2 years ago
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Priorities
I think perhaps our nation's priorities are completely fucked up when we spend 2 billion dollars to make sure people can watch digital TV, yet thousands are unemployed, laid off, homeless, sick, hungry, etc... It really chaps my hide that TV is such a high priority for us Americans. Maybe we should get rid of the damn things.
Monday, June 01, 2009
life itself
We need a world in which people will be able to explore their gifts. As it is, we mainly strive to survive. This is a sin. The dominant cultures, the death cultures, work hard to maintain this status quo, so that you and yours must constantly strive to survive, instead of exploring what it means to be alive.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Last weekend of MAy
I can't believe it is already the last weekend of May. We are going to the St. Paul Farmers Market to pick up some plants, then to Landscape Alternatives to pick up some plants, then to the homestead to plant some plants. I guess it is plant time.
I just made a fresh aparagus, crimini, black olive, frittata with onions and sharp cheddar. Pretty good. I should go get dressed and packed and get my shit together.
I just made a fresh aparagus, crimini, black olive, frittata with onions and sharp cheddar. Pretty good. I should go get dressed and packed and get my shit together.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Words from my Permaculture teacher
Observation is the Key
By Wayne Weiseman
“When trying to determine whether crops can be grown without fertilizer, one cannot tell anything by examining only the crops. One must begin by taking a good look at nature.” - Masanobu Fukuoka
As gardeners and farmers we would all benefit by keen and persistent observation of natural processes, events and elements in connection with the ecosystems in which our land is situated.
Here in the Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, at Dayempur Farm, we are experiencing a warm February as light southerly breezes carry a whisper of spring across the sixty acres we call home. The Shawnee Hills, also known as the Illinois Ozarks, are primarily a sandstone/limestone escarpment that arises near Mt. Vernon, Illinois and falls off gradually toward the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. A meeting ground of several ecosystems, including the Eastern Woodlands, Ozark Plateau and the northern most boundary of the Gulf Coast, the Shawnee Hills contain some of the most spectacularly diverse plant and animal landscapes in the United States, including 225 species of trees and over 100 species of mammals. Situated on the Mississippi Flyway migration route, an abundance of water and vegetation attracts 325 species of birds annually.
As I stand on the ridge overlooking our farm, the last leaves of autumn cling mercifully to near bare branches: walnut, oak, maple, redbud, pecan, cherry, pear, peach, basswood, hazelnut, chaste tree, persimmon. A brisk late autumn rain recharges the ground and aquifers and echoes the renewal of the year next spring. The constant chopping and chipping of a pileated woodpecker makes sawdust and a meal of an old walnut branch. Two deer stop to listen. The cat chases a chicken around the yard. A great blue heron searches the pond from up on high. The turtles are already at home in the mud of winter. They will stir only when the sun rises higher in the sky at spring.
On a farm the change of seasons penetrates deep into the bones. Those of us that work the land spend most of our days out in the elements. Our bodies are like tuning forks tracking the heat, humidity, rain clouds, winds, the first frosts of autumn and the winter chill. When the snow quietly blankets the land we know intimately that the tracks imprinted on the pure white landscape will soon melt into spring and hasten the seed to its ultimate fruition.
A year on the farm is a year of constant change. The microcosm of the natural world is unpredictable. But we can always rely on the greater cycles of the seasons. We know that the sun will beat its path across an arc that is predictable. Though, what the weather will bring, we can only guess. We can attempt to read the signs, we can lay out our plans, and we can proceed with our work, but we must keep all of our senses open, our minds clear. We must stay present to the changes in air pressure, the shapes of the clouds, the levels of humidity, the movement of water and wind. To become efficient cultivators of the soil and caretakers of plants requires single-mindedness, focus and patience. We are part and parcel of the natural ebb and flow. What may appear chaotic in the natural world has an underlying logic all its own.
In the greater context this year is no more significant than any other year. It is simply that we, those that work the land, become more aware of the intimate metamorphosis through time and the more intimate metamorphosis of the way all life is in constant communication. Through observation we come to see the subtleties of the land and what we need to do in order to raise yields and the overall abundance that the land can provide. Abundance is not simply about raising crop yields. It is about reaping the infinite resources of our hearts, minds and bodies in sustainable and harmonious ways. It is about enjoying the fruits of our work with the larger community and aligning ourselves with an ethical basis for all we do. The land is a unity, everything working with everything else. There is no waste in the natural order of things. The economy of nature is such that life and death will always continue. Everything is food and sustenance for everything else, and we, as caretakers of the land, must consciously see to it that this ongoing process of death and renewal is not interfered with. We cannot “grow” anything. We can only nurse what is already there by consistently balancing all the elements and providing the platform for the Grace of Life to work its magic.
An astute Permaculture practitioner utilizes observation as the essential foundation of farming practice.
In essence, the guiding principle lies in the “connections”, or relationships, set up between all the elements in the landscape. Bill Mollison, the founder of Permaculture, has said: “Design is a connection between things. It’s not water, or a chicken, or the tree. It is how the water, the chicken and the tree are connected…as soon as you’ve got the connection you can feed the chicken from the tree”.
Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher, scientist and educator, introduced Biodynamic agriculture to a group of farmers in 1924. He often discusses the idea of a “farm organism”, a system of interlocking facets combining minerals and soil, plants, animals, humans and planetary forces. Form evolves through an integration of earthly and cosmic forces that give shape and meaning to the way we view and experience all the varied elements in our farm landscape.
John Jeavons, a student of Alan Chadwick and the Bio-intensive system, has spoken of his application of personal experience and observation garnered from native farming techniques from around the world (i.e. planting in raised beds, planting close together in a hexagonal pattern, thus creating a living mulch and higher yields per square foot than in conventional linear fashion).
Masanobu Fukuoka, a plant and soil biologist from Japan, and the author of “One Straw Revolution” and “The Natural Way of Farming”, came to an understanding of natural farming after inheriting his father’s orchards. He observed that the fruit trees were weak and diseased, after years of unnatural pruning practices and chemical applications, causing severe soil debilitation. He elected to allow the trees to run their natural course and die off, much to his neighbors’ chagrin and disbelief. After setting up a no-till, rice and legume rotation that he based on years of observing the natural world, his grain, bean, fruit and vegetable poly-culture produced exceptionally nutritious and healthy yields with some species reverting back to the form of their wild ancestors.
Observation in an on-going basis is tantamount for the novice square-foot gardener as well as the soybean farmer on ten thousand acres. Complete immersion with all of our senses in the natural world will teach us more than years of book study. With patience and persistence we become not only master gardeners and farmers, but masters of life as it is given in each and every moment.
The first steps toward sound observation on the farm obviate these questions: What is the lay of the land, the wind and weather patterns, mineral and soil constituents, the health of vegetation and its location in the landscape? Where is the insect and animal life taking place? What are the native plant guilds? How does the water move and flow? What are the natural cycles and how do they give shape to the land? What are the smells that waft up as we walk about? How does the soil feel when we rub it between our fingers? Do we notice temperature fluctuations in different areas of the farm or home? How does the ground feel under foot? Rock hard? Springy? Soft?
Rudolf Steiner always stressed viewing things with the eye of an artist. As we walk and examine the landscape we are constantly looking for significant and tell-tale shapes, colors, textures, edges, negative and positive spaces of figure and ground, relative layering of plants in vertical and horizontal dimensions. It’s as if the landscape were a giant canvas supported by an underlying design matrix that is constantly shifting with the seasons, weather and natural cycles that carve and sculpt the farm with an awesome dance of form and function.
In Permaculture, we are constantly on the lookout for general patterns that shape events, complexing, compaction and the loosening of components that are all working together in scintillating and diverse edges and boundaries. We consistently ask ourselves how things branch, flow, how things relate to one another, what eats and what provides food. We might ask: toward what goal does each process in this web of life and death move? Patterns emerge and shape our awareness. We begin to notice orders of magnitude from the microcosmic to the macrocosmic, the cause and affect relationships of each and every being in the inevitable cycles of birth, life and death. We notice how the white tail deer moves about in small herds from tree stand to tree stand. If we sit quietly and watch long enough, we witness other animals using the same trails, following the path of least resistance. We observe that some of these trails lead to the edges of our fields. We awake one morning to find that our five, one hundred foot rows of healthy Swiss chard have been decimated to level ground. The deer tracks circle around and exit the same way they arrive. Upon further inspection we see fresh deer scat. All the signs are there for the taking. As we look closer we notice worm castings that look like miniature deer pellets in long chains knit together in a variety of patterns. We see earth raised in sinuous mounds where moles have tunneled underground. Over here is the casing of a strange insect stuck to the fence post. Cicadas? The more we look the more we see, the more we begin to paint a picture of how things move and flow over and under the landscape of our farms and homes.
As we collect more and more information from our observations, and as we analyze and diagnose the plusses and minuses of our landscape, thoughts about how we design and manage our land-base, our sights turn more readily to processes and connections. We begin to notice that isolated events do not exist, that everything in the landscape is about relationship. What we deduce from our study of nature will guide us successfully in the way we set up farm and land management: our soils, composting techniques, mulching, tillage and cultivation, greenhouse design, construction and operation, rotations, seed and crop selection, irrigation, microclimates, hedgerows and shelter-belts, house placement, energy resources, building materials and ultimately, our lifestyle choices. How do our ideas coincide with nature’s pattern and flow? How can we fit in successfully so that the health of our farm or garden reflects the health of the surrounding habitat? Is it mutual give and take, or do our practices cause injury to the natural succession and growth in the local bioregion?
Zone and sector analysis, the two mainstays of Permaculture, provides us with circular models for observation and planning. Zone 0 is where our house stands, the area of most frequent activity. Zone I contains kitchen gardens, sitting areas, miniature fruit trees, the chicken house, any element in the landscape that will be visited at least once, and probably more times, on a daily basis. As we move concentrically from the center of the circle outwards, orchards, vegetable and grain fields, large animals, tree cultures and forests fit into zones based on the frequency of visits we make there for work, study and play.
Sector analysis gives us the opportunity to place seasonal movements of sun, wind and weather patterns onto a circular map that reveals subtle directional nuances of incoming and outgoing natural energies and events. If we extend the circle outward even more we end up in the planetary and starry realms. The movement of the planets and stars has a profound effect on the magnetic and etheric matrices of our land. Rudolf Steiner relates how the outer planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, stimulate underground (root zone growth forces), and the inner planets, Moon, Mercury, and Venus, affect the process of growth above ground. The Sun acts as mediator between the two.
The possibilities of making detailed observations are numerous. Through a synthesis of the information we gather, from ongoing awareness and focus, we detect patterns within which we proceed with our hands-on practice of gardening and farming. With perseverance we inevitably acquire the means and know-how to augment yields for personal pleasure or for market. The quality of our crops will demand a high price at the roadside stand, the farmer’s market, the local food co-op or the supermarket shelf.
“We need to learn everything we can about gardening- we need to become biologically literate” (John Jeavons). The way leading to “biological literacy” begins and ends with how we walk the earth, how we feel, sense, interpret, integrate what we take in with what is already there in our experience. And, observation is the key.
References
* Mollison, Bill. Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, 1988. Tagari Publications. Tyalgum, Australia.
* Mollison, Bill. Introduction to Permaculture, 1991. Tagari Publications. Tyalgum, Australia.
* Fukuoka, Masanobu, The Natural Way of Farming, 1993. Bookventure. Madras, India.
* Fukuoka, A One Straw Revolution, 1978.Other Indian Press. Goa, India.
* Jeavons, John, How to Grow More Vegetables, 2002. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA.
* Steiner, Rudolf, Agriculture, 1993. Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Inc. Kimberton, Pennsylvania.
* Storl, Wolf D, Culture and Horticulture, 1979. Bio-Dynamic Literature. Wyoming, Rhode Island.
* Shapiro, Howard-Yana and Harrison, John, Gardening for the Future of the Earth. 2000. Bantam Books, New York, New York.
By Wayne Weiseman
“When trying to determine whether crops can be grown without fertilizer, one cannot tell anything by examining only the crops. One must begin by taking a good look at nature.” - Masanobu Fukuoka
As gardeners and farmers we would all benefit by keen and persistent observation of natural processes, events and elements in connection with the ecosystems in which our land is situated.
Here in the Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, at Dayempur Farm, we are experiencing a warm February as light southerly breezes carry a whisper of spring across the sixty acres we call home. The Shawnee Hills, also known as the Illinois Ozarks, are primarily a sandstone/limestone escarpment that arises near Mt. Vernon, Illinois and falls off gradually toward the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. A meeting ground of several ecosystems, including the Eastern Woodlands, Ozark Plateau and the northern most boundary of the Gulf Coast, the Shawnee Hills contain some of the most spectacularly diverse plant and animal landscapes in the United States, including 225 species of trees and over 100 species of mammals. Situated on the Mississippi Flyway migration route, an abundance of water and vegetation attracts 325 species of birds annually.
As I stand on the ridge overlooking our farm, the last leaves of autumn cling mercifully to near bare branches: walnut, oak, maple, redbud, pecan, cherry, pear, peach, basswood, hazelnut, chaste tree, persimmon. A brisk late autumn rain recharges the ground and aquifers and echoes the renewal of the year next spring. The constant chopping and chipping of a pileated woodpecker makes sawdust and a meal of an old walnut branch. Two deer stop to listen. The cat chases a chicken around the yard. A great blue heron searches the pond from up on high. The turtles are already at home in the mud of winter. They will stir only when the sun rises higher in the sky at spring.
On a farm the change of seasons penetrates deep into the bones. Those of us that work the land spend most of our days out in the elements. Our bodies are like tuning forks tracking the heat, humidity, rain clouds, winds, the first frosts of autumn and the winter chill. When the snow quietly blankets the land we know intimately that the tracks imprinted on the pure white landscape will soon melt into spring and hasten the seed to its ultimate fruition.
A year on the farm is a year of constant change. The microcosm of the natural world is unpredictable. But we can always rely on the greater cycles of the seasons. We know that the sun will beat its path across an arc that is predictable. Though, what the weather will bring, we can only guess. We can attempt to read the signs, we can lay out our plans, and we can proceed with our work, but we must keep all of our senses open, our minds clear. We must stay present to the changes in air pressure, the shapes of the clouds, the levels of humidity, the movement of water and wind. To become efficient cultivators of the soil and caretakers of plants requires single-mindedness, focus and patience. We are part and parcel of the natural ebb and flow. What may appear chaotic in the natural world has an underlying logic all its own.
In the greater context this year is no more significant than any other year. It is simply that we, those that work the land, become more aware of the intimate metamorphosis through time and the more intimate metamorphosis of the way all life is in constant communication. Through observation we come to see the subtleties of the land and what we need to do in order to raise yields and the overall abundance that the land can provide. Abundance is not simply about raising crop yields. It is about reaping the infinite resources of our hearts, minds and bodies in sustainable and harmonious ways. It is about enjoying the fruits of our work with the larger community and aligning ourselves with an ethical basis for all we do. The land is a unity, everything working with everything else. There is no waste in the natural order of things. The economy of nature is such that life and death will always continue. Everything is food and sustenance for everything else, and we, as caretakers of the land, must consciously see to it that this ongoing process of death and renewal is not interfered with. We cannot “grow” anything. We can only nurse what is already there by consistently balancing all the elements and providing the platform for the Grace of Life to work its magic.
An astute Permaculture practitioner utilizes observation as the essential foundation of farming practice.
In essence, the guiding principle lies in the “connections”, or relationships, set up between all the elements in the landscape. Bill Mollison, the founder of Permaculture, has said: “Design is a connection between things. It’s not water, or a chicken, or the tree. It is how the water, the chicken and the tree are connected…as soon as you’ve got the connection you can feed the chicken from the tree”.
Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher, scientist and educator, introduced Biodynamic agriculture to a group of farmers in 1924. He often discusses the idea of a “farm organism”, a system of interlocking facets combining minerals and soil, plants, animals, humans and planetary forces. Form evolves through an integration of earthly and cosmic forces that give shape and meaning to the way we view and experience all the varied elements in our farm landscape.
John Jeavons, a student of Alan Chadwick and the Bio-intensive system, has spoken of his application of personal experience and observation garnered from native farming techniques from around the world (i.e. planting in raised beds, planting close together in a hexagonal pattern, thus creating a living mulch and higher yields per square foot than in conventional linear fashion).
Masanobu Fukuoka, a plant and soil biologist from Japan, and the author of “One Straw Revolution” and “The Natural Way of Farming”, came to an understanding of natural farming after inheriting his father’s orchards. He observed that the fruit trees were weak and diseased, after years of unnatural pruning practices and chemical applications, causing severe soil debilitation. He elected to allow the trees to run their natural course and die off, much to his neighbors’ chagrin and disbelief. After setting up a no-till, rice and legume rotation that he based on years of observing the natural world, his grain, bean, fruit and vegetable poly-culture produced exceptionally nutritious and healthy yields with some species reverting back to the form of their wild ancestors.
Observation in an on-going basis is tantamount for the novice square-foot gardener as well as the soybean farmer on ten thousand acres. Complete immersion with all of our senses in the natural world will teach us more than years of book study. With patience and persistence we become not only master gardeners and farmers, but masters of life as it is given in each and every moment.
The first steps toward sound observation on the farm obviate these questions: What is the lay of the land, the wind and weather patterns, mineral and soil constituents, the health of vegetation and its location in the landscape? Where is the insect and animal life taking place? What are the native plant guilds? How does the water move and flow? What are the natural cycles and how do they give shape to the land? What are the smells that waft up as we walk about? How does the soil feel when we rub it between our fingers? Do we notice temperature fluctuations in different areas of the farm or home? How does the ground feel under foot? Rock hard? Springy? Soft?
Rudolf Steiner always stressed viewing things with the eye of an artist. As we walk and examine the landscape we are constantly looking for significant and tell-tale shapes, colors, textures, edges, negative and positive spaces of figure and ground, relative layering of plants in vertical and horizontal dimensions. It’s as if the landscape were a giant canvas supported by an underlying design matrix that is constantly shifting with the seasons, weather and natural cycles that carve and sculpt the farm with an awesome dance of form and function.
In Permaculture, we are constantly on the lookout for general patterns that shape events, complexing, compaction and the loosening of components that are all working together in scintillating and diverse edges and boundaries. We consistently ask ourselves how things branch, flow, how things relate to one another, what eats and what provides food. We might ask: toward what goal does each process in this web of life and death move? Patterns emerge and shape our awareness. We begin to notice orders of magnitude from the microcosmic to the macrocosmic, the cause and affect relationships of each and every being in the inevitable cycles of birth, life and death. We notice how the white tail deer moves about in small herds from tree stand to tree stand. If we sit quietly and watch long enough, we witness other animals using the same trails, following the path of least resistance. We observe that some of these trails lead to the edges of our fields. We awake one morning to find that our five, one hundred foot rows of healthy Swiss chard have been decimated to level ground. The deer tracks circle around and exit the same way they arrive. Upon further inspection we see fresh deer scat. All the signs are there for the taking. As we look closer we notice worm castings that look like miniature deer pellets in long chains knit together in a variety of patterns. We see earth raised in sinuous mounds where moles have tunneled underground. Over here is the casing of a strange insect stuck to the fence post. Cicadas? The more we look the more we see, the more we begin to paint a picture of how things move and flow over and under the landscape of our farms and homes.
As we collect more and more information from our observations, and as we analyze and diagnose the plusses and minuses of our landscape, thoughts about how we design and manage our land-base, our sights turn more readily to processes and connections. We begin to notice that isolated events do not exist, that everything in the landscape is about relationship. What we deduce from our study of nature will guide us successfully in the way we set up farm and land management: our soils, composting techniques, mulching, tillage and cultivation, greenhouse design, construction and operation, rotations, seed and crop selection, irrigation, microclimates, hedgerows and shelter-belts, house placement, energy resources, building materials and ultimately, our lifestyle choices. How do our ideas coincide with nature’s pattern and flow? How can we fit in successfully so that the health of our farm or garden reflects the health of the surrounding habitat? Is it mutual give and take, or do our practices cause injury to the natural succession and growth in the local bioregion?
Zone and sector analysis, the two mainstays of Permaculture, provides us with circular models for observation and planning. Zone 0 is where our house stands, the area of most frequent activity. Zone I contains kitchen gardens, sitting areas, miniature fruit trees, the chicken house, any element in the landscape that will be visited at least once, and probably more times, on a daily basis. As we move concentrically from the center of the circle outwards, orchards, vegetable and grain fields, large animals, tree cultures and forests fit into zones based on the frequency of visits we make there for work, study and play.
Sector analysis gives us the opportunity to place seasonal movements of sun, wind and weather patterns onto a circular map that reveals subtle directional nuances of incoming and outgoing natural energies and events. If we extend the circle outward even more we end up in the planetary and starry realms. The movement of the planets and stars has a profound effect on the magnetic and etheric matrices of our land. Rudolf Steiner relates how the outer planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, stimulate underground (root zone growth forces), and the inner planets, Moon, Mercury, and Venus, affect the process of growth above ground. The Sun acts as mediator between the two.
The possibilities of making detailed observations are numerous. Through a synthesis of the information we gather, from ongoing awareness and focus, we detect patterns within which we proceed with our hands-on practice of gardening and farming. With perseverance we inevitably acquire the means and know-how to augment yields for personal pleasure or for market. The quality of our crops will demand a high price at the roadside stand, the farmer’s market, the local food co-op or the supermarket shelf.
“We need to learn everything we can about gardening- we need to become biologically literate” (John Jeavons). The way leading to “biological literacy” begins and ends with how we walk the earth, how we feel, sense, interpret, integrate what we take in with what is already there in our experience. And, observation is the key.
References
* Mollison, Bill. Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, 1988. Tagari Publications. Tyalgum, Australia.
* Mollison, Bill. Introduction to Permaculture, 1991. Tagari Publications. Tyalgum, Australia.
* Fukuoka, Masanobu, The Natural Way of Farming, 1993. Bookventure. Madras, India.
* Fukuoka, A One Straw Revolution, 1978.Other Indian Press. Goa, India.
* Jeavons, John, How to Grow More Vegetables, 2002. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA.
* Steiner, Rudolf, Agriculture, 1993. Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Inc. Kimberton, Pennsylvania.
* Storl, Wolf D, Culture and Horticulture, 1979. Bio-Dynamic Literature. Wyoming, Rhode Island.
* Shapiro, Howard-Yana and Harrison, John, Gardening for the Future of the Earth. 2000. Bantam Books, New York, New York.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Hanging out in central Wisconsin
I am in the middle of an intensive Permaculture Design Course by Midwest Permaculture www.midwestpermaculture.com and I am enjoying it. I didn't know exactly what to expect from such an expensive class, but it is at the very least feeding my head and allowing me to meet interesting likeminded people who are also passionate to varying degrees about creating and maintaining a sustainable lifestyle.
I really feel, at this point in my life, that permaculture and other sustainable systems of living are the key to human survival on this planet. I mean, sure we can go on living this way until we run out of oil & clean water and air, but are we really truly happy with our lives the way that they are? I don't think so, really, and I have been delving into the spirituality of of existence my whole life, trying to understand what it really all means. I don't know if there is any definite answer to life's ever present questions, but there are definite ways in which to live which emphasize the beauty, grace, and meaning of life, just as there are ways in which to create a sustainable lifestyle which create beauty, abundance, and meaning.
I will post later.
I really feel, at this point in my life, that permaculture and other sustainable systems of living are the key to human survival on this planet. I mean, sure we can go on living this way until we run out of oil & clean water and air, but are we really truly happy with our lives the way that they are? I don't think so, really, and I have been delving into the spirituality of of existence my whole life, trying to understand what it really all means. I don't know if there is any definite answer to life's ever present questions, but there are definite ways in which to live which emphasize the beauty, grace, and meaning of life, just as there are ways in which to create a sustainable lifestyle which create beauty, abundance, and meaning.
I will post later.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Permaculture Design Course
I'm waking up to 28 degree freezing ass weather in my car in Custer, WI, at the Midwest Renewable Energy Assoiation. After meticulously packing all my earthly items and checking them twice, I forgot my tent poles. I think that may have been blessing in disguise as it is freezing out. I will type more later.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Windy days
The wind is my mind, whipping through tree branches. I am going off to a Permaculture Design Course in Custer, WI on Saturday, for 8 or 9 days. I am excited to learn more about permaculture and what it has to offer as a methodology to improve life.
As we all are, I am trying to reorient myself to myself every day.
As we all are, I am trying to reorient myself to myself every day.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
It is time
To try to figure out how to repair giant rust holes on my work truck, a 1995 F-250. I have a new angle grinder which is my new best friend, but I don't have experience with bondo, or welding. Anybody want to buy me a MIG welder?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Why limit yourself?
My question today comes from Andrew 2:34, "Why, fellow chariot huggers, doth thou limit thyself one conceptual reality matrix as opposed to many? Art thou nothing but an ass baying loudly amongst the might roar of Satan's flatulence?"
As deep as these words appear to be, the underlying message is simply one of helpless confusion. Why do we approach life with a single cause celeb, why not embrace all of life in it's mad chaos as simply the "way things are"? What are we so afraid of? Especially, as I mentioned in an earlier post, as we all share the same fate.
This doesn't give us cause or license for madness and anarchy, no, I think even the opposite. Looking around the world, we see that we, as clever monkeys, are indeed imprinted with strong impressions to caretake, to be stewards, to design and build. Why is this so? Is it because we, unlike most animals, are beholden to a prehensile thumb and upright posture? Is it because we can push the branches out of the way with our miraculous hands and gaze out over the savannah for pleasure and hunt? Is it merely an extension of our hunting/gathering brain, a brain that sees a pattern and decides to attempt to replicate the natural world, to garden and grow structures.
To return to the path of singular delusion, we must increase our openess as a flower opens to all insects, we must evolve past mammalian and enter floral brain, or we will destroy ourselves and everything around us. I don't know why we seem to be so hellbent on self-destruction, but I must say it must have to do with the dominant male-centric religious, scientific, and political structures that would like to retain power over all beings as opposed to sharing the world and it's energies with all beings. Perhaps my gripe with the major organized religions and whatnot is more to do with their insistence that someone has to be in charge, usually male, usually violent. This is the meme we want to spread forevermore? I think not.
So to open ones mind and believe in many things at once, contradiction and confusions, nothing creating stress or tension. As it says in the book of John:
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
As deep as these words appear to be, the underlying message is simply one of helpless confusion. Why do we approach life with a single cause celeb, why not embrace all of life in it's mad chaos as simply the "way things are"? What are we so afraid of? Especially, as I mentioned in an earlier post, as we all share the same fate.
This doesn't give us cause or license for madness and anarchy, no, I think even the opposite. Looking around the world, we see that we, as clever monkeys, are indeed imprinted with strong impressions to caretake, to be stewards, to design and build. Why is this so? Is it because we, unlike most animals, are beholden to a prehensile thumb and upright posture? Is it because we can push the branches out of the way with our miraculous hands and gaze out over the savannah for pleasure and hunt? Is it merely an extension of our hunting/gathering brain, a brain that sees a pattern and decides to attempt to replicate the natural world, to garden and grow structures.
To return to the path of singular delusion, we must increase our openess as a flower opens to all insects, we must evolve past mammalian and enter floral brain, or we will destroy ourselves and everything around us. I don't know why we seem to be so hellbent on self-destruction, but I must say it must have to do with the dominant male-centric religious, scientific, and political structures that would like to retain power over all beings as opposed to sharing the world and it's energies with all beings. Perhaps my gripe with the major organized religions and whatnot is more to do with their insistence that someone has to be in charge, usually male, usually violent. This is the meme we want to spread forevermore? I think not.
So to open ones mind and believe in many things at once, contradiction and confusions, nothing creating stress or tension. As it says in the book of John:
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
PostNatalDay Posting
Hello.
I did not send out my usual birthday day musing/posting this year because I forgot to. I was contemplating my imminent end as an evolved ape-man passing from a boy of 29 to a man of 30, and hoping that I could at least squeeze another 30x365x24x60 minutes out of the cosmic toothpaste tube we call life. But then, as the months passed, I realized that life continued to produce and lay a fore me as many monotonous swaths of the space/time continuum as ever. It is the boredom of those sentenced to death, the roster of which we all share space. Not a big deal, really, as deals come. But we all share, as evolved ape-persons on this globe floating in space that seems to jut out into the universe neverendingly (cosmic dust and ice/iron formations creating analogues of the very terra firma we call home) the main career goals of all the other life forms on this planet, namely thus:
1. Fill Time
2. Reproduce (In some fashion or another, i.e. making nanobots or websites or children or tapestries or magazines or cupcakes or magic acts or vegetables or that feeling we got in sixth grade after our first kiss, my god the ridiculously soft lip flesh touching lip flesh, a moment that can live in on in our energy fields for decades)
3. Eat (In this, even beyond arctic ursa we excel as men, as glorious women slicing through mango flesh and bacon, frying phallic zucchini marinated in soy sauce and garlic over open flames, neon pink salmon twitching on the grill as if alive)
4. Not Die (This, as far as we can all tell, is the prima donna of all directives, without this first and foremost of life commandments, most other so-called golden rules and stone tablets sit in the dust waiting for purpose...)
And so on. As an evolved ape-man (How do I get this through to you, you religious folk w/o a clue? YOU are an evolved CHIM-fucking-PANZEE. There is hardly any debate about this in the scientific community...you know, the community which evolved to create your television sets and eyeglasses and Iphones and Honda Civics. The community you think wants to lie to us all about everything in order so that they can take the bonuses they earned from the various atheist overlords that command them to lie, blah blah blah...Whatareyouthinkingcrazychristians? That is one word because it is so strongly felt by so many that care about their friends, family, and the world, and to see the christians and other religious zealots going around in their prim Ford Focus automobiles and handing out pamphlets about how abortion is MASS MURDER while secretly wishing our government would just bomb the shit out of the whole Middle East makes us shudder. Hey, hell, we can start all over over there, we can repopulate with good brainwashed christer childs that we've stuck in bible-school/camp/study/group for every free (FILL TIME) moment we could until their brains are reduced to mumbling incoherently about how "christ is risen" and a whole bunch of other gobbledy gook nonsense that sends them into fits of rapture induced giggles and terror. What a mess.)I cannot think of any reason to create pointless overcomplifications of matters that are relatively straightforward. In this, I recognize the prime creative impulse.
Instead, as an old, established slightly evolved Chimpanzee with no harem to call his own, nor much in the way of reproductive product, I call upon the world to see itself as it is, and relax. We are nothing, going nowhere, achieving almost no thing. You out there, thinking about what a nihilistic bunch of shit that is, are mislead into considering nothing as evil/sin/thebignasty. I don't really differentiate between nothing and something (everything?), yet I have been told that is a huge error in judgment by none other then my significant other. She could be spot on, and I think perhaps there is a serious difference in the way the female and male species thinks about life, or nothing, or everything, in every genus! And there, with my first exclamation point, I proclaim myself energized by my own synaptic meanderings.
It seems to me that your life, my life, is nothing more or less then a tangent. That life itself on this planet is nothing more or less then a tangent. That the universe is nothing more or less then a tangent. A tangent of what? An infinitude of tangents to the sine waves of primal energy. Where did it all come from, this energy, we as tangents, etc...? Where, why, how, when...Who will answer all these questions, and how? At this point, I don't know, and I'm not sure I care. What I do know is that life on this planet evolved over millions of years to create an Iphone, and now we don't know why the hell we did that. What's the point of an Iphone? We don't know, but it is really fun to use. Will it save my soul? What the hell is a soul, and why do we think we have one? I will answer in the next paragraph.
Our brains are wired to NEED the idea of a continuum in which to exist in order to fulfill directive number three. We need to believe it is all a part of a larger picture in order to survive. It is an actual biologic relic of our Hunter/Gatherer origins in our real everyday brains. Therefore, early in our evolution as APE-PEOPLE we became aware that if we created a fictional part of ourselves that never had to die, we would be happier and more productive. At least, that was the theory. The idea of a soul actually created more problems then it solved, I wouldn't hesitate to posit, but at the same time we have created a conundrum of spirituality, because deep deep down there is a part of us that never dies, that is always recycled, but to name it would be to fictionalize reality. And so therefore we fall back on the easy lingo of religion to soothe our souls and medicate our existential angst.
In any case, I am happy to have survived yesterday, and I am happy to continue my journey through the tangential flow universe, or perhaps it is better to call it the infinite interdependent metaverse. Or maybe universe is just fine. Peace.
I did not send out my usual birthday day musing/posting this year because I forgot to. I was contemplating my imminent end as an evolved ape-man passing from a boy of 29 to a man of 30, and hoping that I could at least squeeze another 30x365x24x60 minutes out of the cosmic toothpaste tube we call life. But then, as the months passed, I realized that life continued to produce and lay a fore me as many monotonous swaths of the space/time continuum as ever. It is the boredom of those sentenced to death, the roster of which we all share space. Not a big deal, really, as deals come. But we all share, as evolved ape-persons on this globe floating in space that seems to jut out into the universe neverendingly (cosmic dust and ice/iron formations creating analogues of the very terra firma we call home) the main career goals of all the other life forms on this planet, namely thus:
1. Fill Time
2. Reproduce (In some fashion or another, i.e. making nanobots or websites or children or tapestries or magazines or cupcakes or magic acts or vegetables or that feeling we got in sixth grade after our first kiss, my god the ridiculously soft lip flesh touching lip flesh, a moment that can live in on in our energy fields for decades)
3. Eat (In this, even beyond arctic ursa we excel as men, as glorious women slicing through mango flesh and bacon, frying phallic zucchini marinated in soy sauce and garlic over open flames, neon pink salmon twitching on the grill as if alive)
4. Not Die (This, as far as we can all tell, is the prima donna of all directives, without this first and foremost of life commandments, most other so-called golden rules and stone tablets sit in the dust waiting for purpose...)
And so on. As an evolved ape-man (How do I get this through to you, you religious folk w/o a clue? YOU are an evolved CHIM-fucking-PANZEE. There is hardly any debate about this in the scientific community...you know, the community which evolved to create your television sets and eyeglasses and Iphones and Honda Civics. The community you think wants to lie to us all about everything in order so that they can take the bonuses they earned from the various atheist overlords that command them to lie, blah blah blah...Whatareyouthinkingcrazychristians? That is one word because it is so strongly felt by so many that care about their friends, family, and the world, and to see the christians and other religious zealots going around in their prim Ford Focus automobiles and handing out pamphlets about how abortion is MASS MURDER while secretly wishing our government would just bomb the shit out of the whole Middle East makes us shudder. Hey, hell, we can start all over over there, we can repopulate with good brainwashed christer childs that we've stuck in bible-school/camp/study/group for every free (FILL TIME) moment we could until their brains are reduced to mumbling incoherently about how "christ is risen" and a whole bunch of other gobbledy gook nonsense that sends them into fits of rapture induced giggles and terror. What a mess.)I cannot think of any reason to create pointless overcomplifications of matters that are relatively straightforward. In this, I recognize the prime creative impulse.
Instead, as an old, established slightly evolved Chimpanzee with no harem to call his own, nor much in the way of reproductive product, I call upon the world to see itself as it is, and relax. We are nothing, going nowhere, achieving almost no thing. You out there, thinking about what a nihilistic bunch of shit that is, are mislead into considering nothing as evil/sin/thebignasty. I don't really differentiate between nothing and something (everything?), yet I have been told that is a huge error in judgment by none other then my significant other. She could be spot on, and I think perhaps there is a serious difference in the way the female and male species thinks about life, or nothing, or everything, in every genus! And there, with my first exclamation point, I proclaim myself energized by my own synaptic meanderings.
It seems to me that your life, my life, is nothing more or less then a tangent. That life itself on this planet is nothing more or less then a tangent. That the universe is nothing more or less then a tangent. A tangent of what? An infinitude of tangents to the sine waves of primal energy. Where did it all come from, this energy, we as tangents, etc...? Where, why, how, when...Who will answer all these questions, and how? At this point, I don't know, and I'm not sure I care. What I do know is that life on this planet evolved over millions of years to create an Iphone, and now we don't know why the hell we did that. What's the point of an Iphone? We don't know, but it is really fun to use. Will it save my soul? What the hell is a soul, and why do we think we have one? I will answer in the next paragraph.
Our brains are wired to NEED the idea of a continuum in which to exist in order to fulfill directive number three. We need to believe it is all a part of a larger picture in order to survive. It is an actual biologic relic of our Hunter/Gatherer origins in our real everyday brains. Therefore, early in our evolution as APE-PEOPLE we became aware that if we created a fictional part of ourselves that never had to die, we would be happier and more productive. At least, that was the theory. The idea of a soul actually created more problems then it solved, I wouldn't hesitate to posit, but at the same time we have created a conundrum of spirituality, because deep deep down there is a part of us that never dies, that is always recycled, but to name it would be to fictionalize reality. And so therefore we fall back on the easy lingo of religion to soothe our souls and medicate our existential angst.
In any case, I am happy to have survived yesterday, and I am happy to continue my journey through the tangential flow universe, or perhaps it is better to call it the infinite interdependent metaverse. Or maybe universe is just fine. Peace.
Monday, April 13, 2009
green sprouts sticking up out of the ground, out of the earthen soil mass
the dead dry stuff littered here and there
when the morning, comes up out of
the soil we start to build things, a life
out of the most basic elements
we break hearts in order to order the world around
we go, in circles, crazysillysexy circles made of wrought iron and blown glass
we, when I mean us, when I mean you and I here and there
the eyes have us in sight, midnight snacks
love, oh love, how can you push such greenness out of the dark?
the dead dry stuff littered here and there
when the morning, comes up out of
the soil we start to build things, a life
out of the most basic elements
we break hearts in order to order the world around
we go, in circles, crazysillysexy circles made of wrought iron and blown glass
we, when I mean us, when I mean you and I here and there
the eyes have us in sight, midnight snacks
love, oh love, how can you push such greenness out of the dark?
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
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