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The exposed wealth also entails an intrinsic encouragement

With a seasonal tendency in full swing this week to move our daily activities inside into the tiny cottage, if only due to the enormous consignment of wind and rain not unusual this time of year but manifesting a clear break with previous circumstances, our scarcity of living space is getting more prominent too, amplified by the ongoing harvest and its produce, filling up our kitchen table pending further processing, simplifying the determination of dinner by naturally composing colorful arrangements that please me but annoy Ivory, who seems to lose an overview by its quantity.

Exuberant displays of abundance like this have always been an essential aspect of the Flemish-Dutch painted still lifes from the 17th century that we both so greatly appreciate, partly because the exposed wealth also entails an intrinsic encouragement to moderation, for seeing the beauty makes you want to preserve it, by solely feeding your eyes.In this way, our current kitchen table becomes a showcase for the more sustainable lifestyle we try to pursue, as well as an incentive to action, for however picturesque, decay never awaits and must be avoided at all costs so as not to undo all our previous work.

This is also the week in which we greatly sympathize with Abdel, the Moroccan young man whose brave journey in search of a better life Ivory documented in a book last year, his story exemplifying those of the many refugees who rightly can not grasp our concept of such wealth not also belonging to them. Disillusioned, he has returned to his homeland, at long last convinced by our rules he is unwelcome here, no matter how loved he has also become by those whose paths he crossed, still having a heart and open arms.

Our boarded up immigration system, aimed at persistent defense and exclusion instead of sharing resources, literally walling us in and limiting our hospitality by generally criminalizing any strangers’ intent, might be vindicated by the numbers and matching fear of being swamped. However, Ivory’s detailed research into just this one story, with Abdel’s unsolicited retreat sharpening his clever overview, should readjust the spotlight.
This too is decay, avoidable at all costs.


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Trying to make ones life sustainable is more than a personal choice and almost automatically leads to a multitude of decisions you have never even thought of before. On this website we share what works for us, or woefully no longer works, obviously without claiming the same for you.

We hope that our journey towards a supplementary comprehensive celebration of nature’s beauty might just clear a pathway forward for you too, perhaps challenges a revealing reconsideration, or simply provides for an equally indispensable diversion.

Can we change the world through food? We believe we can and we support Slow Food, a global movement of local communities and activists across more than 160 countries. Together we defend cultural and biological diversity, promote food education and the transfer of traditional knowledge and skills.

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