Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow  circle game

http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2405&c=116  

Oats, Peas Beans and Barley Stew 

http://www.cooks.com/recipe/3780v8b9/oats-peas-beans-and-barley.html   

Dutch Barley Fruit Pudding  1 c. whole barley, 3 c. water, 1 c. chopped dried apples (or 2 c. shredded fresh apples), 1/2 c. raisins, 1/2 tsp. salt  Soak barley 24 hours or longer.  Add fruits and salt.  Bake in covered baking dish at 350 degrees for one hour.  Barley will be chewy.  Adapted from The Oats, Peas, Beans & Barley Cookbook, rev. ed., 1994 

by Edyth Young Cottrell

Barbara Kingsolver:  Natural Places by John Roosevelt Boettiger  Like most people, I came to know and admire Barbara Kingsolver first as a novelist, initially as author of that  rollicking, lyrical, passionate quasi-trilogy starting with The Bean Trees in 1988 and continuing with Animal Dreams (1990) and Pigs in Heaven (1993).  With The Poisonwood Bible five years later, Kingsolver sustained the lyricism, humor, moral compass and fine characterization of her earlier three novels, and added a new depth and range of human struggle as well as a new geography.  Barbara Kingsolver is one-quarter Cherokee.  Her grandfather married a Cherokee woman.  The name Kingsolver, even if her grandfather did make it up, is (as she later discovered) rooted in the hollows of Appalachia.  

Read the poem Naming Myself and the short essay Knowing Our Place at http://www.reckonings.net/reckonings/2006/11/barbara_kingsol.html

Phrases from Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver  

A leftover smile of moon hides in the bottom branches of the sugar maple . . . 

The neighborhood tomcat, all muscle and slide, is creeping along the top of the trellis . . .

How Poems Happen by Barbara Kingsolver   I have never yet been able to say out loud that I am a poet.  It took me some 30 years and several published novels to begin calling myself a novelist, but finally now I can do that, I own up to it, and will say so in capital letters on any document requiring me to identify myself with an honest living. "  Poetry is a different beast.  I rarely think of poetry as something I make happen--it is more accurate to say that it happens to me.  When a poem does arrive, I gasp as if an apple had fallen into my hand, and give thanks for the luck involved.  There are dusty, lost poems all over my house, I assure you.  In yours too, I'd be willing to bet.  Years ago I got some inkling of this when I attended a reading by one of my favorite poets Lucille Clifton.  A student asked her about the brevity of her poems.  Ms. Clifton replied simply that she had six children, and could only hold about 20 lines in memory until the end of the day.  I felt such relief, that this great poet was bound by ordinary life, like me.  I have several friends who are poets of great renown, to whom I've confessed that creating a poem is a process I can't really understand or control.  Every one of them, on hearing this, looked off to the side and whispered, "Me either!"  Identifying your livelihood as "Poet" on an official form is the kind of thing that will make your bank's mortgage officer laugh very hard all the way into the manager's office, and back.  So we're a timid lot, of necessity.  At the most, we might confess, "I write poetry sometimes."  http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM25/HowPoems.html

How can a bricks-and-mortar institution like a library survive?  A first step is to expand beyond the written word and focus on learning, which is far more basic than even books to the whole enterprise.  Many libraries have already done this by creating media centers and beefing up their audio-book offerings.  Secondly, libraries must serve the community in more ways than one:  Find out what your neighbors feel is essential to a library experience and make those things accessible and convenient.  These are the guiding principles of the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children's Library & Learning Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, the recipient of a 2015 AIA/American Library Association Library Building Award and part of the vanguard of libraries that are repositioning themselves to emphasize interactivity, hands-on education, and life skills.  The project was the brainchild of Bobby Roberts, the director of the Central Arkansas Library System and a visionary in developing the right library for the right area.  "Over the years we've designed several of his libraries," said Reese Rowland, FAIA, a principal at Little Rock-based Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects and lead on the library project, "and he really understands how the work can transform a neighborhood, how it can really be a visual catalyst for change."  Change was a necessity in Little Rock; the Children's Library was built in part to bridge a longtime city divide created by a 40-year-old interstate highway that split the city in two—a scenario that has played out in dozens of U.S. cities and a boundary that has come to represent socioeconomic imbalance in Pulaski County’s largest city.  In fact, that very border was featured prominently in a 1994 HBO documentary on street gangs.  "We acquired six acres of rolling, tree-filled land that had been abandoned," Rowland added.  "So we didn't have to take anybody's land, and we used the remnants of a terrible interstate decision and made something really positive out of it."  In preparation for designing the library, a charrette was held with a group of city kids.  When asked what they'd want in terms of programs, one response stood out among the rest:  "Teach us how to feed ourselves."  For children who'd gone their whole young lives with inconsistent or unavailable meals, the knowledge of how to buy food, clip coupons, or even heat up soup was paramount.  So a teaching kitchen was added to the design, along with a greenhouse and several gardens.  "The kitchen is the size of two full home kitchens, open enough to bring in 20 kids at a time," Rowland said.  "The idea is to grow in the garden or the greenhouse, harvest those items, and show the kids how to prepare them."  

Steve Cimino  See pictures at https://shar.es/12y6tP   Thank you, Muse reader!

A charrette is an intensive planning session where citizens, designers and others collaborate on a vision for development.  It provides a forum for ideas and offers the unique advantage of giving immediate feedback to the designers.  More importantly, it allows everyone who participates to be a mutual author of the plan.  The charrette is located near the project site. The team of design experts and consultants sets up a full working office, complete with drafting equipment, supplies, computers, copy machines, fax machines, and telephones.  Formal and informal meetings are held throughout the event and updates to the plan are presented periodically.  Through brainstorming and design activity, many goals are accomplished during the charrette.  First, everyone who has a stake in the project develops a vested interest in the ultimate vision.  Second, the design team works together to produce a set of finished documents that address all aspects of design.  Third, since the input of all the players is gathered at one event, it is possible to avoid the prolonged discussions that typically delay conventional planning projects.  Finally, the finished result is produced more efficiently and cost-effectively because the process is collaborative.  Charrettes are organized to encourage the participation of all.  That includes everyone who is interested in the making of a development:  the developer, business interests, government officials, interested residents, and activists.  Ultimately, the purpose of the charrette is to give all the participants enough information to make good decisions during the planning process.  The term "charrette" is derived from the French word for "little cart."  In Paris during the 19th century, professors at the Ecole de Beaux Arts circulated with little carts to collect final drawings from their students.  Students would jump on the "charrette" to put finishing touches on their presentation minutes before the deadline.  http://www.tndtownpaper.com/what_is_charrette.htm

Millennials, or America’s youth born between 1982 and 2000, now number 83.1 million and represent more than one quarter of the nation’s population.  Their size exceeds that of the 75.4 million baby boomers, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates released June 25, 2015.  Overall, millennials are more diverse than the generations that preceded them, with 44.2 percent being part of a minority race or ethnic group (that is, a group other than non-Hispanic, single-race white).  These latest population estimates examine changes among groups by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin nationally, as well as in all states and counties, between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2014.  Even more diverse than millennials are the youngest Americans:  those younger than 5 years old. In 2014, this group became majority-minority for the first time, with 50.2 percent being part of a minority race or ethnic group.  Reflecting these younger age groups, the population as a whole has become more racially and ethnically diverse in just the last decade, with the percentage minority climbing from 32.9 percent in 2004 to 37.9 percent in 2014.  http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-113.html

You may have forgotten, but an entire generation exists in between the Baby Boomers and Millennials.  They are called Gen X, but they are often overlooked by pollsters, the media and just about everyone else.  Born between 1964 and 1980, Gen X got its name from a 1991 book Generation X:  Tales for an Accelerated Culture, by Canadian author Douglas Coupland.  When they were coming of age in the 1990s, they were considered slackers and aimless.  But then, they were just forgotten.   http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/30/news/economy/gen-x/index.html

Link to food holidays celebrated for every day and every month and link to food histories at http://foodimentary.com/  July is called National Pickle Month among other names.  

July 1 is National Gingersnap Day.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1318  July 1, 2015  On this date in 1963, five digit ZIP codes were introduced for U.S. mail.  On this date in 1999, Forrest Edward Mars died. Son of Frank C. Mars, he helped him develop the Milky Way candy bar.  He founded his own company in Europe and developed the Mars Bar, and also created M&Ms.  He merged his company with his father’s in 1964, creating the world’s largest candy manufacturer.