This summer's garden growing season here in Caly was seriously cut short by late season rains and cold weather and in many ways the summer ended all too soon. The summer was riddled with a great deal of crises energy that is being experienced globally and locally as well which made this season tough of folks.
Now that fall has officially settled in the global picture is still rocking and rolling with the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement getting stronger by the day and folks everywhere feeling not just the upcoming election year hype getting jammed down their throats but the whole '2012' phenomena beginning to sound its horn.
This must be what TRANSITION is all about right? The 12 steps that were originally published in the Transition Handbook forgot to include the 13th Step and now that we are all in it we have to pretty much hold onto our cool and common sense as we proceed into this historic and sometimes hysterical unknown territory.
So on the cool side the old Zen proverb: "Before enlightenment...chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment...chop wood, carry water." comes to mind. And right now for many people October is still harvest time....
FALL HARVESTS AND GARDENS:
How many of you transitioners have had the experience of planting a garden thinking you were going to have help and found yourselves all alone and way over your head? Nothing is worse than having a garden that is too big to manage except flaking individuals who failed to rise to the occasion especially when you would not have planted such a large garden had you known they would not be good on their words right?
How many of you transitioners have had the experience of planting a garden thinking you were going to have help and found yourselves all alone and way over your head? Nothing is worse than having a garden that is too big to manage except flaking individuals who failed to rise to the occasion especially when you would not have planted such a large garden had you known they would not be good on their words right?
If you find yourself in such a position this fall and harvest season take heart and do what we did:
- Pluck all those tomatoes and can them without all the fancy spices or seasons - you can add to them later when you open the can for whatever use they are intended for.
- Pick all those pumpkins and find a nice dark cool place to store them - they can keep that way for many months as long as they are away from moisture and sunlight - we had one of our pumpkins keep for a whole year!
- Let it go to seed! It is super easy to seed save and letting them go is sometimes the best option when you are overloaded. Start your own line of Heirlooms and share with a local seed bank. The Seed Savers Exchange is just one (founded in 1975) resource for learning more and many towns/cities now have their own seed banks.
- Rotting vegies? THEY ARE GOLD IN YOUR COMPOST - just add worms and you have a beginnings of the best soil you will need for next springs potted starts!
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| Just one of many books on this subject |
COMMON SENSE
Common sense is a funny one in these days when our culture is at the end junction of over a century of intended separation that glorified the individualist and worshiped 'independence'. The 'commons' were destroyed in favor of 'mine'. Values and principles, if not extinct in some collectives, have been so varied that even married couples find it amazing if they have even a handful in 'common'.
The events that are happening in the world during this transition though are not necessarily completely foreign to us as a species despite the multitudes of opinions that make it seem impossible for us to imagine we hold a 'common view' of reality.
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