October 2018        Smaller footprint. Stronger community.       TransitionASAP.org        District 12, St. Paul, Minnesota
In this issue:


Plant garlic now for summer harvest! Learn how in this issue.
 
Youth soccer friend-raiser
Saturday, October 6
2:00 - 8:00 pm
890 Cromwell Avenue
Soccer is the joy of the people worldwide. At JOTP in South SAP, youth find fun, friendship, and now a new campinho: an earth-friendly inflatable mini-field! Bring kids. RSVP 
or donate on site.


Party with Urban Boatbuilders 
Saturday, October 6
6:00 - 10:00 pm
2288 University Ave W.
St. Paul
Explore the workshop, meet staff, enjoy local brews & live music, and support UBB's work with youth.  Info.


St. Paul Art Crawl 
October 12-14 (Friday-Sunday)
Citywide; many studios in Uni-Raymond area
Meet the artists and makers among us. Saturday and Sunday at 1:00, join a Guided Tour of the Raymond Station district (also known as the Creative Enterprise Zone) led by Fearless Comedy Productions. Meet at Carleton Artists Lofts, 2285 University Avenue West. 


Citizens Climate Lobby
Saturday, October 13, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Location
TBA. Live-streamed speaker at noon.
Let's put a price on carbon emissions, and gain bipartisan support through the US Congress  
Climate Caucus to do it. Today's speaker: former congressman David Jolly (R).  Info.


Transition Your Money group 
Wednesday, October 17, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Lori's Coffee, 1441 Cleveland Ave., St. Paul
We're exploring how to put our money where our values are: less Wall Street, more local sustainability. All welcome: bring ideas!  Info .
 
 
Eco-Districts Summit 
October 17-18 (Wednesday-Thursday)
U of M East Bank, McNamara Alumni Center
It's the world's only conference on neighborhood- and district-scale sustainability. One focus this time: the Towerside Innovation District, now underway to our west. Info/Register.


Transition poetry reading 
Monday, October 22, 7:00 p.m.
Micawber's Books,
Milton Square courtyard
(corner of Carter and Como Avenues)

Open mic,  
open hearts!
Poets Alice Duggan, Dave Healy, Mary Moore Easter, Mimi Jennings, and Eddie Owens offer "New Ways to Live-- Ways to Live New." Sounds of change, poetic angst, reasons to hope, bad luck, and causes for celebration will ring out...  and then the floor is open for your poems. 


TT-ASAP planning group
Thursday, Oct. 25, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
2388 University Avenue West, St. Paul
(SW corner of Uni & Raymond, 1st floor) 
Join us as we plan projects for a smaller footprint and a smaller community. Social time at 6:30.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Celebrate 10 years of Transition in the US:  Free livestream
Saturday, Oct. 27, 11:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Walker Community Church
3104 16th Avenue S., Minneapolis 
Hosted by Transition US with keynotes by Rob Hopkins and Margaret Wheatley. Learn more here, then come share the livestream! 

 _____________________

People of conscience need to break
their ties with corporations financing
the injustice of climate change.

-- Desmond Tutu
________________________

Cohousing project in St. Anthony Park?
A group is forming to explore a possible cohousing opportunity in St. Anthony Park. Learn more about the general idea at Twin Cities Cohousing Network.  If you're interested, email Pat Thompson.

_____________________

Thank you, Hampden Park
Co-op!
When you pay for your purchases at the Co-op this month, round up and the change goes to Transition Town ASAP.  Every month, Hampden Park Co-op chooses a nonprofit "Roundup Partner" for that perk.  All are welcome to shop at the Co-op, but if you become an HPC member-owner now, you'll get an invite to the October 28 Annual Meeting  with guest speaker Mitra Jalali Nelson, our new city council member. It's a soup supper at St. Cecilia's church. 
The Co-op is also seeking new board members: apply by October 20.  


The Co-op hosted three Movies in the Park last summer.
_____________________

The real voyage of discovery consists
not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes .

-- Marcel Proust
________________________

Stay in touch
Join our mailing list: email us at Communications@TransitionASAP.org. 
Visit our Facebook page and group .  
On Twitter, we're @transitionasap1 . 
Submit news & views: email the editors,  Mindy Keskinen and Madeline Harpell.
Logo by Pat Thompson. 
Transition "t" and Bee by Regula Russelle.
Transitioning to vegan? It's OK to 
take your time
by Aaryn Wilson

The Twin Cities 2018 Veg Fest featured cooking demos, presentations, music, retailers, and food vendors, all promoting the vegan lifestyle. Each year the festival attracts vegans and non-vegans to learn about animal welfare and ways to be compassionate as a consumer and advocate for animal rights. 

Held September 16 at Harriet Island Park, this year's festival included Lauren Plunkett, RDN, who offered aspiring vegans advice about plant-based nutrition, and Mark Berkson discussing "Religious and Non-religious Approaches to Helping Animals." Cam Awesome, a former boxer who now does stand-up comedy while promoting the vegan lifestyle-- which he adopted while a boxer-- gave a presentation titled "The Right Way to Be Right."   We can be nonjudgmental and nonviolent when promoting a lifestyle that we view as right, Awesome said. It's important to find common ground with people before promoting your "right way to be." 

Vegan Corn
Chowder


Ingredients

2-3 Tbsp olive oil
I cup chopped white onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 small red potatoes, quartered (peeling optional)
sea salt and black pepper to taste
3 ears corn (kernels sliced off)
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 cups of favorite vegan milk
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
1 pinch Lawry's seasoning salt
Italian seasoning to taste
1 Tbsp vegan butter
a sprinkle of smoked paprika for color
1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor (optional)

Directions
In a large saucepan over medium heat, sautee olive oil, onion, and garlic for 3-4 minutes. Add potato, season with salt and pepper, and cover to steam 4-5 minutes. Add most of the corn, reserving a little for garnish, and stir.

Note: If you plan to blend the soup in a food processor, try using half broth, half milk for creamier texture. If not, use all broth for best texture and flavor.

Add broth and vegan milk (if using), cover, and bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook until potatoes are soft, about 5 minutes.

If blending, add ¾ of the soup to a blender and blend until creamy and smooth. If using nutritional yeast, add now. Transfer soup back to the pan and bring to a simmer.

Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Add cayenne pepper, Lawry's salt and vegan butter. Cook at least 10 minutes to let thicken. The longer it simmers, the more flavorful it will be.  To serve, add remaining fresh (or lightly sautéed) corn, Italian seasoning, and black pepper. Add a sprinkle of paprika for color.

* * * 

Featured speaker:
athlete Cam Awesome

Awesome uses the fact that he was a successful professional vegan athlete when talking to audiences who might not be vegan. During his Veg Fest presentation, he rarely brought up the benefits of being vegan as he is not a nutritionist and does not claim to be. Rather, he looked at the human dynamics, joking about "mean vegans" and people who bully others into thinking in black and white terms. For example, Awesome defended Meatless Mondays from the bullies who say you have to be "all in" or give up exploring plant-based cuisine entirely. It can take time to transition to being a vegan. 

Year after year, the festival has expanded the community of people exploring plant-based cuisine. Attendance set a record high this year. Foods I enjoyed on this 90+ degree day included boiled peanuts from Tooties Peanuts, a summer melon salad cup from Evan's Organics, and vegan crab cakes and corn chowder from Coco and Lala: local healthy lifestyle influencers whose live show can be viewed Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. at www.realcocoandlala.com .




 







Aaryn Wilson is a graduate of the U of M Horticulture Department and a MN GreenCorps member. He enjoys gardening, plant-based cooking, biking, and various consciousness-raising healing modalities. Visit his website, Eagles and Sugar Maples.

Investment club launched as "Local Dough"
by Mindy Keskinen

If you have a little dough to spare, consider pooling it with your neighbors' and investing in local know-how, resilience, and sustainability.   Local Dough is the name for the investment club that has just spun off from the "Transition Your Money" group (and that group lives on, generating more ideas for localizing our economy: see October 17 listing at left). 

Modeled on Minneapolis-based Cooperative Principal, Local Dough will invest in co-ops and other regenerative enterprises, mostly in St. Anthony Park and surrounding neighborhoods. Members-- drawn from that area-- will contribute $100 per month, meeting quarterly to make decisions. All members will help research and evaluate the options. We look forward to pooling our knowledge, our contacts, and our forward-looking ideas as well as our money.  We have a dozen members and can grow to about 30. If you're interested, come to our founding meeting: info below. Learn more on our webpage .  

Local Dough
founding meeting for a local investment club
Wednesday, October 31
8:00 - 9:30 am
-  light breakfast provided   -
2388 University Ave. W., St. Paul (at  Raymond, SW corner, 1st floor)

RSVP by Monday Oct. 29.  We'll give you background so you can be an informed participant: email mindykeskinen@comcast.net or visit the Facebook event page.


Mindy Keskinen is a book editor and co-editor of this newsletter. She also has a hand in the Creative Enterprise Zone's communications.

Think you know garlic?
by Michael Russelle

As with dogs and cats, humans have made garlic what it is today.

This was only one of the appealing tidbits Dr. Carl Rosen gave us at a St. Anthony Park Garden Club meeting. One of our oldest cultivated crops, garlic still draws crowds: over 70 eager learners heard how to select, grow, store, and enjoy it.

Think you know garlic? If youʻve relied on store-bought, then you donʻt really know garlic. Varieties range from mild and sweet to hot(!) and pungent; some are hot whether raw or cooked, others mellow markedly when baked.

Our climate tends to bring out better taste than milder places, like California, the source of most storesʻ garlic. You may have enjoyed local garlic from a farmerʻs market or CSA. Garlic production here has really grown, as has customers' appreciation for the nuances of this crop. Among Rosen's recommendations for Minnesota gardens: Siberian, Krasnodar Red, Music, Armenian, Georgian Crystal, Chesnok Red, Rose, Deerfield Purple, Inchelium Red.


Scapes (garlic flower stalks) are a
tasty cooking ingredient in June. 
The time to plant is now! 

Plant garlic before soil freeze-up. Donʻt simply plant cloves from the store: they may not be winter-hardy enough, and they often carry pests or diseases that could infest your garden for years. Instead, buy cloves from a reputable seed garlic producer. Plant each bare clove in fertile soil about 3 inches deep at the bottom, pointing skyward, mulch with clean straw, and be greeted in March by the promise that warmth is returning. Cut the tender scapes for stir-fry in June and harvest the bulbs in the heat of midsummer.

Find out where to buy seed garlic and learn all the spicy details in this publication by Rosen and his colleagues: http://bit.ly/MinnesotaGarlic. 

Now, letʻs watch for those first green leaves to poke through the snow! 

Michael Russelle has worked on Transition projects ranging from land use to emergency preparedness to community solar. He serves on the board of the SAP Community Council and is an adjunct professor in the University of Minnesota's Department of Soil, Water, and Climate. 
The Transition Town - All Saint Anthony Park initiative grew from the Energy Resilience Group, a subcommittee of the Saint Anthony Park Community Council's Environment Committee. Visit the SAPCC website to learn more about Saint Paul's District 12 neighborhood projects, including the Creative Enterprise Zone. Lend a hand!   Our purpose:  To raise our understanding in Saint Anthony Park of climate change, the limits of fossil fuels, and the adaptation of our community that is possible and positive.   What's a Transition Town?   It's a community starting the transition from a fossil-fueled, energy-intensive way of life to a more satisfying, locally oriented community with increased stability in disruptive times.