book reviews

February Randomness

Wisconsin beehives in winter

Happy February! So what do you think my honeybees are up to these days? From what I’ve read, they’re not hibernating. Even in cold Midwestern temps—and we’ve had plenty of that this year—those little sweethearts are busy in their hives clustering together, fluttering their wings and energizing themselves with honey, all in the name of protecting the queen. Amazingly, bees keep the inside of their cluster a toasty 80-90°F.

Of course, I can’t open the hive because cold air would immediately zap them all. Instead, I go out each day, brush away the occasional dead bee that’s been kicked out and wait until spring to know if my community has survived. For me, only a second-year beekeeper, this is the quiet season.

My Clients

I work with many people who are also in the quiet season. Seemingly so, anyway, because they too are busy behind the scenes. My farmer clients are hunkered down with seed catalogs and educational conferences, like the MOSES Organic Farming Conference, for which I was again proud to design. It definitely isn’t the quiet season for the MOSES team—not with their big event coming in just three short weeks. They put on the largest conference of its kind in the U.S., so if you’re into organic and sustainable agriculture, be sure to attend. It’s over the moon (an apt but pun-ish descriptor in light of last night’s Super Blue Blood Moon).

My Wormfarm Institute clients, Donna and Jay, are currently in Mexico, researching exciting food and art for this fall’s Fermentation Fest (last year’s mezcal class and dinner were huge successes). Both these non-profits could not exist without continuous outreach for funding and exposure. It’s hard, skillful work and Donna is a master. Her efforts were recently rewarded with recognition in an upcoming publication by Americans for the Arts.

Adunate

It’s the quiet season for Adunate too. Quiet, but, again, busy behind the scenes. I’ve been marketing, marketing, marketing—a fact of life for every business. One of my goals for 2018 is to target the female ag industry. In her book Soil Sisters, author Lisa Kivirist describes the growing number of women farmers and how they’re changing the face of American agriculture.

“New women farmers are primarily starting small-scale, diversified, locally focused and family-run operations, bucking the corporate agriculture trend of fewer small family farms and more consolidation,” says Kivirist.

For the most part, those USDA-subsidized corporate farms are producing just corn and soybeans for animal feed or fuel. Contrast that with women farmers who raise a diversity of crops going directly from their farm to a family’s table. Or a school cafeteria. Or a senior health community. They’re sustaining their land and giving back to the soil. Can you see the nurturing going on here? These are the caring people with whom I want to work.

Books I'm reading in 2018

Speaking of books…

Here’s what I’m reading these days (and yes, I’m dabbling in all four—it’s the quiet season, after all). Some of them are great reads about food, land and business. Others will help me to help you market your products. Give me a call!

  • Braiding Sweetgrass: This one drew my attention because it it melds the spiritual and scientific aspects of nature. I’ve long been a proponent of both, like say, gardening by the moon (there’s that moon again!). God created an awesome earth and, of course, every part of it is connected.
  • Articulating Design Decisions: Many times the customer doesn’t understand the designer’s reason for a design. Often designers, ahem, me, have trouble articulating their reasons. This book is well-written, easy to read, and in many ways is applicable to anyone who talks about their product. I wish I’d read this twenty years ago!
  • An Unlikely Vineyard: I want to take a road trip to Vermont! This is both a life story and how-to for restoring the land and building an eight-acre vineyard. She beautifully speaks of terroir, essence of place, and the meditation of cultivation.
  • Gastrophysics: Did you know there’s a science to enjoying your food? Things like what color plate it’s served on or what sounds are playing in the background? This covers our five senses and how they affect our perception of food. One reviewer named it a manual for restaurants. I think it’s great for anyone who markets food.

So there you have it, some happenings in this seemingly quiet season. Stay warm, be healthy and keep busy!

Will You Join Me on the Energy Bus?

The Energy Bus, by Jon GordonThe Energy Bus, by Jon Gordon, has been on my list for several years and I’ve finally gotten around to reading it. What a dynamic little book! If you share life with others—uh, who doesn’t?—then set aside the couple hours it takes to cruise through this fun, u-rah-rah story. Or metaphor. Or parable. Whatever you want to call it, because that’s what it is—a listing of basic principles we all know but need to be reminded of, told in a easy-to-read, fictional story.

So…George is a guy who only sees the glass half-empty. Nothing’s going right for him, including his job or his marriage. Then one day he gets on a bus and the driver changes his life with 10 simples rules.

Yes, this is all cliché, but how often are we like George and gravitate toward the negative? Or who of us fails to regularly appreciate our blessings? According to Gordon, it doesn’t take any more energy to think positively than negatively. So let’s get on his positive energy bus!

Passages that resonated with me

You don’t have to sit passively by like so many souls who let life create them. You can take the wheel and choose to create your life, one thought, one belief, one action, one choice at a time.

For us entreprenuers, this hits home big time. Hey, it applies to everyone, both at work and at home. God gave each of us a brain and the tools to live here on earth. He may be the navigator, but he appointed us to be drivers. I know whatever I want my business or life to be, it’s my responsibility to get off my butt and make it happen. No excuses!

Chief Energy Officers (my interpretation: people successful at life) live and work with enthusiasm. They tap the power of their heart by getting excited about being alive, by filling up with loads of positive energy, and by being optimistic about life and work. They don’t let fear stop them.

Gordon goes on to say that positive energy is contagious. When we show our enthusiasm with a full heart, others want to be around us and they take on that same positive thinking. Well, duh! We all know positive people are more fun to be around than negative people.

And what about that fear? Ed Gandia recently did an excellent podcast on overcoming fear and stepping beyond our comfort zone.

Don’t be too stressed to feel blessed. Don’t compare the success of your bus to other buses. Just enjoy your ride.

You hear a lot about living thankfully these days. Last year I took up the daily practice of writing a page of thankfulness and yes, there’s a lot of truth to the idea. I find when I make mental note of my blessings—better yet, I write them down—it helps me focus on the positives in my life rather than the negatives. It ramps my confidence and well-being. Best of all, I realize my business is going just right for me and I don’t need to compare myself to others. Talk about liberating!

So what about those 10 simple rules? Here they are:

  1. You’re the driver of your bus
  2. Desire, vision and focus move your bus in the right direction
  3. Fuel your ride with positive energy
  4. Invite people on your bus and share your vision for the road ahead
  5. Don’t waste your energy on those who don’t get on your bus
  6. Post a sign the says “No Energy Vampires Allowed on My Bus”
  7. Enthusiasm attracts more passengers and energizes them during the ride
  8. Love your passengers
  9. Drive with purpose
  10. Have fun and enjoy the ride

Wednesday Webs: January’s Reading List

My January Reading List

One of my 2014 goals is to read more books. Actually, I already read a lot—usually 2-3 books at a time—but I never finish them. This year: Cover to cover reading, both fiction and non-fiction.

Here’s my reading list for January:

  1. The Wealthy Freelancer, by Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage and Ed Gandia
    I’ve enjoyed and benefitted from Ed Gandia’s online education so this book has been on my list. Successful freelancing isn’t all about money. The authors help us examine what we think is important and what life we wish to lead.
  2. White Papers for Dummies, by Gordon Graham
    A good explanation of white papers and step-by-step directions for successfully writing them. I want to write more white papers for Adunate and other businesses.
  3. One Summer: America, 1927, by Bill Bryson
    This is my educational, stream of consciousness reading for the month (although I think I’ll still be reading it well into February and March). My brother, an avid historian, suggested this for our family’s burgeoning book club. Bryson lightens his heavy duty writing with humorous snippets like “an office secretary of high spirits and light intellect” and “the railroad ‘wandered confusedly around the upper Midwest, as if looking for a lost item’.”

And to help me organize and understand my reading:

  1. Goodreads: The Facebook for booklovers, it offers discussion, sharing and online book clubs.
  2. I Love Libraries: American Library Association’s (ALA’s) book recommendations for anything you want to know.
  3. How I’m Repairing My Reading Habits: Maybe this will help me finish my books.
  4. 2014 is Year of the Reader: Book Riot doesn’t agree with The New York Times‘ premise that books and reading them are dying arts. What do you think?

 

3 Design Tips For Better Reading

Damn Good Advice by George Lois

I’m reading Damn Good Advice by advertising legend George Lois. It’s an almost excellent book. I love his profound wisdom, like “The word comes first, then the visual,” or “A trend is always a trap.” And from a copywriting aspect, his use of words is brilliant.

But what’s going on with the design on some of these pages?

In the spirit of Lois’ in-your-face audacity, I wonder if a guy touted as the “Original Mad Man” shouldn’t know that design can either make or break the readability of a message? Shouldn’t he realize things over-designed can sometimes become under-communicative?

1. No right justification for large blocks of text

Right justification brings an edgy style to invitations, callouts, Don Draperish ads and all manner of small amounts of text. But anything more than 2-3 sentences becomes very hard to read. If the left margin is overly ragged like the pages above, it’s even more hard to read.

2. No center justification for large blocks of text

So, is center justification the latest blogging trend? You see it a lot. But trends don’t increase legibility (refer back to item #1 and “a trend is always a trap”). These bloggers could be losing readers.

The thing with right and center justification is that each time our eyes come to the end of the line and snap down to the next, they need to hunt for that first word.

Our reading slows. Our interest wanes.

If you want your audience to read large amounts of text, you’ve got to give them the permanence of a left margin.

3. No wide blocks of text (i.e. the whole width of the page)

Wide columns are harder to read than narrow columns, especially on the computer screen. When our eyes snap from the end of one line to the beginning of another, a narrow column brings us to the next line more quickly.

How wide is too wide?

Columns should be no more than 45-75 characters, or 8-12 words. That means if your type size is large, your column can be wide. But if your size is small, your column must be narrow.

Damn Good Advice offers just what it says—some really good advice. Some of its design is good too. It’s just that some could be even better.

 

Why Do Believers Commit Suicide?

And She Was a Christian, by Peter Preus

Seven years ago, when my 20-year-old nephew died by suicide, one of the most painful things for his parents was the judgmental assumption many people made of his eternal life. At a time when his parents needed comfort the most, the long-held stigma of suicide created a reluctance to minister to them with the hope of salvation.

What people forgot, however, was that this beautiful, young man was a believer. He was a child of God. Like many people who kill themselves, he suffered from depression. Yes, it caused him to sin. But no, it did not overrule God’s loving grace. And just as we are saved by this grace in spite of our sins, so was this young man.

A book recently came out that my nephew’s parents recommend people dealing with suicide should read. It’s called And She Was a Christian, written by Peter Preus, a Lutheran pastor. His wife also suffered from depression and committed suicide in 1994.

This book must have been hard for Preus to write. He shares his wife’s story, from her days as a vibrant wife and mother, very involved in her church; to a woman destroyed by mental illness, very depressed and delusional.

Preus also covers a historical study of the church’s viewpoint on suicide. Today’s Christians commonly believe the Bible makes a black and white statement on suicide, but according to Preus, this viewpoint wasn’t always shared. In fact, many early Christians committed suicide as an alternative to the “horrifying and humiliating forms of execution,” as Preus writes. It was St. Augustine, of the fourth century Catholic Church, who determined suicide to be an unforgivable sin. I found this quite interesting.

Because this book is specifically intended for pastors and church professionals, Preus goes deep into the doctrinal aspects of suicide. I’m neither of those and I strive to maintain the “faith of a child” (meaning I intentionally shy away from debatable theological discussions). Admittedly, Preus is over my head at times. But he does make it clear, even to me, that Jesus’ dying on the cross is payment for every sin, even the sin of suicide.

The book And She Was a Christian is a great for anyone who has experienced suicide among their family and friends–those who are suicide victims. And it’s certainly a “must-read” for anyone who ministers to suicide victims.

 

Little Libraries, And Free!

Little Library, Madison, WI

Isn’t this the cutest thing? The art, yes. But also the little house.

It’s called a Little Library and houses just like it are popping up all over Madison. I think they’re the coolest things, not just because they’re cute but because of what they represent—community, caring and, best of all, free books!

According to this Wisconsin State Journal article, Little Libraries are the creation of Rick Brooks of Madison and Todd Bol of Hudson, who wanted to increase reading and build community. The idea behind them is a house stocked full of books and anyone can “take a book, leave a book.”

What’s really great is Little Libraries are all privately sponsored. Families, businesses and community organizations have either built their own or bought one ready-made from Little Free Library, and each one is different than the next. I shot a picture of this one on the Capital City Bike Path near Atwood Avenue, a very people-minded neighborhood with community gardens and Absolutely Art, a gallery for local artists.

Amazingly, in just one year Madison has more than 20 Little Libraries. They’ve also spread to cities from Minnesota to New York. I’m thinking as much as we worry about becoming an over-digitalized society, there always be something magical that gets us out and about.

Like a Little Library.

 

The Art of Illumination

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Tuk e v"zproizveden list ot "Krupnishkoto" evangelie (vzh. list 3, 4).Digital ID: 1551201. New York Public Library

I’m reading a book that’s totally awakened me to an art form I previously knew little about.

The book is Graphic Design and Religion: A Call for Renewal, by Daniel Kantor. The art is a historical technique known as illumination.

Illumination is commonly associated with Middle to Renaissance Age religious manuscripts. Considered the most sacred of all documents, these manuscripts were embellished with decorative borders, elaborate initials and detailed illustrations. Because artists created them in gold, silver and other brilliant colors, they appeared illuminated on the animal skin pages.

The Slavic piece shown here, exquisite as it is, is a somewhat muted example (it’s the only image I could find with copyright permissions). Comparatively, works such as de Brailes Hours or Biblia pauperum, two of many listed in the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, are much more intense. Imagine the time and discipline that went into creating any of these beautiful works of art!

While illuminations, as an art form, are fascinating, I’m most inspired by the ideals they represent.

Kantor described the illuminators as the finest of artists who remained “lifelong students of their craft” and “eschewed shortcuts that compromised aesthetic integrity.” They chose the most quality materials available to create visuals for a largely illiterate population—visuals that, as much as humanly possible, communicated the divinity of Christ.

Illuminators saw their work as “a ministry worthy of their best efforts,” writes Kantor.

The techniques we use today certainly have changed the way we visually communicate our faith. Graphic design and commercial printing are light-years away from those hand-rendered illuminations. Yet the ideals are still the same. The time we spend training and conceptualizing, the quality of materials we use and the dedication we apply to our work, all reflect the reverence we hold to Christ.

Communicating Christ, after all, is a ministry worthy of our best efforts.