Earth Day Thoughts

I have been thinking a lot about the Earth. It isn't hard to see how, for many generations and many cultures, we have often thought of the Earth as our Mother. She literally feeds us. Try to think of something you eat that didn't come from the living soil, directly or indirectly. The minerals from the rocks of the Earth's surface, via plants and animals, make up our bones and are vital to the workings of our bodies.

I find it very sad that the profit-making form of agriculture so common on this planet now is destroying the very soil needed to feed us. I have read about how with industrial farming that for every ton of food produced we lose 6 tons of topsoil while filling what is left with toxic chemicals.

Did you know that healthy soil should have 600 million bacteria in a teaspoon? There should also be tens of thousands of protozoa and miles of fungal hyphae. If all these little friends were in our soil, the plants which feed us wouldn't need fungicides or bactericides.

It is because of this that I'm a compost fanatic. We compost all the vegetable trimmings from the kitchen, all the weeds and spent plants from the garden, and most everything else that will decompose, in a huge compost pile. The compost process requires and encourages the very life needed for healthy soil. The finished compost added back on your vegetable and fruit beds is like a shot in the arm for your garden. Growing cover crops and digging them into the soil is another wonderful way to recharge the life-filled soil.

Happy Earth Day. Give our Mother a shout out when you eat or drink or breathe today!

Synchronicities in the round

I can sense when I'm in a groove sometimes, because the universe starts feeding me synchronicities and coincidences. I'm reading a book about a theory that is able to mathematically account for the cosmic or metaphysically components of the universe. Thankfully it is written in laywoman's terms. I've begun to have supplementary information popping up in other areas of my life. I was noticing a circulation of coincidental happenings when this quote came up in my reading and really pulled the phenomenon together for me:

You see, where you put your energy, where you put your mind, is vitally central to your experience. If you begin with an act of faith and say, “I think life is this way and I’m going to live as if it were this way,” then you cast yourself into the midair of faith having no proof of anything but the simple feeling, the knowing, that all truly is well and that the universe does make sense. ...You simply need to let go of any preconceived notions as to how that works and simply engage in life to the best of your ability... The universe will begin to perceive you as joining the dance. You will begin to get synchronicities...The universe will begin to help you. You will feel that feedback. And the more you lean into that, the more you will receive it. *

Since I find that this groovy thing rarely happens when I'm stressed or over scheduled, I have been trying to keep my calendar more clear. This folds in well with the fact that I'm trying not to drive as much with the gas prices as high as they are.

Even so, I do need to go to town now and again. Yesterday I went to a meeting of local artists, a group called Gathering Artists, where we have been planning a collaborative exhibit for October. I have been working to finish a hand woven Wall Hanging of a sunrise I saw when I was in Nag's Head, North Carolina, and I brought it for "Show and Tell" at the meeting, despite the fact it wasn't quite done. I will finish embellishing with hand dyed silk and mount it in the next few days so I can put it in the fiber art exhibit of my work that is currently on display at the Boyle County Public Library. It is in the Mahan House Gallery if you'll be at the library and would like to stop in and see it. It will be there until May 6th.

You can see more of my fiber art on my web site,
http://www.lacetree.com/

When I was in town, I also needed to pick up some potting soil so I can pot up a bunch of bedding plants I have growing in the greenhouse. This has been the strangest spring and it is really hard to know when to start things both in the garden and inside, and when to put the plants from the greenhouse out in the garden. We have had downright hot temperatures, interpersed this past week with a number of frosty nights. We are waiting to see if the cold temperatures have damaged the blueberries, apples, pears and peaches. It did some damage to the strawberries, but they will bounce back, I feel certain. I had them covered in a hoop house, which added several degrees of protection. All my early greens and the broccoli and cauliflower are in hoop houses still, though on warm days I pull off the row covers.

As you can see, even with trying to keep the calendar clear, this is a busy time around here. Wish me luck with going round and round in the groove!
*http://www.llresearch.org/transcripts/issues/2010/2010_1113.aspx