Community of the Holy Spirit
in this newsletter . . .
New "Green" Convent Progress
Bringing in the Beans
Volunteer Day at Bluestone Farm, Oct. 10
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September 28, 2010

Dear friends,


It's just a few days after the Autumnal Equinox, and it certainly feels like the seasons have changed.  We hope you are able to spend a few moments appreciating the passing of the seasons this coming month with your family and friends, to notice the moon's waxing and waning, and to begin to anticipate the quieter months to come.   

Peace,

The Sisters of the Community of the Holy Spirit
www.chssisters.org

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Smiling toward the Sun

The new "green" convent continues to emerge, bit by bit, out of the blocks and the steel and the mountains of materials.  We now see tile carefully applied to the walls, the ventilation system installed in the Archive room, the insulation secured under the building's exterior, the interior walls nearly completed.  And there are solar panels on the roof, dual-flush toilets throughout, and a host of other energy and resource-conserving measures in place.  It's a joy to behold. 

For more pictures, visit our photo gallery, and click on the gallery entitled "New Green Convent"; the most recent pictures are toward the bottom.

One of the most perceptible changes is the presence of the sun, pouring in through the many windows throughout the building.  The rooms are filled with light.  We give thanks to the designers of the building for their work, which connects every space to the outside world.

We thank you for all your concern and prayers for the workers on this building, our new home.  And for all the support you have extended to us, as we have made our way through this time of transition.  "Downsizing" after more than 50 years at our home on 113th Street has meant sorting through every closet, carefully selecting what will be carried with us, giving away countless items, and discarding what could not be salvaged for another use.  It has been a tremendous effort, and we are thankful to be nearing the end.
Bringing in the Beans...

The days have started to turn a bit cooler, and we're grateful for that!  It was a long, hot summer, and we've harvested hundreds of pounds of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, okra, and greens, and bushels of apples.  We've also brought in almost all the "dry beans"--you might remember that earlier, the support fences pictured to the left were covered with green leaves!  Now, the plants have withered away, the pods have turned brown, and the beans inside have dried on the vine.  We prefer to let the beans dry on the vine, since we don't have a proper barn and drying space is in high demand.  This way, when the beans are all dry, we just pull the pods in, shell them, and sort them into their varieties. 

Because we know that Mother Nature loves diversity, we do our best to work in alignment with this principle, and we plant many varieties of most of our crops.  This year, we grew Kidney, Cannellini, Jacob's Cattle, Black Turtle, Hidatsa Red, Marfax Brown, Adzuki, Arikara, Scarlet Runner, and Black Coco beans.  They are a beautiful sight, sorted into quart jars in the pantry, with their many colors and sizes.
October 10th--Volunteer Day at Bluestone Farm!

As some of you may already know, Sunday October 10th (10/10/2010) is being celebrated around the world as a "Global Work Party" to raise awareness about environmental issues, and to get people involved in their communities. 

This event has been initiated by an organization called 350.org, which focuses on bringing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere back down to a level that can sustain the flourishing of life, determined to be 350 parts per million (we're currently at 390 parts per million, and rising fast!).

How people get their food is intimately connected to climate change, because large-scale agriculture is energy-intensive, as is shipping and warehousing that food.  Therefore, we've decided to participate in this event by holding a volunteer day at Bluestone Farm and Living Arts Center, in Brewster, NY, to introduce people to our big backyard garden, and to enjoy a couple hours of working together.   From 2-4 pm, we'll be weeding and prepping the vegetable beds for winter, and if the weather's bad, we'll work indoors on seed sorting and saving.  If you're interested in taking part, please email us at [email protected], and we'll send you the details as soon as we've got them ironed out.