If I said to you,
“I happen to have an eponymous magazine …
produced at my eponymous farm …
where I also dream up designs for my eponymous bedding line …
to sell in my eponymous store …”
Would you know what I’m talking about?
eponymous [uh–pon–uh-muh
s]
something named after its central character or creator: the Beatles’ eponymous debut album
The Village Bicycle Project is changing lives in Africa. VBP is a non-profit corporation founded right here in Moscow, Idaho, by David Peckham in 1999, with the goal of making bikes affordable and sustainable for people in remote areas of some of the poorest places on Earth. In Africa, a bicycle can make all the difference. Riding a bike is four times faster than walking, the only choice for millions of Africans. Improved mobility is a key to reducing poverty, and in Africa, a bicycle can take a person from poverty to prosperity.
Meet Harriet …
photo courtesy Village Bicycle Project
Harriet lives in Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo Region. She now rides her VBP bike to collect water from the village standpipe. Each of those jerry cans weighs 40 lbs when full, and previously, Harriet would carry each can on her head, one at a time. Now she can carry two on the back of her bicycle.
“I had long wanted to bring bikes to Africa,” says Peckham. “When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gabon, it surprised me there were hardly any bikes. Bikes are so practical for moving people economically. They’re easy to work on, environmentally friendly, a transportation no-brainer in poor countries. I wanted to do something enduring, and knew that education and working within the market were key components of sustainability. I thought I’d try to send one shipping container, contributing a few hundred bikes, and try teaching a few dozen farmers a little about bike repair. I was also convinced that the best way to teach Africans was to engage African teachers, in this case, bike mechanics … We began working with Peace Corps Volunteers, scattered in small villages throughout Ghana. Gradually, word spread about the program that brought bikes and training to villages, and by 2007, VBP had reached all four corners of the country.”
To date:
The Project makes a special effort to get bicycles to women. “In 2008-09, 1,150 girls and women received bikes in our programs, over one third of the total participants,” says Peckham. “However, we found that some women didn’t know how to ride and weren’t learning quickly. If a woman gets a bicycle and cannot ride it, she is unlikely to maintain control over the use of the bicycle.” So VBP developed a program in which a female leader teaches riding skills along with repair skills in a safe, encouraging setting.
Check out this 2-minute video about the Village Bicycle Project:
1. Donate your bike.
2. Donate your time.
3. Donate your dollars:
To find out how you can donate your bike, your time, or your money to support bicycles in Africa, visit VillageBicycleProject.org.
Take a peek at the ca-ute cosmetics bag Carol found on Zulily for just under $7.
With a tapestry-like pouch and felted wool flowerpots and blossoms, it couldn’t be ca-uter!
Zulily is a treasure chest of “sale events” that last just 72 hours … or less. You’ll find clothing for women and kids, home décor, and more … all priced to sell (many items are up to 70% off). Lots of unique styles, lots of kitsch, lots of cute! The down-side is you’ll have to wait 2-4 weeks for most shipments (you place your order, it’s shipped from hundreds of companies direct to Zulily, then Zulily ships to you). The up-side is that anything you order in a 24-hour period is shipped for just one $8.95 shipping charge, even though the items will be shipped to you from Zulily in separate shipments as soon as they arrive there. So, you probably wouldn’t buy this pouch online—by the time you paid for shipping, it might feel too expensive. But since Carol was buying a pair of shoes, a dress, a special-sized cast-iron pan, and a purse (it was a shopping spree, after all!), the one-time shipping charge was negligible.
At the least, Zulily provides lots of fun window-shopping. Carol’s hooked!
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Wendy Kay Skovo!!!
Wendy Kay Skovo (WendyFlower, #4700) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level The Secret Life of Bees Merit Badge!
“I watched the trailer at VanishingBees.com. I have planted borage, fennel, calendula, lemon balm, chamomile, clover, and other bee-friendly flowers. I’ve read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and watched the movie. I own the DVD and try to get people to watch it with me.
I’ve been in love with honeybees a long time. My mom kept bees for a while. Bees are one of my obsessions. I’ve taught a workshop on building top-bar bee hives. I have had 3 attempts at starting a hive. UPS killed my first package; my second try was a small caught swarm that didn’t make it through the winter; and my third package of bees had a queen that died, and by the time I realized it and replaced her, there wasn’t time to put up enough stores for winter even with feeding.”
When I go glamping with my grandgirls later this summer, I want to be able to teach them about the movement of the sun, moon, and stars in the wide-open skies. But the nature of how it all works can be confusing. I recently ran across a basketball analogy that put everything in perspective. Since my son-in-law, Lucas, was a basketball coach, the girls are familiar with the game, so it will be a great way for them to remember how the moon orbits around the Earth.
First, picture a basketball court. We’ll scale the Earth down to the size of a basketball and place it in the basket. That will make the moon the size of a tennis ball. The moon, then, basically orbits the Earth at the 3-point line (that’s the line that looks like a circle about 23’ from the basket where you can’t believe Steph Curry just made a basket from).
Note: Because the moon’s orbit is really elliptic and not exactly circular, it extends away from the 3-point line at its apogee (furthest point from the Earth) and perigee (nearest point to the Earth) at about the length of a tennis racket. But I might save this little tidbit for later. No need to confuse the issue (or Nanny Jane!).
Fun fact: At this same scale (basketball/tennis ball), the sun is about the size of a very large hot-air balloon and it’s about 1 3/4 miles away from the basket. The sun and moon appear to be the same size when we look at them in the sky. However, the sun is 400 times larger than the moon. So why does it appear the same size as the moon? Because it’s nearly 400 times further from the Earth!
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
