped build for them at the house they live so helping there is not an option anymore. I did apply for a garden plot with Arlington County but there is waiting list so I am not holding my breath. I do plan on starting a vegetable garden on my vast balcony. I even brought some rare seeds from Bulgaria, so this should be a fascinating experiment.

So many things in life we appreciate only when we don’t have them anymore. I clearly remember how much I yearned for a garden when I was in the army and for the first time I did not have my gardening weekends. Then the spring came and we were given orders to help clean up a military hospital’s park — ah the joy of being close to the soil and brushes during early spring time.

As we are getting ready for the first day of Spring, and the Baha’i New Year, I am contemplating how to make my life ever more balanced through harmony with nature, and how to give example of my loved ones of the joy nature can give.

Of course gardening is only one way of being in touch with nature. Hiking is another one of my nurturing passions which I do not get to satisfy as often as I wish. Combining any of those with the time spent with beloved kids is surely a joyous and noble endeavor.

A friend of mine, Todd Christopher, just published a book on that exact important topic — of encouraging kids to play outside, in nature. Here is an eloquent video promoting the book, “The Green Hour”:

The Green Hour: A Daily Dose of Nature for Happier, Healthier, Smarter Kids by Todd Christopher from Todd Christopher on Vimeo.

I just bought my copy of the book at Borders. It is a very nice, full of practical ideas and at $18 won’t break your budget. It is available on Amazon too for $12.11.  Whether you buy it or not, I hope you get to spend more time outside with some kids you love! The spiritual fruits might be even more abundant than the physical ones:

Praise be unto God! who hath created sanctified souls, illumining them with the reflections of the Sun of Truth, and raising certain persons for the service of the Kingdom and gardening in the divine orchard. I hope thou wilt become a fruitful tree producing sweet fruits. Trust thou in the bounties of God and engage thyself in His service.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v3, p. 506)

Last night I started reading a fabulous book, “Big Mind / Big Heart“, which talks about the disowned voices we have hidden deep in our subconscious because they talk of things we are not proud of — I sure have a lot of those voices. The ability to embrace them is a key to giving them voice in a healthy way. But the book talks also about other voices of which we might not be aware — the voices that speak of something bigger than we limit ourselves to be.

This morning I woke up from a series of dreams which spoke to me of being embraced in the love and grace of God; which gave examples of strength and courage — an austrian swimmer champion in the Olympics who had only one arm (?!), and which sent me a message that a friend who wants and wills to help me has arrived in Arlington. I can’t shake the feeling of joy that sense of being immersed in God’s mercy!

So, now I am getting ready to go back to the Arlington County Fair where I went last night to be at the Baha’i booth with another wonderful friend. At some point I wandered around checking other exhibitors and then saw the competition tables — of vegetables grown, of jams canned, and of photographs taken by Arlingtonians — and I realized that I too, could participate in these competitions. The zucchini I grew were at least as big as the winner; the sour cherry jam is probably not much worse than those shown on the winners’ table; as for my photography, who knows, I am new in it but surely willing to learn.

This all takes me back to the question of the authentic self. It seems to me I have limited my perception of who I am for such a long time that it has been disservice to both myself and my creator. Time to say hello to the world. World, say hello to Mitko

O God, Who art the Author of all Manifestations, the Source of all Sources, the Fountain-Head of all Revelations, and the Well-Spring of all Lights! I testify that by Thy Name the heaven of understanding hath been adorned, and the ocean of utterance hath surged, and the dispensations of Thy providence have been promulgated unto the followers of all religions.

I beseech Thee so to enrich me as to dispense with all save Thee, and be made independent of any one except Thyself. Rain down, then, upon me out of the clouds of Thy bounty that which shall profit me in every world of Thy worlds. Assist me, then, through Thy strengthening grace, so to serve Thy Cause amidst Thy servants that I may show forth what will cause me to be remembered as long as Thine own kingdom endureth and Thy dominion will last.

This is Thy servant, O my Lord, who with his whole being hath turned unto the horizon of Thy bounty, and the ocean of Thy grace, and the heaven of Thy gifts. Do with me then as becometh Thy majesty, and Thy glory, and Thy bounteousness, and Thy grace.

Thou, in truth, art the God of strength and power, Who art meet to answer them that pray Thee. There is no God save Thee, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

(Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 59)

O FRIEND!
In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold. Treasure the companionship of the righteous and eschew all fellowship with the ungodly.

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

O MY CHILDREN!
I fear lest, bereft of the melody of the dove of heaven, ye will sink back to the shades of utter loss, and, never having gazed upon the beauty of the rose, return to water and clay.

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

…”Love is a veil betwixt the lover and the beloved.” Here love becometh an obstruction and a barrier, and all else save Him is but a curtain. The wise Sana’i hath written:

Never the covetous heart shall come to the stealer of hearts,

Never the shrouded soul unite with beauty’s rose.

(Baha’u'llah, The Four Valleys, p. 60)

O YE PEOPLE THAT HAVE MINDS TO KNOW AND EARS TO HEAR!
The first call of the Beloved is this: O mystic nightingale! Abide not but in the rose-garden of the spirit. O messenger of the Solomon of love! Seek thou no shelter except in the Sheba of the well-beloved, and O immortal phoenix! dwell not save on the mount of faithfulness. Therein is thy habitation, if on the wings of thy soul thou soarest to the realm of the infinite and seekest to attain thy goal.

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

Isaiah saith: “The Lord alone shall be exalted in that Day.” Concerning the greatness of the Revelation He saith: “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty.” And in another connection He saith: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the splendor of our God.”

(Baha’u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 146)

“Thou art like unto a blooming rose in the rose-garden of the love of God and thou art like unto a fruitful tree on the bank of the stream of knowledge of God. I beg of God that thou mayest always enjoy spiritual nearness and ever be rejoiced.”

Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v1, p. 209

“This fragrance is just as thou didst write, “the fragrance of the rose-garden of the unity of the East and West.” I hope that daily these fragrances may become more powerful and more diffused throughout the world.”

Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v1, p. 127

And then she asked the question that really made me pause:

“Does God like mistakes?”

I quickly answered:

“God likes it when we learn from our mistakes”.

The start of this talk, in fact, was inspired by our discussion of another mistake that had taken place the previous day — when she had cut, as artistically as she could, the hair of her 2 1/2 year old sister. Her mom (who shared with her that in her own youth she had done exactly the same to her own sister) and our daughter had reflected on whether what she had done was good, and we all praised her for telling the truth. (She clearly enjoys getting praise and confirmation for telling the truth.)

So, does God like it when we make mistakes? Does God like the mistakes we make? Seems to me that just as God loves us, He loves anything that would make us grow. So, as long as we learn from the mistakes, it is OK to make them. The trick is not to get in the habit of repeating them.

I have been trying to grow a garden of several vegetable plants, some berries, and a few grape vines. My goal is to make the grape vine climb on a trellis so we could enjoy the beautiful autumn evenings under the cool skies, broad leaves and succulent fruits. The way to make this happen is by lovingly but mercilessly trimming all the branches that the vine insist on growing in the wrong directions so that all its energy is spent for growth in the right direction, “the chosen highway“.

Does the vine like it when once a week I trim the newly sprouted leaves? Probably not. Is the vine grateful that it is reaching heights that only a year ago were unthinkable? Probably yes.

Do I like to see the vine grow all these extra sprouts? Yes, of course — these are signs of healthy growth. Do I call these extra sprouts mistakes? Of course, not — probably only the vine, in its lack of understanding, would label them as mistakes, seeing that I constantly prune them.

So, shall we call the mistakes we make “mistakes”? Perhaps we have no choice but to stick to a commonly agreed and accepted vocabulary, but we should never forget that in the eyes of God we all are loved, and so are our mistakes.

God is the greatest gardener and the best parent. The rest of us, whether gardeners-wanna-be or parents-in-permanent-training, should rely on His loving, and indeed forgiving, assistance:

O God! Educate these children. These children are the plants of Thine orchard, the flowers of Thy meadow, the roses of Thy garden. Let Thy rain fall upon them; let the Sun of Reality shine upon them with Thy love. Let Thy breeze refresh them in order that they may be trained, grow and develop, and appear in the utmost beauty. Thou art the Giver. Thou art the Compassionate.

- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Then the 90s came and Bulgaria was not anymore restricted by economic isolation and the first thing street vendors did, in addition to pirated CDs, was to sell affordable bananas. I know it well, because I was the guy with the CDs, standing next to the guy with the bananas.

Now, I hardly eat bananas. My younger daughter, though, is a voracious banana eater. She probably eats two a day. I am a seasonal food eater — these days I love cherries and peaches. Few days ago I made a batch of sour cherry jam from the two sour cherry trees we planted in front of the house the year we moved. There were 10 little jars — enough to share with the neighbors and the Armenian coffee shop owner who always takes the time to talk with me about life, universe and everything else.

Now that I have been for almost 18 years in the U.S., I am appreciating more and more the bounty of growing in the family of gardeners. There is mystical joy in seeing how the grapes I planted, the apple trees I planted, the vegetable garden I planted are starting to produce fresh fruits and vegetables. I might not be as skilled a gardener as my parents, but I am deeply grateful to them (although back then I was not as happy camper about it) for making me work every weekend on the family gardens.

As I am reminiscing on this all, the New York Times posted a very enlightening article on the artificially low cost of bananas:

ONCE you become accustomed to gas at $4 a gallon, brace yourself for the next shocking retail threshold: bananas reaching $1 a pound. At that price, Americans may stop thinking of bananas as a cheap staple…

One of the rhetorical questions the article asks is “What other fruit can you slice onto your breakfast cereal?”. Well, you can try to be creative and seasonal too: you can try peaches and even melon with milk-based cereal. You can switch, just as Europeans would prefer it anyway, to yogurt instead of milk, and then the possibilities are limitless. That is how we have muesli.

The first recipe I ever brought home and ask my mom to help me make it, was plain yogurt with shredded apples and honey. It was one of the snacks we were given in the daycare. I must have been four and a half years old, just as my older daughter today.

As I am reflecting on the role of fatherhood these days, I am optimistic about the human ability to adapt to life. Yes, we had it good for many years with cheep produce flown from thousands of miles; and yes, we can enjoy our local produce just as well.

So here goes cheer to all local gardeners!

P.S. It just dawned on me the irony of what I was writing just as my coworkers were praising the banana bread I brought to the office. Indeed, you cannot make banana bread without bananas.