News Flash!
It is perfectly okay to eat Mr. Noodles at an ecovillage. One might think- from the outside- as I once did that people who live in ecovillages could somehow resist the delicious twists and turns of a Mr. Noodle as it slips into your mouth from a bowl full of MSG. After several horror stories of University students having balls of wax removed from their stomachs after years of Mr. Noodles, and weight loss regimes giving little respect to the simple carbohydrate I had basically sworn off the beloved Mr. Noodle.
As I sit here, late at night and miles away from my soon to be home in Groundswell at Yarrow Ecovillage, I await the cooling of a bowl of Mr. Noodles prepared ecovillager style. Growing up these noodles were an after school snack. Loved, but thought little of. I remember tossing a packet (or two!) into bowling water with HALF the allotted MSG seasoning while we adjusted the TV to the Facts of Life. Noodles would be absent mindedly slurped down while we watched the TV roll our lives away. Not what I would called inspired living- but still a delicious memory.
On one of my last trips out to the village I was perusing a rather large collection of mason jars belonging to one of my more "green" neighbours. Raw cashews the size of walnuts, hand-harvested wild teas, seeds from plants I've never heard of, every kind of dried fruit and herb imaginable! My new friend and neighbour is a vegetarian and a healthy one at that. So needless to say it surprised me to see three cases and Mr. Noodles beside the shelf of drool-worthy natural delicacies. Of course, I commented. What a strange and unfitting "junk" food for such a worldly individual.
Did I learn a treat! Let me save you some learning curve. It turns out that living an ecovillage life is not about giving up every pleasure until you look like that lady in the pitchfork picture. Noooooooo my friends! It's about something much richer and more abundant than that. It's about abundance. It's about taking your guilty pleasures and finding a way to make them a real and sustainable part of life.
Let me explain. You see, I luuuuuv Mr. Noodles. But. Because I am a health conscious concerned parent, I have not bought a single packet of Mr. Noodles in over ten years. TEN LONG YEARS!!!! Now here I am slurping on my little gems as I type this entry. I have done them up as taught by my neighbour (If you come visit I'll introduce you!). The theory is simple. Rather than denying the simple pleasure of a packet of Mr. Noodles, I now make it into an ordeal. In the old days, noodles were enjoyed, but not thought about. They were an absent minded pleasure at best. Now I prepare them as a feast. First the pot and water, then cuttings of every vegetable I can find. Perhaps a can of water chestnuts, or some left over chicken or fish. Then the noodles. Tonight I am enjoying kale, onion, red pepper, celery, mushroom and water chestnuts with HALF a seasoning packet of spicy chicken. (Some things die hard.)
As I slurp my noodles I find myself even more impressed by the way the vegetables taste. Who could imagine that red pepper would boil so well? What an interesting texture from the mushrooms and chestnuts together in a bite? And the slurp of those noodles interrupted by the odd chunk of coursely chopped kale! Welcome back sweet Mr. Noodles! Welcome back! What joy a 33 cent package of noodles can bring when you live richly!
Now for why I'm up so late at night with a Wor Wonton bowl of noodle soup. While I have come to appreciate the finer, simpler things in my life because of my days with the Yarrow ecovillage, I've also recently come to realize that life is not fair. Sometimes life is downright cruel and horrible to good people. This doesn't change at an ecovillage. We don't have some magic shield around us to keep the bad things away. Sadder still is that while bad things may happen to my neighbours out here in suburbia I might never hear about it much less care. At the ecovillage, when bad things happen to my good neighbours it keeps me up at night. Even out here, a mountain range away I find myself feeling concerned for the lives of the people I will one day call neighbours, and friends. How silly could I be to want to live somewhere where I have to dare myself to care? Isn't it easier to pull my car into a garage, smile and wave when I have to, and only worry about my own little life? Maybe. But before I slump away to that fate I'm reminded of a video I want to share with you now. I was sent this video by Michael Hale, yet another one of my new neighbours last summer. It might just be one of the most important 20 minutes I could share with you. Please enjoy Brené Brown on Wholehearted Living
My noodles are done, my prayers for neighbours are said. I'm off to bed. May your tomorrow be splendid!
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