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Sharing apple recipes and step-by-step directions for applesauce

As promised, here are a few resources that were shared during the weeks Friends worked together planning the Preserving Apples workshop, including recipes, storybooks, and step-by-step directions.

Applesauce 101
Download the step-by-step directions that walk through our workshop, complete with photos to show what things look like along the way.  Enjoy!

Danish Apple Cake
shared by Cathy Garra
This is a no-bake desert which depends on having good apple sauce. Best made the night before or on the morning of the day you plan to serve it.

Apple Cake
shared by Grayce Mesner
Remembered from a past Among Friends, this recipe is being shared by special request (and thanks to the recipe-keeping of Cathy Garra).

Rain Makes Applesauce
shared by Maurine Pile
Generations of Maurine’s family have read this children’s book, written in 1964 by Julian Scheer. She wrote PRC: ” I would like to recommend this book ; a favorite in my family.”

If you have any apple themed contributions, please consider adding them in the Comments section below. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, how might we prepare apples in celebration of our community? What apple stories might be shared?

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Quaker Peacemakers Project: Dick Ashdown

Richard “Dick” Ashdown is a member of the Clear Creek Monthly Meeting and currently resides in the same house where he was born, just down the road from the ILYM Meetinghouse in McNabb, Illinois. Dick has been a trustee of the yearly meeting since 1966. He spent six years overseas teaching as a civilian employee of the US government of a total 16 years teaching, then went on to sell insurance for almost 30 years. Today he is retired, working with timber and machinery most mornings. He has recently returned to flying his plane, often taking aerial photographs to assess crop damage for area farmers.

Click here to hear Dick’s reflections on peacemaking.

The Peace Resources Committee interviewed Dick in front of a live participatory audience at the 2012 Annual Sessions of Illinois Yearly Meeting. Listen in to hear his reflections on going to war, protecting freedom, being raised during WWII, the role of the military, teaching overseas in service, being raised in McNabb, farm life, the definition of community, how Quaker process is present throughout his life, and his love of nature. In 2011 Dick presented the annual Jonathan W. Plummer Lecture, which can be read here.

Click here to learn more about the Quaker Peacemakers Archive Project where you can nominate Friends in Illinois Yearly Meeting you think should be included in this effort. The project aims to compile and preserve an oral history of Friends whose contributions to peace building offer wonderful opportunities for reflection. As Friends tell their stories in their own words, these recordings will capture and preserve unique and inspired personal acts and thoughts which enrich our Yearly Meeting.

Music: “The Sun is Rising” by Longital (Gloria, 2008)

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Building Community: Making Applesauce

Author: Breeze Richardson, with assistance from participants

The day met all my expectations. “Seeking Peace: Preserving Apples” was a day filled with stories, observations of life, teaching, learning, sharing, creating, and accomplishment. We were 13 Friends gathered from a diversity of Meetings, staring down 3.5 bushels of apples, with boxes of jars heaped on the counter. Three of us were visiting McNabb for the first time (all three said they’d see us again soon, recipes were exchanged, and we have Mariellen Gilpin to thank for inviting them to join us for this extraordinary event). Some of us had plans to use this new knowledge towards canning projects in the future. Others remembered walking through these steps when they were small children and enjoyed reminiscing about those days. The tools needed to get the job done have changed very little in the time span between those decades.

The day was documented in photographs & wonderful reflections of the day. You can click through images (including descriptions) at our Flickr page, and here are a few favorites:

Sharing stories while chopping apples

Urbana foodies team upWe made remarkable applesauce

Thank you to Tanners Orchard for donating the beautiful apples, to Kay Drake for the loan of equipment and the donation of jars, special thanks to Grayce Mesner for all her wonderful support making this workshop happen, and of course my deepest thanks to Beth Schobernd for facilitating the day. All the steps to making amazing applesauce can be found in our photos.

Lastly, the words of those who participated in the day really moved me. I’ve asked all of them to comment here with their reflections, but also wanted to share just a bit of what I am so grateful to have received from them in the days that have followed since our time together.

From PRC member Mark McGinnis of Upper Fox Valley:
I had a great time. I intend to make two applesauce cakes with the bounty, one for the Lake Forest/Upper Fox Thanksgiving Dinner and one for the Blue Island/Upper Fox Thanksgiving Dinner.

From Mariellen Gilpin of Urbana-Champaign Friends Meeting:
I usually go to worship via taxi, and as it happened, one of my favorite drivers took me to the meetinghouse this morning. His name is Glenn. He is an enormously kind-hearted soul, and I presented him with a pint of Quaker Applesauce and told him the story of how it came to be. We were twelve ladies [and our dear Friend Mark], and almost-four bushels of apples, and we’d cut ’em up and taken out the bad spots in an hour and a quarter, and had a good time doing it. Three Friends, foodies all of them, came from Urbana and brought me along, and we had a wonderful 5 hours total in the car, plus the seven hours of apple-ing, and we heartily agreed we’d had a wonderful day. We are eagerly looking forward to Food Preservation 102 — just say the word!! The other 3 Friends had never been to a yearly meeting event before, and are very enthusiastic about how much fun we had.

From Yelena Forrester of Pittsburgh Friends Meeting, but a recent transplant to Urbana-Champaign Friends Meeting:
I had a wonderful time at the event; thank you so much for making it possible. It was the first time I’d ever taken part in (or even seen) the canning process.

From Pam Timme of Oak Park Friends Meeting:
One of the quarts is destined to go to Oak Park Meeting next week for our potluck/Direction of the Meeting gathering. It was a wonderful and very educational day. Christina and I both enjoyed it very much, and also enjoyed getting back to peace of the countryside. It was a fun and hardworking, yet relaxed group.

From Elizabeth Mertic of Evanston Friends Meeting:
glad that I came the nite before and was able to relax in the quiet of the farm and share the easygoing company of Debie Smith; excited to be able to stand on my feet in front of the hot stove while stirring and monitoring when the water in the canners reached the boil; very pleased that three new Friends participated; grateful to have the chance to be with Beth, Grayce, Mariellen since we all are old timers at ILYM activities.

And from Debie Smith of Evanston Friends Meeting:
I sampled the applesauce three different ways; adding cinnamon and heating up; adding cinnamon and eating cold; and eating the unsweetened applesauce right out of the refrigerator. All three ways were delicious. AND each time I ate my applesauce I remembered our time together making it, as well as where the apples came from. I am really looking forward to more canning in my future with other friends/Friends.

Elizabeth and I made the most of the experience. We drove to McNabb together Friday afternoon, enjoying both conversation and the gorgeous trees and country scenes along the way. We arrived in time to take a long walk together, before settling into the Clear Creek Meetinghouse for the evening. What a welcoming and beautiful home.

I enjoyed every part of our applesauce and canning experience: meeting, cooking with and eating with new Friends; eating Beth’s delicious cookies; learning my way around the kitchen and the canning process; preparing the jars for canning; scrubbing pans; stirring apples on the stove (and slowly becoming more adept at doing so without burning myself so often); milling the apples; filling jars with applesauce; heating lids; putting the lids on the jars; putting the jars in the canner and timing the process; removing the jars to cool and listening for the “pop” to know they sealed. AND eating our collectively made treasured applesauce the next day. All of this – and we had the joy of learning and cooking and eating and cleaning together.

Being in the kitchen with friends and family is one of my greatest joys. Our time together in McNabb added to my collection of joyful kitchen experiences.

Oh, yes, as Elizabeth and I walked out the front door of the meetinghouse to head back to Chicago, we both paused as we were struck by the silence. You could feel and “hear” the silence.

Coming next: Some wonderful apple recipes were shared during the planning of this Peace House on the Prairie workshop – we’ll get them posted here soon.

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Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living

Today I had the privilege of hearing WBEZ’s Jerome McDonnell speak live in-studio with climate scientist, Brenda Ekwurzel, author of “Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living” about ways we can reduce our carbon footprint.

Just about every decision we make, from what we eat to where we live, has an impact on the environment. This book challenges you to cut your carbon emissions 20 percent this year and gives you the information you need to succeed, helping you “sweat the right stuff” — the smartest choices you can make for the climate — with answers to dozens of questions about your carbon emissions, such as:

* Do books or e-readers cause more emissions?
* Is it worth washing clothes in cold water?
* Is buying organic cotton really a better option for the climate?

You can hear Jerome discuss these questions and more:
http://soundcloud.com/wbez/steps-towards-a-cooler-smarter

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Living with a Peace Testimony

Pacific Northwest Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice states:

Since our peace testimony is not only opposition to active participation in war but a positive affirmation of the power of good to overcome evil, we must all seriously consider the implications of our employment, our investments, our payment of taxes, and our manner of living as they relate to violence. We must become sensitive to the covert as well as the overt violence inherent in some of our long-established social practices and institutions, and we must attempt to change those elements which violate that of God in everyone.

Our historic peace testimony must be also a living testimony as we work to give concrete expression to our ideals. We would alleviate the suffering caused by war. We would refrain from participating in all forms of violence and repression. We would make strenuous efforts to secure international agreements for the control of armaments and to remove the domination of militarism in our society. We would seek to be involved in building national and transnational institutions to deal with conflict nonviolently.

The almost unimaginable devastation that results from modern war makes ever more urgent its total elimination.

From:
Pacific Northwest Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice

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Alternatives to Violence Project: Memphis Street Academy Middle School

It happened by word of mouth. Stacey Cruise, of the American-Paradigm Charter School and new leader of a failed Philadelphia middle school struggling with violence and abysmal reading scores, happened to hear about Alternatives to Violence Project. The Delaware Valley AVP Council was offering a summer series of workshops in the city’s most drug infested neighborhood. Dr. Cruise wanted to hear more. It was a hot August day when four AVP facilitators, Confident Carolyn Schodt, Always Adam Mitchell, Reasonable Ronald Barnes and Idealistic Irv Friedlander paid a visit with the school staff. We shared personally and powerfully, grateful to be able to show the Blaze Nowara DVD What is Violence?” And things happened fast.

On August 23, 2012, the invitation came: to do an AVP BASIC Workshop for the entire staff (80!) of the new Memphis Street Academy Middle School, on September 5 – 7, 2012.

Confident Carolyn said, “Yes, we can!” and started emailing up and down the East Coast. The most phenomenal response took place! By Monday morning August 27, twenty facilitators had signed up, ready to travel from Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia, to augment the local team. People heard and responded to the excitement of the challenging opportunity to work with an entire middle school staff.

Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting afforded a place for team building the day before the workshop, and for meals each night. Friends provided home hospitality. The school covered the expenses.

The school building was a chaotic job site of work in progress with painters working feverishly to complete the work and furniture arriving for assembly. We had six classrooms available for the six workshops. The participants were teachers, hall monitors, administrators and support staff. All were newly hired for a completely fresh start of this new American-Paradigm Charter School, the Memphis Street Academy. This meant the school staff had not worked together and teachers were anxious to get their lessons plans finalized and their rooms set up. School has going to open September 11, 2012, and they were being “invited” to participate in AVP. There were no functioning telephones, copy machines or food service.

We observed our principle of “volunteers only” in the breach. The staff were expecting “another Inservice” and were surprised by the lack of handouts and the emphasis on the personal experience. By the end of the first day, we had mixed reviews. The participants were quick, and wanted us to pick up the pace. Over dinner the first night, facilitators reflected together and thought about balancing picking up the pace and the need to slow down, to go deeper. By the end of the second day, we “had them,” and by the third , it was “over the top.”
We learned a lot, and so did they. We asked them to rate us on a ten-point scale, and over half gave us “10 out of 10.” The overall average was 9.1 Participants gave us rave reviews, whether we were an exceptionally experienced team or not. Trust the Process!! We learned that what we have to offer is extremely useful to new schools getting started and wanting to create a culture of community, respect and care.

At this point, we are preparing to offer monthly workshops on Saturdays for staff from the school to attend, volunteers only. The vision is that a facilitating team will be developed, and that in time, students will become co-facilitators. But, what AVP has to offer most immediately is preparing the adults with AVP: the staff, the administrators, the parents, the neighbors. The children will then be immersed in a culture of community where the “risky business” of learning and growing may be accomplished.

From:
Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Maryland

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A peaceful approach to the upcoming election (book review)

John Gilpin has shared his thoughts about the new book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps.

Mariellen writes: “In his usual concise way, John summarizes many of the points of the book. I found especially helpful his summation of what people of good will can do to peacefully help us through this upcoming election.”

From the review –

“The machinery by which American democracy operates is being hijacked by a tiny group of wealthy men. The process is far along, and American news reporting has almost entirely failed to raise the alarm.

Enter Greg Palast, investigative reporter extraordinaire, with Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps. In B&BB, Palast demonstrates he has the goods on the operation.”

About the book –
A close presidential election in November could well come down to contested states or even districts–an election decided by vote theft? It could happen this year. Based on Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s investigative reporting for Rolling Stone and BBC television, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps might be the most important book published this year–one that could save the election.

Click here to read John’s review and learn more about the book.

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Guatemalan Julio Cochoy

The following was written by a Guatemalan man, Julio Cochoy, after participating in a trauma healing workshop. Julio is an indigenous man who was 13 when Guatemalan Army soldiers occupied his town, Utitlan, terrorizing the residents. His uncle was killed brutally by the soldiers, and the family (or at least the boys) stayed inside their house for a year, afraid they would meet the same fate. His first book, “Voces Rompiendo el Silencio de Utatlan” (Voices Breaking the Silence of Utatlan), includes testimonies from 36 families from the town. He’s now working on his second book, My Journey from Hate to Hope.

Tears
Today you came to me
…
I felt you in the warmth of my tears
your wrinkled face laughed with me
I felt again your energy
You are not physically present
but you are close to my soul
you live in my mind
you remain in my heart

The injustice of your death
no longer hurts me
because in the memory of my people
you live on
You live in the voice of your family
you live in the minds of your grandchildren
Dear Uncle, today I rediscovered you
in eternity

©Julio Cochoy September 11 2012

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Nonviolent Communication

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a tool for peaceful communication that involves listening empathically and discerning both parties’ feelings and needs. Effective with family, co-workers, F/friends, and oneself, NVC is a technique developed by Marshall Rosenberg and explained in his book Nonviolent Communication A Language of Life. “What I want in my life is compassion, a flow between myself and others based on a mutual giving from the heart.”

Evanston Friends have shared the following invitation –

For a couple of years, Evanston Friends has held a Nonviolent Communication (NVC) practice group in which a core group of six or so has met regularly. This fall we wish to open our practice sessions widely to Friends, community members, and the greater Chicago NVC community. We will learn NVC basics in our fall practice sessions and invite you and anyone who may be interested to join us.

Thursday, September 20th we will focus on Giving from the Heart. Giving when we can do so with the joy of a young child feeding ducks. The four basic steps of observations, feelings, needs, and requests will be reviewed and practiced through roleplays chosen from recent situations encountered in our daily lives.

Thursday, September 27th and Thursday, October 4th will build on those concepts and introduce Communication that Blocks Compassion, judgments that alienate us from compassion.

You don’t have to attend all three sessions. Come when you can. No prerequisites. See how NVC affects your life. All are welcome. There is no fee.

Our Agenda:
6:30 we gather in the basement for an optional general check-in (about our week) and to eat our bring-your-own dinner.

7:00 we start our NVC specific check-ins (recent NVC opportunities/conflicts – acted on or missed; what is alive in us right now). Individual NVC check-ins often reveal situations for role-play. We also use exercises from the NVC workbook, Nonviolent Communication Companion Workbook by Lucy Leu.
9:00 we conclude.

On Friday evening, October 5 and Saturday, October 6 we will host a workshop on the basics of Nonviolent Communication.

PRESENTERS: Myra Walden, MA, certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, and Carolyn Blum, MS, mediator and conflict coach.

CONTRIBUTION: Single registrant, $50 / Two or more registrants: $40 each

Fee reductions apply to those registering together with registration and payment postmarked by 9/29/12. Partial scholarships are available through work exchange. No one turned away for lack of financial means. Registration closes on 10/3/12.

CEUs: Seven continuing education units are available for LSW, LCSW, LPC, LCPC and LMFT.

PLACE: Evanston Friends Meetinghouse, 1010 Greenleaf, Evanston, IL 60202

TIME: Friday: Arrival, 6:45 pm, Workshop, 7-9 pm / Saturday: Arrival, 9:45 am, Workshop, 10 am – 4 pm (lunch not provided)

QUESTIONS & FOR REGISTRATION DETAILS: Michael Grygleski, michaelgrygleski@gmail.com, 630-510-1980