Slow Food Movement and Notes from a Blue Bike (5 book) Giveaway

Curled up in our bedroom, book in hand, hot cup of tea in the other, kitty by my side, and warm Ugg boots keeping me warm in our cold Oregon winter, I couldn’t help but smile as I read my friend Tsh Oxenreider’s newly released book: Notes from a Blue Bike – The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World.

I love so many things about the book–how can I do it justice? in one blog post? The answer is: I cannot. You just need to pick the book up yourself (or several books – one for yourself and a few to give away!) Your mind will soak up Tsh’s words (who blogs at The Art of Simple), and the wheels will start turning with ideas for how you can slow down, simplify, and prioritize your family in a greater way.

Being intentional.

Tsh’s “food” chapter was my favorite, probably because my niche and passion for blogging has to do with people and food. We are intentional when it comes to inviting people over for dinner, and for our family, meals are garden-to-table (14 raised garden beds). Even in the winter, we try to buy organic and local.

A meal together in Oregon.

Tsh and I have not shared a meal together with our families, but the day is coming. She and Kyle will be invited with their 3 small children to our Oregon home, and hopefully our 3, now adult and 1 teen children, will be there to mingle with the guests. It’s what we’ve always done. The older with the younger, a party on our side patio, a garden-to-table meal— oh, and with no cell phones at the table. Our parties are never perfect, but people are priority. So because of this, we have to fight the technological culture war … (which I love how she trickels this concept throughout the book). Our kids know what is expected around the table … I don’t need to say more. :)

Slow Food Movement.

Her chapter on “slow food movement”–giving up fast foods, knowing where your food comes from, getting families to cook together, prioritizing the family table–goes straight into my heart. Slowing down with intentional family time was always a key for us. Even with sports, we still tried to eat together. Mealtime with our family–melding healthy foods and intentional conversation together–I’m convinced is what has shaped our children and made them who they are today. It’s rather cute, I’d say, when I get pictures texted from the boys up at college (U of Oregon) of their “healthy” rice or quinoa bowls, filled with beans, eggs, and asparagus, squash. Somehow, some way, all our years of showing and growing real foods, made our kids value the “slow food movement.” It paid off.

Eating slowly.

Eating slowly also means that as a family, we dine around the table more often than not, all five of us present. Sure, our small children have nowhere else to go right now, but we hope to root deeply in their minds that dinner means togetherness around the table, in no hurry to be elsewhere. To do that, we must stop working in time to devote an hour or more to cooking the evening’s fare and to letting our kids help in the kitchen, so that little by little, they understand that real food takes time. Later when they’re adults, slow food will be normal to them. – Tsh

More about the book.

Tsh’s book is part memoir, part travelogue, part practical guide, as she travels from a hillside in Kosovo to a Turkish high-rise to the congested city of Austin to a small town in Oregon. It chronicles schooling quandaries and dinnertime dilemmas, as well as entrepreneurial adventures and family excursions via plane, train, automobile, … and blue cruiser bike.

My tiny bit of advice.

Here’s my (50-year-old) advice, having already raised 3 kids. You will fall off the bike, which will sometimes hurt (yes, it does!), but you have to get back on and keep cruising, making healthy decisions for your family, trying new paths ahead (don’t always feel like you have to stay on the same path). This part is very important: Watch and observe the map that has been ridden before you by friends and family. You’ll be able to learn from others’ mistakes, and possibly take a different route. :)

Lastly, I love Tsh’s challenge.

I invite you to climb aboard your own bike, ask yourself these same questions, and explore your own ideas for slowing down. From the conversations I’ve had with many of you, it sounds like you’re dying to veer over in to the slow lane as well. Less chaos, more freedom, fewer events on the calendar, deeper relationships. Many, many cultures around the world aren’t running the treadmill of efficiency. So what does it look like to live like this in the Western, post-modern world? If you’d like a friend on your journey to finding a life that’s slower, more intentional, and soaked with more meaning, then put on your helmet and bike with me. It’s a bumpy ride, but that only makes it fun. – Tsh

Giving away 5 books!

I’m so happy to be giving away 5 copies today!

Follow the Rafflecopter instructions, here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck! And thank you, Tsh, for the opportunity to spread the news of such a fabulous, much-needed book for our society today!