Sneak Peek

cha cha cha

Lesson #2

Okay so this week I was out of work. I got a call from a friend of a friend who needed help putting in a patio. No problem, I think. Paver, sand, gravel, easy. The patio and path is 20x40 and 4x20 feet respectively. Hmmmm, that's pretty big, I wonder if I can do it? I ask my boss. She says sure you can.

So I start working. Lotta raking and shoveling. Delivering yards of sand, 6 tons of material. Leveling, raking, sand, sweat. It goes on for a while. I'm beat. I don't think I can get this level. This is too big. Hell, I can do it. I can do anything.

So yeah. I just decide I gotta get going on putting down the pavers. I do it the way I was shown, labor intensive and not very accurate. Not flat, kind wavy. They have problems with it, say they are not going to pay me for some of the work I did. I freak out a little. Not get paid? Jesus, all that sweat for nothing. And I gotta put gas in the truck, pay for mileage. Am I gonna lose money? They have problems with the levelness and layout. Okay fine, I tell them, we'll talk about it in the morning.

Turns out hubby was a contractor, and he redoes my work overnight. I look at it and go, oh shit, it's way better then my work. So I say to the client, okay you don't have to pay for that work I did. She says Oh but you did do work, so I say fine just pay me a little. I tell her I'm not the right guy for this, she says yeah, she pays me fairly and I leave. So it worked out, but I feel like an idiot.

Why did I think I could do such a big job without that much experience? Humility is a hard trait to learn. I've been taught some lessons. Start small. Be honest and truthful.

Climby

Last weekend we went and learned how to rock climb at Vertical Endeavors.

http://verticalendeavors.com/vestpaulnew/index.html

It was really fun and informative. I'm looking forward to climbing on real rock, though. I mean, isn't that the whole point?

I would recommend the beginners safety class to anyone.

the metaphysics of green

Is there an underlying ultimate reality which the material world merely covers like an old blanket?

I watch this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1732009010723681488&hl=en

And read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/science/14tier.html?em&ex=1187323200&en=2590af4760a81047&ei=5087%0A

And I wonder about the primary imperatives that motivate us forward in this linear timescape we call life.

Is life a tragedy or comedy?

Refusal

No matter what happens...

I refuse to accept your bullshit.

You, Society. You, Family. You, Friends. You, Corporations. You, Politicians. You, Bankers. You, Religions.

You Who Wish To Slide Stupidly Into Death!

No, I don't need a house, a job, a car, a mortgage, insurance, cancer, sadness, guilt, pressure, madness, hatred, anger, poverty, or shame to be alive. Or new clothes.

Sex is a natural part of life. So is dirt, stone, ecstasy, insanity, decay, food, shelter, love.

Get over yourselves.

Fishing Philosopher

I work with stone, dirt, plants, and water. I shovel and tamp and haul and push. My hands are pinched, my back is pulled, and my biceps are stretched.

Standing in the river I see the swift river birds dive and the gulls soar, I see the pitter patter of raindrops on the rushing water, and hope for a fish to bite my lure. I don't really want to kill anything but the fish tastes good.

My blood flows like the river, my bones are worn away like the stones, my muscles bend and sway like the trees in the wind. Sometimes my mind shines like the sun, other times like the moon.

I think about building a house, a wall, a waterfall. Harvesting the vegetables out of the garden takes time. The mind doesn't want to meditate, it wants to jump around and climb mountains. Learning to climb rock would take time. Time, being swallowed by the giant whale of life.

Fall coming up out of the ground like a mushroom. A motif presents itself to me: the Grotto. I remember that I haven't written poetry for awhile, haven't written a song in a year. Have I retreated to the primal cave to resurrect myself?

this day

my grandpa died of cancer this morning
a good friend hung herself to death one year ago
my life partner's little sister is getting married this afternoon

I caught a smallmouth bass yesterday
I had to hit it on the head with a hammer many times until it took its last breath and let its fins go limp
today I sauteed it in some butter for breakfast and it was very good
there was another fish that I caught but I killed it while trying to retrieve the hook from its mouth
I left it for the birds

I have to go to the dentist
I have to get ready for tomorrow
I haven't gone to work today

the cycle of life and death goes on and on

Flowers

shamanic happenstance

We had wonderful weather yesterday. The heat drove us to the river and we were treated to breakfast by family. I fished but didn't catch anything, because it was too hot of course. Then, with sweat dripping from our brows, we drove for home into stormy weather that dropped much needed rains on our parched soils. We decided to check out the movie Sicko which saddened us and gave us energetic anger. It was an interesting weekend. We also saw amazing fireworks.

Garden Trelliseseses

New photos from the garden. We made trellises out of sticks and twine.

Preachy

That last post was bitchy and preachy.

Anyway, I feel like I have one hundred things to do. I have creative plans, practical plans, project ideas, vacation inspirations, and of course life choices. Life is full. My work is good, and it tires me out most days. I'm learning and enjoying my life as an independent contractor. Maybe not so much when tax time rolls around. Hopefully my rental rebate will cover my taxes. I'm sure you really care.

Well, my next post should have some pics of the garden. Hopefully the weeds haven't taken over.

We're planning on fishing later today, so maybe I'll have some whoppers to tell later.

My Sustainable Life Criteria

1. Compost Everything. (Including cheese and meat scraps and paper towels and old underwear. All those recommendations you find about what to compost are full of shit.)

2. Reuse Everything. (Forget the bourgeois idea of middle class wealth. We're all poor, unless you're in the top ten percent that owns the world.)

3. Use your bike, carpool, use public transportation. (If you drive around in an SUV you can go to hell. I'm not interested in your reasoning; you suck. Even you know that. So knock it off. Also, thanks for destroying my world.)

4. Meat is something to eat once or twice a week at the most, once or twice a month at better, none at best.

5. TV kills your brain. (Stop watching it. Make something.)

6. Cook your own food. (With friends preferably. Use only local organic ingredients. Make with love and compassion. This is our main focus as humans.)

5. Grow your own food. (Anything. A couple of potato plants in a 5 gallon bucket is good. Some chives. You've just changed the world. You are part of the revolution.)

6. Do nothing. (Save the planet and meditate. Read, sleep, sing.)

resurrection

Also, many of our tomato plants died in a long frost at the beginning of the spring. But they really didn't, they somehow survived. Now they are teeny but pressing on. No pictures here, just some squash. Also, a picture of borage which is taking off.

garden goings on

The gardens are going on without us. Life is happening while we are busy making other plans. We haven't added any nutrients to the soil as of yet, but we plan to add a thin layer of compost when we have the chance.

last job

Here are a couple photos of Local Roots last job. We finished up yesterday and I think it turned out pretty good. Sadly I don't have any before pictures.

100th post

Today is Friday June 8, 2007.

At Local Roots we have finished up a number of projects. I will post pictures of them when I can find the time to download and upload and all that. The transformations are amazing. My back is killing me though.

I have to figure out what to do this weekend. I want to camp and fish, but I also want to build a wind turbine. Go figure. I'll keep you updated.

what is the point?

I operate with three basic assumptions.

1. A single omnipotent being that presides over the universe is extremely unlikely.

2. An infinite number of sentient beings are constantly creating the universe, from the smallest molecule to the largest galaxy, consciously or unconsciously, via evolution, procreation, innovation, homeostasis, etc...

3. I exist within this mind boggling complexity as an aware being, and I have the ability to act humanely with prescience and wisdom.

These basic assumptions guide me throughout my daily life. You could say they are the seeds of my own personal religion. Since society relishes labels, I tend to tell people that I am a Buddhist, but my Buddhism is primarily a practice, and my spirituality is constantly evolving and changing as I grow older and wiser and learn to love and cherish what I have and what is out there in this beautiful world.

Many people would say that I am a nihilist or atheist, but I find these labels irritating and inaccurate. I believe that the world has inherent value, and I believe a higher power exists, but not in the way that monotheistic religions do. I believe that an invisible "god" shapes the universe to it's will; it's called energy. And the study of the movement of energy is called physics.I believe it is good to shed old unproven suppositions when new proven theorems are shown to possess a modicum of truth. Therefore I would advise anyone with a brain and a heart to discard their religion if it has done more harm then good, for you or for humanity.

I have always believed that every person creates there own belief system out of their own experiences and emotions. By this I mean that even if you say you are a Evangelical Christian who is against abortion and for the war, you still have your very personal vision of what heaven and hell are, what god is, what the world means to you. Religion is not objective, it does not exist without being thought into existence. Religion is not Family, Genus, Species, Varietals. Every person has a highly personal religious and spiritual idea, and to me it's somewhat hypocritical that one religion can shun another. It's the same with politics, and more comically with sports. You have a bunch of people from Minneapolis against those from Chicago, partitioning themselves based on various differences that in the long run don't mean diddly squat. In the end we all have our separate homes which mean more to us then any city or country could. But they wouldn't exist outside the framework of these arbitrary boundaries. Ever since we crawled out of the sea, and even in the sea, we have been exceptionally good at creating boundaries, shells, bark, skin, walls. This is our imperative as living biological creatures, in order to survive and flourish. I'm off on a tangent as usual.

So my point is that you have your own personal God, no matter what religion or prophet you say you follow, and in the end you write your own bible out of your own experiences and emotions. This just seems completely obvious to me.

I write this thinking of my Grandpa who is dying of cancer at home alone, with my Grandma wandering around a nursing home and losing her mind. I wonder what their religion has done to console them or even help them along on their life journey. It seems to me to have done nothing good for them. All I can think of is that we have only one life to live, and to waste it in fear of hell and condemnation for improper behavior is absolutely depressing. That is the problem with most religions; the idea that you can store up your treasures in heaven, that the best parts of your life will be after you die. What a fucking joke. More like a papal conspiracy. If you can get all the peasants to think that it is their lot in life to suffer, and that when they die they will be rewarded with infinite riches in heaven, then your job as ruler is ever so easy.

I am convinced that the riches are all around us. The earth is the only source of any real wealth, or any real spirituality. Religions mostly teach you to ignore the physical world. The world is full of suffering but happiness is achievable by anyone. Everyone has been led to think that religions are necessary and good. I propose that they are unnecessary and mostly harmful.

I welcome any commentary. But I'm not interested in any bible verses. I don't give a flying shit about what the bible has to say about itself. It's an interesting and rich book, I give it that.

Permagarden

We started our permaculture garden pretty small and very unpermaculturish. You gotta start somewhere.

We have a 15x48 ft. (720 sq. ft.) area. I tilled up the creeping charlie and grass numerous times, but the grass would just not go away. We pulled out a lot of weeds by hand. Giant crazy roots. Fuck grass.

We worked Sunday through Monday. Monday was really hot and I got really sunburned.

We put in more then a dozen heirloom tomatoes, peppers, basil, thyme, sage, peas, radishes, spinach, lettuce, borage, garlic chives, melons, a number of different cucumbers, some flowers, and some other things I can't remember. I will have a full reporting of everything growing in a month or so. I still have a tray of thyme and yarrow, and a bunch of seedlings that we might transplant when we go back up to plant onions, potatoes, cabbage, and broccoli.

I have a word of advice: Do not chug four beers when you are totally sunburned and sunstroked.

We muclched the whole thing with four bales of straw, $4 each, $16 total expense. We did not enrich the soil with compost or fertilizer. I am hoping the soil is fertile enough. Otherwise this year we are basically building up fertility with green manures. Maybe we'll put a few cubic yards of compost on a little later.

Double Dig Deux

Hey there. This is the next installment of the the tiny 7 by 10 foot (70 sq. ft.) plot in front of our apartment. We did this after visiting the Friends School sale and buying $90 worth of plants. This is about a quarter of our plants. We finished this up on Saturday morning before we went up to the farmstead to plant our 720 sq. ft. plot.

New project

We're working on a new project in the Victoria Crossing neighborhood of St. Paul. It is a long and arduous journey. Here are a few pics.

Mayday

It's May. I'm tired because I moved a lot of bricks this week. Today it started raining.

We were planning on going backpacking somewhere beautiful but the weather foiled our plans. Now we're stuck here in the city, forced to enjoy friends, the Green Expo, the Mayday parade, and other terrible things.

My Grandpa has cancer and burned down a big garage with tractors in it. Life is nuts. I hope he lives twenty more years and doesn't burn anything else down.

Stonewall

This was my first project at Local Roots.

Before:











































After:

Double Dig

I decided to do a little experiment in the front of our duplex. I decided to combine the Biointensive double dug bed and the newspaper sheet mulching of Forest Gardening fame. The area I had to work with was about 10 feet wide and 7 feet deep. I left a small 4 by 7 plot there on the south side with some Solomons Seal, tulips, ferns, and a small oak tree. I'm not sure what we'll plant there but it will probably be a combination of shade tolerant perennials and some edible annuals.

In the first picture I have dug the first row out and put it on a plastic sheet to use for the last row. I then spread a small amount of compost I picked up at the local free compost pile. It was pretty nice stuff, not too much sticks and garbage. I had barely enough to count, but at least it was something. I then dug the next row and filled the first row. With my crappy shovel I loosened the second row up. I noticed some clay compaction.

















You can see my progress. The soil was dry but nice and black. I mixed in the pine needles that lay about from the big white pine north of the house.

It was sweaty work, and took about an hour and a half. When I was done I raked the soil so that it was somewhat even. Then I soaked a whole bunch of newspaper and laid it down on top of the the loose soil, overlapping the edges by six inches or so, 5 to 8 pages thick.

The paper dried quickly, and I noticed it blowing away, so I decided to go get some more free compost, two garbage bags worth, and spread it on top to keep it from blowing away. Now it kind of looks like shit, but what can you do. At some point I want to get about 4 times as much compost to lay down on top, and also a nice layer of mulch to retain moisture and prevent overheating of the soil, but I'm done for the day and I have work tomorrow and a full weekend so maybe I'll get to that next week at some point.

Carbon-based life forms

So here's the scoop on carbon sequestration.

We burn fossil fuels to produce energy, and the byproduct of this process is the rapid release of carbon dioxide into the environment. Carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Global warming is part of our overall global climate change, which has devastating consequences such as the melting of the polar ice caps and subsequent rising of the oceans, affecting weather patterns around the world. We can offset our own carbon dioxide emissions (driving our car, heating our house, buying our food) by carbon sequestration.

"Carbon sequestration refers to the provision of long-term storage of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, underground, or the oceans so that the buildup of carbon dioxide...will reduce or slow." (1)

"A carbon dioxide (CO₂) sink is a carbon reservoir that is increasing in size, and is the opposite of a carbon "source". The main natural sinks are (1) the oceans and (2) plants and other organisms that use photosynthesis to remove carbon from the atmosphere by incorporating it into biomass. This concept of CO₂ sinks has become more widely known because the Kyoto Protocol allows the use of carbon dioxide sinks as a form of carbon offset." (2)

Here in Minnesota we can preserve and create carbon sinks by protecting and planting forests and prairies. Native plants are better adapted to our soil profile and climate, as well as having natural pest and disease resistances.

On the individual scale, Scientist Jonathon Foley has been creating a carbon budget alongside his financial budget. He and his family have reduced their carbon dioxide footprint as much as possible, including using energy efficient appliances and moving closer to work, as well as getting rid of a car.

"Every square meter of forest, Foley says, stores 10 to 15 kg of carbon in biomass above ground and 10 to 15 kg in the soil. A prairie stores only three kg above ground, but 30 to 40 below. Midwest soils are deep and fertile because the prairie built up humus there for millennia. Prairie restoration is a popular community activity around Madison, so the Foleys will help do the work and also contribute money to prairie and tree planting groups." (3)

Jonathon's brother David has taken up organic gardening. When David and his family first began, the soil tested at only 1 percent organic matter. Now it's at 7.7 percent, about double your average farm soil. His brother Jonathon runs the numbers for him to see how much carbon he has offset.

"A silt-loam soil, Jonathan says, weighs roughly 85 pounds per cubic foot. Eight inches of it weighs 56 pounds per square foot.

Organic matter is about 58 percent carbon. So soil with 1 percent organic matter contains (hmmm, 1 percent of 58 percent of 56 pounds) 0.3 pounds of carbon per square foot. Soil with 7.7 percent organic matter contains 2.5 pounds of carbon per square foot. David and Judy have increased the amount of carbon in every square foot of their garden by 2.2 pounds.

It's a big garden, 0.4 acres. (Actually it's a communal garden, which David and Judy share with their neighbors.) That's 17,424 square feet. Multiply by 2.2 pounds of carbon per square foot -- let's see here -- that makes over 38,000 pounds of carbon removed from the atmosphere -- 19 tons!

Jon writes to David: "You have sequestered 19 tons of carbon into your garden over the last 10 years. If you think that the soil test is representative of a deeper soil profile (let's say 16 inches instead of 8), then scale that number up. This is impressive! The average American releases 6 to 6.5 tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. So you have offset about three years of an average American's emissions." (4)

Obviously this is only part of the solution. Fossil fuels are non-renewable, and Peak Oil is just around the corner (or maybe it's in the past). But by reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing our use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar we can certainly take a giant leap forward.

If the average American can reduce their consumption by 50%, down to 3 tons of carbon per year, they would have to plant the equivalent of about 15 trees a year. At 20 to 30 kilograms of carbon storage in a cubic meter of an average forest vs 33 to 42 kilograms in an average cubic meter of prairie, prairie plantings are 40% to 65% more effective then tree plantings in the storage of carbon in terms of area. Given the chthonic perennial nature of the biomass of a prairie vs. the terrestrial linear expansive nature of a forest, prairie plantings would fit into the urban niche better then forest gardens.

The old paper vs. plastic debacle

"Reusable vs. Disposable Cups

University of Victoria 1994

This classic life-cycle energy analysis was performed by University of Victoria professor of chemistry Martin B. Hocking. Hocking compared three types of reusable drinking cups (ceramic, glass and reusable plastic) to two types of disposable cups (paper and polystyrene foam).

The energy of manufacture of reusable cups is vastly larger than the energy of manufacture of disposable cups (Table 1). In order for a reusable cup to be an improvement over a disposable one on an energy basis, you have to use it multiple times, in order to "cash in" on the energy investment you made in the cup. If a cup lasts only ten uses, then each use gets "charged' for one-tenth of the manufacturing energy. If it lasts for a hundred uses, then each use gets charged for only one-hundredth of the manufacturing energy."

-Link

Spring doth cometh

I predict that spring is here to stay. According to this, here in MPLS we should be frost free by the end of the month. That's odd though because here it shows that May 15 is the cutoff date. So between the end of the month and the middle of May is when we are free to plant our little baby plants without fear that they will die a miserable frozen death.

But in any case I think that Global Climate Change has altered the climate such that spring has sprung for the year.

Another blogger on the GSK/PBS alliance

The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb™ Blog

Fat lovers unite

I'm gonna blog about this show I watched last night because it pissed me off. The show was on PBS and it was called "Fat: What no one is telling you." The show immediately began by excusing personal responsibility towards ones physical health, and placing blame on various psychological and physical disorders. The show goes on to reveal that the intestines have a marvelous nervous system, and is essentially a second brain. This is exposited by an intelligent doctor who lets out the secret that most doctors think that the digestive system is totally gross, dude.

I have to tell you that I love fat and I love food, but the way most people eat is abhorrent and unbelievable to me. Basically if you're fat you're probably not exercising, which means you have a sedentary lifestyle; the answer is to move, do, act, work. If you're fat you probably eat too much junk food. Stop it. At least try to, anyway, I know how hard it is to resist buttery mashed potatoes and such. But don't whine about your weight, then, if you can't stop eating and you can't start moving. Walk to work. Walk up the stairs. There are millions of ways to move, just start. And then of course you have fast food, or any processed food in general. Don't buy it. Wow, I'm sorry, but thats the only answer, and it's not too complex. Don't turn into the Hardees to get your Thickburger, you idiot. One hundred years ago there were no Hardees and no giant blubber people! Hey, I know about addiction to processed food, and it's not easy to forgo, but of course you can just say no. So much sodium and calories are injected into such small portions in processed foods, not to mention nasty preservatives and whatnot, and your body has to work so hard to process all the garbage. Well, thats my rant on that.

But whats worse about this PBS show is that it was funded by GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, one of the top five pharmaceutical companies in the world (1). Anyone else noticing the surfeit of funder advertisement on our so-called public airwaves? I am sure there are a million things to uncover about GSK but I'll just mention one relevant piece of info. A little over a month ago, on February 7, the FDA approved an over-the-counter form of the drug orlistat. GSK will market this drug as "alli". It says here that "alli is the only FDA-approved weight-loss product available to consumers without a prescription". To me it seems that the program I watched last night was merely an hour long infomercial for conventional medicine's solution to weight gain: drugs, surgery, and costly physical therapy.

Evidently this alli drug is ineffective.

" Well, it turns out that Alli is just barely effective in clinical trials. Patients who took this drug lost about 1 pound a month. That's hardly any weight loss that all. That's the same amount of weight loss that you could experience simply by eating about a thousand fewer calories a week, which comes down to just a few cans of soda per week. By the way, that weight loss reversed itself as soon as people went off the drug, meaning they gained it right back. Still, the drug is being heralded as a potential blockbuster because so many Americans are desperate to lose weight and it seems that they will do almost anything to accomplish that goal." - source

As well as having unpleasant side effects.

"My question is, will they tolerate soiled underwear to accomplish it? That's one of the most common side effects of this drug. People actually spotted their clothes with uncontrollable anal discharges. I don't know about you, but to me that's not worth losing a pound a month. I think losing your self respect might be more valuable than that, but I guess that's up to each person to decide. I wonder how this works when dating? Do you wear, like, diapers?

However, it's not the side effects that I'm most concerned about with this drug. What I'm actually concerned about is the potential harm this drug might cause. This drug works by absorbing fat; that way, when people eat fats like those found in milk or cheese or even salad dressings, this drug binds with those fats and carries them on out of the system where they can't be digested. But at the same time, this drug also blocks all those essential fats that we need to be healthy.

Those acids include omega-3 fatty acids, which is why you're hearing about all the benefits of eating oily fish like salmon. But people who are taking this drug are inevitably blocking the absorption of these essential fatty acids as well as blocking the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins that go along with them. Some of those vitamins are extremely important to human health. The fat-soluble vitamins include vitamin E, vitamin A and vitamin D." - source

Hmmmmm.....sounds unpleasant.

I don't know much about the stock market but a quick glance at Google Finance reveals that at the start of February, GSK stocks were at 54.71 and by Feb 14 they had climbed to 58.37 an almost yearly high (2). Hell if I know what that means, but check out todays stocks here. At the end of yesterday the stock was at 55.93, and today its at 57.00 right now. It looks like quite a significant jump overnight. I wonder why that is.

Wait, there's more.

"Glaxo Wellcome plc and SmithKline Beecham plc merged in 2001 to become GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK), the largest pharmaceutical company in the world.
At present, private pharmaceutical companies control the development of new medicines. Profit margins, not global health needs, are what determine the next new drug. GlaxoSmithKline’s corporate motto is ‘committed to improving the quality of human life’[1]. GSK has shown it’s commitment by suing the South African Government for trying to supply AIDS victims with medicine they can afford [2], knowingly producing toxic drugs [3], and by emitting more carcinogens than almost any other chemical producer in the UK.[4]" - source

So think what you will, but I think PBS is a shill for GSK.

I feel like I'm in a bubble right now

Nothing new is happening right now. I am in a bubble. Trapped, or consigned?
Irritation at having to do chores.
No one around.
Same old food.
Not feeling arty.

bla bla bla bla bla bla bla

everything is happening next week. what is art/stop/what is cognitive inconsonance/stop/I found a button in a shoe.....................................................................................................................where is my mind...
maybe tonight in Uptown Pundits etc,,,

alive, terribly unimportant....






What we do need is a revival of spiritual/scientific/artistic dominance...not religiopoliticomilitarial madnesses. Fuck the power.

sad to say I have no readership no authorial maintenance....can god live in a seed in a bubble in a word where does it differ Einstein thinks there cannot be a Unified Theory of Everything.

Grow Biointensive

I went to a lecture by John Jeavons on Monday, from Grow Biointensive, Executive Director of Ecology Action. I thought it was a good amount of quality information. Together with Permaculture and Forest Gardening, Biointensive Gardening is part of the growing interest in and thirst for a meaningful relationship with the earth. What we have is a populace starved for meaning and context. When you begin to decipher the puzzles of the planet you began to see an underlying meaning in the machinations of the universe. What I don't get is what the hell is everybody doing all the time? What the hell does anybody care about? Why aren't we working hard to create meaning, beauty, and comfort for all of us rather then creating video games or strange colognes or lighter cameras? It seems like a particular sort of large brained madness.

Nieces

These are my two cute-as-the-dickens nieces, Maya and Brin. Maya turned two a couple days ago.

Nader

I went to see the film An Unreasonable Man, which was all about Ralph Nader. I found it to be an essential film to watch if you care at all about the political world, which is a world that seems to stand apart from day to day life but is in fact the underlying brickwork of our corporeal reality. The movie really points out that Nader in no way "spoiled" the 2000 elections, and made me realize what a total fallacy that presumption is. In the end, the Democratic party presented itself as little more then a big gaseous basket full of the status quo and reeking of corporate money and influence, and the people that really care didn't want that. The movie showed the vitriol of the establishment "Left" press and institutions for what it was, a psychotic attack on a man who literally has saved us from the disregard of big corporations. Go watch it.

We also went to the French Meadow Bakery on Lyndale which is a totally delicious local eatery. Eat there. Good prices for local organic fare.

Permaculture ideas

When I first got into Permaculture last year I was convinced that here, at last, was my calling. Mainly because it seemed to fuse all those disparate interests that I possess into a coherent system and philosophy. My fickle interests wax and wane with the moon but I tend to come back to those things that really make me who I am, like Permaculture and music, meditation and backpacking. A few weeks ago I got sidetracked as usual and started fiddling around with electronics, but such geeky pastimes don't really suit me.

I wanted to put down a few Permaculture links here that I think are interesting and informative:

Midwest Permaculture Our local area Permaculture hub

Plowboy Interview with Bill Mollison

Permaculture Video Part 1 An interesting video with Bill Mollison, in parts on YouTube

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Greening the Desert Another interesting short video from a wacky looking Australian

Edible Forest Gardens The BEST books on gardening with soul

Grow Here Now A little vid I found that was somewhat interesting from the Lama Foundation

Enjoy these resources and I would be glad to talk about any ideas or thoughts you have on any of this.

New job

Well, I worked a couple days with my new boss and I think it's going to work out.

It's a small local native landscaping and stonework company called Local Roots. Today we hauled a bunch of really heavy stones in the rain. It was fun but I have been sick for the last few days, with some sort of cold like deal. I was totally konked out on Monday. And the water smells funny here.

This is an awesome idea

Berkeley has a tool lending library.

http://berkeleypubliclibrary.org/tool

Okay okay

I think I have the job I wanted. Starts tomorrow, hope it works out. It's one of those jobs that you can't tell if you're really hired until you're three months into it. So yippeee. Time to celebrate. Until my new boss calls me back and says she thought it over and realizes I am a creepy turd so tough bananas to me.

Today I can't seem to focus on my music. The technology is in the way. It's raining and grey.

Spooky times

I'm reading Dhalgren by Delaney and I remembered that DJ Spooky (one of my favorite electronic music artists) liked the book so I went to his site and found a couple interesting things:

Shooting War: a free online comic about an Iraq in the future

Buddhist Hip-hop

March madness

I don't know about you but I'm seeing things left and right, things that shouldn't be there and that whisper sweet nothings to me in my dreams. Just kidding.

You might have noticed that I have a music toolbar deal on the left. I'm working with more electronic type music these days, and I'm considering going to school for sound art, something I've wanted to do since I was young. It seems like a frivolous thing to study. I should take a major in plumbing instead. But no, there is something that has always called me to play and create music, and I'm not sure if I should ignore that.

I possibly have a job, and I will update you soon if it works out. I hope it does, I can't keep working the streets. Just kidding.