Honoring Karyn
Today’s post honors Karyn, daughter of an Elder.
Karyn wanted to become a professional singer, and wanted to share her financial success with the homeless. She is age 18 here, and had just done a street mission project in Calgary with an organization called the Mustard Seed, that was originated in Edmonton by First Baptist Church. I hope her story is inspirational.
R.S.
Karyn has a beautiful rendition of Danny Boy. You can listen to it here.
The Mustard Seed
I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.
– Matthew 17:20
For over 35 years, The Mustard Seed has been a safe, supportive haven for individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. We offer services and supports to those in need with the goal of helping them make positive, lasting change in their lives.
The Mustard Seed
Our History
The idea for a street ministry came from Pat Nixon who founded The Mustard Seed in 1984, opening the first location in Calgary. Today, the organization operates in multiple cities, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, and Grande Prairie in Alberta, Kamloops in British Columbia, and Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. All locations offer an expansive range of programs and services to serve our most vulnerable community members.
We come alongside our community, offering a hand-up rather than simply a hand-out, and journey with them as they move towards a life of wellness and independence.
The Mustard Seed
Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, alongside Mustard Seed CEO Stephen Wile, announced the new emergency shelter spaces, bolstering Calgary’s roster of available services for women in need. The provincially funded beds will be located at the Mustard Seed’s downtown location, providing spaces for women experiencing homelessness — demand for which has soared of late.
Calgary Herald
And the Seed Itself
Mustard seeds are the small round seeds of various mustard plants. The seeds are usually about 1 to 2 millimetres (1⁄32 to 3⁄32 in) in diameter and may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are an important spice in many regional foods and may come from one of three different plants: black mustard (Brassica nigra), brown mustard (B. juncea), or white mustard (Sinapis alba).
Grinding and mixing the seeds with water, vinegar or other liquids creates the yellow condiment known as mustard.
Wikipedia / Image By Novalis at en.wikipedia – Own work
In culture
The mustard seed is frequently referenced in world literature, including in religious texts, as a metaphor for something small or insignificant.
In the Bible, Jesus tells the Parable of the Mustard Seed referring to faith and the Kingdom of God. There, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
There are references to mustard seeds in India from a story of Gautama Buddha in the fifth century BC. Gautama Buddha told the story of the grieving mother (Kisa Gotami) and the mustard seed. When a mother loses her only son, she takes his body to the Buddha to find a cure. The Buddha asks her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a family that has never lost a child, husband, parent, or friend. When the mother is unable to find such a house in her village, she realizes death is common to all, and she cannot be selfish in her grief.
Jewish texts compare the knowable universe to the size of a mustard seed to demonstrate the world’s insignificance and to teach humility.
The mustard seed is mentioned in the Quran: “And We place the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be treated unjustly at all. And if there is [even] the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as accountant (21:47)”, and according to the Hadith, Muhammad said that he who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride would not enter Paradise.
Wikipedia
In Canada, commercial mustard production began with 40 hectares planted in southern Alberta in 1936. Since then, the crop has become a valuable option in the brown and dark brown soil zones. Today, Saskatchewan producers are the world’s largest mustard exporters.
Eric Giesbrecht, a chef and owner of Brassica Mustard, in a mustard field in Langdon, Alta. PHOTO BY THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-RORY MAYER
The Saskatchewan Government
Getting to Know Calgary
Calgary is the largest city in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is the largest metro area within the three Prairie Provinces region. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in Canada.
The Calgary area was inhabited by pre-Clovis people whose presence traces back at least 11,000 years.
[wait – a few miles separate a monsoonal climate and a subarctic climate?]
Wikipedia
Calgary experiences a semi-monsoonal humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwb) within eastern parts of the city and a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dwc) within western parts of the city, largely due to an increase in elevation.
WLBOTT Wonders: When do these guys set out their tomatoes?
Rounding up cattle for the first Calgary Stampede in 1912. The Stampede is one of the world’s largest rodeos.
Wikipedia and By Provincial Archives of Alberta
Grandma’s Irish Soda Bread Recipe
WLBOTT: Official Twine Sponsor for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Colcannon!
Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish with potatoes, cabbage, leeks, cream….
There are even a few Tex-Mex colcannon recipes out there!
We’re going with the Bon Appetit recipe
- 5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1¾ pounds)
- Kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 2 leeks, white and pale-green parts only, sliced in half lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 cups (packed) shredded savoy cabbage (from about ¼ large head), divided
- 1¼ cups milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
TOTOT: AI Tackles Colcannon
The WLBOTT Research Team, wearing protective equipment and safety goggles, fed the colcannon ingredient list verbatim in a few AI image generators, varying only the filters. Interesting results!
Our Peeps
IT Department
PG-13
Oddities
Almost Photos
Irish Puns and Sayings
Hey, don’t blame WLBOTT! These are from the Today Show.
From traditional sayings like “Top O’ the mornin’ to ya” to Irish blessings including the beloved proverb, “May the Road Rise to Meet You,” we’ve got everything you need (short of a “Kiss me, I’m Irish” pin) to ensure that you’ve got everything you need to show the world that when it comes to March 17, your heart beats green in honor of St. Paddy’s.
Sayings
- What’s the craic? (How are you?)
- Ye half eejit ye. (You’re nearly a total fool)
- Top o’ the mornin’ to ya! (Good day)
- Erin go bragh (Ireland forever)
- It’s grand. (Things are fine)
Irish goodbye (Making a sneaky exit from a gathering without saying goodbye first)
Today Show
- As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.
- Lend me $10 and I’ll buy you a drink!
- Kiss me, I’m Irish!
- I’m not Irish. Kiss me anyway.
- Everyone can’t be Irish, somebody has to drive.
- Here’s to our wives and girlfriends: May they never meet!
- I only drink Guinness on the days that end in “y.”
Irish blessings and proverbs
Today Show
- May you have all the happiness and luck that life can hold and the end of your rainbows, may you find a pot of gold.
- A good friend is like a four-leaf clover. Hard to find and lucky to have.
- May the lilt of Irish laughter lighten every load. May the mist of Irish magic shorten every road.
- May your heart be light and happy. May your smile be big and wide and may your pockets always have a coin or two inside.
- May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you’re dead.
- May good luck be your friend in whatever you do, and may trouble be always a stranger to you.
- May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.
- May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light. May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
- May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the shine shine warm upon your your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.
- To all the days here and after: May they be filled with fond memories, happiness and laughter.
- May the winds of fortune sail you, may you sail a gentle sea, may it always be the other guy who says, “This drink’s on me.”
- May your troubles be less and your blessings be more. And nothing but happiness come through your door.
- May you never forget what is worth remembering, not ever remember what is best forgotten.
- There’s nothing so bad that it couldn’t be worse. (Ha! Welcome to WLBOTT!)
Puns (again, WLBOTT assumes no responsibility for any injuries sustained from these puns)
Today Show
- Wishing you a St. Paddy’s that’s clover the moon!
- Irish I was Irish.
- I’m lucky and I gnome it.
- I’m head clover heels for you.
- I’m giving you the green light to have a happy St. Paddy’s.
- The grass is always greener on St. Patrick’s Day.
- Officially a gold digger.
- Have your-elf a merry little St. Paddy’s.
- It’s St. Patrick’s Day, go a little cloverboard.
- Suffering from Dublin vision.
- Tell me, what’s wrong with this pitcher?
- I’ve got no elf control.
- Dublin down on this St. Patrick’s Day celebration!
- I’m here to paddy.
- Will you be my Pinch Charming?
- Irish I was at the pub right now.
2 replies on “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”
What a splendid St Pat’s Day multi-faceted entry!!
You are right, it is very hard to grow tomatoes in Calgary (very short growing season).
I’m not sure how onions made it onto the page, but I have a question. I have heard recently (may or may not be true, but the internet speaks…) that eating onions is healthy for various reasons, but especially good at preventing stomach cancer, from which my mother died at the tender age of 60. So, I have recently taken up the project seriously, but am trying to find onions that are not offensive to fellow diners (a.k.a. John A), and not prone to leaving the microwave smelling of onions (did we also mention the breath?) or testing the eyes when being cut. I have tried red onions (so far the mildest), sweet onions (poorly named, if you ask me), shallots (quite strong), and now thinking thinking that I should try leeks. I couldn’t find the recommended scallions (for mildness) in our grocery store. Any comments would be appreciated.
Meanwhile, I love this Irish blessing, which we had at the end of our wedding ceremony, and a copy hangs on the wall in our front entryway. (My younger daughter visited Ireland with a choir group, and loved it so much that she declared–with a toss of her long black locks–I think I’m the dark Irish!)
“May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the shine shine warm upon your your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.”
Howdy, Rochelle. With respect to eating onions, we’ve developed a “Mutually Assured Destruction” pact: “You eatin’ onions?” / “Yeah.” / “I’m eatin’ onions, too.”
This reminds me of a depression-era joke, about a Jewish family in a cramped New York apartment. A young bride visits her mother-in-law to learn how to make a lemon meringue pie. The young bride asks, “How do we start?” and the mother-in-law answers, “first we fry an onion.” The bride is taken back – “you fry an onion?”. “Sure,” says the mother-in-law, “so the apartment smells nice.”
I don’t often cook with leeks (they are kind of pricey) but I like their flavor.
Texas has a famous onion – big, yellow, and sweet.
“The 1015Y Texas Super Sweet Onion is Texas’s most famous onion and is known for its sweetness and size. The “1015” refers to the recommended planting date, October 15, and the “Y” stands for yellow. The South Texas onion industry introduced the 1015Y in 1985 after 10 years of research. The onion is grown in the Rio Grande Valley and is a favorite raw or cooked. The 1015Y is recognized by gourmet chefs and culinary experts for its characteristic sweetness and for inhibiting tearing of the eyes.”