Obama wins part 3

If anyone didn't see the acceptance speech last night, and see Jesse Jackson in the crowd with tears on his face, it's worth a look. 

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/11/05/jesse-jackson.aspx

Not that I want you to see a grown man cry, but think, for a moment, 

you know the history, think about all that Jesse Jackson has seen. All the things those teary eyes have witnessed.

Jesse worked hard to help Martin Luther King, Jr. achieve what he did, and Jesse was on that balcony when Martin was shot.  And 40 years later, there stands Obama on the stage. Oh if Martin could see!

Yep. It calls for tears. 

Obama wins part 2

Someone last night said, 

"Rosa (Parks) sat so Martin (Luther King Jr.) could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run, and Obama ran so that our children can fly.

That's cool.

I got my country back! Obama Wins Pt 1

Here I am, after midnight, still awake. But I have just watched a historic moment on my laptop-Streaming video of Barack Obama and his acceptance speech for the Presidency of the United States.  I saw Jesse Jackson in the audience with tears in his eyes. Tears of joy. Remembering Dr. King, and the long road, no doubt.

President is no longer a dirty word for me. I don't have to move to Costa Rica!  And I can take pride in my country again. I believe now that the planet has a chance to be saved.  We will have a "rainbow child" in the White House!

We really are at the beginning of a new age. 2012 is on it's way. The financial mess we are in will have to have solutions-hopefully green ones. Change is needed, and a 2/3 victory means this country is ready, and has done something to show we are ready to change.

Now I know we can.

Yes we can!

Scary things

Like everyone else lately we have been watching the market. The stock market that is. Yes it's scary, yes things are going to change. But we are learning a lot about our country.
For instance, there is this really easy to understand website called Map of the Market: http://www.smartmoney.com/map-of-the-market/

Basically, the size of the box is the size of the company's stock, and the color is what kind of profit they are making (green) or loss (red) and black is neutral-they are hanging on.
You can mouse over each box to see what it is, and right click to see a little more about it, like what category it falls into (banking, energy, basic materials, etc.)
There are little buttons on the right that you can see different time periods.

So what gets me is the companies making profits in the last 52 weeks. Here are some of the top money makers:

Walmart: 17%
Genentech (Genetically Modified STUFF): 13%
Anheiser Busch: 19%
Rohm & Haas (Chemicals): 26%
UST (Tobacco) 28%

And the # one profit making company:
Fording Canadian Coal, with a whopping 97% profit.

Scary.

Clothing

I have had to buy some clothes in the past year, simply for the reason that I grew. (I have hit the beginning of the "Big M" and all that the women in my family told me is true. ) I am gaining weight after 40-some odd years being 5'8" and 125lbs max.
In the summertime, I go mostly naked a lot on the farm. It's not that I am a "nudist" but when it's 98 degrees and the humidity is almost to the same number, you will do anything to stay cool when you have no air conditioner. Actually I find that my growing fat areas, when left out in the open, cool off more than my body and supply me with built in a/c units!
I searched the GoodWill's and Thrift shops in Asheville (Asheville has awesome 2nd hand stores! ) And I found lots of good "farm clothes", but I needed to purchase some "dress clothes" so I tried to be as conscious about it as possible.
It has been a long time since I was a "dedicated follower of Fashion", since my days of hand sewing Calvin Klein look-alikes, but I still try to "fit in" and I wanted to dress like all the other eco/grunge/hippie-chicks in Asheville, so I dug around and found out where they BUY (when they HAVE TO buy) their clothes.
The company is American Apparel, http://www.americanapparel.net/ and true to their name, they make their clothing in Los Angeles, not over seas, and they pay their workers approx. $12 per hour, or $25,000 per year. (Gee, that's more than I ever made!) So they pay their workers fair wages, they have health insurance, bike loans, public transit discounts, and even massages at work.
Sounds like the kind of company I can support if I have to buy something new. And besides, thier skirts, tank tops, and tees are comfy and their bell bottom fleece/stretch yoga pants beat the heck out of 'sweat pants for lounging and trips to town in your comfy clothes' any day!
All this to say please remember that every thing you do has an impact on the planet, and if you have to buy something brand new, please be very concious of where and from whom you buy.
Peace.

Georgia's First Permaculture Design Course

Koinonia Farm will be hosting Georgia's First Permaculture Design Course in February 2009 with two of the Southeast's best Permaculture teachers Chuck Marsh and Patricia Allison of Black Mountain, NC, and co-teachers Bob Burns and Isabel Crabtree of Milledgeville, GA.

The course will be 72 hours. Stay tuned for more info!

Al Gore's challenge-carbon free in 10 years

http://www.wecansolveit.org/

Al Gore just challenged the nation to take bold steps towards solving the climate crisis.
The Goal: Increasing renewable energy and truely clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. Carbon-free in 10 YEARS! We must stop global warming -- we cannot afford to fail.


From Wecansolveit.org
In order to create the kind of large-scale change required to halt climate change, we need elected leaders to implement policies and pass laws that promote renewable energy and support energy efficiency. We need companies to publicly support these policies and improve their business operations and product offerings.
Things we can do in our personal lives: http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/pages/20/

From Time.com
"I have failed. We have all failed." ...For all the hot air expended talking about climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions continue, at a rate of about 70 million tons a day. The gap between the scale of the threat posed by global warming — it is potentially civilization-altering — and the solutions so far proposed — change a light bulb — are obvious and disheartening. Gore realized that back in December. "We have to abandon the conceit that isolated personal actions are going to solve this crisis," he said. "Our policies have to shift."
Gore called on Americans to completely abandon electricity generated by fossil fuels within 10 years, and replace them with carbon-free renewables like solar, wind and geothermal. ... "The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," he said. "The future of human civilization is at stake."
Gore's speech was less a step-by-step plan than a sweeping call to action. His path to a decarbonized electrical supply doesn't surprise: more investment in solar and wind, keeping nuclear in the mix, maximizing energy efficiency and implanting carbon capture and storage for existing fossil fuel plants, plus a shift to electric cars. But Gore's message was subtly different this time. The man who has in the past called climate change a "moral and spiritual challenge" sounded more pragmatic notes. While sounding the alarm on melting Arctic ice and strange weather, Gore also emphasized the financial toll that high gasoline prices were taking on average Americans, and the security threat posed by our increased dependence on foreign oil.
It remains impossible for most people to connect what comes out of our wall sockets to morality, or to believe that the nation needs to embark on a massive restructuring of its energy policy. But national security, or foreign oil dependency or high energy prices are all talking points that just might get a majority of Americans to support going green.
Less than 28% of our power currently comes from carbon-free sources, and the vast majority of that is hydroelectric and nuclear. High-tech renewables account for less than 3%. Wind and solar are growing far faster than fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas, ...This is reality.
"To those who say 10 years is not enough time, I respectfully ask them to consider what the world's scientists are telling us about the risks we face if we don't act in 10 years," he said. He's right. A number of scientists, though not all, warn that the world has a decade at most to reverse the growth in greenhouse gas emissions, or risk catastrophic climate change. But here's the fact that keeps me up at night: Gore and his allies could be right. We may simply be technologically and politically incapable of doing anything about it. Maybe we've already run out of time, and we just don't know it.....
But decarbonizing our energy supply will require innovation, funding and sacrifice at every level of society. It will be long and arduous, and even if it works, we won't be rewarded with stirring film of a man on the moon. The spoils of this fight will be a world that will perhaps be less worse off than it would have been had nothing been done. What we most need is time to make these changes, but that's what we've squandered. If only someone else had been President these past eight years — someone like, well, Al Gore.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1824132,00.html?imw=Y

New Beginnings

Be sure to stay tuned for educational and informational updates about permaculture, all things green, and even a little politics.
Isabel will be back at the blog soon!

Be sure to check out http://www.permibus.org/ and I'll tell you about them soon.
These are great folks!

Endings and Beginnings

Well.
Here I am, finally with a few days off. And I am so behind on my blog.

Robert passed away on October 10th, at home, after a long struggle with all kinds of things-it was bacteria vs. human, and the bacteria won in the end.
Robert was at home, and we were with him when he passed away. I hope that he knows that we loved him and cared for him the best we could, and I hope, no, I know, that he is where he needs to be now, somewhere free of the pain and discomfort of old age.
I believe in reincarnation, and I wish him a swift journey through the in-between and a joyous new life.

Fall has passed so quickly for us. We've had so much paperwork and other "stuff" to do after Robert's death, and have had to get rid of a lot more of his furniture and belongings that we don't need (He had 8 vacuum cleaners!) and pack up the rest and put it in storage.
It's been a growth process for Bob I think, and it makes me feel closer to him to watch him deal with some really big stuff in his life, and to be there for him, just to hold his hand in silence as we stare at the stars late in the evening at the farm.
We have had full time jobs, going in to the hospital, or the house, or packing and moving, or going to appointments with lawyer, etc. for several months now. It's been a lot of work.

There have been rare joyous moments on the farm in the last few months. We harvested 4 crates full of sweet potatoes, and have dozens of jars of tomato sauce and salsa in our larder. We found lots of Turkey Tail Mushrooms and learned that they are medicinal. This insight brings one of my passions, herbalism, and one of Bob's, mushrooming, together, and he's excited that I'm excited about mushrooms now!
Our mexican sunflowers bloomed like mad in our beautifully messy permaculture garden, and the butterflies were everywhere!
One day we were out there and counted at least 5 different kinds of orange butterflies, from small to large, including a Monarch!
I found one chilled in the herb spiral one morning and he clung to my finger as I raised him into the sunlight and set him on the kindling box in the sun. A few minutes later, he flapped and flapped to warm up his wings and then flew away.
The butterflies are symbols of transformation, and, I think, in this case, (yes, I have learned, it's not always about me) the symbols are Robert's and Bob's not mine. Robert has made his transformation into an unseen realm. Bob is going through a transformation...it's hard work, but I think he will be beautiful. Like a Monarch.

Fall also brought us some rare time with a whole bunch of good friends at the LEAF festival in Black Mountain, NC where we shared camping, food, music, beer, and laughter for 3 days with old and new friends alike. The highlights were meeting my favorite Moroccan singer Hassan Hakmoun, and singing arm in arm with Kelly, Maria, Bruce, Bob and I to Michael Franti...."One Love People-Never Gonna STOP!" YAH! THAT was Awesome!

I also recieved my Permaculture Design Certificate (a little belated due to Robert's illness) which is something I am very, very proud of, since I dropped out of college twice. I want to look up and go "Look Mom, Look Dad, I graduated!" I think they'd be proud. Bob suggested we get two frames and hang our Certificates side by side.

I told him last night I finally AM the person I want to be when I grow up. That's huge for me.
We are the people we want to be...and today is, as they say, the first day of the rest of our lives.
Life is hard sometimes, like metamorphosis, but what comes after is a new beginning, and there is beauty there.

Peace.

Loving our Loved One

To all our friends and family that wonder why we've been so out of touch, just to update you all, we have been doing pretty much nothing but caring for Robert, Bob's dad, since he fell in late July. He has been in the hospital or nursing home ever since with a rare few days home twice, and has had numerous infections, a heart attack, etc. and is not getting better. He was doing better up until last Friday when he caught a antibiotic resistant strain of pneumonia, so he is fighting it out as we speak.
I cannot say what to pray for, only please ask all of you to pray for Robert, at least that he fight a good fight and find peace and rest whichever way, soon.
It's so hard to see someone you care about be so small and frail, and in pain. It breaks my heart.

I am thankful to my Source that I have had the energy to do everything we have done, like move all of Robert's stuff, set up his new house in Milledgeville, take care of him the rare few days he was home, and more. I am also amazed at Bob's strength. He is an inspiration to me in that he continues to find his solace and comfort in the trees and on the farm, and I tell him he is my anchor to those things too.
As for where our lives will go after this part of the journey, it is really up in the air-we have no idea (which is a rare thing for me!) But for right now, we are focusing on making "Mr. Bob" (what I call Robert) as happy and as comfortable as possible and just being there with him, letting him know he is loved. Sometimes it feels really inadequate, but I guess that's all we can do is be there. It is his own journey. All we can do is let him know he is loved.

Moving Day-A Vision

Here I sit, the day after packing day, today is moving day.
But wait...I don't own that much stuff.
But now, for fun, I am moving somebody else's stuff!
I think it's a mean turn of the Universe that after I give away most of my stuff, I get to move other people's stuff.
Nah, not really. I know there is a lesson here somewhere, I am just way to tired and sore to see it.
At least we are able to cull some of "Mr. Bob's" (what I call Bob's dad) stuff before we move it to Milledgeville, and, as the plan goes before we move to N.C. next year sometime.
It's interesting to see what someone of the WWII generation keeps when they have a big house. He difinitely shows signs of what my grandma would have called hoarding. Not that that's a bad thing. Back in the 20's-40's it was a good thing to keep bread bags, bread ties and milk jugs. There was no tupperware. They saved everything during the war, and they REUSED IT! They reused everythiing, I mean everything! Pantyhose, tires, all metal, and it was all reused! They neede those resources badly, so nothing was wasted.
They also planted personal family gardens. They FED their families from what they grew, even in the cities..............
Wait a minute.

What a good idea!

What if everyone, I mean everyone, saved everything. Recycled, Reused, Renewed, but first and formost REDUCED, (as well as Rethough and Respected) or even REFUSED things.
Really.
Refuse to buy cheap plastic crap from China. Refuse to buy extra stuff, refuse to buy a bigger house to house all that stuff, and even refuse to give their kids things they don't need.

And what if everyone, I mean everyone, planted a garden. What if it was mandatory to grow at least some of your own food, and have chickens.
There is a great little movie called "THe Power of Community, How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" which shows how a small country/large city did just that. They suddenly HAD TO grow their own food, without machines or fertilizer (no imports from other countries). THey had to become self-reliant, and they did.
What would our country look like if everyone grew their own food? Cities would be covered in green. Veggies on rooftops, lawns turned into beds of sweet potatoes or corn, grape vines growing up the sides of buildings, herbs in pots on windowsills. Chickens in every tiny back yard. Extra lots could be turned into larger plots to grow quinoa, beans, and wheat and corn for flour. Grocery stores would no longer have to ship soggy vegetables 3000 miles, gas would be saved. People would get to know their neighbors, garden together, help one another....

We could do this.
Some of us are.
THe rest of us need to begin.

The lesson here is to listen to the stories of our Elders. The are the wise ones....

Our Favorite Quotes

On this evening when I am very, very tired, and life is requiring lots of work, we both take solace in our favorite quotes:

Bob:
'But I will say this: the rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task, though Gondor should perish, if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I also am a steward. Did you not know?’ - J.R.R. Tolkien

Isabel:
If I can stop one Heart from breaking I shall not live in vain. If I can ease one life the aching or cool one pain, or help one fainting robin unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. - Emily Dickenson

Bob:
Ent: When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough; When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on the brow; When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the mountain-air; Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is fair! Entwife: When spring is come to garth and field, and corn is in the blade; When blossom like a shining snow is on the orchard laid; When shower and Sun upon the Earth with fragrance fill the air, I’ll linger here, and will not come, because my land is fair. Ent: When summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves and the dreams of trees unfold; When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West, Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best! Entwife: When summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry brown; When straw is gold, and ear is white, and harvest comes to town; When honey spills, and apple swells, though wind be in the West, I’ll linger here beneath the Sun, because my land is best! Ent: When Winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall slay; When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day; When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain I’ll look for thee, and call to thee; I’ll come to thee again! Entwife: When winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at last; When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past; I’ll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again: Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain! Both: Together we will take the road that leads into the West, And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest. - J.R.R. Tolkien

Isabel:
And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in every thing.
I would not change it.
-Wm. Shakespeare

Goodbye Doritos-A Heinous Day

Well, I haven’t had much time for blogging lately. Mr. Bob (Bob’s dad) is back in the hospital here in GA having tests and trying to get his strength back (word to the uninitiated-nursing homes are awful.) So I have been spending time at his new place, catching up on sleep, emails, research, trying to finish my site design so I can finally get my Permaculture Design Certificate, and making his new home nice (although the furniture is not here yet.) I have even potted a bunch of plants so he will have house-plants to make some nice air in here…And that’s where this little story begins.
The day before we got here, they had painted and cleaned the carpets. The AC is always on, and it is a bit stuffy in here. My skin is not used to the dry air and is breaking out a lot. While I have been here a lot, going out to shop for supplies and visiting him in the hospital I have been eating what food we bought the week he came here, things he likes, all processed, lots of meat, sodium, etc, or stopping by a fast food joint between here and the hospital, then sitting with him.
Part of the reason Mr. Bob is in the hospital is because his potassium level was really high due to several hi-potassium things all in one day that he got, including some of his medicines, orange juice and Coca-Cola. He drinks Coca-Cola Zero since he has diabetes. And, wouldn’t you know, as we were sitting in the emergency room last Monday night it dawned on me, the label on the Coke Zero said there were 3 different kinds of potassium in the Coke. (Not drinking the stuff myself since I was in high school it didn’t dawn on me that it’s bad for him until the Dr. said his potassium was so high.
So partially to give him something to look forward to while sitting board in the hospital, I have gone on a hunt for low potassium soda. The first thing I found is most sodas are the same. OR they have 3 sodiums. But I found a couple (Jones Soda and rootbeers in general) that have only one sodium and one potassium, so I have been bringing him special treats of soda every day. And I have gotten in the habit of reading labels since I am taking on the job of chief cook to heal him through food. I promised him we would eat whatever would make him feel better, whatever his taste buds wanted.
So flash back to me, going from house to hospital to house to farm, farm to house to hospital to house to farm. Catching food where I can. Processed food.
So yesterday, to eat quick since I get back from the hospital usually around 2pm and am famished, I grabbed what I would have grabbed in my mom’s house, a hot dog (all natural-I read the labels, no nitrites or nitrates) and a can of Campbell’s Chunky Soup, (my teen aged favorite) added some melted cheese, and multi-tasked by eating while I checked email.
And very rapidly I felt very bad, head ached and sinuses shutting, throat feeling very bad, and all over I felt achy and sleepy. I called Mr. Bob to say I would not visit later, that I thought I had a cold. So I distracted myself from my coming cold, figured it was past due for several weeks of burning the candle at both ends, driving back and forth to Fla. sitting watch at the rehab center there, and the few days of taking care of a sick man…I decided about an hour later to call Bob and then go to bed, and the weirdest thing, while I was on the phone the whole feeling kind of “lifted.” Within about 15 minutes I felt better. No cold. So, I looked at the hot dog package, and the cheese package-nothing odd. And, not suspecting my old fav the soup, I didn’t look at the label for it.
But then today, I went by Chick-Fil-A for lunch on the go, again at 2pm, and when I got back to the house I began to feel the same again!
So I called Bob. He said maybe MSG-Monosodium Gultamate-“They usually put that in breading.” (How would HE know such a thing!) So I got on the web, and looked up the Chick-Fil-A Classic sandwich. Sure enough-MSG. And then I dug the soup can out of the trash, and sure enough, MSG.
So during dinner, we were discussing it when I randomly picked up the Ranch Light salad dressing I had bought-Mr. Bob’s favorite, and I nearly spit my salad-MSG.
After dinner my throat felt pretty bad, but I took an antihistamine, and a hit of Bob’s asthma inhaler and felt better.

SO. Along with a few years of strawberry allergy, and a newfound peanut allergy (even though I have eaten them for years) I now have a pretty bad MSG allergy. So I went through the cupboard at Mr. Bob’s and donated to the farm anything with MSG. Lots of stuff, but nothing that we can’t live without.
At least now I make cookies from scratch, with organic ingredients, and I eat many less than I used to of the Famous Amos Cookies-I used to literally binge on those-I could never get enough, and came to the conclusion that I was addicted to them like a crack lover-there is something in them (chemicals probably) that I was addicted to, and I won’t touch them again on a stack of Big Books.
So we sat on Mr. Bob’s new front porch, talking about getting him back to his new home, getting him well again, and about allergies. And then it dawned on me. And I ran to the kitchen. A wail followed. “NOOOOOOOO! Not the DORITOS!!!”
Yes, the Doritos. Doritos will never again pass my lips, because suddenly they could cause anaphylactic shock and death. Seriously. Maybe not death, but as bad as the soup incident was I am not putting anything with MSG in my mouth again. Ever.
So another conversation ensued, about eating NO PROCESSED FOOD!! NO MSG, no sodium diphospate or potassium ascorbate or any of those things I can’t pronounce and don’t know what the HELL they are. Nothing I cannot identify.
Our friend once said if you can’t recognize the food as being in it’s original form (like say a salad leaf compared to Hormel Hash) don’t eat it. And my rule, if it has more than 4 ingredients, don’t eat it. It should be FOOD, not 'pasteurized processed FOOD type STUFF'.
SHIT, this is so crazy. And what is the most crazy is the companies making this stuff are out to make a profit, even if it KILLS US. Or better yet, just make us sick (like Mr. Bob) and then they have shares in the pharmaceutical companies so they can make money off of all of us being so obese and having diabetes and kidney failure due to all the Coke we drink….WHEN will the insanity of "profit over people" stop?

I know the answer now.
WHEN WE DECIDE NOT TO GIVE ANOTHER NICKEL OF OUR MONEY TO SOMEONE WHO IS TRYING TO POISON US, BUT INSTEAD BUY THINGS FROM COMPANIES THAT EMBODY OUR VALUES!

Goodbye Doritos. (Heroin in a bag.) Good riddance.

I think I hear some organic Kettle Chips calling my name.

The 11th Hour

"Winston Churchill had it right about us. He said the Americans always do the right thing, but unfortunately it's only after they have exhausted all other possibilities. We have been exhausting some fairly bad possibilities for a long time. I think maybe we are finally ready to get it right." --Quote from former CIA director James Woolsey

from http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/152600/1/ Review of movie THe 11th Hour

Who's Permanent?

Bob and I had another one of our philisophical discussions the other night, where I passionately said that Permaculture wouldn't work because people don't stay put long enough to grow things, everyone wants to travel, and move for jobs, and the world would go to hell in a handbasket!
Well, I was tired.
So, the next morning, it dawned on me....

Permanent Agriculture, Permanent Culture.

Not Permanent people. Duh. How Anthropocentric of me. Really.

And then a most beautiful vision popped into my mind.
All over the world, people will create oases of permaculture heavens-farms, communities, cities, suburbs with nut trees, fruit bushes, red clover and sheep where there once were lawns, and an abundance of food for travelers. You would be able to buy a house or peice of land (if you had to move) and step right into the existing food infrastructure in your new neighborhood. You would give up being caretaker in one place and begin caretaking your new land, stewarding it to feed anyone who wanted food.

How very Earth Centered. How wonderful.

P.S. This is our friend Craig's house in Fla. A vision of lovely Permaculture indeed.

For Those About to Build

Well, looks like we may be building a house for Bob's dad on our land, so I am jumping into the "green building" research.
I wanted to share a great link I found: http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/fs31.htm
This page includes a chart of the embodied energy in building materials which is very important to think about when building.
Embodied energy is the REAL COST of the piece of wood or cement block or whatever... the cost from the minute the whatever was dug out of the ground to make cement, or the minute the tree was felled and includes things like the cost of energy used to fire the brick or cut the wood or mine, process and mold the aluminum panels....
The rest of the site looks interesting too!

Blogs I like

Since my HTML skills are declining, I want to just post these 4 blogs I have recently found. Ya gotta love women who want to live in a rural setting and cook, and knit and do all those homey things!
http://www.10signslikethis.blogspot.com/ , http://www.pocketfarm.com/ ,
http://knittingsimplicity.wordpress.com/ , http://www.worstedwitch.com/

Enjoy, Isabel

Catching up-Whew!

Well, yes, I seem to have abondoned my poor blog for a bit...I could claim farm work, trying to organize some income sources, and just plain lethergy from the heat...it's an age thing, suddenly I am a LOT warmer than I used to be :)
So, let's see, I was working on finding a source of yarn so that I can hand dye it and sell it. Then, finally, I got a note from the Earth Activist Training course saying I had been accepted as a work-trader, and from that point on all I could think about was going to NC for two weeks and getting my Permaculture Design Certificate.
Yes, I had a BLAST! Living with really cool people for two weeks, even if we are all studying hard, was sooooooo much fun! The comeraderie, cooperation, and even things like thinking the same thoughts or finishing each others sentences was amazing.
I told many people that I felt like there were two tracks going on simultaniously: One was the PDC and extension into Ritual and Activism, but the other was this amazing spiritual thing, that, living with just one other person I never really get (we are both more content working separately.) Several times we broke up into groups of about 5 people, for things like dishwashing, but also for projects, like building a miniature site design out of felt and foam. Each time, the 5 or so minds worked in a dance, each adding bits, arranging them and tweaking them, until what came out as the finished product was just, well AMAZING! One night in our evening class (7:30-10pm) we had to design a campaign for political action, meaning the 6 of us had to organize ourselves around a topic, and decide what steps we would take to create this campaign, like, education, outreach, finding allies, working within the system, mobilization, legal protest, and finally direct action.
We were all so tired, and we spent a good bit of the 15 minutes we had (!) getting everyone up to speed on what our subject was (Codex Alimentarius). As it turned out, one guy used to own health food stores, so he knew all about it, and we were able to educate, come up with a plan, and present it as a group, all in 15 minutes. I was amazed!
This I feel was Spirit, showing me how beautiful positive interactions between humans can be, and how vitally important we are to each other. We created a loving, helpful social group in those two weeks, and all of those people became family.
We learned new songs every day, as we started our mornings with creating a circle, calling in the four directions, and Spirit, and getting revved up for the days work. We did small projects, like build swales and put in fruit trees and guild plants to go along with them. We also built an herb spiral.
We got to go to Ashevillage Institute, (http://www.kleiwerks.com/avi/) and even had a "passion show" where everyone did some kind of skit/dance/mini-class/etc. to show off thier passion.
The culmnation of the week was the design projects, and sadly, I had to leave before the end, so I did not get to participate, or see everyones final designs. But I am working on one now to turn in to my teachers so that I can still get my PD Certificate.
Bob's dad was hurt and is in need of care, so our lives are shifting to accomodate that. I think it is a big shift, and I pray we have the strength for it.
So I am in Fla. now, and Bob and I are taking turns being here and going up to GA to tend to the farm. Luckily, we had goat sitters coming this weekend, since we were supposed to go to the Permaculture Gathering, what I call our family reunion, but this is more important.
Another bit of luck is that we found a home for the goats.
Pretty quickly after I got here, we realized that goats were a huge undertaking for two people on a farm and to have only one person on the farm was just too much. So, last night, someone came to pick up our goats and give them all a new home. A small part of me is really sad, but the other 90% is saying YIPEE!
We realize now how important building a community is, and we will have to have at least one other person in the system before we get goats again.
So, Lakshmi will revert to pet (she wasn't that good at herding anyways-she's obviously more Lab than Australian Shepherd!) which is just fine with me, and for now, we will shuffle back and forth so we can feed and water chickens and cats, and water plants.
Our plan is to move Bob's dad up to Milledgeville, and eventually build a house for him on our land.
So, it looks to be a very busy fall.

I promise to try not to neglect my little blog.

Oh, one other new thing...I decided on the first day of the EAT course that it would be a good time to test drive my serious candidate for name change, and I like it, so, from now on, and soon legally, I will be known as Isabel Crabtree. (Crabtree is my maiden name, and I finally like it & Isabel is a native american ancestor of mine, and kin to my Spirit name, Red Bear.)

I made so many new friends, and connected deeply with a few souls, and I am so excited to carry our work forward!

Blessings,
Isabel

“If another world is possible, another U.S. is necessary,”

https://www.ussf2007.org/