Published on Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Vermiculture is composting your food scraps (non meat) thru the action of worms. In other words, having worms eat your garbage. I have been composting garden wastes for years and had always wanted to have a worm bin to feel like my composting efforts where complete. In September 2002 after purchasing the “Can O’ Worms” plastic worm bin, we received our first (and actually only) batch of worms. I think about this topic today because I just completed the job of cleaning out the Can O’ Worms.
The task of Can cleaning is not one that I look forward to. It is recommended that you clean the Can every year, but I let it go for two years this time. After the worms consume the garbage, their poop (castings) is left. It is very high in nitrogen, making it a excellent, concentrated and organic fertilizer. One can imagine that separating the worms from their poop is neither stimulating nor particularly difficult. It is tedious. I completed the task in 5 hours (1 break and lunch included).
As I was separating the little lives from their excrement, it occurred to me that this task had many Zen like qualities. Appreciating the work of these creatures and their prior/future generations, being mindful to return them back to the Can and not into the the casting bin, thinking about how many little lives and generations of lives have been in this Can over the last six (!) years with little attention from me, I find rather humbling. I keep and use their castings and give it for gifts to other gardeners ( imagine getting a bag of poop for Christmas or your birthday!). Cleaning the Can today provided me with an opportunity I never appreciated before. Life goes on. It’s supposed to.
Published on Saturday, August 9th, 2008
This will be my 55th year. I always get a bit introspective right before my birthday. I guess it is an evaluation, planning, course correction time of the year for me. Most of us need to slow our driving down to 55 mph. This reminds me that I too am slowing down in many ways. Driving 55 mph saves gas. Being 55 years old and going forward, I am reminded of conserving my own energy and directing it in even more meaningful ways.
“They” say it takes about 3 months to integrate a new habit (good or bad) into our life. Awareness is the first step to changing in ourselves those habits or ways of being that may not be the best for us. As I begin my journey at 55, tank full, I anticipate a year of learning, sight seeing and health.
Published on Saturday, July 19th, 2008
At our house, we love crusty bread. When we get to Berkley, we always stock up bread from ACME Bread Company. Of course, we don’t get there very often, so when I found this recipe, I was excited. First saw it in a Williams-Sonoma catalogue then found out that it is a well traveled recipe. According to what I have read, it started with a printing in the New York Times by Mark Bittman. NYC baker Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery developed it. What Willams-Sonoma did was jazz it up with Rosemary and Lemon zest. Then Cook’s Illustrated (http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=4748&bdc=56976#topOfPage ) added perfection with the addition of beer and white vinegar. Hope you enjoy this as much as we do!
Published on Saturday, June 21st, 2008
” Every good thing you do, every good thing you say, every good thought you thinks, vibrates on and on and never ceases. The evil remains only until it is overcome by good, but the good remains forever.”
Published on Friday, June 20th, 2008
This summer has been dedicated to finding my direction on my yogic path. That means specifically, finding a Yoga Teacher Training (YTT). To that end, Rick and I visited three YTT programs in Northern California: Ananda, The Expanding Light in Nevada City, Ca., Sivanada Yoga Farm in Grass Valley, Ca., and Mt Madonna Center near Gilroy, Ca. Each was a unique and beautiful place. The first two are Ashrams, while Mt. Madonna is more of a retreat center. My goal was to get the “feel” of each environment, speak to those either attending a YTT or staff members who organize it, check out the housing and food (I am interested in tent camping) and figure out if I could spend a month in that place. I feel like I have made a significant start in my decision. Stay tuned for more!
Published on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
Published on Sunday, May 25th, 2008
Published on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
In the Buddhist tradition, illusion is the state all of us are in until a time we awaken. I think about this concept more than ever as I watch my Mother with Alzheimer’s struggle with persistent fixed delusions. She has several major delusions and a few minor ones. They dominate her interactions. Actually, they are her interactions. Dealing with them as the non-Alzheimer’s person, is tiring, sad and frustrating.
But that leads me back to the illusions of our lives, of my life. My Mom’s delusions are scary, sad, emotional. She cries. My daily illusions are the experiences that at some point, if I develop Alzheimer’s, may lead to my own delusions. In listening and identifying her delusions (demons?), I have been given a window into what has happened to her during her life and how she processed those experiences. I work daily on awakening thru my mediation and mindfulness in personal interaction. I struggle with my illusions as my Mother struggles with her delusions. We are not so unalike in that.
Published on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
Henri Nouwen
Published on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
California State Automobile Association (CSAA) publishes a monthly magazine Via. They are sponsoring a contest called “The Kindness of Strangers”. The contest requires a very short description of a traveling event where the writer relates an experience where a stranger(s) made a difference in their travel experience. My submission is included here. I did not place in the contest, but I feel the story is timely and relevant to our world today.
Early evening, Christmas Eve 1973. A stretch of Highway 99 between Sacramento and Los Angeles, California. A young couple with a 9-month-old baby in a ‘66 Plymouth Valiant station wagon has broken down near Chowchilla as they travel for Christmas. A desolate stretch of road. No one stops to help. No telephones available. The night is turning cold and hours go by before a car stops. Two Muslim students on their way back to school in Fresno take us in and drive us to their apartment. They feed and shelter us for the night. The next morning, Christmas Day, they help us find someone to fix the car. They forever influenced my worldview. Every time I drive that stretch of road, I remember the most “Christian” actions that came from two Muslim strangers.
