It Starts with ONE

A revolution begins when one person stands up for what they believe is right and true, then others join in to stand up together for change.  There has been a major revolution happening over the last few decades and it's growing exponentially.  It's called....permaculture. 

"Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single production system." - Bill Mollison

The green thumbs are joining forces to save the world, one garden at a time. I took my permaculture design course (PDC) in 2009, on Orcas Island, Washington, when some good friends were more or less reborn after learning the permaculture ways. I wanted to know what all the excitement was about. For a whole month, I was immersed in permaculture living, breathing, speaking and eating. My way of existing in everyday life was changed forever. In a very good way.

I recently completed the book The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka. It was written in the 1970's in Japan. This man was way ahead (some might arguably say behind) of the times. I believe that Mr. Fukuoka was the father of the permaculture movement, before it was even called permaculture.  His philosophy was simple: Do less to nature and it will take care of itself. He believed that once humans disturb nature to try to control its functions, it starts a cycle of destruction that is very difficult to repair. 

My favorite parts of this book were the philosophies that he had on life in general, not just the parts about growing food. I closed the book feeling refreshed and inspired and more aware. I want to share a few of my favorite excerpts instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.

"The path that leads to right awareness involves living each day straightforwardly and growing and eating wholesome, natural food."

"Produce grown in an unnatural way satisfies people's fleeting desires but weakens the human body and alters the body chemistry so that it is dependant upon such foods. When this happens, vitamin supplements and medicines become necessary. This situation only creates hardships for the farmer and suffering for the consumer."

"Human life is not sustained by its own power. Nature gives birth to human beings and keeps them alive. This is the relation in which people stand to nature. Food is a gift from Heaven. People do not create foods from nature; Heaven bestows them."

"When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."

"If economic growth rises from 5% to 10%, is happiness going to double? What's wrong with a growth rate of 0%? Isn't this a rather stable kind of economics? Could there be anything better than living simply and taking it easy?"

"Originally human beings had no purpose. Now, dreaming up some purpose or other, they struggle away trying to find the meaning of life. It is a one-man wrestling match....From the time they enter nursery school, people's sorrows begin. The human being was a happy creature, but he created a hard world and now struggles trying to break out of it."

"Other animals fight but do not make war. If you say that making war, which depends upon ideas of strong and weak, is humanity's special "privilege," then life is a farce. Not knowing this farce to be a farce- there lies the human tragedy."

"Let us say that the key to peace lies close to the earth." - Masanobu Fukuoka 1913-2008

Nature: The Original Internet

This morning I was feeling a little out of sorts. Low energy and very little motivation to do anything before I had to be at work. I had noticed that some excess moisture had built up on the windows of our cabin over the winter months, due to drying laundry inside and also from all of the moist seedling trays we have in there at night. So I made a tub of natural cleaning solution and scrubbed away for over an hour. While I scrubbed the mold, I felt an intense sadness, but I didn't know why. Then I climbed onto a chair to clean the top of one window and was startled by a snake skin that a former tenant must have placed up there. Interesting find. Shedding old skin?

When I finished the cleaning, I opened up all of the windows to the sunny spring air and lit some Nag Champa incense to clear the house. Ahhhhh. Much better. 

I decided to go sit in the morning sunshine on a log in the garden.  As I sat and felt the warm sun on my face and the gentle breeze in my hair and on my neck, I closed my eyes and I soaked in all of the sounds around me. I heard a woodpecker loudly knocking in the distance. I heard a pair of frogs down in the creek calling to each other. I heard the bees buzzing in the patch of heather flowers on my right. I could hear the neighbors flock of geese and some wild geese playing in the pond just over a small hillside. I heard a hummingbird squeak. I opened my eyes and saw him in a fruit tree nearby. He zoomed away. Then i noticed a pretty orange butterfly amongst the bees and purple and white heather. 

I heard another tiny clicking sound and saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked to my left and it was a very cute, round, brown mouse. He was trotting happily along the bright green garden hose that was stretched along through the garden.  I sat very still watching him. He stopped periodically to nibble things. Then to my surprise, he made a bee line ...straight toward me. He came right to me, as if he had heard me calling his name. He came closer and closer and then jumped right up onto the toe of my boot. He seemed to say hello. Then he hopped down between my boots, and sat for a minute chewing on some clover. Next to him in the grass sat a small bumble bee warming himself in the heat of the sun enough to be able to take off on a mission. The mouse looked up at me and made his clicking sound, then made his way to the heather patch to join the bees and butterfly. I sat there smiling and enjoying the sun and the magic of nature. Then I thanked everything that was present around me and realized that the sadness and angst had disappeared. Nature IS the best therapy. The information contained within the wilds of Mother Nature is endless. 

Here is something interesting that I read:

http://spirit-animals.com/mouse/

Not so long ago, we came from nature. We are nature at our core. Eckhart Tolle says that birds, crystals and flowers are the three most enlightened forms of matter on the planet. They are the things that we humans adore and the things that we aspire to be. Light, flight and beauty. Its so true. As I typed that last line, a hummingbird buzzed around me garden chirping up a storm. She landed in the top of a cherry and tree and is watching me as much as I am watching her.  When I was little, I found a lifeless hummingbird in my father's airplane hangar. I picked him up and admired his rainbow of feathers. I said a few words for him and buried him in the forest underneath a flap of moss that covered a huge rock that we neighborhood kids had a secret fort at. We dubbed it "hummingbird rock" after that. Hummingbirds have always fascinated me. So tiny and so fast and so quick to appear and disappear. They are abundant on this property. Sipping nectar from the peach blossoms and playing tag in the sun. 

Hmmmmm....

http://spirit-animals.com/hummingbird/

Mother Nature is the origin of every single one of us. As children, many of us spent the majority of our time getting down and dirty outdoors. It was hard to tear us away from the endless wonders that nature supplied us with. Nature, not electronics, used to be the best babysitter. We were one with the wildness. Yet, as we age and "grow up", many of us humans disregard her and treat her like a moody teenager treats their parents. Eye rolls at the weather, disrespect, attitude, lack of gratitude, entitlement of her resources. Sound familiar? We all know folks that have this view of the planet. Then, one day they feel guilty, so they go visit her because they feel like it's what they are supposed to do every once in a while. An obligation. This is family disfuction at its finest. Respect your mother (earth). 

Spending time with her is what we ALL need more of. Hands down. She holds the secrets and answers to everything, and many of us have forgotten how to ask with our hearts because the e-version of the worldwide web is at our fingertips. What about the original World Wide Web of Life? The one that is engrained in all of us? So many have forgotten how to access it. No wifi required. No electricity even! Time to shake off the dust and relearn to connect with your true roots.

Get into the wild. Into the forest. Into the sun and rain and mud. Into the garden. Get into the rhythms of the sun a moon and the seasons and the plants and animals. Plug yourself into the original source. Make. the. time. Even 15 minutes each day. For you. Notice how you feel. Really notice....