Monthly Archive for December, 2009

Community Police Officers

Published
by
Taylor
on December 29, 2009
in Community
. 0 Comments

Jh11-054Last month our neighborhood lost a valuable resource.  Grand Rapids Police Officer Jeremy Huffman served our neighborhood for the past eleven years forming relationships with the people that lived in and did business in the eastown neighborhood. He took a preventative approach to curbing crime. Instead of responding to problems when they happened, he looked for ways to prevent crime.

Community policing or neighborhood policing is a policing strategy and philosophy based on the notion that community interaction and support can help control crime and reduce fear, with community members helping to identify suspects, detain vandals and bring problems to the attention of police.[1]

I have only lived in the neighborhood for a few years now but an elderly lady that came to show support for Jeremy in a peaceful protest last month told the story for us. She has lived in the neighborhood almost all her life and witnessed the transformation that this approach to policing had on the community. This was a valuable learning experience for me and I will  never think of a police department of only being capable of reactions again.

Members of the Eastown community gathered in the cold outside of the Kava House Coffee Shop. They were standing to celebrate the service of Grand Rapids Police Officer Jeremy Huffman who has been the community officer in Eastown for eleven years. Budget cuts are forcing Huffman back out onto general patrol duties.[1]

Here are a few new stations that showed up at the gathering…


Sprouting at Home

Published
by
Taylor
on December 25, 2009
in Food
. 0 Comments

I have always liked sprouts on my sandwiches since I was a kid.  Some people hate them but I love their crisp crunch and fresh taste. It turns out they are really good for you and cheap to make at home. If you can supply a jar, some screen or netting, and rinse the sprouts twice a day, you can grow delicious sprouts in less than a week. Just add a tablespoon or two to a jar and soak the seeds for a few hours.

Screen material from an old window to replace the ball jar lid.

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Sproutable Seeds

Most seeds can be sprouted and eaten at home. Common seeds for sprouting include alfalfa, fenugreek, lentils, peas, radish, and red clover. Other less common seeds include cabbage, broccoli, garbanzos, mustard seed, and quinoa. Save garden seeds (radish is easy, just let them go to seed and harvest when dry and ripe).  Spread a blanket or tarp by the bushes just before the pods pop open to catch the seeds. [1]

Directions

  1. Use any glass jar such a mason jar and the band that keeps the top on.
  2. Find a mesh such as from an old window screen to hold the seeds in. (I used two square pieces at a 45 degree angle to make sure the smaller seeds stayed in.)
  3. Fill the jar with 1-2 tablespoons of your favorite sprout seed, and soak them for a few hours.
  4. Wash the seeds under water in the jar twice daily. (Don’t remove the screen just fill the jar then let the water wash out through the screen.)
  5. Set the jar upside down during the drying period to avoid rotting your seeds. (Dish racks at 45 degree angles work well)

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Gracie and Grandpa

Published
by
Taylor
on December 8, 2009
in Community
. 0 Comments

There comes a time for most folk to be introduced to nieces and nephews. That time has not come for me yet, but something close and just as wonderful has arrived. I give you Gracie, my almost niece.

Connecting Cancer and the Environment

Published
by
Taylor
on December 3, 2009
in Community
. 0 Comments

The conversation is happening all too often, families and friends sitting around talking about how they have been affected by cancer.  Advances in cancer treatment have come a long way in recent years but we are still talking about treatment and not cures. The general public believes that apart from smoking and asbestos, cancer causes are out of our control.  This is baffling to me, we have a long list of known carcinogens that large in part seem to get ignored but yet are closely linked to the cause. Many people are challenging this notion today including a large number of scientists and people pursuing answers.

If a chemist could sample your body’s chemistry, she would find scores of toxic chemicals picked up throughout your life, as early as in your mother’s womb.”

January Series guest Sandra Steingraber is an ecologist, writer, and cancer survivor who promotes this method of cure.