A Recipe for Conservation*

* Disclosure: this was written as an assignment for partial completion of BIO 675

This past May I had the opportunity to travel to Guyana as part of my graduate studies with Miami University’s Global Field Program. Last summer took me to Baja, Mexico, where my classmates and I were given a crash course in environmental fieldwork. This time our focus would be on traditional knowledge and methods of conservation.

Flying from Georgetown to Iwokrama Forest

Guyana is a land of unfathomable greenness. Somehow resisting the pitfalls of its neighbor Brazil, Guyana remains largely (80%) forested. Bullet wood and mora trees soar high into the canopy; star-shaped kofa seed pods litter the forest floor. Frog songs fill the night; a harpy eagle keeps watch by day. Nestled near the Brazilian border is a unique biome, the Rupununi – a flooded savanna. We spent the majority of our time in the Rupununi learning from the Makushi Amerindian people. While we hiked mountains, saw petroglyphs, and caught a fleeting glimpse of a jaguar, some of my strongest memories revolve around food.

Seed pod from a kofa tree (Clusia grandifolia)

If you’ve read this blog before, you know that food is a recurring theme. Perhaps that is because, as a child of immigrants, the deepest ties to my cultural roots revolve around the smells, tastes, and textures of my mother’s improvised Japanese dishes. Or could it be that, as a woman, I inevitably see the preparation of food as both my birthright and my burden? In Guyana, these themes of culture, food, womanhood, and preservation seemed inextricably—perhaps essentially—twined.

Peeling cassava (photo by Adam Dewey)

One of my most memorable experiences was the day we spent learning about the many ways in which the Makushi use cassava (Manihot esculenta). While you might think you’ve never heard of or had cassava, you may have encountered it as yuca, manioc, tapioca, or another name for “sweet cassava.” Sweet cassava isn’t actually sweet, it is simply a different variety.

As with all Earth Expeditions (EE), we learned through participation. In the photo above we are peeling “bitter cassava” at a community cassava “processing plant” (that’s me in the foreground, sporting a “Volunteer” t shirt from Elephant Nature Park). Because bitter cassava can contain lethal levels of cyanide, it must be prepared carefully. After peeling, the roots are washed and grated. The grated pulp is then put into a hand-woven tube called a matapi, which is used to squeeze out the poisonous liquid. The liquid is then reduced to make a sauce base called cassereep.

Two images of cassava preparation: squeezing out poison and making cassava bread.
L: packing grated cassava with a matapi
R: making cassava bread

The pulp itself can be toasted into a grain dish called farine or made into a flat bread, as seen above. I marveled at the tireless strength of the women, the ingenuity of their methods, and the variety of foodstuffs they produced from a single crop. Not even the poison was wasted! And the unwashed cassava leaves were used as part of a fermentation process to transform soaked, browned cassava bread into parakiri or kasiri, a cassava beer (Henkel, 2005). We sampled a mild version but were told that the alcohol level could be increased to hangover-inducing levels through prolonged fermentation.

While so much of what we saw and did on that day showcased women’s knowledge of a single crop, farming and food production are deeply tied to land usage, conservation, and biodiversity. In the developed west we are facing the possible extinction of coffee and bananas because of our dependence on single crops; the Makushi cultivate 29 varieties of cassava (Elias et al., 2001). America leads the world in food waste; the Makushi know how to turn a poison into a product.

Making kasiri, a wild yeast-fermented cassava beer

Women have long been called the bearers of culture. Among traditional and immigrant communities it is they who pass on folktales through bedtime stories, prepare and preserve traditional recipes (Beoku-Betts, 1995; Singh, Rallen, & Padung, 2013), and whose very bodies act as symbols of culture through prescribed dress and behavior (Winter, 2016). I do not mean to romanticize the Makushi in this post. Like many indigenous communities they endure problems ranging from a lack of opportunity to domestic violence. But my time in Surama Village has made me more attentive to the ways in which activities such as gardening, cooking, and pickling can constitute acts of conservation. A dusty jar of muscadine sauce in a cellar pantry holds remnants of the previous season. The humble okra plant is a botanical memory of the slave trade.

I am not a gardener, and some of the plants linked to my cultural heritage are considered invasive here in the US, such as kudzu and bamboo. But I do like to cook. Each time I visit the farmer’s market, I seek out interesting produce I’ve never tried and will return home with Bishop’s Crown Peppers or Dragon Tongue Beans, More often than not the vegetables and herbs I discover are not ones from my mother’s childhood memories (like me, she takes great pleasure in food), so I take comfort in the fact that my impulse buying supports local growers and agricultural biodiversity. Sometimes, however, I think about the complex spice routes and imperial endeavors that brought Latin American chilis to Szechuan and South Indian cuisines. It is in those moments that I see my cooking as more than mere sustenance. Trained by my mother’s discerning palate, I try to create dishes that not only capture the past but render it too tempting to forget.

How I cook, sometimes

References

Beoku-Betts, J. A. (1995). We got our way of cooking things: Women, food, and preservation of cultural identity among the Gullah. Gender & Society, 9(5), 535-555.

Elias, M., McKey, D., Panaud, O., Anstett, M. C., & Robert, T. (2001). Traditional management of cassava morphological and genetic diversity by the Makushi Amerindians (Guyana, South America): perspectives for on-farm conservation of crop genetic resources. Euphytica, 120(1), 143-157.

Henkel, T. W. (2005). Parakari, an indigenous fermented beverage using amylolytic Rhizopus in Guyana. Mycologia, 97(1), 1-11.

Jordan, J. A. (2010). Landscapes of European memory: biodiversity and collective remembrance. History & Memory, 22(2), 5-33.

Singh, R. K., Rallen, O., & Padung, E. (2013). Elderly Adi Women of Arunachal Pradesh: “Living encyclopedias” and cultural refugia in biodiversity conservation of the Eastern Himalaya, India. Environmental management, 52(3), 712-735.

Winter, B. (2016). Women as cultural markers/bearers. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, 1-5.

It’s All About the Little Things

A friend and fellow student in the Global Field Program wrote this handy guide to making small changes that can make big differences for the environment. Check it out!

Sunflowers & Cephalopods

Whenever there is talk about taking care of the planet, phrases such as “Saving the World” are often used – which can be pretty daunting.

Oakland Nature Preserve

There is no doubt that we as humans, require a global fundamental shift in our actions, beliefs, and perceptions (Reddy et al. 2016), if we are to even attempt to mitigate and possibly reverse the effects we have had on the environment. However, doing this does not need to be as scary as everyone (and my previous sentence) makes it out to be.

Conservation issues tend to be presented in their entirety, which usually is caused by a culmination of many actions (Reddy et al. 2016). Instead of presenting each conservation issue in its entirety and expecting people to be able to change their behaviors accordingly – each of the larger issues, such as climate change and deforestation, should be distilled down…

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Little Steps, Bigger Impacts

What a difference a week can make! I often end up eating on the run. Sometimes I pack a snack, but often I end up patronizing a favorite food truck or grab a salad from somewhere like Honeygrow or Sweetgreen. In the past I’ve reused utensils from a food truck multiple times. More often than not, I’ve lost or broken the utensil and ended up having to grab a plastic fork or spoon from supplies lying around the office, essentially offsetting my own efforts. In the spirit of progress, I decided to order a set of portable utensils by Numu Goods and keep them in my backpack. The set comes, as seen above, with a spoon, fork, and chopsticks—all rolled into a handy carrying case. They are made out of organic beechwood, which is supposed to be more durable and harder than bamboo (I read many reviews complaining about bamboo forks splitting). I’m happy to report that since the set arrived, no plastic utensils have touched my lips!

Sunday Dinner and Food Prep

I’ve also found that just starting this action plan has made me think twice while meal planning. I was out quite late Saturday night, and it would have been very easy to justify ordering Sunday night delivery from any number of local restaurants. But just thinking about not cooking made me feel pretty guilty. I decided to use the opportunity to try a new grocery store that opened up fairly close to where I live. It’s called Sprouts Farmers Market, and people have been raving about it ever since it opened. While I wasn’t blown away by the selection, I did manage to pick up organic cauliflower, kale, and sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, the source or location wasn’t listed, so I have no idea how far my veggies had to travel to get to Philadelphia.

Brown Rice “Buddha Bowl”

While reading about invasive species for this week’s homework, I roasted both the cauliflower and sweet potatoes in coconut oil, stir-fried tofu and a zucchini that had been sitting in the produce drawer of my refrigerator and with ginger and sesame oil, blanched the kale, and made brown rice. I laid everything out, made a quick Thai red curry sauce, and my boyfriend and I put together brown rice bowls for dinner. On Monday, I reworked the sweet potatoes, tofu, and zucchini into a hash that I seasoned with Sundry Mornings JHC Spice Mix. We had that with tomato soup and a toasted “Philly Muffin” (like an English muffin—but square). Philly Muffins are made by the Philly Bread Company, which sources heirloom grain directly from the farmer and mills on site. They’re also really tasty!

Monday Remix

All in all I’d say that my Sustainability Action Plan is off to a solid start (I’m giving myself a generous 5 out of 10). I’ve cooked more, ensured that “emergency plastic” will no longer be a problem, and am trying to meal plan more effectively. Next week I’m hoping to present some of the information I’ve gathered from reading about the sustainability of various diets.

Is My Veganism Sustainable?

Locally Grown Vegetables from a Philadelphia Farmers Market

Back in October I wrote that I had recently enrolled in a new degree program, and right now I’m deep into my second full semester. One of my courses is Issues in Biodiversity. In addition to doing a lot of reading and writing, we have all been tasked with designing a personal Biodiversity or Sustainability Action Plan for the semester. Some of my cohorts are elementary school teachers, and they’re devising wonderful projects that involve their students, such as planting a pollinator garden or creating compost for a community garden.

The assignment directions note, “Making a behavior change that positively impacts sustainability can be done simply through your choice in which products you buy, or how much you use your car.” As someone who doesn’t own a car, is an all-weather bicycle commuter, shops at farmers markets for a lot of my produce, carries all my groceries in my backpack, keeps my thermostat set at 65-67 degrees in the winter, and refuses to install central air conditioning, I jokingly said to some classmates, “What? I have to give up more?” But the idea of making a personal change struck me as a terrific challenge.

Some of My Vegan Cooking

Lately I’ve been coming across articles claiming that veganism was less sustainable—less eco-friendly—than several omnivore diets. In some cases, the conclusions were based on false comparisons, like imagining that vegans lived solely on exotic foodstuffs with high carbon footprints (avocados, for example) and pitting them against omnis subsisting on locally grown organic meats and vegetables. Still, I found these articles to be somewhat troubling. Cowspiracy (2014) contributed to my decision to go vegan. Since its release, critics have debunked several facts presented in the documentary, especially the percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions produced by industrial farming. Nevertheless, it still seemed—at least to me—to make implicit sense that eating a plant based diet was more environmentally sustainable than one including animal products.

For my Action Plan, I’ve decided to investigate the sustainability and carbon footprint of my diet and see how many positive changes I can make. I’ll be blogging about my discoveries, the changes I make, and posting recipes here. This blog will also be linked to my Instagram account, so that people who like my food photos will have the opportunity to learn more about the ecology of their diet. Wish me luck!

Gaining Perspective

This past January I made an impulse decision to apply to a graduate program I’d recently discovered. Although I regularly juggle multiple interests through work, volunteering, hobbies, and travel, I’ve often wished I could do more to make a difference in the world. One day, while cycling through Chanthaburi, Thailand as part of Bike for Elephants 2018, I learned about a program that suddenly made my aspirations seem possible.

Group photo
Earth Expedition Baja I – photo by Jessica Seevers

Fast forward to June, and I’m hiking through 107-degree heat with eighteen other eager minds studying ecological field methods in Baja, Mexico. We were all first-semester students in Miami University’s Global Field Program, an innovative graduate program that combines summer field coursework with online learning during the school year. 

One reason the GFP appealed to me is that I’ve always loved travel. My experiences abroad have introduced me to extraordinary people and practices, shown me new ways of appreciating the world. But because we would be studying desert ecology—sleeping outdoors, abandoning the comforts of home, and being the only people wherever we went—I didn’t expect those sorts of revelations. I honestly didn’t know what to expect.

Photo of Rancho San Gregorio
Rancho San Gregorio

One of our first assignments required us to map our location, Rancho San Gregorio. My map resembles a pre-Renaissance doodle: there is no world beyond a few structures, everything is two dimensional, and each building is front-facing, albeit from multiple points of view.

In addition to lacking perspective, my map is also bizarrely scaled: the gardens and open spaces have been minimized, the central building (seen in the photo above) is oddly compressed, and the cacti are wildly misproportioned. I’m not really sure what drove me to make such odd choices, but I believe my college art professors would not be impressed.

photo of hand-drawn map
My map

The significance of scale is a theme to which we returned time and again. In one learning activity, we read about the relationships between the area of a habitat and the number of species inhabiting it (Gotelli, 2008). We then used this concept of species-area relationship (SAR) to estimate the minimal sample area needed to characterize the local ecosystem, a sort of scale model for biodiversity.

The process we used is called the relevé method. Four teams measured out initial 5×5 meter square areas (quadrat) and then expanded them to 10×10, 15×15, and so forth. Each team identified and counted species within their quadrats: cardon, boojum, ocotillo, creosote … the total number of species increased with the size of the quadrat … until it didn’t. Once each team expanded their squares past 25×25 we rarely found any new species. We had found our minimal sample size.

Photo of me with a giant cactus
Me, pointing to scarring on a cardon (Pachycereus pringlei) – photo by Samantha Lee Arner

Why is this important? Imagine looking at a small corner of a meadow. You might see a cluster of flowering clover. While this could make for a beautiful photo, it doesn’t capture the meadow as a vibrant community of plant life. In fact, that clover might be an island surrounded by a sea of wild grasses. Examining random plots of the right sample size would give you a much better sense of the meadow’s species richness.

Although I am back in Philadelphia, I’m still thinking about scale—especially in terms of time. This semester I’m studying our city’s green spaces and interviewing people involved in greening the city. One person enthusiastically listed many things street trees bring to a neighborhood: shade, beauty, habitat. But another person claimed, “Trees are easy.” He explained how street trees provide a form of immediate gratification. And while that isn’t a bad thing per se, street trees can give residents a false sense of how green our city really is, which might make us less willing to support efforts whose effects we might not see for decades.

Photo of neighborhood tree planting
Street tree planting in Philadelphia – click for source

Many early cultures used a technique called hieratic scale in their visual arts. With hieratic scale, the most important figures appear the largest. Looking back—my map of the ranch, a close up of a flower, and greening a sidewalk—all these employ a form of hieratic scale. My map, for instance, reveals both my awe of cacti and my inability to distinguish much beyond man-made structures. The sudden popularity of trees suggests that we urban dwellers have difficulty investing in things we cannot see or touch.

My GFP cohorts and I are hoping to join a network of individuals engaged in conservation efforts around the world. My wish, of course, is to help the elephants. But I suspect that I’ve been looking at elephants as if they were clover, and I were strolling past the edge of that meadow. While the clover might seem sparse and precious to me, the meadow is not my home. If it were, the clover might appear abundant, maybe even a nuisance. If I want to make a real difference someday, then I will have to learn to accept multiple truths, embrace multiple perspectives.

References

Gotelli, N. J. (2008) Island Biogeography. In A Primer of ecology (pp. 154-177). Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA: Sinauer Associates.

Handbook for collecting of vegetation plot data in Minnesota: The relevé method. (2013). Retrieved from https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/mcbs/releve/releve_singlepage.pdf.

 

PAN Vegan Pledge – Chef Lenka, Queen of Cashews

photo of lunch buffet

During our fourth Saturday meeting (at the end of week 3), we were treated to a second cooking demo, this time by vegan Chef Lenka Zivkovich. Pictured above are some of the wonderful treats she prepared for our lunch: veggie hummus wraps, bbq jackfruit sandwiches on mini bagels, and cumin-spiced carrot “meatballs” ringed with crostini. When we entered the kitchen, much of what you see above had already been prepped in the interest of time. One think that I found particularly wonderful about both Chef Lenka’s and Miss Rachel’s demos was that although both work as professionals in the cooking industry, they provided us with easy and low-cost options. Both of them passed around ingredients with which we might not be familiar (like canned jackfruit), but they also used items they had picked up at the local Trader Joe’s (like raw cashews and barbecue sauce).

photo of cashew fruit
Cashew Fruit! source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/angiud/4646618700

Chef Lenka devoted most of her discussion to, you guessed it, cashews. And I just couldn’t resist, the photo above is of a cashew fruit – the stem-like growth on the underside of the fruit is the nut. Lenka first made a thick and creamy custard of cashews and water in a blender. She explained that the cashew to water ration could be altered to produce a variety of basic products. A 1:2 ratio yielded a creamy custard that could be flavored with a little vanilla and used as the “batter” for french toast. Since Chef Lenka offers a wildly popular vegan brunch at a local restaurant, you know this recipe is winner! If the water content is increased to a 1:3 ratio, the result is a vegan substitute for half and half. Lenka made us a quick smoothie with this creamy base, bananas, and spinach.

photo of lunch table

One of the amazing things about the pledge meetings is that there are always surprises. Local sponsors have donated wonderful items, such as the tempeh wraps above from Hip City Veg – and mentors have taken it upon themselves to make additional dishes like the gorgeous salad above or the tempting desserts below.

photo of dessert table

One of the biggest surprise treats came when our organizer mentioned that Chef Lenka had offered to create a late afternoon Happy Hour for our group at Plough and the Stars, where she works. Not only did I immediately sign up for the event, but I emailed some of my vegetarian and “veg-curious” friends to invite them.

photo of Chef Lenka

When we arrived, Chef Lenka welcomed us and explained what she had prepared. She had organized the dishes on a beautiful buffet table and portioned everything small so that we could try a bit of everything. The dishes included inventive items like a “crabcake” made of both artichoke and palm hearts and a savory grilled watermelon.

photo of buffet table

Some of my favorite items included (pictured below, clockwise from the left) a truffled mushroom bruschetta, the “double-heart crabcake,” a mini kebob with king mushroom, mock chicken, and fresh papaya, and a fried “shrimp” with a creamy sriracha sauce.

close up of small plate

Although the buffet was so bountiful, Lenka had one more surprise in store for us: her celebrated raw, vegan creme brulée. Not surprisingly, she used a cashew base. But the dessert also included hints of coconut and vanilla. She browned the raw sugar topping on site with a portable torch and brought the custards to us herself.

photo of creme brulee

The happy hour left us all completely sated, and we vowed to return to Plough and the Stars for one of Chef Lenka’s prix fix vegan dinners once she returns from a well earned summer vacation.

PAN Vegan Pledge – Produce-Palooza!

Logo Farmers Market Week

In honor of National Farmers Market Week, I’m posting two recipes that spotlight vibrant, local summer produce.

First up we have an Arugula and Beet Salad Plate with Chick-Pea Tabbouleh that I made last Sunday. For the tabbouleh, I simply added diced fresh tomato (in this case 4 small Indigo Rose beauties that were red on one end and black on the other), about half a bunch of coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley, a cup of rinsed canned chick peas, the juice of 1/4 a lemon, and a generous tablespoon of olive oil to a box of Near East Tabouleh (this would work just fine with a cup of plain bulgur, you would just need to add salt to taste).

photo of a bowl of tabbouleh

For the salad I boiled some gorgeous and strikingly pale chioggia beets, peeled and sliced them into eighths, and arranged them over a bed of arugula. About a week ago I had bought Kite Hill’s Truffle, Dill, and Chive almond-based “cheese”; this salad provided the perfect setting for it. Although the texture reminded me a bit of silken tofu, it crumbled well and had a mouthfeel reminiscent of fresh goat cheese. Coarsely chopped pistachios added salty, crunchy goodness – and seemed more interesting than the usual almonds. Because the plate already contained so many flavors and textures, the salad needed nothing more than some olive oil, a bit of aged balsamic vinegar, and freshly cracked black pepper for dressing.

photo of salad plate

Fast forward to later in the week when I was home alone (my boyfriend flew off to visit his family) and feeling hungry and lazy! For some, the mouse surely plays while the cat is away – but this little rodent’s idea of “play” usually entails eating her way through as many perishable odds and ends as possible, cleaning out the refrigerator, and maybe indulging in a night of Netflix and take-out on a Friday night. Although I was tempted to call out for Thai food, two small but gorgeous eggplant sat waiting in my refrigerator. So I put down the laptop, picked up my knife, and put together a simple meal of Soy and Citrus-Glazed Eggplant With Baked Marinated Tempeh.

photo, eggplants

Because this striped variety of eggplant tends to be less bitter than the more common dark purple variety, I simply sliced them crosswise, placed them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet, and put them under the broiler for a few minutes (turning once after about five minutes) with the oven set to 400 degrees. For the tempeh, I placed thin slices in a baking dish and poured about about a tablespoon of soy sauce and a teaspoon of liquid smoke over the them. The tempeh baked uncovered while the eggplant broiled below.

photo: broiled eggplant and baked tempeh

In the meantime I made a simple glaze of a tablespoon each of soy sauce and mirin (Japanese rice wine, but you can use cooking sherry), squeezed in a bit of orange juice (about a tablespoon), and added brown sugar to taste. This lent the eggplant both sweetness and sheen. Blanched baby kale and brown rice rounded out the plate. And that dollop of spicy goodness you see? That would be my new favorite condiment, Trader Joe’s Sambal Matah. After I finished my first jar back in March or April it disappeared from the shelves, and I panicked. When it miraculously reappeared in June I bought 3 jars. If you enjoy chile and lemongrass and live anywhere near me, you might consider doing the same!

photo, dinner plate

Liebster Love!

liebster-award

Leaping Libesters, Batgirl! While I’ve been busy studying the ingredients lists on all my groceries and snapping photos at every Vegan Pledge meeting, blogger and almost-Philadelphian Vegan Rescue nominated me for a Liebster Award! Before I get to the details of that, I want to thank Jessica (a.k.a. Vegan Rescue) for such an honor. I recently discovered her blog and have been sharing her posts with friends because her recipes are just that amazing. Can you imagine anything more worthy of a summer supper outdoors than Corn Fritters with [vegan] Mayoketchup Sauce? And guess who ran to the nearest farmer’s market to pick up some fennel after eyeing her Raw Fennel & Grapefruit Almond Salad? So to have her include me in her company … two words: mind blown. Thank you Jessica!

On to the award! First things first, the rules (there seem to be multiple sets floating around):

  1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
  2. Display the award on your blog.
  3. Answer 10 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
  4. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a fewer than 1000 followers (comment on one of their posts to let them know).

My Answers to Vegan Rescue’s Questions:

  1. What is your favorite comfort food? A big bowl of Asian noodles, preferably with lots of tender-crisp greens some heat, and maybe some pan-seared tofu.
  2. What is your dream job? I used to think that I already had the perfect mix of jobs because I am both a university professor and a fitness instructor, but maybe some day I will move far far away and teach yoga classes to visitors at an elephant sanctuary.
  3. What is your favorite way to unwind after a long week? I love sitting down to a really exquisite and interesting glass of wine and a light snack, and then maybe curling up with a novel or film later in the evening.
  4. What inspired you to become a blogger? I teach writing, and I wanted to see if I could maintain a steady stream of short writing, much like I ask of my students. I’ve also had people ask for recipes when I post photos of my cooking, so this seemed like a good way to combine my writing and my cooking.
  5. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go? As with the “dream-job” question, I feel like I’ve been so lucky to have visited so many amazing places: Thailand, the Peruvian Amazon, Belize, Indonesia, but I’d really like to visit Myanmar – and, for something completely different from my usual tropical inclinations, I’d love to see the Northern Lights!
  6. Do you have any hobbies (other than blogging)? Travel, fitness, film, reading … I sometimes make jewelry, of course I enjoy cooking, wines, fashion, coffee …
  7. What is your biggest fear? Not doing enough, not making a positive impact, not leaving the world in a better place when I die.
  8. What is the best advice you would give yourself 10 years ago? Follow your instincts and regret nothing. Even if things don’t turn out the way you imagined, at least you will only have yourself to blame 😉
  9. How long have you been blogging? About 2 years, but I took a break for about 6 months.
  10. What is your favorite blog post? I’m not sure if this means mine or someone else’s, but if it’s mine it would have to be my Birthday for Giving. I wanted to do something meaningful for my birthday, so I set up an Indiegogo campaign to benefit the Friends of Asian Elephant Hospital in Lampung Thailand, the world’s first hospital for elephants. Even though many of the donors were friends and family, my post got a lot of traffic, and I did end up with some international donors.

lolly-in-the-sun-1310907

My Nominees (apologies if any of you have over 1000 followers):

  1. Love-Live-Run
  2. Jamie Samons
  3. The Vegan Lily
  4. Mountains to Mats
  5. Molli Sparkles

My Questions for My Nominees:

  1. Who is your ideal reader?
  2. How long does it take you to write a blog post?
  3. What is your most ridiculous pet peeve?
  4. What is one thing about you that would surprise your readers?
  5. Who is your favorite writer?
  6. If you had to describe yourself as a food item, what would it be and why?
  7. What is one skill you would like to learn?
  8. How have you improved with age?
  9. If you could change the ending to one movie, what would it be?
  10. How do you think the public would react to your version of the movie in Question #9?