Author Archive
Gardening and Graduates
Posted by: | Comments05/25/2009
This time of year is so full of new plants and new life. Suddenly the leaves are fully out on the trees and the smell of fresh baked Strawberry-Rhubarb pie drifts about on the wind. Light filling the early evening is a mixed blessing for gardeners, urging us to do one more thing outside before supper and then making that meal far too late! I love the urge to plant and clean up last year’s old growth. I want to go get fish and bury them under the hills of squash and corn and potatoes. Primitive urges surface to dance in the light of the moon and stand for long minutes inhaling the seductive scents of Spring – lilacs, honeysuckle, iris, apple blossoms and wet earth. All of the wonderful abundant diversity of plants in our lives fills my senses with gratitude and awe. Their ability to come up through cement, live in the cracks of rocks, survive in all conditions, and change with the seasons is a good metaphor for all the graduates in this season as well.
The schooling that has been accomplished through all your study and hard work is amazing. The subject matter, though, may or may not pan out to be what you really need; may or may not be relevant in this rapidly changing, morphing world. The skills you have gained that will allow for your greatest success may not have been mentioned by your teachers and professors. Now at graduation it is time to take stock of the tools and techniques that will help you create your next life stage with passion and certainty. As with gardening some things will flourish this year that didn’t do anything last year. Some other ‘old faithfuls’ will wither and die for no apparent reason. We have more idea of the mystery in our lives now than ever before. So I look to the plants and animals – the natural world – for the most useful skills, talents, and tools for a future you can count on. We, like them, are evolving.
The key concept is to develope personal sustainability. Each one of us has the ability to sustain ourself as long as we also have the ability to re-think our life and then go with what works right now. Careers and trades come and go now with great regularity and increased speed. Count your education as something that has taught you how to think things through; how to find new answers and make up new solutions; how to get outside the box. Everything that has gone before can only give us the basic unstructured building blocks for the future. We are all standing on the very edge of the known universe. What do you want to have with you to help you with whatever is next in your life?
This is a variation of the old thought experiment: What do you want to have with you if you get stranded on a deserted island? What do you want to be able to achieve in a future that is not now defined; that is basically unknown; that is brand new? Think about it. Do you know how to make a solar cooker, plant seeds, be in community, step out of the backdoor with a song and a prayer knowing you can sustain yourself and others? Develope an understanding of re-purposing and frugality with your commodities. If we are going to create a world out of the best of the old world, what does that look like for you? In a world where money is no longer a stable commodity or even present in the same way as it was in the past, what matters to you and how will you get there from here?
These are the interesting questions. And the questions are always more interesting than the answers. Always. What questions are you asking yourself these days? How many different options/answers can you think of for every question? If you can start from where your passion is and how it can be increased and expressed positively in the world, you will have a better way of creating your future. Don’t base your expectations of the future on anything from the past. We are in such a totally different world that approach will not work.
What do I suggest? Be flexible and head for a passionate dream, not an old tired goal of our Father’s and Mother’s design. Their dreams and accomplishments are history. Your’s has not yet come into being. Know all of the basics of personal sustainability and how to get by out of a backpack OR have a good friend who does. Know how to think and figure out new solutions to new problems. Know how to drop anything that doesn’t work, no matter how long it has been in use. This includes beliefs, patterns, and solutions used by anyone else for any other time. Assess the situation with a new eye, and remember that ‘I can’t’ never did anything. We are a creative, inventive people. Use this to energize your life.
I’ve gone on long enough. We are in the midst of turning this world onto a new course or dying trying. That is what’s at stake here. Those are the skills we need now. All your young eagerness and enthusiasm are the very qualities we need now every where at once. There are no limit to the number of jobs available to birth our new world; you simply need to create them, see them, do them, and enjoy the ride!
Congratulations and Blessings! You are our future! Live in it with passion!
Thinking About Water
Posted by: | Comments04/25/2009
Water is becoming a more precious commodity day by day in our world. Other than air to breathe, it is the next most important element to keep us alive. In my varied life I’ve learned to conserve water for many reasons: such as carrying in and out all the water we consumed due to camping or plumbing considerations; living in the desert; or melting snow when the power went out in winter. These experiences have made me more conscious about waste water and wasting water.
Even so, I have become more aware of water use and misuse in my home recently. I find I still have some habits that need to change, some ways of using water that are better (or worse) for conservation of one of our most precious resources. One way I alert myself about how much water I just let go down the drain is to put a basin or dish pan under the tap whenever I am playing in the sink. This has created some unexpected changes and some ideas about how to save more water in the future.
I am reminded of my Mother and my Grandmother with some of these ‘savings’ and it’s been handy to have these memories surface. I can see her throwing the dish water out the back door onto her flowers, putting it in a bucket for the chickens or pigs, and hand washing the cleanest clothes first so the wash water can be used for all the clothes with just an addition of some more hot water. So when I want hot water and have to run the tap to get it, I fill jugs with the cold water until it is the temperature I want to use. This water sits to release the chlorine and is then used to water plants, fill a fish tank, for pet water, drinking water and ice cubes. I also fill my coffee pot with the cold water from the hot water tap in the morning to ‘get to the hot’ faster.
In the shower, I run the tap into a bucket for watering outside until I have hot water. I’d love to have a recirculating system for this water – flick a toggle and the water goes back into the system instead of down the drain. When it goes down the drain, it then goes into a grey water system for outside watering. All in good time…
One of my worst habits has to do with brushing my teeth. I stopped running the water endlessly awhile ago. Now I find I need to remember to just barely turn on the tap to rinse my brush, not turn it on full tilt! When water is really scarce you can use a cup with water in it for tooth brushing, preferably outside over the flower bed. Dip the brush in the water, brush teeth, take a mouthful to rinse out the mouth, spray it on the brush to clean it and repeat with the rest of the water, all the while watering the flowers. Kids love to do this!
Another big waste of water is letting it run while doing dishes, even at a trickle. Use a dish pan, large pot, or bowl to run water into. You’ll be suprised how fast it fills up! When you’re finished, empty the pan, pot or bowl on the lawn (use bio-degradable soap), into a bucket, or onto the compost pile if it’s dry. When I lived in the desert, I kept a dishpan in the kitchen sink to catch all the water I could, using it anyway I could. This is also an eye opener for how much water runs down the drain!
The most important thing is to keep track of what you use. Then you can decide how to save more, how to reuse it, and what habits to change. Most of us know about the brick in the toilet, fixing leaks, keeping the toilet from running, and shortening our showers to 3 minutes or less. This is just the next piece and may take some thought to start with. After awhile it will be second nature, a new habit you can be proud of. Just remember everything counts!
