Part II - You MIGHT be an Environmentalist.....

Part II - - You MIGHT Be an Environmentalist…

..if you drive through the Cherokee National Forest and feel the spirit of ancient native people.

..if you attend a baby shower, see the mountains of plastic stuff and know that it never used to take this much fossil fuel to have a baby.

..if you’ve ever sneaked onto your neighbor’s construction site and pulled the perfectly good lengths of 2X4 out of the dumpster to use on a backyard project.

..if you wish that “bio-accumulation” were a collection of critters.

..if you get an ulcer whenever you catch a glimpse of clear cut beyond the “beauty strip”.

..if you’ve ever had a small part on an appliance repaired for $125 when you could have bought a new one for $135.

..if you have ever attended a public hearing in defense of national forests.

..if you ever hugged a tree and felt like it was hugging you back.

..if you ever skipped doing laundry for 3 weeks cause you were waiting to wash a full load.

..if you ever left a beautiful rock right where it is, because God put it there.

..if you’ve ever bragged about your compost heap.

..if you regularly visit earthmama.org to check on the latest news.

..if you’ve ever had to explain to someone why Earth Literacy is vital.

..if any of your heros are George W Carver, Rachel Carson, Chico Mendes, David Suzuki, Johnny Appleseed, Donella Meadows.

..if you’d rather be outdoors.

..if you know the names of 4 endangered species.

..if you know what IPM is.

..if you’ve ever dreamed of living in a tree.

..if you can name your 3 favorite creeks without stopping to think.

..if you give your cat lessons in mouse hunting.

Well, This is Nice...Reviews!

Sometimes the Universe sees you need a little boost and just sends you a present. Don't you love it when that happens? Recently the Earth Mama CDs got these unexpected great reviews for Midwest Book Reviews, a specialty house that refers media materials to libraries and schools. 

Reviewer's Bookwatch: July 2016
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575

Andrea's Bookshelf

Rouse House Music
PO Box 450, Independence, VA 24348
www.earthmama.org

Joyce "EarthMama" Rouse has created a grand variety of music albums over the course of decades, all with the common themes of promoting eco-literacy and good stewardship, appreciation for nature's splendor, the manifold joys of love and kindness, and everyday nobility in thoughts and actions (such as the moral principle encapsulated in the song "Only Take What You Need"). Her music is a treasure the whole family can enjoy, and makes excellent addition to school and public library CD collections. A selection of her uplifting, ecology-themed music albums include "A Sense of Place" ($14.99 CD/$9.99 MP3), "Pay Attention" ($15.00 CD/$9.99 MP3), "Around the World" ($14.97 CD/$9.99 MP3), "Love Large" ($15.00 CD/$11.00 MP3), "Grass Roots!" ($15.00 CD/$9.00 MP3), and "Under the Rainbow" ($15.00 CD/$9.00 MP3).
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/jul_16.htm#andrea


Andrea Kay
Reviewer

Library Bookwatch: July 2016
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575

The Multimedia Shelf

Virginia Beauty: A Love Song for the Commonwealth
Joyce Johnson Rouse
Rouse House Music
PO Box 450, Independence, VA 24348
www.earthmama.org
$12.00 CD / $9.99 download cdbaby.com

Since Virginia has no official state song, composer Joyce Johnson Rouse (a.k.a. "EarthMama") created Virginia Beauty: A Love Song for the Commonwealth as a tribute to Virginia's natural beauty, hardworking people, and rich history. A medley of expert musicians perform Virginia Beauty in standard, bluegrass, abbreviated, and instrumental versions. Virginia Beauty is also enriched with bonus materials; when the CD inserted into a computer, the user gains access to printable documents and suggestions for using the song in performance and education. Highly recommended! The audio tracks are "Long Version", "Bluegrass Version - Featuring Dale Ann Bradley", "Short Version", and "Instrumental Track".
 http://www.midwestbookreview.com/lbw/jul_16.htm#Multimedia


Children's Bookwatch: June 2016
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575

The Holiday Shelf

Christmas Heart
Joyce Johnson Rouse
Rouse House Music
PO Box 450, Independence, VA 24348
www.earthmama.org
$15.00 CD / $10.00 MP3 cdbaby.com

Joyce "EarthMama" Rouse presents Christmas Heart, a holiday-themed music CD for the whole family. Some of the songs have religious themes that celebrate God's love and the birth of Jesus Christ; all are shining with the universal joy and camaraderie of the season. An included lyric booklet makes Christmas Heart ideal for sharing and singing aloud, especially at Christmas caroling or parties. Highly recommended! The tracks are "Christmas Heart" (3:18), "Close To The Earth" (4:26), "Baby Child, Baby King" (2:34), "The Angel Tree" (3:49), "First Christmas Waltz" (3:27), "Christmas Candles" (2:52), "Quaker Christmas Medley" (5:03), "For Christmas" (3:25), "Fear Not (in the Stile Nacht)" (5:20), and "Green Christmas" (4:57).
 http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/jul_16.htm#Holiday


Full reviews here:

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/jul_16.htm#andrea

If You Need a Chair— Act Locally for stronger communities

IF YOU NEED A CHAIR BY JOYCE ROUSE 

Happy Chairmaker by Todd Price ©2013 Original oil painting. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This song is on my CD  “A Sense of Place” by Earth Mama. One of the main themes of the album is to honor whatever place you chose to live in. I love our local farmers market and meeting the people who grow our food.  As we discover more local products, I have greater respect for the artisans, growers, crafters, and creators of useful items we have right here in my community. And probably in yours! I wanted this song to have a global musical feel and honor many cultures, with humor, fun rhymes and places to sing along with “la la la” syllables.  I hope people will get up and dance around and sing harmony when they hear this song. And perhaps inspire people to make stronger communities by shopping for locally made goods. Maybe it will even promote supporting local music...  La La La La LA!

For music and lyrics click here: If You Need a Chair

This was first posted on the Children's music network blog in september 2015. reposted here with their permission

Food Groups and Musical Variety

June Raspberries

YUM! Mixed variety of raspberries

I've been listening to a big variety of music lately.
It started me thinking about how important a variety of music might be to make sure to get a balanced diet of the arts.

Seriously, I can only listen to a few songs of certain kinds of music (Bluegrass, Hard Rock, serious Jazz) before I NEED to hear something else.  Then I go back to my standard courses of salad, favorite cheese, chicken, garden veggies kind of music.


But it is really good for me to try a little kimchee, chili rellenos, Thai tea and others that I don't have much of in my diet.  Pizza is a nice change, but I wouldn't want to eat it every day.  Same with music.

I got a package in the mail recently of a new children's CD called Gratitude Attitude    They included one my songs "Only Take What You Need" which I wrote and recorded a few (quite a few) years back on Around the World with Earth Mama.  It is a Dixieland Jazz song that is another version of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle concept.  I still love to sing it in concert and get folks, young and old to sing along.  And I was tickled pink that several reviews of Gratitude Attitude mentioned my song as one of their family favorites.

But I may never write or record another DixieLand tune.  It's not really at the core of what I do, so I really enjoyed the variety of doing it once.

There is a world of tasty music out there!! What do you listen to when you want to hear something different?