Yes, I Missed You, Too!
Posted by radicalmom, Sep 13 2009, 10:26 AM
..... And again I sit and watch the sun rise over the hills to the east. It is a pale blue sky with a blanket of low clouds in the distant valley. The sun's ray are waking all kinds of wildlife and hill folk; turkeys have successfully raised a second brood of chicks, which strut across fields and roads with no care at all; and now there are the sure-fire signs of fall with the red leaves of the maples spotting the branches. I was all het up in the spring to plant a huge garden, this being the first year i would experiment with root cellaring. The spring rains came, then we had some more rain. I had planted the peas, the carrots, the greens, onions earlier. Suffice it to say, planting in mud isn't encouraging. We all know what happened this summer to those who had adverse and unco-operative weather conditions all across the country. Each region having it's own version of good and bad conditions. I pray you all had a chance to reap something from this crazy season, if not simply gratitude for the harvest, a roof over your head, or family and friends to guide you through adversity.
We are heading in to another winter here in the northeast, which I have been told is going to be colder and slightly longer. The harvest I have to show for my labours this summer will amount to 10 pounds of red onions, 3 pounds of yellow onions, 6 pounds of young carrots, 3 pounds of hulled peas, and scattered handfuls of greens and herbs, 2 pounds of blackberries, and 2 pounds of blueberries. Not much, but enough to augment a number of meals for the near future. This means that I am not going to be able to resort to stored foodstuffs. This winter I will have to rely upon foods not found on my land, foods produced by farmers and growers who had slightly better harvests than I. My supply of meat is secured, I have a stash of rice and beans, and the lower-hill neighbor has eggs. Comes time to find vegetables and cheese, things not within reach, I have to travel down to the small town where there are shops and farms. There are farm stores which have supplied me with great food this summer, not to mention goodies and treats like coffee and sugar, whipping cream for making butter, you know what I mean. I called one shop this week to let them know i was picking up my coffee. I was told: IF they're open since it's after labor day!! This leads to the inevitable: they will be cutting back their hours drastically and possibly even close for winter, which they did last year. The other farm store, where I get the bulk of my meat for myself and the dog, has announced they might just shut down the operation for winter as well.
This brings me to my on-going rant about preservation of regional economy. If we are to survive as communities when the times get close and hard, when that proverbial tree falls across the road and we have to stop, get out of our comfort zones, face the traumas of want and hunger, we must choose to continue to share what we have to offer throughout the seasons. The drum that is lately being banged about local foods must NOT be a seasonal beat! Most importantly, winter is the time to offer support for our local food suppliers and farmers. It goes both ways; if you want us to shop locally, then you should be willing to be available steadily, even if the hours are cut back, we must be able to access the fruits of your labor so we, in turn, can help you pay your taxes, buy heating oil, pay the electric bill. Continuous support of each other throughout good times and bad is essential, not just when the shit hits the fan or we deem it crucial for the moment. The immediacy of the situation is this: please consider the effect of closing stores just because business has slowed down because the tourists have gone home. Loyal customers who have been shopping consistently will suffer. Regional economy should not rely upon tourism, and eventually may not be able to sustain itself if the tourist is not able to return to his vacation spot. It's your neighbors who have to be considered when the doors are closed due to slower business.
Thanks, again, for listening. a.
Sunshine And Hope
Posted by radicalmom, Jun 28 2009, 10:25 AM
As I sit here typing, I am able to see out the window to the west. This morning, for the first time in a long time, the pale blue early morning sky is visible along with wisps of clouds and the deep green hillsides which surround me. The patient seedlings sit on the table on the deck, each one leaning toward the sunlight as it marches across the sky. This rainy spring we've been having has turned the already-damp garden into an interesting collection of tall grasses, toads, frogs, snakes; a plethora of daisies, violets, sorrel,and various random green things, the most prevalent of which being algae. The rain-water residuals run constantly down the hillside onto the field behind the house where the garden has been established. My carefully-laid plans of troughs and ditches has been foiled by heavy rain, cloudy weather, and cool temperatures. I've been able to plant close to half of my selected crops. Each time a rain visits this hillside, a new water-path is created and i am redesigning the irrigation. A small spring now flows to a makeshift pond in the center of the field, making me think how happy ducks would be in this morass of life and nature's creation.
Isolation does funny things to a person's mind-set. Although I have visitors and am able to get the the village occasionally, I find myself embracing the solitude which greets me on each return. I follow current events through the internet and have become an armchair activist, something which annoys me, as I've always felt that direct communication is more effective; the passion in one's voice and actions seems more sincere and immediate. I continue to follow my favorite issues, occasionally getting sucked in to something trivial. Writing down key words and ideas for research and provocative conversation with imaginary coffee-chat company. I've been researching plants and wildflowers, food and health, politics and controversy, diet and nutrition. With each subject come questions. I've noticed that global political strife and woes will continue to continue. Yet my hillside remains green. Our leaders make decisions based on their own game-plans and agendas, yet the grass continues to grow taller as I wade through it, walking the pup. The economy will always be an issue, monetary grief and poverty a constant, yet the strawberries ripen and the blueberries turn from green to purple. Scientists continue to experiment with our nutrition and well-being, yet my farmer-neighbours offer a virtual cornucopia of vegetable wealth and healthy meat.
This particular blog has been fomenting into development while watching world and domestic events become one huge global mess. As I type this, I am listening to the radio; the song playing is this:
My life flows on in endless song
Above earth's lamentation.
I hear the real, thought far off hymn
That hails the new creation
Above the tumult and the strife,
I hear the music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?
What through the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
What through the darkness round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of Heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble, sick with fear,
And hear their death-knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?
Thank you..... a.
Bemoaning The Moaning.
Posted by radicalmom, Apr 2 2009, 11:58 AM
once upon a time in village not unlike ours, there was peace, calm and a sense of belonging to a close-knit community. neighbour knew neighbour and nodding at strangers was just the norm. a helpful hand was a given and there always seemed a way to get by. the economy seemed to manage; exchanges and services were located and disseminated according to their need. at times, people did without and got by. yet in each culture there comes a degree of dissatisfaction: i am reminded of my favorite parable, the fisherman and his wife from 1001 nights. short synopsis reveals the wife demanded more and more from a released wish-granting fish. the more she acquired the more she wanted and conversely, the unhappier she got. eventually she screamed that she just wished to be happy. the fisherman returned home to find his wife back in the old hovel. i love that story.
as society grows and demands increase due to extravagant tastes and out-of-reach goods, our requirements for happiness are altered and amended according to what the next best thing is: a wood stove, a well in the back yard, new cloth for that dress, a kettle for boiling water, a fiddle, oil lamps, electricity, gas for the new ford, and on and on until we are demanding cheap junk from third-world countries. with all this has come a huge price of globalization and rampant pollution, both fiscal and environmental.
when village residents complain about empty storefronts and loss of business, to whom do they address these issues? they must ask themselves how often they frequented the bigger, easier-to-shop-in box stores, avoiding the small businesses that created the community in which they have lived for generations. if there is no shopping downtown and we resort to antique shops for the tourists, we are missing out on a very important factor of this equation: we took our business elsewhere due to "convenience"; and now convenience is our excuse and poverty on all levels is the consequence.
supporting your neighbours and feeding our families with local goods and services will enhance community, no matter where you are, and you will see fewer and fewer frowns of worry.
i remember when this village near which i am located was viable and sustaining.
now there are ramshackle and decrepit shops struggling desperately to grab at the idle passers-by who have no money cause there are no jobs because the shops and stores closed because there was no business because people went shopping elsewhere. this is happening all around our country. we have forgotten how to live simply and that is going to cost us dearly.
thanks for your time. a.
Thinking Globally
Posted by radicalmom, Jan 28 2009, 11:56 AM
my thoughts regarding this whole planetary mess into which we have found ourselves are diverse and complicated, not to mention an issue that makes me very angry at big business,greedy mega-corps and self-serving governments. i have been lucky enough in my travels to be exposed to alternative ideas and have explored all forms of thought in relation to planetary actions and mind-set. my leanings are esoteric and have molded my philosophic approach to troubles and strife, be they local or global. i harbor little fear for mother earth as i know she will always right herself when the time comes. most of the fear i hold in my heart has roots in the direct suffering that might ensue when events actually occur to myself and my family. i was just ready to doze off to sleep and had reached that wonderful place of almost there yet not.(i get some of my best ideas and inspiration while in dream-state and alpha-state conditions). a solution came to me in the form of less than ten words.
our "planetary issues are metaphysical".
most will say it is the "least likely" answer.
i say that it is the "most probable" answer.
therefore, we must think globally in order to start to heal this physical and psychic wound that has festered and become a medusa-head. think beyond our circle and focus on the big picture. you all understand what i am saying, i hope. if not, feel free to write me and we can discuss this.
Do It Now! Start Now!
Posted by radicalmom, Dec 27 2008, 03:25 PM
i was surfing this morning, as is my wont, and i added some websites to my rss feeds. i googled ron kirk and monsanto together. ron kirk is the guy obama picked for trade representative. i found such depressing news not related to that. i just posted a story about sugar beets reaching 60%.. 60%!!!! of the yield for 2008! holy crap! then i went to rural river farm network. the midwest is rife with growers and farmers who still insist on using herbicides and pesticides. dow bought up dairyland seed. it just goes on and on. thinking that obama will change this whole thing is simply a pipe dream. he will do nada, nothing at all to stop it. and even if he does it will be merely lip service to the OCA and its loyal followers. i am beside myself with grief for the planet and what we are doing to it. HOWEVER, i am hopeful for gaia and her power. i am astounded at the ignorance of the dangers of the use of chemicals in our daily lives.
get off the grid, grow your own!! only buy seed from trusted sources. SHARE!! SHARE!! SHARE!! please . think about your neighbours and who will help you through the coming hard times!
Long Time Gone
Posted by radicalmom, Dec 21 2008, 04:30 PM
yes, it's been a while since i haunted the blogs. i've been busy posting, pasting, copying, transferring, ruminating, thinking, slumbering, avoiding, and fill in with any verb you can possibly think of that might evoke sloth or laziness. i created a new group in another website; my own group on the "wiserearth" website.!! wow. i feel somewhat accomplished, yet in a weird way, stifled. i have been watching this whole obama thing flesh out to a fiasco of broken dreams and hopes. i have been feeling hopeful as well, conversely. i am usually pretty optimistic as a rule. my feelings of the promise of spring get stronger now and i wait for the daylight to retun and make a joyful noise come march. i have been thinking about many things that i have been wanting to say to the listeners and watchers of these blogs. some ideas are as follows:
1. my personal feeling about the word "NEED": its over-use and disabling connotations make me cringe each time i hear it. i feel we might better reach our supposed goals if we replace that word with must do, must have, should, will.. etc. you get the drift, i'm sure. as we continue to use the word "NEED", we make trivial and worthless the objective, as if it has become and will always be beyond our reach. i hear people use it without thought, even obama. try this day and each day to change the verb to a positive action rather than a disabling and mournful cry. "we need change" has gotten very old and has yet to transcend the current policies and practices of our social issues and situations. "we must change" creates within us a subtle ability to overcome the issues we see that are supposedly unsurmountable. just think how many times it has been uttered, yet our situation is still the same. a collective effort to make change happen, and create our own realities, that should be our goal. not bemoan what we DO NOT HAVE..
B. please listen to the music of dave carter and tracy grammer. he speaks volumes!!
3. buy and trade as many seeds as you can and get your communities active. global issues will continue to exist for millenia. out neighbours are the ones who will be there when the times get tough. get to know them NOW; not when you are desperate and cowering for aid. if you have extra, share it! if you have just enough, be grateful. if you have little, then create wealth by combining forces and resources. each person has something to offer.
D. dance and sing.. smile and be joyful.
Wish List For This New Era
Posted by radicalmom, Nov 8 2008, 12:33 PM
that now we have a new collection of administrators on capitol hill "in charge" of things and able to sway the tide, i feel that a wish list is in order. if this current batch of rulers is able to achieve such phenomenally sweeping changes as a result of "9-11" then i feel anyone can do it just by the swish of a pen, right?
this is a list of things i would love to see changed and added in order to help us live with more intention and ease. i will not discuss the reasons, we all know them,
1. repeal the patriot act and all the flotsam that is attached as the result of its enaction including the no-child-left-"behind" act.
2. disable corporate welfare and eliminate tax breaks for big business.
3. offer a free college education to all who donate community service: one year of service garners a fall-spring term for any who participate. tax credits are for the birds and result in nothing tangible for those who are unemployed. perhaps a per-hour equivelant at 1 ten-dollar hour.
4. detach the big oil companies from the government and its equally oily interests.
heavily penalize any corporation that poisons and pollutes our countryside and landscape including big science and its end results of genetically modified organisms which do nothing but line the pockets of the manufacturers, leaving the hungry at its doorsteps to fend for themselves when they don't play the game.
5. offer incentives (not in the form of tax "credits") for those who succeed in getting themselves off the energy grid, become self-sustaining, and maintain such for no less than three years. such incentives could range from store credits at local merchants' businesses; free fruit frees, vegetables, and berry bushes; credit towards school or furthering-education classes.
6. open up the building and energy industry to alternative energy utilities, specifically wind and solar. reward prisons and penetentaries that create eco-friendly jobs and opportunities to its inmates, promising them a real future with real results. offer similar rewards to municipalities and regions that follow suit.
that's just about it for now, feel free to copy and paste this, add your own ideas, etcetera. send it to obama!!
"basement Sustainability"
Posted by radicalmom, Oct 10 2008, 12:32 PM
i was chattering with a friend this am and we were going on about the lack of co-operation in communities here in my area. sure they co-operate about an immediate issue: gas drilling....it's an important thing for discussion and action. remember the motivation this last winter and early spring to get our acts together and get classes and seminars for teaching? winter stopped the action and we hunkered in, teeming over our seed catalogues and dreaming of warm weather; that was the time to network and learn and teach.. now we are upon yet another winter with dire circumstances pending.
i pity the neighborhoods and communities that have neglected to see the urgency here. we have resorted to basement sustainability not regional sustainability. put food in our pantries and basements and the hell with the neighbours.
sorry to be so negative, just have to say this out loud.. mourning the loss of my connections.. we are all running scared.
Sunday Morning Sunshine
Posted by radicalmom, Oct 5 2008, 12:45 PM
the orange of the leaves is incredibly deep, not to mention the reds and purples. i have been house-sitting on a small "homestead"; tending 4 sheep(piece of cake), 11 chickens, and one very large dog, a bull mastiff. the acreage is placid and quiet. twice a day there is the parade of wild turkeys across the yard. they saunter and peck at the ground. there is a female who guards the flock and she surely has her sense of duty. i watch them and wonder how i would survive if i had to rely on the wildlife around me. i guess i'd learn to smoke meat and dry fruit. winter is approaching; the geese are flying, mice are seeking the warmer holes and crevices of houses, i watched a shrew creep out from the wall and grab and run with some cat food only to reappear for more of this bounty he discovered. the cat, absee, watched with curiosity, how could this small creature be so bold? it was pleasant and sweet to watch this gentle feline just observe mere inches from the dish.
the wood has been stacked and the kindling continues to pile to a mountainous thicket outside the door.
i am still foot-loose, not particularly fancy-free, although i do entertain certain fancies: hot coffee, two eggs for breakfast, and the glass of wine later in the day. i have been reading alot. just read a great book called the barn at the end of the world, written by mary rose o'reilley. the subtitle is: the apprenticeship of a quaker, buddhist shepherd. the book list: various opus on livestock and gardening; the ever-wonderful country women written all those years ago by yet another generation of homesteading ladies; the foxfire books(although the first was the best); and some new books about raw milk and its benefits.
i feel i must still be politically active and vocal, yet just have no clue the direction i will take. i'd love to hone my skills and develop into a better communicator of information. i get so tongue-tied sometimes.
anyway.. hunker in... fall is upon us...
Restless And Easily Agitated.
Posted by radicalmom, Sep 14 2008, 12:49 PM
i'm feeling impatient and restless due to inaction on my part to progress with my life. i must tidy up bridges, not burn them. i must patch and mend my past in order to advance. monkey-mind creates confusion and mars my clear thinking. i find myself going cyber in order to be active politically. my soap-box has moved to the internet and i am disjointed and disconnected from my community. on one hand, the internet has amazing opportunities, yet i feel that my region must be served. is it my region? what IS my region? yes, we have soup kitchens; yes we have plans for the homeless, albeit scanty and tenuous from fiscal year to fiscal year; yes we have family services offering free items; yes we have the food banks. why do i feel so bereft? ecologically and environmentally speaking we are facing a cataclysm of events due to the natural gas surge. the state even has plans to trounce our objections to the rape of our rivers and farmlands. do i hear new york city becoming agitated about the watershed becoming destroyed? no... they are clueless and have not been informed of the true nature of natural gas drilling. i digress.
i stand back and see the reality of the situation: i am not able to stop the continuous pollution and destruction visited upon us by these interlopers. i can rant and rave, yes, but it only creates agitation and dis-ease. i seek to find a place that is happy with itself and what it can offer its denizens. i seek co-operative community, which works hand in hand to make peace with itself. i want to move to maine. it seems to be calling me. i understand that no matter where i go, i will be constantly reminded of my vociferous commitment to mother earth. i'm ready.. what can i do to help you? how can i offer my self as an instrument of service? any ideas?