Vol. 2, No. 5
January 2010
An Educational Guide
to Sustainability and Spiritual Well-being
Arizona’s State Parks struggle for survival Respect closure areas: Help protect Arizona’s bald eagles Lost Valley: Life in a sustainable community
My India: Where every village is home
Mystic Lake Declaration: Native Nations respond to climate change threats
Earth Odyssey—Reaching an educated audience across Arizona and beyond
AshFork
Dewey Humboldt Mayer
Strawberry Pine
Earth Odyssey is available in these towns and communities across the state of Arizona. Earth Odyssey is also available in Bellingham and Prosser in Washington State. Visit www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com for a detailed list of establishments that carry Earth Odyssey.
Earth Odyssey has an annual distribution of 96,000 throughout the state of Arizona and a subscription readership across the United States. With a return rate of less than 2 percent, estimated monthly readership is 20,000. Page 2 • January 2010
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Vol. 2, No. 5 January 2010
Features 6
Cover Story Arizona State Parks struggle for survival
12
Page 30
Mystic Lake Declaration Native Nations respond to climate change threats
14
Respect closure areas Help protect Arizona’s bald eagles
17
Recycled bridge Fort Bragg builds bridge from recycled materials
10 My India: Where every village is home
Page 32
Movie Reviews by Jason Allen
22
Lunar and Solar eclipses How will the forthcoming eclipses affect you?
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Movies that won’t make you dumber
Page 34
Lost Valley Life in a sustainable community
31
Nature Notes Ponderosa pine inspires deep-rooted thoughts
18 Annual fundraiser Motorcycle run benefits rescued animals
42
By Sarah McLean
Page 36
Music, the drum and awakening Music provides a powerful connection to our spirit
Columns and Entertainment 5 This ’N That by Ann Haver-Allen 20 Sustainable Business of the Month
By Michael Davis
Page 39
33 Astrology by Dominique Shilling 35 Tracks Across Your Horizon by Bob Matthews 37 Organized Living by Tanya Allason 38 Yes! You Can Recycle That by Patricia Melchi
By Christine Bollier
Page 47
40 The Small, Still Voice by Judith Pennington
28 Trash to couture Clothing made using paper, aluminum, nails, car wiring and tape cassettes
41 Staying Healthy the Natural Way by Leilah Breitler 43 Calendar of Events 46 Puzzle Page
ON THE COVER: Tonto Natural Bridge State Park is one of nine Arizona State Parks currently operating only five days a week. Three state parks are closed until further notice. See story on page 6. Photo by Pia Wyer Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Heirloom Garden Seeds & Stories by Cindy and Stephen Scott
Page 48 January 2010 • Page 3
Earth Odyssey Contributors in our environment makes all my time and effort worth while,” she said.
An educational guide to sustainability and spiritual well-being Our Mission The mission of Earth Odyssey is to encourage individuals to develop a sustainable lifestyle and healthier well-being by providing educational information needed to make wiser choices. We envision an extended community of individuals who care passionately about their environment and their own spiritual well-being and recognize the symbiotic relationship between the two.
Etan Doronne is a native of Israel. He received his Bachelor of Fine Art (B.F.A) from Bezalel Design Academy in Jerusalem in 1996. He is a lecturer, educator, environmental artist and professional developer. Etan speaks English, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian and Hindi. He has backpacked through Egypt, Tanzania, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Britain, France, Spain, USA, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Nepal and India. For more information about Etan, see www.myindiaexperience.com/.
Magazine Staff Publisher/Editor Ann Haver-Allen Martin Klabunde is a light worker, cosmic walker and dance maker, who has more than 20 years of teaching, performance and class and workshop facilitation. Martin has been walking a shamanic and spiritual path since the age of 15, when his guides first appeared to him. Through ritual, ceremony and visions Martin has been able to remain devoted and committed to a path of awakening through music and selfless service to others.
Photographic, Web and PR Director Pia Wyer Advertising Art Director Distribution Manager Jason Allen Advertising Representatives Bill Allen Jo Ann Johnson Pia Wyer
Advertising Inquiries 928-778-1782
Subscriptions Annual subscriptions to Earth Odyssey are $36. Payment may be made using a credit card online via PayPal or sending a check to: Earth Odyssey, 1042 Willow Creek Road, Ste. A101, PMB 486, Prescott, AZ 86305. Earth Odyssey is published monthly by Pinon Pine Press LLC and is available online at earthodysseyonline.com. Send comments and suggestions to: editor@earthodysseyonline.com Phone: (928) 778-1782 Sharon Ehrlich has always been interested in wildlife and conservation. She “stumbled upon” The Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center in 2005, attended an orientation and became a volunteer. She said that thanks to the support of the center director and the supervision of experienced volunteers she has learned how to do a little of everything at the Center—from the fun of working with the raptors and other animals and participating in educational programs to the more mundane but necessary tasks of cleaning cages, clinic work, food preparation, paperwork and fundraising. “The satisfaction of watching a rehabilitated animal go back into the wild or knowing you helped someone understand the important part wildlife plays Page 4 • January 2010
William (Wes) Ozier is the Camassia Institute Director. Originally from Detroit, Wes is a LEED accredited professional. He was the program administrator for the Arcosanti Project for four years and the assistant director for the Ecosa Institute. In addition to educational and construction work at both Arcosanti and Ecosa, he has worked on a strawbale construction crew building the Mountain Meadows Permaculture Bio-Shelter, a two-story greenhouse, as well as four DIY scale “eco-machines” created by John Todd and a host of other DIY scale eco-design projects. E-mail Wes at wes@lostvalley.org.
The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher or advertisers. Copyright © 2010. Pinon Pine Press LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or in part, is prohibited without written permission. For photo reprints, contact Pia Wyer at pia@animistarts.com. Printed by Signature Offset 4810 Northpark Drive Colorado Springs, Colo.
Earth Odyssey is printed on recycled paper using soy inks. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
New year, new format
Better conveyance of message Inside Earth Odyssey
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elcome to the New Year and a new format for Earth Odyssey. We believe this new magazine format is a better physical product to convey the Earth Odyssey message and mission. A new addition beginning with this issue is the Contributing Writers section, where the feature writers appearing in that issue are introduced. It is, after all, the writers who have helped make Earth Odyssey the success that it is. In addition to the writers featured in this month’s issue, I want to acknowledge the contributing writers who do not have stories appearing in this issue. Thanks to Lili DeBarbieri, Tobias Hughes, Mike Marino, Theodore G. Manno, Kimberley Paterson, Jill Russell and Debra White for being dependable and creative. Look for them to be featured in future Earth Odyssey issues. In addition to our talented feature writes, Earth Odyssey also has many columnists who freely share their knowledge and expertise, including Tanya Allason, Jason Allen, Christine Bollier, Leilah Breitler, Michael Davis, Fiona Reid, Bob Matthews, Patricia Melchi, Sarah McLean, Timothy A. Patterson, Cindy and Stephen Scott, Dominique Shilling and Pia Wyer. Moving to the new format has not been an easy transition, but we are fortunate to have found a printer that is focused on sustainability and is
environmentally conscious. Signature Offset is a leader in recycling production materials, such as 100 percent aluminum printing plates and soy-based inks. Images are applied directly on aluminum plates, so there is no extra waste in films and developing solvents. Signature Offset uses non-VOC soybean based color inks. The unused colored ink gets incrementally added to the black ink to ensure complete use and no waste. These water soluble inks are friendly to the environment. Because these inks are not heat-set into the paper, recycling is easier. Some may argue the point: Why print at all? Why not just be an online publication? A lot of research has been done comparing the cost effectiveness—both economically and environmentally—of printing versus online. Both have their benefits and their disadvantages. A printed publication, which is much more expensive to produce, is more portable and reader friendly. You can take a printed publication with you anywhere and read it at your leisure. You are likely to keep the printed publication around awhile, interacting with it several times. Printed publications, such as Earth Odyssey, are often kept for long-term for reference. Online publications are cheaper to produce, have no postage or shipping costs. In fact, costs may be reduced by as much as 25 percent, but research
indicates that the effectiveness of the publication is reduced by as much as 50 percent. And, electronic publishing is not environmentally harmless with all the heavy metals that are used in the manufacture of a computer and monitor. Nor does everyone have access to a computer and the Internet in the United States and other countries, even in this electronic age. We think that working with Signature Offset to produce a quality printed product in an environmentally conscious way is the best alternative for Earth Odyssey.
Out and About Regular readers of Earth Odyssey hopefully notice and appreciate the broadreaching interests represented in each issue. Stories and columns touch upon environmental and spiritual issues that are intertwined and interdependent. Interest in those topics is not confined to one little corner of the world or another. As publisher and editor of Earth Odyssey, one of the aspects I like most is the national and international appeal of what we are producing. Clearly, Earth Odyssey is not an Arizona publication, although we are produced in Arizona. We have printed features detailing the plight of two Louisiana conservationists (August 2009), mineral hot springs across the Southwest (July 2009), pet cemeteries from Utah to New York, fiber artists in New Mexico, Washington and Arizona
This ’N That
By Ann Haver-Allen Publisher/Editor of Earth Odyssey
(May 2009) and building a wind farm in Oregon (July 2009). Our aquaponics story (December 2009) spotlighted a program in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Earth Odyssey’s content—and readership—is not confined to the United States. We have a regular contributor who lives in and writes about New Zealand. Kimberly Paterson not only writes for Earth Odyssey, but also she shares the publication with her kiwi friends. We have brought you stories about the Lacandón Maya of Central Mexico (September 2009) and in this issue we have a story of a traveler’s experience in rural India. Also in this issue, you will learn about a Native American climate conference that was held in Minnesota before the world gathered in Denmark to discuss that very topic, and you will get a glimpse of what life is like in a sustainable community in Oregon. The more we learn of others, the more we realize that no matter our physical location, we can understand, sympathize, learn and support others in their journeys, missions or challenges. That summarizes the core of what Earth Odyssey is about. We hope you enjoy our new format.
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Arizona’s State Parks struggle for survival By Ann Haver-Allen Photos by Pia Wyer and Ann Haver-Allen
Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, pictured here is on a ďŹ ve-day schedule due to lack of funding.
CLOSED Jerome State Historic Park is one of three state parks currently closed
Task Force recommends optional ‘contribution’ as part of noncommercial vehicle registration process
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f someone offered you an investment with a guaranteed 10-fold payoff, would you invest? That’s sort of the deal that is being proposed by Governor Brewer’s Task Force on Sustainable State Parks Funding. The task force released its report Oct. 30, and one of the primary recommendations is creating a Sustainable State Parks Fund, which would be financed by an optional $14 to $15 annual contribution that would be collected from owners of noncommercial vehicles as part of the registration process. The proceeds should be about $40 million annually if only half of Arizona’s population opts to participate, the Task Force projects. The funds would be dedicated to the operation, maintenance and capital needs of the State Parks. In return, the task force proposes, private vehicles with Arizona license plates would be admitted free to state parks. About 2.3 million people visit Arizona’s State Parks annually. A 2007 study conducted by Northern Arizona University reported an annual economic impact of $266 million for the counties and cities where state parks are located. Additionally, tourist expenditures generated more than $22.7 million in state and local taxes each year. Not a bad return on a taxpayer investment of about $40 million. No question, State Parks make money for local communities as well as boosting state coffers. The State Parks budget, however, is frequently one of the first to be pilfered by legislatures looking to balance an upside down state budget. “When the state has run into budget deficits, as in 2003 and 2009, the money accumulated for park improvements has been swept away to help balance the state budget,” the Task Force members wrote in their report to the Governor. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
The Parks system has had no operating fund increase since 2002 and hasn’t had a meaningful capital budget since 2003. In fiscal 2009, State Parks had an operating budget of $26 million. The 2010 budget has been slashed 27 percent, to $19 million. As Earth Odyssey was going to press, the state legislature was contemplating reductions and sweeps of $9.2 million from conservation funds such as the State Parks gate fees, donations, State Lake Improvement Fund and Heritage Funds. “If this bill passes we would need to reduce staff by approximately 75 of our remaining 218 employees and that step would force park closures,” said Reese Woodling, the Arizona State Parks Board Chairman. “Also, these cuts are based on the Parks being open and earning over $8 million from gate fees, which will not happen with Parks closed.” “The State Parks system is in imminent danger of complete collapse as a result of financial starvation during most of this decade,” authors of the Task Force report wrote. “The current system of erratically funding state parks in Arizona is broken in both good and bad times. It must change or our parks will not survive.” Thus far, three parks—Jerome, McFarland and Oracle—have been closed and nine others have five-day schedules—Fort Verde State Historic Park, Homolovi Ruins State Park, Red Rock State Park, Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, Slide Rock State Park, Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park, Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, Tubac Presidio State Historic Park and Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park. Staff has been reduced and almost 40 percent of Parks positions are vacant. After detailed analysis, the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State January 2010 • Page 7
University determined that the State Parks Board should have an operating budget of $30 to $34 million to operate the existing system—a far cry from the $19 million currently allocated. Additionally, the Parks System has upwards of $150 million of unmet capital needs that have been identified. “Given today’s circumstances, the State Parks system is not physically or financially sustainable,” the Task Force reported. “The plight of the State Parks will be solved only by providing a reliable source of funding to address accumulated capital needs and systems operations.” A few of the critical needs include: • Adobe walls at the Douglas Mansion in Jerome and the old McFarland Courthouse in Florence have failed. • The roof on the lodge at Tonto Natural Bridge,
Fort Verde State Historic Park, pictured above, and Homolovi Ruins State Park, pictured at right are all on five-day schedules due to lack of funding. Page 8 • January 2010
listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was compromised by leakage to such a degree that the structural integrity of the whole building was threatened. “The state must reverse course and provide the means to maintain, invest, promote and build the parks system,” the task force reported. Arizona’s state parks system was created in 1957—the last of the contiguous 48 states to create a state park system. The parks are divided into the four regions: Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern. But don’t expect to find any state parks in Phoenix and the surrounding areas. Maricopa County operates its own park system. Thirty state parks, along with nine historical sites, are in the state parks system today. The state park system includes recreation sites, natural conservation areas and historical and cultural resources. (See story on Homolovi Ruins State Park in the September 2009 issue of Earth Odyssey.) Arizonans value natural beauty, open spaces and water resources. In a Gallup Poll commissioned by the Center for the Future of Arizona, the state’s natural beauty and open spaces are seen by citizens as Arizona’s greatest asset. Arizona landscapes matter—on both economic and emotional levels. It’s important that growth and development in the future respect the passion that citizens feel for their environment. In the Gallup telephone poll, people were asked to rate the city or area in which they live on 14 different features that are important to quality of life. The two highest scoring areas were “Beauty or physical setting” (47 percent) and “Availability of outdoor parks, playgrounds and trails” (44 percent). These are the kinds of assets that are protected by the state parks system. The proposed optional fee added to annual vehicle registration is not enough, the report’s authors write, to help the parks system deal with pressures of future population growth, but it will pay for the annual operation, plus provide a reasonable amount to tackle some of the unmet capital needs within five or six years. State park users would still pay for camping, boat launches and other special services offered by the different parks, although the entrance fee would be waived under this proposal. “The Task Force believes that the vast majority of Arizonans will embrace this proposal as a fair and necessary solution,” the authors summarize. The next step in the policy process, said Paul Senseman Director of Communications Office of Governor Janice K. Brewer, is for the legislative branch to contemplate the Task Force’s report and promote further discussion about the fiscal Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
challenges in Arizona’s State Parks and about the proposed long-term solutions. The State Parks office did not return queries, either by e-mail or telephone, for this story.
Slide Rock State Park is on a five-day schedule due to lack of funding. The Task Force on Sustainable State Parks Funding recommends creating a Sustainable State Parks Fund. January 2010 • Page 9
My India: Where every village is home Story and Photos by Etan Doronne
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visited my friend in his Indian village exactly two years ago, right after Diwali, the Indian New Year. My friend was the only person from this village to have ever traveled and stayed outside the village. He sold embroidery work done by the village women. I ordered some of the embroidery work so that I could visit this border village. I had to apply for a special permit from the district minister. My friend assured the district minister that I was interested in purchasing embroidery work and so the travel certificate was issued. I was the second foreigner to visit this particular village in recorded history. This village is on a dead-end road of India, only 7 kilometres from the Pakistani border. I reached Page 10 • January 2010
my destination after 90 kilometres and a three-hour drive from Barmer, which, as a district center, is only a small town. When I reached this village, I felt I had arrived at a tribal village: Dunes of sand all around with low bush vegetation and cone dome huts built of mud and bush branches. Among these huts that are scattered around and fenced with decorative mud walls or just dry bush branches woven together, there are wide sandy paths that are often spotted with goats or a camel cart delivering water. In this village, there is only one shop. It is a general store in the style of Indian roadside stalls: A wooden box on pillars that has a front flap that
opens like a kiosk. In this shop lies the one and only phone in the village (and surrounding area). No coverage for cell phone, no television, no newspaper and most of all, no electricity. No marriages on the streets or fireworks, such as is the daily routine of most cities and towns in India, no motor vehicles—so no noise, pollution or traffic jams. But there’s a lot of nature and good-natured people. India’s treasure is its culture and it shines through its people. The simple daily life of rural villages and towns reveals this reality. All vegetables are grown locally and are fresh as could be. I tasted the Kachra Sabji, which is a stirfried wild vegetable. It was my first time and it was really good with Sogra, which is a millet Chapati. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Etan Doronne uses a water bucket that was stitched by hand out of old tires.
At night I asked if I could taste the locally made drink. It was smooth and tasty, considering the high percentage of alcohol present in locally made drinks in India. That drink came along with Namkin, the salty snacks that go well with alcohol. In this village these are made of lightly fried Guarfali, a wild tree with thin bean-like fruit. Another snack, the Tarbuj (watermelon) baked seeds was excellent. Life in the village challenged many of my old concepts. For example, a visit to the bathroom. First, you have to stop at the roadside kiosk and take one of the common empty beer bottles that are kept by the tree just for that reason. You fill the bottle with water and head out to find a nice spot for yourself. You have to walk along the road past the village limit. Since the bushes are thin and short and cannot hide you, you’ll continue walking out to the sand for another 300 feet or so—until you’re too small to be noticed by pedestrians on the road. This is just one example of life in a rural Indian village that challenges our Western standards. Many traditional environmentally friendly and recycled items can be seen. For example, the bucket used for withdrawal of water from the underground tanks are stitched by hand out of old tires. Rugs are made by hand loom in three or four thread shades that are all natural: black and brown are of goat hair, white is cotton and blond is of camel hair. In this village, it is said, people enjoy long lives. One 95-year-old person I met was not only walking and functioning, but still smoking the locally made biddies, which are thin cigarettes made of dried tobacco leaves held together by a colorful thread of cotton. The sitting on the floor for dining and navigating the “toilet” seem to stretch the muscles, joints and ligaments numerous times a day and are built-intolife fitness exercises. When traveling in India, merging into the Indian tempo is key. Otherwise, one is likely to grow frustrated: Looking at their minimal ways of living in poverty, considering their flexible schedules as incompetence or relating to the natural living as primitive. To really experience the Indian “Shanti,” the liberation of enjoying the moment, one has to stop racing for the next. On Feb. 7, 2007, Etan Doronne began a year-long solitary backpack journey through rural India. Some of the villages he visited had never had a foreign visitor, let alone an opportunity to build a friendship with one. Today, he shares this life-changing experience in presentations and Indian cooking workshops at public venues and homes across the United States. He also guides small group tours to rural villages in India. For more information, visit www.myindiaexperience.com or call him 818-401-5546. January 2010 • Page 11
Native Nations respond to climate change threats Mystic Lake Declaration lays out Indigenous solutions By Ann Haver-Allen
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“We reject industrial modes of food production that promote the use of chemical substances, genetically engineered seeds and organisms. Therefore, we affirm our right to possess, control, protect and pass on the indigenous seeds, medicinal plants, traditional knowledge originating from our lands and territories for the benefit of our future generations.” from The Mystic Lake Declaration
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receeding the December climate summit in Copenhagen, where the eyes of the world were focused, a very different workshop on climate took place in Prior Lake, Minn. The Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop II was held in November at the Mystic Lake Casino and Hotel, which is owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. The goal of the conference was to formulate a collective response to the far-reaching impacts of climate change on Native lands and communities. “Climate change impacts Native peoples first and foremost,” said workshop Co-Chair, Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth. “We will be in a very difficult position as Indigenous peoples if we do not act now to build resilience in our communities. This means shifting the energy paradigm so that we develop efficiency and produce our own clean energy, and it means growing our own traditional varieties of food. It means returning to self-sufficiency by creating energy and food sovereignty that can provide a bright future for the generation yet to come.” Nearly 400 Native leaders, scholars, elders and Tribal College students from across the country, joined by scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), met for four days to discuss the impacts of climate change on Native peoples. “Global warming scenarios point to disproportionate and increased impacts on Native peoples due to their unique relationship to land, the prevalence of subsistence land-based economies and the deep cultural and spiritual significance of their ties to the land,” said Dr. Daniel R. Wildcat, workshop Co-Chair and Director of Haskell Indian Nations University’s Environmental Research Studies Center. “In Alaska, some villages are literally falling into the ocean, while severe drought in the Southwest is scorching scarce grasslands and forests,” he said. “In the Pacific Northwest, salmon runs have been decimated. Vector borne diseases are spreading, and traditional foods and medicines are disappearing in Native territories across the country.” The Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop II was held a decade after the first U.S. Workshop on Climate Change Impacts on Native People and Native Homelands to update the findings conducted in conjunction with the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. At the conference conclusion, participants issued a milestone document, the
“The United States and other industrialized countries have an addiction to energy. Mother Earth and her natural resources cannot sustain the consumption and production needs of this modern industrialized society and its dominant economic paradigm, which places value on the rapid economic growth, the quest for corporate and individual accumulation of wealth, and a race to exploit natural resources. The non-regenerative production system creates too much waste and toxic pollutions. We recognize the need for the United States and other industrialized countries to focus on new economies, governed by the absolute limits and boundaries of ecological sustainability, the carrying capacities of the Mother Earth, a more equitable sharing of global and local resources, encouragement and support of self-sustaining communities and respect and support for the rights of Mother Earth and her companion Moon.” from The Mystic Lake Declaration Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
“Our ancestors created land and water relationship systems premised upon the understanding that all life forms are relatives— not resources. We understand that we as human beings have a sacred and ceremonial responsibility to care for and maintain, through our original instructions, the health and wellbeing of all life within our traditional territories and Native Homelands.” from The Mystic Lake Declaration “The world needs to understand that the Earth is a living female organism—our Mother and our Grandmother. We are kin. As such, she needs to be loved and protected. We need to give back what we take from her in respectful mutuality. We need to walk gently. These Original Instructions are the natural spiritual laws, which are supreme. Science can urgently work with traditional knowledge keepers to restore the health and well-being of our Mother and Grandmother Earth.” from The Mystic Lake Declaration
to join with the Indigenous Peoples to pray on summer solstice for the healing of all the sacred sites on Mother Earth. The Declaration was taken to Copenhagen and presented at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The entire Mystic Lake Declaration is available for download at EarthOdysseyOnline.com. Sponsored by NASA’s Tribal College and University Program, The Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop II was held in collaboration with the nation’s 36 tribally controlled colleges and universities and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Because the median age in Indian Country is 18, there is an urgent need to provide curriculum and green jobs training to restore Native economies. Workshop partners included Honor the Earth, Haskell Indian Nations University, Indigenous Environmental Network, Intertribal Council On Utility Policy, the National Indian Gaming Association, and NOAA. Presenters included an impressive cross-section of Native experts and leaders from across the nation including Billy Frank, Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fish Commission; Inupiat whaling captain Eugene Brower; Cheyenne Arapaho Tribal College President Henrietta Mann, Ph.D.; Lakota spiritual leader Chief Arvol Looking Horse; Alan Parker, director of the Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute at The Evergreen State College; Debra Harry, executive director of Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism; Susan Masten, president, Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations; Katsi Cook, Mohawk midwife and executive director of Woman is the First Environment Collaborative; Patrick Spears, president of the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy; Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network; Bob Gough, secretary, of the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy and Frank Ettawageshik, executive director United Tribes of Michigan.
Mystic Lake Declaration, to offer solutions that can help Tribal communities and policymakers form plans to address climate change impacts that threaten the traditional cultures and life ways of Indigenous peoples. The declaration calls for: • A moratorium on all new exploration for oil, gas, coal and uranium as a first step toward the full phase-out of fossil fuels, without nuclear power, with a just transition to sustainable jobs, energy and environment. • The most stringent and binding emission reduction targets. Carbon emissions for developed countries must be reduced by no less than 40 percent, preferably 49 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 95 percent by 2050. • The abandonment of false solutions to climate change that negatively impact Indigenous Peoples’ rights, lands, air, oceans, forests, territories and waters, including nuclear energy, large-scale dams, geo-engineering techniques, clean coal technologies, carbon capture and sequestration, bio-fuels, tree plantations and international market-based mechanisms such as carbon trading and offsets, the Clean Development Mechanisms and Flexible Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol and forest offsets. • The rejection of industrial modes of food production that promote the use of chemical substances, genetically engineered seeds and organisms and affirmation of the Native Peoples’ right to possess, control, protect and pass on the indigenous seeds, medicinal plants and traditional knowledge originating from lands and territories for the benefit of future generations. • The sacred sites on Mother Earth must be protected so that she may heal and restore the balance in Creation. The Declaration asks the world community Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
January 2010 • Page 13
Respect closure areas
Help protect Arizona’s bald eagles Photos by Pia Wyer
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t’s time again for Arizona’s bald eagles to begin their breeding activities, and outdoor recreationists are asked to help protect important breeding areas by honoring the closure of 20 areas across the state. Various land and wildlife management agencies close the breeding areas for part of the year, beginning in December, to protect the state’s 50 breeding pairs of bald eagles. Some of the closure areas are located near popular recreation sites. The closures are expected to last through June 30, 2010, when the bald eagle nesting season ends and fledglings are independent. The special closures are necessary to reduce human disturbances to the eagles during their nesting season. The possible consequences of people disturbing nesting eagles include abandonment of eggs and loss of young. “Even though the bald eagle is federally protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, they still require the public’s help to reproduce successfully and flourish in Page 14 • January 2010
the state,” said Kenneth Jacobson, head of the Arizona Game and Fish Department Bald Eagle Management Program. “Human activity near active bald eagle nests can cause a breeding pair to leave its eggs uncovered, leading to a failed breeding attempt. It can take only 30 minutes for a breeding attempt to fail.” Common uses of the area such as hunting, target shooting, fishing, hiking and off-road vehicle use are prohibited during the closure period. Violation of the closure is punishable by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than six months or both. River rafters may pass along a river in a closure area, but they are restricted from stopping, taking out watercraft, or delaying their passage through the area. Signs are posted along the affected rivers to mark the closure boundaries. The bald eagle was federally listed as an endangered species in 1978. Nationally, the birds recovered enough to be removed from the list in August 2007, but they remain listed as an endangered species in Arizona.
In December, Arizona bald eagles begin rebuilding nests in preparation for laying eggs. During this time, land and wildlife management agencies enact the seasonal breeding area closures. Bald eagles nest, forage and roost at the rivers and lakes that have become some of Arizona’s most popular recreation spots, and this time of year can be challenging for the birds. “With the public’s help and cooperation, we can all take responsibility for ensuring that Arizona bald eagles breed successfully,” Jacobson said. Funding provided, eagle watchers may be stationed at the closure areas to protect nesting eagles and to monitor the eagles’ activities for the Arizona Bald Eagle Nestwatch Program.
Airspace advisory The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established a 2,000-foot above ground level (AGL) advisory along the Salt and Verde river drainages. When traveling in these drainages or near riparian habitat statewide, aircraft should maintain a miniEarth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
mum of 2,000-foot AGL to ensure compliance with state and federal law.
Seasonal closures Alamo Lake A portion of upper Alamo Lake may be closed to boats from Jan. 1 to June 30. Contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Region IV, Yuma, 928342-0091.
Lake Pleasant No vehicle, watercraft or foot entry is allowed into the Lower Agua Fria Arm from Dec. 15 to June 15. Contact Maricopa County Parks and Recreation, 928-501-1710.
Verde River Verde River below Sycamore Canyon Wilderness is
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
closed to foot and vehicle entry from Dec. 1 to June 15. Floating through is allowed. Contact Coconino National Forest, Sedona Ranger District, 928-2824119. Verde River near Chasm Creek is closed to foot and vehicle entry from Dec. 1 to June 15. Floating through is allowed. Contact Prescott National Forest, Verde Ranger District, 928-567-4121. Contact Tonto National Forest, Cave Creek Ranger District at 480-595-3300 for more information on the following Verde River closures. Verde River upstream of the East Verde confluence is closed to vehicle and foot entry from Dec. 1 to June 30. Floating through is allowed, but no stopping in the river or landing is permitted. Verde River near Mule Shoe Bend, allows watercraft to float through, but no stopping in the river or landing is allowed from Dec. 1 to June 30.
Verde River below Horseshoe Dam may be closed to vehicle or foot entry on the southwest side of the river from Dec. 1 to June 30. Floating through is allowed, but no stopping in the river or landing on the southwest side of the river is allowed. Verde River below Bartlett Dam is closed to foot or vehicle entry from Dec. 1 to June 30. Floating through is allowed. Verde River at the Needle Rock Recreation area is closed to foot and vehicle entry on the east side of the river from Dec. 1 to June 30. Floating through is allowed, but no stopping in the river or landing on the east side of the river is allowed.
Tonto Creek Tonto Creek from Gisela to 76 Ranch is closed to vehicle, foot entry, and floating through from Dec. 1 to June 30. Tonto Creek inlet to Roosevelt Lake
January 2010 • Page 15
is closed to vehicle and foot entry within 1,000 feet of the nest on land, and to watercraft within 300 feet on water, from Dec. 1 to June 30. Contact Tonto National Forest, Tonto Basin Ranger District, 928-467-3200.
Salt River Salt River from Horseshoe Bend to Redmond Flat allows watercraft to float through, but no stopping in the river or landing is allowed from Dec. 1 to June 30. Salt River near Meddler Point is closed to vehicle and foot entry within 1,000 feet of the nest on land, and to watercraft within 300 feet on water, from Dec. 1 to June 30. Salt River below Stewart Mountain Dam is closed to vehicle or foot entry on the south side of the river from Dec. 1 to June 30. Floating through is allowed. Contact the Tonto National Forest, Mesa Ranger District, 480-610-3300.
Becker Lake A portion of the lake may be closed to watercraft and a portion of the shoreline may be closed to foot entry from Feb. 1 through June 30. Contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Region I, Pinetop, 928-367-4281.
Luna Lake Luna Lake is closed to vehicle and foot traffic on the north side from Jan. 1 to June 30. Contact Apache National Forest, Alpine Ranger District, 928-339-4384.
Lynx Lake There is no vehicle or foot traffic allowed on the east side of the lake and a portion of the shoreline is closed to watercraft from Dec. 1 to June 30. Contact the Prescott National Forest, Bradshaw Ranger District, 928-443-8000.
Lower Lake Mary There is no vehicle or foot traffic allowed on a portion of the north side of the lake from Jan. 1 to Aug. 30. Contact the Coconino National Forest, Mormon Lake Ranger District, 928-774-1147.
Greer Lakes A portion of the lake may be closed to watercraft and a portion of the shoreline may be closed to foot entry from March 1 through July 31. Contact the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Springerville Ranger District, 928-333-4372.
Woods Canyon Lake A portion of the lake may be closed to watercraft and a portion of the shoreline may be closed to foot entry from April 1 through Aug. 31. Contact the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Black Mesa Ranger District, 928-535-7300. Page 16 • January 2010
Tips for visiting eagle areas If you are visiting bald eagle country, an advance call to the local land management agency (USDA Forest Service district, etc.) or the Arizona Game and Fish Department may help you plan your trip to avoid disturbing bald eagles. By following these simple guidelines, we can all help ensure that our living wildlife legacy will last for generations to come: Enjoy bald eagles from outside the closures, especially during critical nesting times (December to June). These areas are posted with signs and/or buoys, and most have daily nestwatch monitors. Anyone approached by a nestwatcher and asked to cease an activity or leave a closed area should comply. A few good places to see bald eagles without disturbing them (during December and January) are at Lake Mary and Mormon Lake near Flagstaff or on the Verde River Canyon Train in Clarkdale. Bald eagles protecting an active nest will let you know if you are too close. If a bald eagle is vocalizing and circling the area frantically, you are too close and need to leave the area quickly. Bald eagles incubating eggs or brooding small young should never be off the nest for more than 15 minutes. Pilots should maintain the FAA-recommended 2,000-foot AGL advisory when flying over bald eagle habitat. These areas are designated on the Phoenix Sectional Aeronautical Map. Special brochures for pilots regarding this advisory can be obtained by calling the Arizona Department of Transportation or the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s nongame branch, 623-236-7506. Help from anglers is especially needed. Monofilament and tackle have killed two nestlings and has been found in two-thirds of all bald eagle nests in the state. Every year we remove this potentially lethal material from nests and/or entangled nestlings. Ospreys, shorebirds, waterfowl and songbirds also succumb to this litter. Do not discard any type of monofilament along rivers and lakes, but recycle it at fishing stores. Keep your monofilament fresh; do not use old brittle line. Make sure to use the correct test line for the fish you are trying to catch. Also, do not cut the line when an undesirable fish is caught and return it to the water with the hook and line attached. You can help bald eagle research and recovery efforts by reporting any harassment or shooting of bald eagles. Call the Arizona Game and Fish Operation Game Thief Hotline at 1-800-352-0700 or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement at 480-967-7900.
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Fort Bragg builds bridge from recycled materials
by Erin Barstow Fort Bragg Environmental Mgmt. Branch
T
he world’s first recycled-plastic bridge built to bear the weight of a tank endured its first test under the tracks of a 71-ton M1 Abrams main battle tank at Fort Bragg, N.C., in June. The tank, supplied by the North Carolina Army National Guard, made several passes without incident. “The load-testing was the final proof in the pudding,” said Rich Lampo, materials engineer for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Ill. “It actually performed even better than expectations.” The bridge is built of 94 percent recycled materials, including glass, vehicle bumpers and about 85,000 pounds of high-density polyethylene plastic. That’s equivalent to about 550,000 one-gallon plastic milk jugs which, laid end-to-end, would extend nearly 82 miles. The bridge diverts valuable commodities from the solid waste stream, resists rot and damaging insects without the use of chemical treatments and requires minimal maintenance throughout its lifecycle. Furthermore, the structure is cost-competitive to standard treated timber bridges on a first-cost basis and has a life expectancy twice as long, Lampo said. The concept of recycled content bridges began Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
in the late 1980s when Lampo combined efforts with Dr. Thomas Nosker of Rutgers University in New Jersey to construct lumber-like materials from recycled plastics. “We saw that there were possibilities beyond park benches and picnic tables,” Lampo said. “Those types of things are OK, but if you want to start utilizing large quantities of these recycled materials, then we needed to do civil construction and civil structures.” The American Society for Testing and Materials International was enlisted to assist in creating specifications and standards for the resulting new material and, in 1998, a pilot project was carried out at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., to replace the superstructure of an existing wooden bridge. The bridge’s lifecycle savings and minimal maintenance requirements were estimated to produce a full return on investment in less than eight years. However, the high cost of the recycled materials made it unlikely the design would be competitive in mainstream construction markets. The Rutgers University team, in partnership with CERL, McLaren Consulting Engineers, N.Y., and Axion International, N.J., returned to the drawing board to develop a more resource-efficient, I-beam design to reduce the amount of material used in each beam without compromising its structural integrity. “You are paying for these materials by the pound, so if you could remove material that’s not contributing to the beam’s strength, which is the concept behind an I-beam, then you could reduce the
cost while still carrying the same load,” Lampo explained. In March 2007, Lampo approached Fort Bragg with a proposal to replace one of the installation’s existing wood timber bridges with a recycledcontent bridge. Fort Bragg Directorate of Public Works representatives agreed, challenging Lampo and the team to design one capable of accommodating tank traffic for installation training exercises. Once the design was in place, contractors completed construction in less than 10 weeks. “This project allows us to be at the cutting-edge of technology and is definitely something Fort Bragg and the Army will benefit from immensely,” said Fort Bragg civil engineer Darryl Butler. Lampo envisions future recycled-content bridge designs will include modular, mix-andmatch components capable of adapting to varying structural and load requirements. “What we are striving for is that recycledcontent bridges will become the Army and Department of Defense standard for constructing bridges of this type,” Lampo said. “There’s got to be thousands of bridges nationwide that are candidates for this type of design. If these structures are cost-competitive on a first-cost basis, use recycled plastics, don’t require any kind of chemical treatment and require virtually no maintenance, why would you want to build bridges with anything but these materials?” For more information, contact the Fort Bragg Directorate of Public Works at 910-907-1760. January 2010 • Page 17
Motorcycle run benefits rescued animals Annual fundraiser helps feed more than 1,000 inhabitants at Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center By Sharon Ehrlich
T
he Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center Auxiliary invites you to join us for the 5th annual Bikers Soar For Wildlife motorcycle run Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. This is a great opportunity to ride some beautiful country and support the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. At the end of the ride, participants are greeted by a large number of the animals who benefit from the generosity of the riders. Eagles, hawks, falcons, large and small owls, vultures, reptiles and more are on display. There is also lunch, live music, prizes and more. The motorcycle run has enjoyed steady support from the community. For the first three years, the weather was sunny and clear. Almost 600 riders participated in the 2008 event. Our fourth year was more of endurance run than a pleasant ride through the desert, but close to 200 of our hardiest supporters showed up to face the freezing temperatures, rain
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and hail storms. For those who might not have heard of the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center, here is a brief history of the Center and its mission. The Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center was dedicated in May 1983 by Governor Bruce Babbitt as an extension of The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s education branch. AZGFD was the first government agency to include a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation program to its agenda. The Center’s mission is to rescue and rehabilitate Arizona wildlife and educate the public on the diverse animals who call our state home. The Center is located just west of I-17 on Pinnacle Peak Road and is adjacent to the Adobe Mountain Juvenile Institution. Why would you put a wildlife rescue center behind locked gates and razor wire you might ask? When the Center was conceived, the founders realized the positive benefits that working with animals
can have on at-risk youth. Along with the Center director and AZGFD volunteers, the wards and staff from the Adobe Mountain Juvenile Institution were partners in working with the wildlife and building the facilities. Wards who met specific standards assisted the volunteers in cleaning, building and maintaining the Center. Unfortunately, budget cuts and other factors forced the program to be cancelled several years later. But the work at Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center continues today. Annually, more than 1,000 sick, injured or orphaned animals are brought to Adobe. Some animals recover in a matter of days, others may need help for many months or become permanent residents. To meet this challenge, the Center has one full-time AZGFD employee, Sandy Cate. When the budget allows, there is also be a part-time intern who is usually a college student working on a degree in biology, wildlife management or another
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Courtesy photos Almost 600 riders participated in the 2008 Bikers Soar For Wildlife motorcycle run, an annual fundraiser sponsored by the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center Auxiliary. Proceeds help feed more than 1,000 rescued animals at the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. related field of study. All other work is done by volunteers. These volunteers annually invest an average of 5,000 hours in education and 15,000 hours in caring for the animals and maintaining the facility. Caring for these animals is costly. The Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center operates on a small budget from the Heritage Fund (the Arizona Lottery) through the Arizona Game and Fish Department. These funds must cover rent, trash collection, utilities, X-ray rental, as well as food and medicine. One eagle consumes $3,000 of food annually. A Great-Horned owl eats $350 in food. Peregrine Falcons and Harris Hawks each eat up $700 of food, and one little Burrowing Owl consumes food costing close to $200. Multiply that by the number of each species who call Adobe home, plus the temporary tenants, and you can see how quickly our funds can be depleted. Raptors really do not understand budget cuts. Just try telling a Golden Eagle he’s on a diet and see how cranky he gets, not to mention the health issues if adequate food is not available. To help meet the needs of the animals, the Auxiliary holds several fundraisers during the year. The “Bikers Soar For Wildlife” is the largest. The monies raised from this event have helped fill the void when the Center’s budget is depleted. In the first nine months of 2009, the Auxiliary contributed more than $13,000 to purchase food and medicine for the animals in the Center’s care. As lottery dollars decline, it is unclear how the Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Heritage Fund “pie” will be sliced in the coming year, which makes the efforts of the Auxiliary more important than ever to the well being of the animals who rely on the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center for their second chance. The volunteers at the Center appreciate the support the public has shown for this event in the past four years. The ride is not only a way to help raise needed funds, but also a great opportunity for the volunteers at the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center to say thanks to all those who help us throughout the year. Join us on Feb. 14, 2010. Registration is from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Arrowhead Harley-Davidson in Peoria. Pre-registration is $25 for rider and $30 for
rider and passenger. The ride will end at Robson’s Mining World just west of Wickenburg. For more information about the event, call Sandy, the Center Director at 623-587-0139; e-mail Sharon at bikerssoarforwildlife@hotmail.com, or visit our Web site at www. azwildlifecenter.net. Even if you do not ride, you can join us at Robson’s and enjoy the old replica mining town with its varied relics of Arizona history, visit with the volunteers and meet the animals from Adobe who will be there to say “thanks.” One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the care of the animals at the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. Donations are tax-deductible. January 2010 • Page 19
Photo by Pia Wyer Julia Wright, owner of Wright Choice Promotions, shows a few of the eco promotional items offered by her company.
Marketing materials for the eco-minded By Ann Haver-Allen Earth Odyssey Editor
A
n event that changed the world forever also changed the business direction of Wright Choice Promotions, based in Glendale. “When 9-11 happened, I sat in front of my TV for a week,” said company owner Julia Wright, who had been in the promotional products industry for 15 years at that time. “I thought, gosh, what do I do for my livelihood? I sell plastic stuff imprinted in China. There has to be a better way, I thought, where I can contribute to good.” Because Wright did not want to change industries, she decided to focus her promotion business on recycled and biodegradable products. “Honestly, it’s only been within the last three of fours years that I could even do that,” she said. “The options weren’t very good. The first year, I
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Business of the Month had about 500 products I could offer. Now, there’s tremendous options and I have more than 2,000 product options.”
The variety of promotional products has grown so rapidly in the last three years because customers are buying them so manufacturers are willing to expand choices, Wright said. “You vote with your dollars,” she said. “The more we push our buying into the green direction, the more products you are going to see.” Wright Choice Promotions is the go-to company when you are in need of eco-friendly pens or pencils featuring your company name and logo. Other items include rulers, coffee mugs, T-shirts, key rings, magnets and just about any trinket you can imagine. The majority of the marketing tools available from Wright Choice Promotions are made with recycled content and are biodegradable. Rulers are made from recycled blue jeans, phone books, sawdust, newspaper or electronics. Pencils are made from rolled up recycled newspapers. Coffee mugs are made from corn plastic. Pens are made from recycled cardboard. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
“I have a pen that is made of biodegradable plastic,” Wright said. “When the ink is gone, remove the cartridge and stick the pen into dirt. A capsule at the end of the pen holds seeds. The pen begins to decompose in a week or two and the seeds sprout.” Wright also carries a wide variety of hand-made papers that are embedded with seeds. Moisten the paper and the seeds sprout. “The majority of what we do is eco friendly,” Wright said. “We are certified by Green America, which used to be Co-Op America. We try to practice what we preach and filter out the promotional products that do not meet our green standards.” Even in the down economy, Wright said she is even with last year’s sales figures and considers that a victory. “People have an awareness now of green and it’s becoming much more fashionable,” said Judy Lukas, director of customer relations for Wright Choice Promotions. “People are not going to change overnight, but they are now thinking about being green. A few years ago, no one even thought about it. It starts with awareness and then it grows.” Julia added that companies are also realizing that if they want to attract a green market that they have to put their money where their mouth is. “Nothing is worse than a solar company—or any company trying to reach a green audience—handing out plastic things to their customers. If you are going to market toward a green audience or you want to convey that your product is green, you should have green promotional products yourself.” What are her most popular products? The pen made from recycled cardboard and a magnet made from 70 percent recycled content. “Pens are inexpensive and people expect them,” she said. “And nothing beats a magnet. They are full color at reasonable prices and claim prime real estate on the fridge door.” Wright Choice Promotions also offers compostible serviceware, including plates made of sugarcane; forks, knives and spoons made of potato starch; and cups made of corn plastic with a potato starch lid. “Unfortunately, the cups melt at about 120 degrees, so you can’t put your coffee in them,” Wright said. “And you can’t store them in your garage in Phoenix.” Another cool product available through Wright Choice Promotions is the Dixon Earth Ball—an earth-friendly golf ball that contains no hazardous materials. That could be significant considering that more than a billion golf balls end up lost every year. A Danish research team discovered it takes 100 to 1,000 years for a golf ball to decompose naturally. The core of a modern golf ball is made of titanium compounds and hybrid materials using Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
tungsten, cobalt and lead. They usually have a two-, three-, or four-layer design, consisting of various synthetic materials like surlyn or urethane blends. Not so with the Dixon Earth Ball, which is toxin free. They are 100 percent recyclable and made from renewable materials. Even the packaging is made from 100 percent recycled material. And, Wright added, if you return the ball to Dixon at the end of its life, Dixon grinds them down and reuses the material. Dixon Golf gives a $1 ball for ball credit toward the purchase of Dixon Earth golf balls for every Dixon ball recycled in a Dixon Golf Recycle Center at participating retailers. Dixon Golf gives a 50¢ ball-for-ball credit for any other brand of golf ball recycled in a Dixon Golf Recycle Center. “We are in a nice niche market,” Wright said. “Even though the overall economy is down, the solar and the green industries are booming. That has helped us.” For more information about Wright Choice Promotions, see www.wrightchoicepromotions.com/.
Courtesy photos Top, This eco-friendly tube made from recycled paper includes two great pens and pencils and a wooden sharpener, perfect to take with you anywhere you go. This natural notebook is made of recycled paper and includes a note pad, 3x3 sticky note pad, five colored flags and a pen made of recycled paper.
January 2010 • Page 21
Eclipse Surpanakha—Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn Jan. 1, 2010
By Patita Pavana das Adhikary Provided courtesy of the Sedona Center of Vedic Culture
As you read this, the Moon has entered into an eclipse cycle. This means that the present lunar month ends with an eclipse of the Full Moon in Gemini, or Mithuna rashi, occurring at 19:21 Greenwich Mean Time, in the last few hours of 2009. The orbital path of the Moon is surcharged with static energy that can “cause” weird disasters and sudden global misgivings at any step along the way. Expect to see some screaming headlines and bizarre news stories in the months to follow. For Vedic astrologers, Eclipse Surpanakha is a signal of further ongoing Kali Yuga disasters. From the point of view of Vedanga Jyotish, when Eclipse Surpanakha is considered in tandem with Eclipse Jagai to follow it in a fortnight, it is understood that the interest now due on the Earth’s collective karmic debt is a serious retribution indeed. Despite glowing smiles from the White House, there is serious cause for concern. It is a common misconception that eclipses effect only those places of the world where their dark paths are visible, although places where they are visible are prone to suffer reactions regardless of the sign or rashi involved. An eclipse can affect any country of the Earth, even places that cannot see it, especially if a particular event occurs in the ruling sign of that country or region.
Photo courtesy NASA The shadow of the moon falls on Earth as seen from the International Space Station, 230 miles above the planet, during a total solar eclipse. This digital photo was taken by the Expedition 12 crew, Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev. Visible near the shadow are portions of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea and the coast of Turkey. Top image is a lunar eclipse composite by Fred Espenak for NASA. Page 22 • January 2010
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Eclipse Surpanakha will be seen throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, India and Australia. The lunar event occurs in the sign of Gemini, an air sign, which indicates a likelihood of headlines announcing a higher occurrence of air disasters than usual. Since eclipses “electrify” the atmosphere with tension, disasters can erupt at any point during the cycle and for weeks following it. As an example of this, the nakshatra (zodiac sign) sullied by an eclipse is generally forbidden for yagnas (ritual) for an entire year following an eclipse. From the worldview, fighting and wars will intensify in the atmosphere of increased hostility, and there might be an instance of air piracy or hijacking. Armed conflicts will spark at higher altitudes, in mountainous regions, such as along the Hindu Kush ranges of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Communications networks will be upset as the Web goes down here and there. Disastrous fires and freak accidents will grab the headlines. Incidents of savage “serial killers” roaming the streets in American cities will increase, along with gangland activities. Mob violence will rise in places like Africa or Indonesia. Windstorms may strike at random. Conflicts involving armed “liberation” movements for places you’ve never heard of will spring to prominence for a short time.
Eclipse Jagai—Solar Eclipse in Capricorn Jan. 15, 2010 Makara Sankranti, the day that the Sun turns from his southern course and heads north occurs on Jan. 14. Makara translates as Capricorn. Sankranti means “change” or even “revolution.” Thus, Makara Sankranti is the date when the Sun “changes” from Sagittarius and moves into Capricorn, as well as also turning north. By Vedic wisdom, an eclipse at this time is not a welcome augury. This year, when the Sun is barely one degree into Capricorn, there will be an annular solar eclipse in Capricorn. One degree means the distance the Sun travels in one day, so the eclipse occurs the day after Makara Sankranti. This eclipse of the Sun, called Eclipse Jagai, will be visible throughout Asia. Capricorn is ruled by the greater malefic, Saturn or Shanideva. This year, Saturn (in the sign of Virgo) actually stops moving in the heavens from Jan. 9 until Jan. 19. Hence, Saturn or Shanideva, the planet of karmic retribution and sweeping social changes, will also be stopped dead in his tracks at the time of sankranti and the eclipse. Saturn will be just sitting above pouring the results of past accumulative misdeeds upon the great nations of the Earth. And Capricorn is a co-ruler of India and the sign under which America was founded. India’s primary sign is Virgo, where Saturn sits in judgment. So the picture that emerges from the scene is not a rosy one for either America or India. Regarding America, it should not be forgotten that this “friend of the world” was founded on war. Neither have the unmitigated sins of the country’s savage beginnings been expiated. America’s karmic visitation is overdue. Since America has grown from atop the slain bodies of the land’s original inhabitants—the slaughtered “Indians” who taught British “pilgrims” how to grow crops and live in their new “free world”—war has been the fuel that has kept “the land of the free” running for hundreds of years. Considering themselves as free in a fool’s paradise, American slaves to debt sit in huge traffic jams on the way to work. There, they sit hypnotized by six-speaker stereos to pay off the interest to the banks for the very cars they are locked inside. What happens when those banks—and even the companies that made those fancy cars—go bankrupt? We are sure to find out more after the two forthcoming eclipses, with the continuing domino effect of corporations and banks becoming swallowed by larger ones in a vicious cycle of ongoing corporate bankruptcy. Eclipses are times when the real leaders of the Earth, the demonic elements that operate behind the scenes, emerge from their smokescreens. With ever grander schemes to increase their endless wars and create more global subservience to artificial financial strategies, they offer ever-fresh promises of economic security in a rehearsed stage-play of pretended compassion for the common Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Photo courtesy NASA The Hinode satellite observing our sun captured images of the moon traversing the face of the sun during a solar eclipse. American. A generation ago Shrila Prabhupada warned, “It is not democracy, but demon-crazy.” And it is worse now, much worse. America and India are not the only places on Earth that will suffer the ravages of Eclipse Jagai with Saturn stalled like a million-ton lead weight overhead. Saturn is the planet of the people. Rioting mass movements that seek to topple Third World governments in Africa and Asia will face harsh opposition. India can look forward to tribal rebellions and the border areas will grow increasingly tense. Random acts of terror will again raise their ugly visage in the “free world” and many police forces will be sent into high alert against clandestine plotters. Governments, informed about the terrible situations at hand, will continue to sing soft lullabies to their subservient masses through their deputies in the news media, though the public is buying their sanitized stories less and less. In any battle there are losers and winners and eclipses can have a bright side, too, though we should always keep in mind the dangers they foretell, protecting ourselves by remaining karma-free and transcendental. January 2010 • Page 23
Life at Lost Valley By Wes Ozier Photo by Wes Ozier Students Lucas, Jillian and Melanie prepare earthen construction material called “cob.”
“I live in a small quaint little two-room cabin with a loft. Most of the buildings here look like your typical old summer camp wooden buildings, and they are all clustered together so everything is a short walk away.”
M
y name is Wes Ozier. I am 37-years-old, a LEED accredited professional, and I want to see our society evolve into a sustainable future. Why? I grew up in Detroit, a major urban area where I always felt that there was something wrong with the way we lived. The effect that the city had on people and the lack of nature around us always bothered me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. When I was in college at Michigan State University, I happened upon the book “Arcology: City in the Image of Man” by Dr. Paolo Soleri. Honestly, it took me over a year of reading that book to understand what Soleri was talking about. Finally, when I understood it I was more than excited! In this book Dr. Soleri explained his hypothesis that many of the social ills of the modern city were consequences of architectural design and planning, and that to solve those ills we had to re-conceptualize how we built our cities. The book then went on to show dozens of drawings of a new type of city called “Arcology” that would, by design, better connect people with each other and with nature, at least in theory. Finally, someone had articulated, not just the
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problems of modern society but a possible solution and they were building it and living in it! So, with my family thinking I had gone nuts and joined a cult, I packed up and moved from Michigan to the middle of the desert to live and work at the Arcosanti Project in Cordes Junction, Ariz. Since then, I have devoted my personal and professional life to trying to help us move from the “modern” way of doing things, with its alienation, hyper-consumption, and mental/physical degradation, to an ecological way of doing things. I lived at Arcosanti for four years, where I administrated the educational programs. After leaving Arcosanti I was fortunate enough to work for the Ecosa Institute, located in Prescott, which teaches a semester-long course in sustainable design. I now work and live at the Lost Valley Educational Center, an aspiring ecovillage and educational center in Oregon, where I administrate the educational programs. You may have read my previous articles about sustainability and ecological design and learned a lot from them. With this article, I want to give you a glimpse “behind the curtain” so to speak, as to what life at an ecovillage is like for me. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Many people who know I lived at Arcosanti and now live at Lost Valley often ask what it is like moving from one place to another. First, I must admit it was nice to see forests and natural grasslands again! Though I do kind of miss the expanse of the desert. I also miss the professional challenges of teaching how to live comfortably in the desert. I always felt that doing ecological design in the desert is like making it in New York, if you can do it there, you can do it anywhere. I’ve been at Lost Valley for nearly eight months now, and so far it has been really good, though I do miss living at Arcosanti some times. Lost Valley is 20 years old. We live on a site that was once a Christian Youth Camp back in the ’60s and ’70s. Shiloh, as the youth camp was called, went under 20 years ago and a small group of people looking to start an ecovillage bought the property and moved in, “re-purposing” the existing structures from a youth camp into an intentional community. Thanks to Shiloh, we have two large dormitories, a lodge, a small office complex, classrooms, several cabins and a six-unit apartment complex. With these facilities, we are able to house about 25 community members and dozens of students. Our main “industry” is education, and we teach excellent courses in Permaculture design, with an emphasis on creating “community.” I live in a small, quaint little two-room cabin with a loft. Most of the buildings here look like your typical old summer camp wooden buildings, and they are all clustered together so everything is a short walk away, much like it was at Arcosanti. Living in a pedestrian environment like this allows one to constantly enjoy the weather and nature and constantly smile and wave at people as you all go about
your day. When I was at Arcosanti, about 60 people lived there—almost three times the population of Lost Valley—so there has been some “culture shock” moving from a larger community population to a smaller one. There was much more activity overall at Arcosanti, with the residents, the tourists, the classes and monthly festivals in the amphitheater. There were always people around and it felt like living in a hustle and bustle, but it was a positive, invigorating hustle and bustle, not a rat race. Arcosanti has been around for 40 years and constructing the whole time, so it makes sense that Arcosanti has so much more population and facilities than Lost Valley. While living at Arcosanti felt like being in the hustle and bustle of a downtown on Saturday night, Lost Valley is more like living in a quaint, small neighborhood, with trees and gardens surrounding you. In modern city living, we are surrounded by thousands, if not millions of people, but how many of them do you actually interact with? At Lost Valley I know and interact in a great way with all 25 people here, as well as the students. So, to me, it is socially like life in a big city just without the thousands of “background” people that I never interacted with anyway. At Arcosanti I definitely had a richer, more active social life with those 60 people and that site then I did when I lived in Phoenix with MILLIONS! It is the same here at Lost Valley. Everyone I see is a member of my community, like friends and neighbors. One of the biggest differences between Arcosanti and Lost Valley is the intent of community development. Arcosanti is focused on being a construction project, attempting to build a prototype of a new sustainable vision of urban development. Basically Paolo Soleri modeled it after the Taliesin School of Archi-
by Wes Ozier Community Member Myles Green teaches how to prepare an “earthen plaster.” Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
January 2010 • Page 25
Photo by Wes Ozier Student Frances Brindle participates in a demonstration of earthen plastering. tecture, where he studied, which Taliesin was never intended to be a “community” and neither was Arcosanti. Because of this, many people in the ecovillage movement don’t consider Arcosanti a “community,” but I can assure you that when you live and work with 60 people everyday, you form a community there. Lost Valley, however, from its beginning, has had the intent of consciously developing what you call “intentional community.” People don’t just come here to live and work, they come to be connected. To be connected with each other and with Nature. This may sound like hippy-commune stuff to many people, and maybe it is, but I ask what is wrong with the notion of purposefully trying to live in a connected way? Modern city living, in my opinion, engenders disconnection, isolation and alienation among people. It disconnects you from the joys of the natural world and people, it makes happiness something you have to buy at the mall, watch on TV, or only get to experience at a “Happy Hour” with half-off drinks. You lock your doors because you don’t trust your neighbors, you don’t talk to strangers, you pass homeless people on the street without a second glance, and somehow this is viewed as “normal” and the intent to live in a connected way is Page 26 • January 2010
viewed as “weird.” Not only have I had to make some social adjustments, but I have also had to make some ecological ones as well. The climate of the Northwest is quite different from the climate of Arizona. For example, the small grey water system I installed has stopped working because I didn’t account for the ground becoming saturated due to rain. So I am learning to adjust both socially and ecologically to Lost Valley, the climate, the people and the whole “scene.” Living in a place that teaches and incorporates that teaching into the community provides a great social environment if you are interested in living a sustainable life yourself. Through the presence of the students, we, the community, also learn and teach each other every day. Awareness of sustainability, ecology and community infuses everything we do. OK, maybe not everything, but ecological and community awareness, even when you’re not being perfect at it, is still a palpable presence in the way you think and act. Living on this site gives you an opportunity to sometimes become connected with the environment and people in a way that you wouldn’t anywhere else. There are plenty of opportunities to get your hands “dirty” and work on some project or in a garden; there are always people around talking about their views and Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Courtesy photo Student Melanie Knapp cuts blocks made from an alternative material called “paper-crete.”
The Camassia 2010 programs are now enrolling
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he Camassia Institute at Lost Valley empowers you to live and learn more sustainably through courses in permaculture, sustainable design and community organization. These courses are designed for those with an academic, professional or personal interest in sustainable living and design. Students stay at the Lost Valley ecovillage located in Dexter, Ore. Week-long, month-long and seasonal programs are offered for scheduling and financial flexibility. • Sustainability Seminar: This one-week “crash course” in sustainability gives an overview of green building, permaculture and ecovillage design through a combination of lectures and activities. • Ecobuild Modules: A week-long module where you participate in the construction of a single ecobuilding demonstration project. • Five-Week, Full Programs: EcoBuilding, a hands-on intro to creating “eco” structures; Permaculture Design, learn how to create and present holistic permaculture design; and Ecovillage Design Education, for those interested in organizing their local community or starting their own intentional community. • Seasonal Program: A three-month program for those interested in a fully immersive experience. This program integrates the ecobuilding, permaculture and ecovillage design programs into one comprehensive immersive learning experience. Students receive both a permaculture and an ecovillage design certification. Are you ready to live in greater harmony with the planet and each other? Visit our Web site at www.lostvalley.org/ to learn more about the Camassia Programs and life at Lost Valley. For more info, call 541-937-3351 or send e-mail to registrar@lostvalley.org. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
the latest they’ve heard about the ecology and about the world. You get to engage people who are also dedicated to positive interactions all the time. My professional goal is to teach people how to empower themselves to live in a sustainable way. That was why I moved to Arcosanti, why I worked at Ecosa and why I moved to Lost Valley. How do the educational experiences of these three places compare? Arcosanti offers month-long workshops, where one lives on the site and participates in either the construction of the project or in one of the support positions, such as kitchen, maintenance or something like that. The experience of living at Arcosanti is completely unique and something I think EVERYONE should experience. To be in an environment so out of the norm, and so beautiful and unique opens your mind to a whole new range of possibilities for our future, and even for yourself. It is truly one of the best, eye-opening experiences in my life. I always did, however, find the educational experience a little disappointing. In my opinion, the lessons you learn at Arcosanti’s workshop only apply to Arcosanti. There was no intent to teach people how to design for themselves, how to create their own unique sustainable solutions, or how to translate the lessons of Arcosanti to the rest of the world. Sure, sometimes a department head would take it on themselves to teach their student crews a true skill, but as the administrator of the programs there was no room for development of a true “sustainability” curriculum. This was a big impetus for my working at the Ecosa Institute, which in my learned opinion, teaches the best course on sustainable design in the country. Ecosa, however, is not a community. So while you get the best education, you don’t get the community experience. This is why I am so excited about being at Lost Valley. While Arcosanti has a better site and richer social experience, Lost Valley has better education. While Ecosa has superlative education. Lost Valley has better community. To me, Lost Valley is the perfect blend of what I have been looking for both personally and professionally. I have to admit that I also love being at Lost Valley because as the head of the educational department here I am empowered and held responsible for further development of the educational programs. When I arrived, Lost Valley was teaching a curriculum developed by my predecessor Marc Tobin, which combined the permaculture curriculum as developed by Bill Mollison, the “founder” of permaculture, with the Ecovillage Design Education curriculum endorsed by the United Nations “Decade of Sustainable Education.” This program teaches a great blend of how to interact with both the environment and the people within it. Next year, we are developing each curriculum into its own full class. In addition, we are adding a “Do-It-Yourself ” scale Ecobuilding course. The idea with this curriculum is that a person could come to Lost Valley and learn how to design their permaculture systems, how to build their own appropriate technology and ecoshelters, and how to create their own community, learning all of that while actually living in an ecovillage dedicated to being an intentional community. If you are interested in learning and living sustainably, here is my professional recommendation: Take an Arcosanti workshop and live there for a month. The experience will change your life. Then, come to Lost Valley and take either one of our Full Courses, or the three-month, full-immersion seasonal program. With these two experiences under your belt, you will have a new vision of how to live sustainably and the skills to do so. If you wish to go further in learning design, then go to the Ecosa Institute. I don’t just make these recommendations because it is my job to do so, I make these recommendations because it is what I have done in my life, and I consider my life all the better for it. If everyone followed a similar path, then we could enact a grass roots transformation of our society and then everywhere could be an intentional community and ecovillage, and Phoenix would no longer be a city of millions of strangers, but of millions of friends and neighbors. January 2010 • Page 27
From trash to couture fashions Clothing made using paper, aluminum, nails, car wiring and tape cassettes—anything is game for Nancy Judd’s unique recycling By Ann Haver-Allen
Courtesy photos Left, colorful number 2 HDPE post-consumer plastic detergent bottles were cut into circles and hand-sewn onto a vintage bathing suit and shoes. Center, the dress and purse are made of canvas scraps sewn into a 1950’s style cocktail dress. Post consumer Coke cans were cut into the shapes of leaves, petals and vines and hand sewn to the dress and purse. The earrings and a necklace are also made from Coke cans. Commissioned by the Coca-Cola Co. Right, this outfit is made of old phone book pages that were woven together and made into a skirt and vest. Woven directories also cover the vintage “pee-wee” cowgirl boots and hat. CDs containing phone directories are used to accent the outfit. Commissioned by Southwestern Bell, now AT&T.
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ancy Judd is not your ordinary recycler. Sure, she does the ordinary recycling things, but Judd’s Earth-friendly actions go way beyond ordinary. She has built a successful business around the idea of extreme recycling. Judd creates haute couture fashions out of trash and garbage. She displays her Recycle Runway fashions at airports nationwide. “I love the challenge of making garbage beautiful, glamorous and sexy,” Judd said. “I strive to transform the concept of ‘waste’ into ‘resource’ and encourage individual responsibility for the environment in a fun, playful and positive context.” Judd has had commissions from many corporations, including Coca-Cola, Target, Toyota and Starbucks. Each original hand-sewn garment takes between 100 to 400 hours to make and the finished product becomes part of the Recycle Runway Collection. “The garments are displayed in airports nation-
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wide and continue to ‘work’ capturing people’s attention so that I can talk about environmental topics,” Judd said. “So the companies get to be associated with the environment, art, fashion and youth in front of tens of millions of people through the airport exhibits, the youth presentations and the associated press.” The airport exhibits encourage people to rethink their definition of “waste” and inspire people to consider the impact of their choices on the Earth. “I want to change the way the people think about their relationship to the environment,” Judd said. “I want them to realize that it is the culmination of each of our individual moment-to-moment decisions that has caused the polluted air, the polluted water and the polluted land as well as the global warming and species extinction that we hear about everyday. Likewise, it is our moment-to-moment decisions at home, at work, at school, at church and in all our social activities that can mitigate the damage we have created.”
Judd began Recycling Runway 11 years ago. She was working as the recycling coordinator for the City of Santa Fe and realized that art and fashion could be used to raise the consciousness of the public about recycling in a fun and positive way. She started the Recycle Santa Fe Art Market to provide a forum for recycling artists to share their creations. The Art Market always opens with a recycled fashion contest. “I would make a dress every year to promote the contest,” Judd said. “Soon, I had a wonderful collection of recycled garments and I started to get invited by other recycling coordinators around the country to give recycled fashion shows in their communities.” She did that for about two years. “I realized that I could reach more people with my message of sustainability in airports,” she said. “I also wanted an audience that was not already environmentally minded.” Education is a big part of what Judd does. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Courtesy photos Left, the dress is made from Eco-spun, which is woven from melted plastic bottles. It is covered with plastic packaging film and accented by little circles cut from plastic detergent bottles. The stole is knit from clear plastic bags that are pulled through to create a soft luxurious faux fur and is lined with a white polyester satin prom dress from a thrift store. Center, colorful junk mail (catalogues, solicitations, newspaper ads) were folded into fans and sewn onto a skirt and dress made of scrap canvas and a mantilla for the hair. The vintage shoes are covered with old postage stamps. Right, post-consumer recycled office paper was hand cut into an original lace design and glued to a pair of vintage shoes, a skirt and hat made from canvas scraps. The dress is a vintage cocktail dress from the early 1950s. “The focus of everything I do is environmental education,” Judd said. “In addition to the airport installations, I also give presentations to youth. I encourage people to change at least one thing in their lives to benefit the environment.” As part of her education effort, Judd plans to make an Eco-Youth dress. “I ask youth to take a pledge, to do just one thing for the environment,” she said. “These pledges will be made into the Eco-Youth dress.” But where, you ask, does she get the ideas for her garments? “My design sensibility is influenced by fashions from 1900 to 1950,” she said. “I get most of my ideas from watching old movies and poring over fashion books from that period.” When she is commissioned by a company to make a garment out of specific materials, she begins by thinking about the properties of the material and how she might transform them into something beautiful. “At the same time, I am looking in my vintage fashion books and the two sources of information seem to come together in a daydream—and a dress is born,” Judd said. She said the most unusual material that she has recycled into a garment was car parts. “Toyota commissioned me to dig through their Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
recycling containers,” Judd said. “They recycle between 80 percent to 95 percent of their garbage, so there is not much in their trash cans to choose from! This garment proved to ME that I could make anything elegant…even car parts!” The Toyota two-piece suit was made using two different convertible soft tops. The “faux fur” on the lapel of the jacket is made from electrical wire. The hat is made from a front-end mask and accented with electrical copper wire. The purse is woven out of electrical wire and metal paper that is wound around electrical components. Judd’s ingenuity incorporates a vast collection of garbage and recycled materials, including old rusty nails that are sewn and glued to a 1950’s style cocktail dress. The accompanying hat is made from canvas remnants. Completing the outfit is a vintage purse and a matching pair of shoes, also adorned with old rusty nails. Judd made a 1920’s flapper dress from an old cloth shower curtain that features aluminum teardrops and circles cut from cans and hand sewn onto the material. She created a stylish coat from old cassette tapes that were woven into the fabric of a thrift-store coat. Discarded video tape made the collar and cuffs. The coat’s lining was once a prom dress. Her “Fan Mail Dress” is made from junk mail
that she folded into fans and sewed onto a skirt and dress made of scrap canvas. The Spanish influenced dress has a matching mantilla for the hair and vintage shoes that are covered with old postage stamps. Although Judd is no longer directly involved with the Recycle Santa Fe Art Market, she still shows a new garment in the fashion show each year. “A number of people in Santa Fe follow my work, so it’s always fun to debut my latest piece there,” she said. “This show has become one of Santa Fe’s celebrated arts events. People come from all over the country to both sell artwork and shop.” Judd said that change starts with small steps and while many people already recycle, she wants to build on this. “I have a very strong belief that if we pay attention to what is interesting, to what makes us curious, to what is fun and to what we love to do then we find ourselves in some amazing places,” Judd said. “This has been my experience and it has led into this incredible career. I share this message with the thousands of kids that I talk to but I think it is applicable to anyone! I feel so fortunate for this unusual, fun, meaningful and very fulfilling career!” In February, Recycle Runway will be coming to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The show will run through August. January 2010 • Page 29
Hungry for nourishment in the land of plenty
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here are many types of hunger. Lack of bodily sustenance often comes to mind first, but there are others, equally as significant, once the body is fed. We are complex beings, whose needs extend beyond the physical to the spiritual, emotional and intellectual. Healthy, creative balance is achieved by feeding these aspects of our lives according to our particular role in the cosmic dance. This is a new year, a new decade, one in which we have the opportunity to feed ourselves with life-giving nourishment in preference to consuming empty calories, unfulfilled promises, the sweet sedatives of sugar-infused delicacies or the bittersweet sleep of resignation. It is both a gift and a challenge that humanity has developed our particular consciousness. We can imagine both the best and the worst, tell ourselves the truth or languish in the murky waters of self-deception. At the end of the day, if the only aspect of our lives we truly have control over is our interiority, why not make the commitment to kindness, positive creativity, living from truth in compassion? A person is as free as he or she chooses to be inside. Part of becoming mature is taking responsibility for our own beliefs, fine tuning our discernment abilities to know when we are being nourished or when we are being fed emptiness in the guise of convenience or pseudo-safety. Part of being mature is caring beyond ourselves for others. The funny thing about convenience is that it can be corrosive and sedating. It is not necessary for everything to be struggle, but if everything is served up to us, predigested, by an external source, eventually we lose the ability to fend for ourselves. If we allow others to provide our sense of reality, we lose the ability to think critically and constructively. We lose the awareness that we have choices, that there are more than a few ways to live, that confusing the name we give the divine with divinity itself leads to fundamentalism and war. Our beliefs arise from many sources, mostly cultural, as well as genetic, choice, necessity, tradition, Page 30 • January 2010
etc. Many of them take us away from the present moment, into nostalgia for the past or hope for the future. The lines between imagination and escapism are blurred. Living in a culture that pays lip service to individuality while punishing diversity, we learn to self medicate the paradoxes in our hearts and increasing discontinuity between who we truly are and who we pretend to be. We tell ourselves that it doesn’t matter. That we have to do this in order to survive. The financial and ideological ruling elite enables our addictions because that is how they grow in power. The weaker we become, the more money they make and, like a parent spanking their child for some minor infraction, claim that it hurts them more than it hurts us, and that we will thank them one day. The next time you listen to the news, a political speech, dinner party conversation, or sermon, ask yourself if the message is truly about sustaining and nurturing life, about compassion, love and understanding. Or, is the underlying meaning about fear, power, funding destruction, division and elitism? If you really listen, you may well be surprised, shocked perhaps, by the aggression in everyday language. Even our so-called healing professions speak of “a war on cancer” or “a war on poverty” or how our ostensibly loving, omnipresent God will send our enemies to an eternity of damnation and suffering. Our culture refuses healthcare for all, theoretically for financial reasons, while happily creating crippling debt to perpetuate war in foreign lands. If that were not atrocious enough, those in power dare to speak simultaneously of morality and the “sanctity of life.” It is one thing to defend oneself from legitimate danger, another to live in a mindset of senseless violence. Somebody actually said to me the other day that “war is good, we need war because we make money on war, it’s good for the economy!” This is madness. There is no nutritional value in this way of thinking, literally or ideologically. As individuals, we do not have to medicate ourselves into obesity and debt in an attempt to silence the sound of doors being locked behind us. So, what can we do? We can begin by being still. Begin by unplugging from the hamster wheel that is our reactive mind. Begin by taking a deep breath, drawing oxygen down deep, deep into our lungs, long past the limits of hyperventilation imposed by fear and defensiveness. We may feel dizzy at first, unaccustomed as we might be to the heady presence of breath in our body. It is not an accident that the
Divine Spirit is referred to as breath in so many spiritual traditions. It is essential to make peace with our bodies, learn the language of our bodies, instead of viewing them as inarticulate matter, commodities, or encumbrances on the path to spiritual enlightenment. Our bodies, and the natural world in which we live, are as deeply spiritual and meaningful as any lofty ideology. This is why many find resonance with spiritual “earth traditions” over “revealed theologies.” The former are largely inclusive, grounded, practical, cyclical; the latter are largely anthropocentric, transcendent, exclusive and linear. For spirituality to be mature and sustaining, the descent is as vital as the ascent. This is why we can learn so much from nature, why the presence of old growth Redwoods can feed our soul more than organized religion. This is how taking time to notice birds, beetles, trees, stars, the moon and all the other wondrous beings we encounter helps us to feel more alive, deeply connected to one another. These encounters restore our curiosity, gratitude and wonder. They speak of imagination and potential. We begin by listening to the vibration of our soul when it reminds us who we once dreamed of being, who and what we love, how we long to live our co-creativity and spiritual gifts into wholeness and relationship. We begin by choosing kindness over competitiveness, disconnecting from mindless entertainment, finding the courage to see and feel our spiritual pain in order to heal and offer healing to others. We begin by eating consciously, choosing food with nutritional value from sources that raise and grow our food humanely. This applies as much to spiritual, intellectual and emotional food as physical fare. We begin by remembering our place in the circle of creation, honoring the life that gives us life, and giving thanks for the unfathomable divine mystery through whom the universe came into being. Pia has been a part of Earth Odyssey since the beginning. She has a master’s degree in Culture and Spirituality from Holy Names University, Oakland, Calif., and is a recent graduate of the two-year Anamcara apprenticeship program through the Sacred Art of Living Center, Bend, Ore. She is a freelance photographer, artist and writer based in Payson, Ariz., and can be reached through her photography and design business, Animist Arts, e-mail pia@animistarts. com and Earth Odyssey. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Nature Notes
By Fiona Reid
Ponderosa pine inspires deep-rooted thoughts
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mmm—the comfort of home. I’m always excited at the prospect of a trip somewhere, whether it be to a little escape getaway pad in Pine, Ariz., or to a distant land like South Africa or Zambia to visit friends and family. Road trips, plane trips, boat trips—there’s something about them that stirs the cells and elevates the heart rate. The mind roams, the journey speaks to us of discovery and exploration, the imagination conjures up pictures of cozy conversations, laughter and giggles; or the feel of the warmest, softest sand of any beach anywhere in the world; or gazing out onto never-ending ocean waves to a mysterious horizon that just goes on and on blessing your face with salt water drops. It’s almost impossible to imagine what it must have been like for the early explorers heading outward bound into unknown territory. Their feelings must have been magnified a million times. But I digress…. After it’s all over, the journey home, although sometimes long and tedious, is a gentler thing. The heart rate slows down as the environment becomes more familiar—the geography as seen from the air shows those familiar, rough, dusty-brown mountains you know lie just south of home; or the fact that you are now driving on the correct—for you—side of the road; the sound of your mother tongue. Then home. The kind of place you know so well you can walk to the fridge in the pitch dark and find the juice on the exact shelf you always leave it and you can walk back to the bedroom without crashing into anything and without spilling a drop. When you can’t stretch your feet all the way to the bottom of the bed because there’s a lump there, and you know it’s a cat, not a python. And, yet, I sit here at my computer, at home, surrounded by things that are either made in foreign lands by foreign people, or copied from things invented in foreign lands by foreign minds. It
still feels comfortable and friendly. Outside are a few trees that would feel more at home on the East Coast than here, but they provide shade and habitat for birds and people, so I like them anyway. I didn’t plant them, but I won’t cut them down. “Home” in this day and age is a mix of native and foreign everything. Made in China or Honduras or by a local artist; grown in Kenya or New Zealand or up the road in Paulden; designed by a Finn, built by an American with materials manufactured in Japan. Was life better for plants and animals, including humans, when everything within a couple of hundred miles was the only larder or pantry or “hardware store” or habitat? I don’t know. I suppose it depends on how one defines “better” and puts that in relation to our time on Earth. And I suppose it depends on how much one values and/or appreciates diversity. In the natural world, diversity is not only considered a good thing, but also it is a critically necessary thing. In the Prescott area, we are blessed with incredible diversity in the species of plants and animals that are our natural neighbors, but we know that many of them traveled here from distant parts. They crept in slowly, over millennia, but we proudly call them ours now. My mother was from Yorkshire on the east coast of England. Many folks from the “north country” of England have some Viking blood in their veins, which might explain why, on a visit to Scandinavia several years ago, I actually felt somewhat at home. OK, so I looked the part—blonde hair and blue eyes. And I did love the fjords, the coniferous forests, the Stave churches, the log houses, the strong coffee and the yummy Norwegian salmon. But I couldn’t live there. I can’t bear the cold. The low temperatures are below my lower limit of tolerance. And it’s cold for too darned long. I’m a sun worshipper. Perhaps being born a couple of degrees removed from the Equator has something to do with that. I can certainly tolerate much
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
more heat with far less physiological stress than many of my friends. In fact, I’m energized by the heat, while my chums begin to look like badly wilted potted plants. Anyway, as I wander around our forest I feel very much at home as I recognize all the familiar “faces” around me—the tall ponderosa pines, the solid and strong ancient alligator junipers, the tough, almost indestructible chaparral species, the bunch grasses. We call them natives, but these were once the creeping foreigners, taking advantage of warmer or drier or simply better conditions for survival over millions of years. And we, all of us—human and nonhuman—love them. We love their grace, their green, their berries, their bark. We lean on them, we climb on them, make homes in them, raise our young in them; we munch on the cones and eat the nuts; we teach about them and we learn about them. On a crisp midmorning walk the other day I noticed a young ponderosa pine tree poking up from under the recent snowfall. The sun was at such an angle that the little tree cast a long proud shadow on the white snow. I wondered about the little one’s chances of survival. I wondered first about the chances of one of those tiny pine seeds, dislodged from its little bed in the pine cone, floating down on its long slender wing and settling up against a stone or a pile of dirt enough to cover it and protect it until conditions were right for germination and growth. That in itself is a wonder. The little rock-hard juniper seed has a much better chance of being “planted” —and fertilized!—because of coyote’s sweet tooth, as evidenced by the masses of berries in her scat. In any event, a lucky seed grows, and a new plant is born. Our lower latitude is pretty much the pine’s upper limit of tolerance for heat and, consequently, lower ground moisture level. Ponderosas grow at high elevations or on north facing slopes or in small gullies and valleys that have some cold air drainage and
more moisture. The alligator juniper, however, survives really well in a warmer, drier clime. If conditions become too dry for the tree it will, in fact, cease growth until there is more moisture. Much further north of here, though, and its limits of tolerance for cold would be stretched. I know how it feels. These natives have survived and they brighten our days with their diversity and provision of habitat for many species of animals. They live in a region within their thermal tolerance limits; there are probably large enough populations to supply the genetic diversity for survival; and in spite of drought and human restricted fire regimes and, in the case of ponderosa pines, massive bark beetle-related deaths, they have demonstrated considerable resilience and many continue to stand tall. But as I look at the little pondy pine snuggled into its blanket of snow the questions I ask and cannot answer have to do with climate change. What is the capacity of the local flora and fauna to adapt to change in terms of both evolutionary change over time and generations, and adapting to varying environmental conditions, for example a rapidly warming world? I think Darwin found out that all organisms have some intrinsic capacity to adapt to changing conditions, but I fear today those changes may be huge. We might ask a similar question of ourselves—what is our human capacity, in this changing world, to manage, adapt and minimize impacts on the natural environment? I hope and believe, because our resident native species depend on it, we do have that capacity. If our species is not sensitive to, or flexible and tolerant of making necessary lifestyle changes, then we will have to put up with a definite change of scenery, literally. Fiona Reid, education director at the Highlands Center for Natural History, is a passionate defender of nature and outdoor time with children. January 2010 • Page 31
Monthly horoscope from Dominique Read your Sun, Ascending and Moon sign. An astrologer can help you find all of the planets’ places on the day that you were born.
life springs from within the old. Things are darkest before the dawn. Gifts or additional earnings possible at this time. Focus on what IS working. Doubt is a strong deterrent that can keep us from knowing bliss.
j Capricorn—December 23–January 20 This is your time of year! Is there something you have been wanting to do or to have? Make it happen. Pluto is in your sign. It will be there for many more years. Trust your intuitive feelings about money. A gift comes to you later in the month. k Aquarius—January 21–February 19 You can be very creative, especially now. Hold on, be patient, something good is going to happen. Things are changing for the better. It is like everything on your plate got dumped off and replaced with something good. Love, abundance and intuition are your allies now. l Pisces—February 20–March 20 You have the ability to handle many things at once. Others are attracted to you. They recognize within you something you will know soon, too. Interesting change could bring more of the unexpected. Someone new or from your past connects with you. a Aries—March 21–April 19 Your sensations and feelings could be very strong at this time. Trust your intuition. You may be around children or get a chance to care for someone. Do for yourself first, then share love. Lessons about cooperation are likely this month. Put energy into creativity. Got romance? b Taurus—April 20–May 20 Your confidence is high. Let yourself go and do something you would have liked to do as a child. You may be prompted to make adjustments regarding your home. Also, do what you need to do to take care of yourself and stay in good health. c Gemini—May 22–June 21 Now is the time to speak up and ask for something that you want or need. Acknowledge what good you have. Make some plans and keep them. Your life can improve, do the thing that you know you should do. Secrets are revealed. You may notice your emotions are more intense at this time. d Cancer—June 22–July 23 Partnership is highlighted. Balance and adjustment are key words for you at this time. Look for opportunities to work with others. You feel good when those around you are happy. Now is a good time to take Page 32 • January 2010
Puzzle Solutions
Dominique Shilling, MAFA, is a counselor and astrologer with a practice in the Valley. For an appointment, contact her at Way to the Light Within, (602) 279-2941 or check out her Web site at www. way2light.com. action regarding money issues.
Logic Puzzle Solution: Christina had 448 pennies. Benjamin had 502 pennies. Mackenzie had 930 pennies. Olivia had 777 pennies and Cameron had 696 pennies.
e Leo—July 24–August 23 You have the capability to get something you desire. Focus on your ability to endure. You gain by letting go of the old and making room for the new. Someone gives you helpful information. This is a good time to do something that will improve your health. f Virgo—August 24–September 23 Romance and/or creativity are highlighted. Cultivate the spiritual part of yourself. Listen with your heart. Trust your feelings about your work and/or health. Follow discipline to become more valuable to yourself and others. Your power of attraction will improve even more. g Libra—September 24–October 23 Home and security could be the focus at this time. It is against your nature to follow the crowd. If you please others and not yourself, you both lose in the long run. Saturn in your sign at this time can be used to improve your strength and ability to use discipline to create what you want. h Scorpio—October 24–November 22 You have an opportunity to gain by asking. Trust your feelings. You have great powers of observation. You may have feelings of expectation. Stay busy to keep energy flowing. Stick to your commitments, things will work out. Count your blessings. You are gifted with foresight and intuition. i Sagittarius—November 23–December 22 You get a chance to acknowledge your value. New
Fun Fact
The two hemispheres of a dolphin’s brain work independently. For 8 hours, the entire brain is awake. The left side then sleeps for 8 hours. When it wakes up, the right side sleeps for 8 hours. Thus, the dolphin gets 8 hours of sleep without ever having to stop physically. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Dominique takes an in-depth look at the stars anuary was named for the Janus from Roman mythology. Janus helped Saturn by taking him into his home when he needed a place to stay. Saturn later rewarded him for this favor by giving Janus the ability to see the future and the past. Janus was depicted as one with two heads joined together at the back of each. Janus symbolizes change and transitions, such as the progression of past to future, of going from one condition to another, the growing up of young people and going from one universe to another. He was also known to represent time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. Janus was credited for the beginning of the world. He was also the god of the home entrance, gates, bridges and covered passages. Others believe that the two heads depicted a pair of divinities—Janus and Jana (Diana) that were worshiped as the Sun and the Moon. They were regarded as the highest of the gods. This month’s retrograde planets: Mercury is still in retrograde motion and will go forward on January 15 at 05 Capricorn. Mars started its backward motion on December 20 at 19 degrees Leo. Its forward motion will resume again on March 10 at zero degrees of Leo. Saturn goes into retrograde on the 13th of this month at 4 degrees Libra. It will move into Virgo on the 8th where it will stay until it starts moving forward at 27 Virgo on May 29. The following paragraphs are broken down by weeks. Monday the 4th, we have Mercury Capricorn conjunct Sun, which is good for creativity, communication, generating ideas and planning. This could also be a favorable time for gaining positive response from authority figures and/or elders. On
January is named after the Roman god Janus who had the ability to see the future and the past. the next day, Mercury Capricorn conjunct Venus puts a positive slant on communication with loved ones. It would also be a fine time to initiate new relationships, as well as sending messages of love. Minds could be on romance. One may find that people seem happier than usual and are more likely to notice the good things in life. Take time to think about what you appreciate most in your life. Remember that what you focus on expands. On the 11th, Venus is in Capricorn conjunct Sun. This combination is likely to enhance feelings of generosity. People are drawn to things of beauty at this time. You may want to enjoy the arts or socialize with friends and loved ones. Wednesday with Venus Capricorn sextile Uranus Pisces could bring out the unusual, in a practical and positive way. Perhaps a gift comes to you or appreciation is shown by someone unexpected. It is a time when more of us value the uncommon. Let loose, get away, do something different. Saturn goes into retrograde at 4 Libra. We also have Sun Capricorn sextile Uranus Pisces to enhance creativity, original thinking, and independence. This can also help with insight into anything that you had been trying to understand or to get a handle on. Friday the 15th is a great day to move forward and/or start something new. We have the new moon in Capricorn at 00:12 a.m. MST and Mercury starts moving direct
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Photo courtesy NASA Earth’s horizon and airglow is visible at left in this view of a full moon photographed by a crewmember onboard the International Space Station. January’s full moon occurs on the 29th at 11:18 p.m. MST. again as it stations direct at 5 degrees Capricorn at 9:48 a.m. MST. Jupiter moves into the constellation of the sign of Pisces the fishes on the first day of the week. Monday the 18th, Venus goes into Aquarius. The next day, the Sun follows Venus into the sign of the Water Bearer. Thursday’s Venus Aquarius trine Saturn Libra could be helpful for making any type of improvements. This planetary combination can make it easier to solve problems and get things done. Venus represents beauty and Saturn is practical. We start the first day of the last week of the month with Sun Aquarius trine Saturn Libra. This combination highlights the hard-working planet Saturn. These two planets are working together in air signs, which enhance our mental capability. This makes it easier to work on anything that requires mental discipline and practical thinking. Tuesday the 26th
with Venus Aquarius opposite Mars Leo would not be a good time for romance or starting new relationships. The work week ends on the 29th with the full moon in Aquarius. It will be exact at 11:18 p.m. MST. The Aquarius moon teaches us to go farther outside of ourselves. We learn to value our community. We may be drawn to our relationships outside of home and family. Politics and group dynamics become more important. This is a great time to search for new connections and to think about practical applications of what is above and beyond our existence as individuals. On this day, we also have the Aquarius Sun opposite Mars in Leo, which could feel like too much energy. Look before you leap. It would be a good idea to take extra care when driving or operating machinery. Physical exercise could be a way to use the energy in a positive and practical way.
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The American Dream Movie Reviews
And its negative impact on Earth
by Jason Allen
Movies that won’t make you dumber
H
appy New Year! The New Year brings to mind retrospective, evaluative thoughts and “resolutions” on how to change ourselves to be a better, more successful person this next year. To do such evaluation and reform, one must survey one’s past errors and decide to correct such errors. The most important part of this process is the realization that something was an error, and that’s where this month’s movie, “Earth and the American Dream” comes in. This film was really exciting for me to watch, because it is exactly the film that I would have made if I had the resources. So, naturally, my review will be a little biased. “Earth and the American Dream” traces very plainly and factually the road we’ve walked as a nation, which I believe to be an accurate depiction of what the objective is for an Anglo-Saxon controlled environment—conquest and destruction. The film moves through time, breaking each era into a set block of time, and characterizing each era with period photos. This nation is only very slightly older than photography, so we are very well documented. Also included are readings from literature of the time, and not just art literature, but also public promotional propaganda. Through these examples we can see pretty accurately what the prevailing opinions and attitudes of each time period were. The story starts 500 ago with the initial European invasion. We then move on to the age of the extermination of the “savages” who didn’t have the good sense to destroy everything they saw to build shopping malls.
Page 34 • January 2010
They weren’t sensible enough to destroy the land to get rocks to sell, or some liquid to burn, nor were they wise enough to clear-cut their forests to turn living trees into lumber. The unrepentant disrespect for a nation of people who respected all that truly deserves respect still stirs my blood something awful. There are photos of buffalo skulls, just the skulls, that are piled about 25 feet high. Even Theodore Roosevelt endorsed the eradication of this animal. “From the standpoint of humanity at large, the extermination of the buffalo has been a blessing,” he said, meaning of course, that it eases the effort involved in genocide so that one people can steal what belongs to another people. The movie then moves on
through our history covering economic booms and depressions, wars and the evolution of the mentality of America, which basically is like a kid who just ran away from home, and when no one was looking, in the middle of the night, sneaks into a candy store, eats everything in the store, and while he’s eating, he thinks “This is the life.” But then, all the candy is gone, leaving nothing to eat tomorrow for anybody, and the belly ache sets in, and all he’s left with is a bunch of empty wrappers. As a nation, we have come up with some great innovations and done some good, but our sense of our relationship with the planet is twisted to say the least. We look at trees and see lumber, we look at the ground and see fill material, we look at animals and see meat, mountains
are just stone to be mined and sold, everything is simply a product to profit from. We take what cannot be replaced and trade it for what is basically nothing, when you look at things in the scope of more than just one lifespan, and this sort of contempt for the only thing that keeps us alive should not be tolerated by anyone who thinks that living is a good thing. One thing this film covers that I have spoken about in the past is Genesis 1:28 “Multiply and replenish the Earth, and subdue it: And have dominion over the fish in the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth.” This relationship of man having to conquer the Earth and having some seat of power over everything contained therein is a problem for the longevity of our species. One area the film falls short is covering our recent history, where we have heightened our planetary destruction and pollution to the point where if it were an art form, we would all be masters. It covers up to 1960 pretty well, but then glosses over the rest, basically just showing the typical iconic images of the moon landing and the atom bomb. Aside from this shortcoming, the film is great, very well researched and flavored with a good selection of literature, photos and film from each era, which sum up American evolution poignantly. Though it hurts my heart to see many of our past atrocities, we must know our mistakes if we are to correct them. Jason Allen is the advertising art director for Earth Odyssey. He received his B.F.A. in studio arts from the University of South Carolina. His artwork has been featured in group and solo shows in New Jersey, South Carolina and Arizona. Jason teaches photography at Yavapai College. He is a career artist specializing in found art.
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Verde Hot Springs
Relaxing warmth on a winter day
O
ne of nature’s greatest gifts is the production of hot water on the Earth’s surface. In Arizona we are very well supplied with a number of hot or warm springs. It has been a goal of mine to visit all the springs that I can. Over the last decade, I have explored five: four natural and one that has become commercialized. True relaxation for me is found at the Verde hot springs. This spring is on the site of an abandoned resort down by the Verde River. It is not easy to get to; you really need a high-clearance vehicle, preferably with 4x4. The campground is often very loud and crowded with some strange and scary folk who tend to have too much beer and too many guns. The combination makes me wary to say the least. If you visit during the week, you may get lucky and have the place to yourself. This is the story of a trip I made in December a few years ago. It was a few days before Christmas and even in the Verde temperatures were in the teens at night. Arriving at the campsite at about 4 p.m., I spent about an hour cleaning up the trash left in the camping area. I filled two trash sacks with old beer cans and diapers. You would think those babies would pick up after themselves. Doing chores might put some folks off camping, except for the location that is truly spectacular right by the river. Cold weather is great because only nutty English guys would think of camping and swimming in frosty water. To get to the springs, you must either swim and wade once—or wade across once for a slightly longer route. I carry all my gear in waterproof bags for crossing. I also have a walking pole that is very useful for stabilization as your feet soon lose feeling as you wade across the river. With my
tarp set up and a fire prepared—but not lit—it was time to set off for the springs. Fanny packs, some drinking water and some snacks were all I needed. Leaving the campground, I walked along until an old jeep trail provided an easy path a few feet above the river. Even in poor light, it provides a safe path to walk. The wind had a real cutting edge to it as it came down from the Mogollon Rim. It was no surprise to see some deer in a family group browsing on an area of scrub and other still green veggies. Mule deer will usually make a dash away from humans and disappear because they are frequently hunted. Today, they were not feeling threatened, so after looking at me they went back to their early bird special. It might be the deer understanding that I was not armed or that I had not been sneaking around, but I was quite pleased to be able to watch them feed. A large rock provided a seat, slowly sitting down to enjoy the scene—as usual with deer and cows, they seem to favor a grouping of four. The family in front of me had a young buck, two does and an older fawn. The family group ignored me and went on about their business. The buck took position slightly removed from the group. He was about 20 feet from me, and uphill from where I sat. The buck munched for at least 20 minutes on the tender tart berries and green leaves of a sour berry bush. It’s like candy for deer because it has quite a lot of sugar. The rest of the family was focused on an area of ground covering sorrel. It was a pastoral scene. At times like this, I know why I live in Arizona, but of course, the scene would not last. My own focus was on my now frozen behind and trying to get my
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
By Bob Matthews
blood flowing. The wind, although slightly less than it had been, was chilling my hands and feet. I still had to wade the river. But I took a few more minutes to enjoy the now. Off to my right, was a sudden distraction as a covey of quail burst out of some scrub oak. The mule deer started. The buck remembered I was sitting there, he looked me right in the eye as if to see if he had made a terrible error. He did that whooshy! snort most deer do as a warning and locator. The does and fawn took off down the hill and went along a side drainage caused by years of water running to meet the river. They were out of sight within seconds. Instead of moving along to the hot springs, my nosy nature kicked in and I wanted to see the reason for the quails’ panic. It had to be close, so, moving slowly, I stepped on larger rocks so as to minimize my sounds and to leave little trace. Not more than 20 yards from the point of origin of the quail, I had to get low to the ground to see if there was any sign or evidence to clarify why they took flight. In among the dry leaves and twigs, I found some feathers. From the quantity, it could mean that not all of the quail were able to make a dash to safety. I went through the list of predators in my mind. It was too cold for snakes. Blood evidence or disturbance on the ground were not visible at first glance. This indicated one of two possibilities: A raptor hit the bird. I looked higher in the bushes to find the impact point. Think about how hawks and owls hunt. They fly low and fast with perfect control along the contour of the ground. The real stealth hunters dive bomb. They start at high altitude and have special tactical flight paths. I would draw the image, but art is not my forte. When foliage has lost its leaf cover,
quail sit in the bush and not on the ground. The bird almost has a matrix of protective twigs and branches that defend it from a direct vertical hit. If a quail feels threatened, it can drop to the ground for safety. For a hawk, the risk of injury is greatest if it attacks from high above. If a raptor uses the topography and comes from the side—ground hugging until impact—a safer flight course is available. Looking sideways at the top of the scrub oaks, I was hoping to find uniformly broken branch tips and fresh damage. The task is challenging. It took about 10 minutes to find what I was looking for. It was upwind from the feathers. A few were still caught in branches, but there was no sign of quail or hunter. It was fun to solve 85 percent of the “who dun it.” Time to continue to the hot spring. The crossing point I use requires wading in really cold water up to my knees. There is a rapid drop of about 5 feet. You might be surprised to learn that crossing a river on a cold late afternoon while the sun is trying really hard to go home is indeed a refreshing experience. I used the hike pole. It is almost religion for me because it provides increased balance, which is a confidence booster. I cross on the downstream side, enabling swift progress across to the dry bank. A few yards farther and the hot tubs were steaming in the brisk cold of the afternoon. It was with little surprise that I found I had the tubs to myself. Slipping below that hot water is like no other feeling. After an hour of soaking and floating, my body and soul were feeling refreshed. A full moon was expected. Come back next month for Part II: The return from hot springs to the real world. Bob Matthews Horizon Tracking Service: bmtracker45@yahoo.com. January 2010 • Page 35
A Meditator’s Journey
Into the heart of Namaste By Sarah McLean
P
eople ask me about what they can expect from a practice of meditation. I often suggest that they approach it with innocence, as if they were on an adventure to somewhere that has never been explored. It is certainly different for everyone. Often, new meditators have amazing experiences their first day, like Carol, who wrote: “Learning to meditate was like that moment standing on top of the mountain and seeing the whole world lay out at your feet. A feeling of being a part of something much larger than yourself and at the same time knowing it was always within you. There is this image in my mind of the swirling pinks and purples of the rocks against that dark and moody
Page 36 • January 2010
sky that day when I opened my eyes after meditating for the first time. It was as if the world had polished itself just for me.” But her experience is only one of many that people can have. A meditation student from Flagstaff we’ll call R.H. recently shared his perspective as he explores his practice of meditation. I thought you might enjoy it. “I have read many books, and talked to a wide variety of people about meditation, and in my practice I have been seeking the peak experience that many describe: The merging with the universe, the transformational experience, the overwhelming realization of my oneness with the spirit that moves in all things, an experience that would change my life forever, but it never came. “So I would read more books, talk to more people and take more classes looking for a better way, or for what I was doing wrong. But my practice
continued to be filled with thoughts and my enlightenment remained illusive. I kept seeking, kept up my practice, but seemed to make little progress toward universal consciousness. “Over time, however, I did notice that I felt calmer and more often at peace with myself, my circumstances and with others. I noticed that sometimes walking felt more like dancing, a sweeping ballet of movement that filled me with wonder. “I started to notice a voice within me. It wasn’t a voice I could hear, but was more like a knowing that helped me to see the way though my days. I notice that I stopped wanting things, or doing things that did not serve me, from the foods I ate, to the TV I watched, and the ways I invested my time. “As my awareness of these changes grew, my disappointment at not having a transformational experience faded, and I rejoiced in the growing quality of my life, and it was enough. “Then one day I realized my whole life was changing. While I was looking for an ecstatic experience, it had come to me, not all at once, but in the breath of daily living. What I saw when I looked around, what I felt when I talked to people, what I
experienced when I went within, was a connection, a oneness that is at the heart of Namasté.* “The experience I had sought arrived gently, more like the warming breath of spring than the crescendo of a symphony, more from surrendering to the wisdom of the spirit that moves in all things than from my seeking, more like a quarry that appears unannounced in the night, than one you hunt down. “So my meditation practice continues, sometimes uncomfortable, always interrupted by thoughts and the random sounds of my everyday world, sometimes ordinary, but the peace and connectedness still pervade my life, and this gift is priceless.” *The translation of the greeting “namaste” that best expresses what I mean comes from Alan Watts: “I greet that place in you, which, when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are one.” Sarah McLean is the director of Sedona Meditation Training & Retreats and is certified and recommended by Dr. Deepak Chopra. She can be reached via e-mail at sarah@sedonameditation. com, phone at 928-204-0067 or fax at 866-654-1705. You can also visit online at www.SedonaMeditation.com.
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
New Year
Great time to get organized
N
ow that the holiday season is over, the New Year has been rung in; do you know where your New Year’s resolution list is?
Five New Year’s Resolutions 1. Lose weight—Lose physical body weight, which could also equate to clutter weight. 2. Spiritual Growth—Letting go of old, broken, useless items will make space for new people and opportunities to come into you life. 3. Get organized—Put systems in place that give you more time to do what you enjoy. 4. Get out of debt—Have a garage sale and use the proceeds to pay a bill. 5. Help others—Donate your used or unused and unwanted items to
help those less fortunate.
Holiday un-decorating As you’re taking down the decorations, look for ones that are worn out or broken and discard them. Only keep those that are special to you and will be used next year. Donate unwanted decorations that are in good condition. Make sure to have appropriate and clearly marked containers with labels on the outside so everything will be easily located next year. Store like items together so you can pull out boxes as you need them. See www.amazing-christmas-ideas.com/ christmas-decoration-storage.html.
Holiday, winter clothing Sort through and donate winter coats, jackets, gloves, hats and scarves that no longer fit or that your family hasn’t worn. Never going to wear
that gift of a hand-knitted snowman sweater? Donating to a thrift shop or charity makes sure it reaches someone who will. See www.safenest.org.
Holiday card list Kids’ toys Holiday time is the ideal time to help your kids sort through their toys and books, and encourage them to pass on any they don’t use. For next year, suggest listing one new toy for charity for every two toys they list for themselves. See www.positivelykids. org, www.StJude.org.
Food Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to clean out your fridge, freezer and pantry. Toss (or compost) anything from the fridge or freezer that you’re unlikely to eat. Do the same in your pantry, setting aside food that’s nonperishable and unexpired for donation. See www.threesquare.org.
The holiday season is best time to update everyone’s contact information. There are many ways and places to save names and addresses, but do you know what card you sent someone last year? The Web site www.sendoutcards.com lets you see what you sent, to whom and when. Before the next holiday season, become a PRO—Prepared, Ready and Organized. With just 15 to 20 minutes each day, you’ll discover a home that’s less cluttered for the year ahead. For more information on organizing and “How to organize” E-Books, contact Tanya—The Professional Organizer: tanya@idealsimplicity.com or www.idealsimplicity.com.
Prescott Public Library goes solar
T
he Prescott Public Library is the first municipal building in the city to go solar. On Dec. 2, 63 solar panels installed on the library’s room came online. Overall, the system is expected to generate around 18,000 kilowatt-hours a year. “This is win-win for the environment and for taxpayers,” said Library Director Toni Kaus. “The library will see monthly savings from lower energy costs, and the environment will benefit from our smaller carbon footprint. In less than two days, the panels have produced enough energy to power 314 light bulbs or 104 computers for a day.” Kaus goes on to explain how, in this same time, the environment has been spared roughly 178 pounds of carbon which would have been released into the atmosphere, had the library been using the traditional energy supply. All the while, the system is producing zero
Photo by Bill Allen The solar system atop the Prescott Public Library, designed and installed by EV Solar of Chino Valley, is an expandable system. greenhouse gas emissions. While there is no observable difference inside the library, the environmental savings are there. For a visual idea of the positive impact of the solar panels, log onto the solar panel monitoring site on the library Web page at www.prescottlibrary.info and
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
scroll down to Library News. EV Solar Products of Chino Valley developed and installed the library’s solar system. “We view this as a demonstration project, as well as a practical use of our abundant Arizona sunshine,” Kaus said. “The system
is designed for incremental growth and the Friends of the Library invite donations earmarked solar. For each $1,000, we will add a new panel and micro-inverter, and further reduce the library’s dependence on fossil fuels.” Prescott Public Library is located at 215 E Goodwin St. January 2010 • Page 37
In the New Year
Increase consumer awareness
C
onsumerism—is it really keeping our economy healthy when we are spending more than we earn? That plastic credit card is giving us money that is putting more debt on society. Think about it, even that plastic card is a toxic waste product that won’t break down in the landfill. Do we really need the extra car, the big house, the long hours or an extra job? We don’t even stop to take the time to breathe. The health of our planet and our spirit is on the line. With technology come more cell phones, new devices and faster ways to get things done. This is all good for efficiency and effectiveness, but how good is it for our well-being and our environment? We really need to find a balance. As a society, we need to reach deep
within and find a way to motivate and educate ourselves toward living a more abundant life with fewer things, less garbage, less waste and less consumption. Eco awareness is the first step. It would help tremendously if we could learn first how to really be in the moment. Learn to be conscious of the bird catching a meal, or the pictures in the clouds, or the warm air brushing our skin. Without motivation, people tend to feel a lack of purpose. We, as a human race, seem to have gotten away from the simple pleasures of life. We are so in tune with instant gratification and satisfying ourselves in the moment, planning our futures or living in our past. Every day we consume home and garden ingredients that are deadly to our Earth and our body. For instance, did you know that the weed killer Round Up actually kills human cells? The slightest contact with the ingredients and you are exposed to some of the most dangerous elements. It looks harmless and since it is in every department store and garden shop we assume it is safe. NOT!
It is so easy to overlook the dangers around us. We need to raise our awareness on the environmental issues worldwide. As consumers, we purchase food without questioning where it originated, how it was produced, how it was harvested, etc. For example, the fish industry in Thailand is supported by slave labor and human trafficking. So the Thai shrimp Americans eat is caught by slave labor. Do you really want to support slave labor in any country? Water is another thing we take for granted. Did you know that hydro power can no longer be considered a reliable renewable source of energy in parts of the United States because of the climate change that is drying up this precious source at a unbelievable rate? The Southwest is being so affected by this change that hydro electric power can no longer be counted on to replenish itself with more water in the future. Planting trees can help offset green house gases, thus eliminating some of our carbon footprints. One tree planted absorbs approximately 500 pounds of carbon in
10 years. So planting one tree in your backyard can make a positive impact on our environment. Pick up your trash when you are out camping and hiking. Carry out that which you hike in, it makes a big difference one little step at a time. It is the little things we do that make the big picture a brighter future for our children and their children. I cannot express enough the urgency in our need for a heightened awareness in this matter. Time is running out to reverse the effects of careless behavior by young and old alike. So please think about the gift we have living on such a beautiful planet and help to restore the life of Mother Earth. Don’t take anything for granted and be a part of the healing process that needs to happen today and every day. As a whole we can enjoy and maintain that which we are so blessed to explore and experience on this wonderful planet. Patricia Melchi is a writer, artist and avid recycler who lives in Strawberry, Ariz. She can be reached via e-mail at patriciamelchi@yahoo.com.
Community benefits
New thrift cooperative helps local nonprofits
I
n a town where thrift stores outnumber grocery stores and department stores combined, a new, innovative not-for-profit community thrift store cooperative has recently opened. Located in downtown Prescott, the Goodwin Street Community Thrift Inc. (GSCT) offers local not-for-profit agencies, churches and civic organizations the opportunity to raise additional operating dollars for their organizations. “Partner organizations can sponsor their own clothing and housewares drives, bring their items to the store and get paid 8 cents per pound,” said Frank Buccitelli, Executive Director of the new Goodwin Street Community Thrift project. “It’s a win-win situation for local not-for-profit agencies and the community at large. The store offers quality, affordable merchandise to consumers and an easy and potentially lucrative ongoing fundraising venue for local agencies.” “Not-for-profit partnering agencies will also receive vouchers for free clothing, which they may give to clients or congregation members who may be facing personal hardship and need this type of assistance,” Buccitelli said. The store will also offer information and promote the services and programs Page 38 • January 2010
of its partnering agencies, and store associates will be trained and familiar with the services of these agencies and be able to make referrals accordingly. Additionally, the store is incorporating an employment-training program for the underemployed. All of the money generated by the store will stay in the Prescott community and benefit local agencies. Donors can designate exactly where they want their support to be targeted locally. GTSC offers affordable prices on quality, pre-owned merchandise, including women’s, infants, children’s and men’s clothing and shoes; linens, houseware items, TVs, VCRs, DVDs, computer monitors and electronics, books, music, office supplies, tools and much more. GTSC is located at 408 W. Goodwin St. in downtown Prescott at Park Plaza, next to Goodwin Street Pharmacy, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Nonprofit agencies who are interested in becoming a partner of the Goodwin Street Community Thrift Project can call Buccitelli at 928-776-3010 for details. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Vibrational realignment
Recognize power of thoughts
H
appy New Year! At this time last year, the collective vibration was full of dread, and we entered the year wondering just how far down the economic decline would reach. Rumors circulated of the possible collapse of our financial system, and we welcomed a new, but untested, president. This year, the vibration is very different. We are all wondering just how soon recovery will come, and come it will. Yes, it will be slow and unemployment will be the last piece of the economic puzzle to right itself. But, we begin the year with a collective vibration of hope. We know from advances in quantum physics that our minds—our thoughts and beliefs, conscious or otherwise—directly alter and influence the actions of quantum particles. This has been proven. These particles are the building blocks of matter, of you and me and the world around us. It should not shock you to know, then, that these same thoughts will have a profound influence on your health, your life, your relationships and your very being. We truly are the creator of our own reality. This is why we have real reason for hope this year, as our collective con-
sciousness has reached a far higher vibration now. But it should also not shock you to know that the vast majority of our thoughts, some estimates are as high as 97 percent, are subconscious, that is, completely out of our conscious awareness. These thoughts and beliefs are the culmination of our life-long learning, from parents to siblings, friends and neighbors, religions and traditions, all the way to culture and nation. And about 80 percent of these thoughts and beliefs have been formed by the time we are 5. Yes, 5-years-old. Just like sponges. Is it any wonder then that we struggle against self-imposed limits, self-destructive addictions, and that we often feel as though we are own worst enemy, repeating the same behaviors and learning the same lessons over and over? We are full of thoughts and beliefs that we aren’t even aware of, and these constantly influence our life. The good news is that these thoughts and beliefs have an energetic reality. Dr. Gary Schwartz at the University of Arizona has noted that, “What we experience with our limited senses as matter is actually organized fields of energy. Therefore, what is ‘real’ is not matter but fields.
Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
As Einstein put it, ‘The field is the only reality.’” Ultimately, everything is energy. Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2 settled this long ago. And because they are energy, thoughts and beliefs can be reached and altered. Just not by you; after all, you are the problem. This is the nature of vibrational realignment and other forms of energy medicine. It is a spiritual healing technique that reaches our most deeply buried pain and emotional trauma and releases them, alters them. I describe this work as spiritual because it is not done by the practitioner. Pain and trauma are nothing more than spiritual messengers, providing direct feedback from the thoughts and beliefs we hold that are destructive or negative. Vibrational realignment uses these messages to identify these harmful thoughts and beliefs and to release them. Since they are nothing more than energy, they are easily and quickly transformed by the practitioner. Dr. Candace Pert, one of the original pioneers in this work at the National Institutes of Health, notes, “We can no longer think of the emotions as having less validity or material substance, but instead must see them as cellular signals
By Michael Davis that are involved in the process of translating information into physical reality, literally transforming mind into matter.” Strong emotions should no longer be seen as a negative, but instead as a guide, a blueprint, of what is really going on in our subconscious mind. Welcome them, just don’t ignore them. So as we enter this New Year, recognize the deep and powerful influence your thoughts and beliefs have on your life. Vibrational realignment and other energy medicine techniques offer the tools to dramatically change and alter these thoughts and beliefs. If these theories are correct, this cannot only have a profound effect on your own life, but also the lives of us all. Michael Davis is CEO of Energy Medicine Foundation and a member of the Mountain Spirit Co-Op in Prescott. He is the creator of Vibrational Realignment, a unique approach to spiritual healing, and can be reached at 928-254-0775 or at VibrationalRealignment.com.
January 2010 • Page 39
Insights from spirit all, m S Thell Voicegton nnin Sti
Pe ith d u By J
W
hat’s your stress index these days? If it’s high, try these sure-fired ways to evoke and preserve harmony and light. 1. Resonate with a friend. One of the best ways to reconnect with the deeper, core self is to talk with a loving friend. Besides the relief in resonating with a balanced, harmonic person, speaking your truth opens the throat chakra so that light can flow up from the heart and down from the crown of the head to infuse the energy system with inspiration and balance. Friends and family are wonderful mirrors, and we see ourselves more clearly in them. Listening to other people’s constructive ideas frees up our own. 2. Spend time in nature. Go outdoors, immerse your senses in nature’s beauty and allow her frequencies of vibration to ground and center you in a higher reality. Nature’s resonant frequencies of 8 to 14 hertz activate the sensory brainwaves of alpha, which produce a relaxed, diffused state of awareness. Being in nature or daydreaming about it heals the body and stimulates creative ideas and soul inspiration. 3. Stay in the light. Immerse your awareness in the light just above and toward the back of your head for 20 to 60 seconds. Simply connecting with this light will steady your mind, strengthen your body and open your heart to the loving perspectives of your soul. Do this at any time and in any place. You will immediately shift into emotional balance. 4. Put good energy into everything. Page 40 • January 2010
12 powerful paths to harmony Embarking on every new project with an open heart, clear mind and positive expectations patterns the project and strengthens it to withstand fluctuations in the field. If the project falters, use the light in you to rebalance and harmonize it. 5. Use right action and right timing. Sometimes we need to push a stuck door to open it. Sometimes it’s the wrong door. Right action and right timing are critical today. If you are unsuccessfully attempting to open a certain door and the result is unmanageable stress, you may need to let go of that doorknob. Saturate it with light, but if nothing works, pull the plug on your stress. 6. Heed your intuition. It’s always wise to listen to the inner self, which knows more than the logical mind and ably guides right action and timing. In a quiet, contemplative state of mind, ask for guidance in everything. In the intense light of these times, your intuition will grow stronger and more accurate. Connecting with feelings puts us in touch with our intuition. You might consider journaling, writing a song or creating a work of art. Creative work connects us with the deeper, subconscious core self, where the soul resides. 7. Reach out and send light. It’s hard to watch people do greedy, selfish, unkind and mean-spirited things. We want to protest and oppose wrong action. But if you do so and cannot stay peaceful, withdraw until you can. The best path to change is peaceful activism. Showering people and events with light restores them to the Divine Harmonic. 8. Stay in your power. Recently I lost an important relationship by overextending myself to the point of intolerable stress. A healthy diet, adequate rest, nature walks, daily meditation, good friends and self-awareness keep me balanced
Spend time in nature. Immerse your senses in nature’s beauty and allow her frequencies of vibration to ground and center you. Being in nature heals the body and stimulates creative ideas and soul inspiration. and working from a solid base; otherwise, body-mind stress lets the bad Judy loose. It’s probably the same for you. In all things, if something feels bad, it probably is. Stay with what feels and is good for you. If you feel divided, don’t do anything until you clearly see the right thing to do. 9. Cultivate happiness. Examine what makes you happy and give it to yourself. Too often we expend our time and treasure on everyone else. Put yourself first! Soon your lasting happiness will overflow to uplift the lives of others. When you feed and nurture your happiness, the Law of Attraction brings more of it to you and to everyone around you. 10. Dream for guidance. If you do not meditate, ask for a guiding dream to discover what your soul wants and needs. Set an intention before bedtime, place pen and paper by your bed, and expect to wake up with a solution in mind. Do this until you know your next best steps. 11. Sing for harmony! Listen to music that gives you joy and sing anything that comes into your mind
(for laughs, bellow songs like “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Camptown Races” or “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back”). Or bring musical tones up and down your body’s energy system (chakras) and allow the frequencies to orchestrate harmony. Sound is calming and it resonates in the body. If you like to sing or listen to soaring spiritual harmonies, you will love Deva Premal’s exquisite album of Hindu music, “Dakshina.” 12. Remember who you are. There is nothing in this world more powerful than the open heart aligned with its body, mind and soul. In this we are powerful enough to become the gods we are meant to be and are becoming. Judith Pennington is an internationally published journalist, author, speaker, singer and life strategy coach. She is a certified EEG consciousness trainer and coast-to-coast teacher of meditation and consciousness expansion and is the founder of Eagle Life Communications, which offers lectures, workshops, products and publications to help people soar into their dreams of life. Her Web site is www. eaglelife.com.
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Mother was right
Tips to stay warm this winter
I
f your mother always warned you to wrap up warm to avoid catching a cold, it seems she was right. Scientists say they have the first proof that there really is a link between getting cold and catching one. Studies at the Common Cold Center in Cardiff, England, have shown for the first time, a link between chilling and viral infection—something previously dismissed by other studies. An article published on the BBC news Web site confirms what Professor Ronald Eccles says: “When viruses are circulating in the community, many people are mildly infected but show no symptoms. If they become chilled, this causes a pronounced constriction of the blood vessels in the nose and shuts off the warm blood that supplies the white cells that fight infection. The reduced defenses in the nose allow the virus to get stronger and common cold symptoms develop. The fact that common colds are more prevalent in the winter could be related to an increased incidence of chilling causing more clinical colds.” To avoid getting a cold, keep your body warm this winter with some of the following herbs and oils. Remember to also wrap your body in warm clothing and shoes before going outside. Add warming cayenne and ginger to your recipes. Cayenne improves blood circulation, warms the body and strengthens
To avoid getting a cold, keep your body warm this winter with some of the following herbs and oils. Remember to also wrap your body in warm clothing and shoes before going outside. the heart. This spicy herb’s other health benefits are too numerous to list in this article. Ginger can be made into a tea, either from a fresh or dried plant. Ginger is helpful for poor circulation, as well as for cramps and muscle/joint pain.
Warming mugwort infused oil This oil is helpful for people whose feet are constantly cold—even when in a warm place. It increases blood circulation and energetic flow within the various meridian pathways of the body, similar to the “moxa” treatments of oriental acupuncture. Apply mugwort oil to areas of the body, which are blue in color or cold to the touch.
¼ tsp cayenne ¼ tsp cinnamon Roast peppers until skins turn black. Put peppers in a paper bag to steam. Take out of the bag and peel the skin off. Sauté garlic and onion for about three minutes. Combine all the ingredients and puree in a blender. Heat up the soup and enjoy!
Warming essential oils For your next massage, ask your therapist to add some warming essential oils to the massage lotion. Black Pepper is warming and helpful for poor circulation, poor muscle tone, pain, chills, catarrh, ear aches, colds and flu infections. Peru Balsam is warming, stimulating, anti-microbial and antiseptic.
Warming baths When I was living in Canada, the winter months were dark, long and at times bitterly cold. Sometimes, the
Domestic & Import
Warming Pepper Soup 6 red or yellow bell peppers 3 garlic cloves 1 onion ½-1 cup boiled potatoes (to thicken the soup) 6 cups vegetable stock
only way I could warm myself up was to slip into a hot bath. My favorite warming bath blend is one cup of Epsom salt, one cup sea salt, 10 drops of eucalyptus essential oil and five drops of black pepper essential oils. Mix together well and add to the bathwater. Relax and warm up! The herbs discussed in this article can be purchased at The Herb Stop in Pine, 4004 N. Highway 87. Leilah can be reached at 928-476-4144 or by e-mail at herbstop@gmail.com. The FDA has not approved these statements. The information given is not meant to act as a prescription, medical advice or therapeutic advice. Consult your healthcare professional prior to using botanicals discussed in this column.
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January 2010 • Page 41
Music, the drum and awakening Our most powerful and productive intentions originate from the heart, which is connected to our spirit. Intention, combined with music, provides a powerful connection to our spirit By Martin Klabunde
W
e are all here for a purpose and we have a mission to fulfill. Finding our purpose and mission should be our first priority. Everything else will be set into place when we realize what it is we are here to do. Each of us is unique and has agreed to a mission before coming into this body. How do we know what our purpose and mission are? It will be something you are passionate about and something you enjoy so much that you could spend every day for the rest of your life doing. Find your passion and you will find your mission. How is it that so many of us live an entire life without knowing what our purpose and mission are? Many of us have spent our time trying to please others, fit in social groups or the work place. We are taught to be motivated by receiving praise from others, rather than developing an inner knowing of who we are. Instead of looking inside for what we need, we have been taught to look outside. You have everything you could ever want or need inside you! My purpose and mission are non-negotiable. As long as we stay committed to our purpose and mission, we will be taken care of. The universe provides all that is needed to support this commitment. We must commit fully to our mission and make it our first priority in life. The universe wants you to succeed and will conspire to allow for the opportunities to manifest in your life. It is up to you to recognize them and jump into the opportunities of life. Align your life with your mission. Most people would rather play it safe and stay within a comfort zone that is unsatisfying, rather than take risks, change or begin a direction that they know will provide them what they are really looking for. The key is getting your priorities aligned with your spiritual goals, purpose and mission. You must live life with passion. Without passion, you will never succeed. Whatever you are involved in, you should be passionate about. Your work and relationships will only provide you what you provide them. Listen to your heart. Go within to find answers. Friends and family may have good intentions, but you are the only one who knows what is best for you. Trust your instincts, reflections and intuition
Page 42 • January 2010
and you are on your way to a more purposeful and meaningful life. Stick to your passion, purpose and mission with unwavering devotion and the Universe will conspire to give you everything you want and need. Throw caution to the wind, be wild and dive head first into your new life. Be bold and brave to live your dreams!
The role of music What does all this have to do with music? With pure intentions we can use music to help us in our quest for awakening. Intention comes from the core of who you are; beyond the mind. Our most powerful and productive intentions originate from the heart, which is connected to our spirit. Intention, combined with music, provides a powerful connection to our spirit. As spiritual beings, we have the ability to access the doors of multidimensional time and space and music is a powerful key to these doors. When we play music, we open a direct connection to our spirit and the spirit world. Playing music is an active meditation and allows the mind to relax and open a space within us that provides opportunities for deep reflection, a deep sense of surrender and freedom. We can infuse music with pure intentions of gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, humility and unconditional love, which are all powerful tools that can provide the opportunities for spiritual awakening. The drum has gained extreme popularity in the West over the last 20 years. I believe this is due to the widespread accessibility of the instrument. Using the drum to provide us access to the spirit world is nothing new and has been occurring for thousands of years. Indigenous cultures around the world recognize the use of the drum as a powerful spiritual tool that can be used to awaken and heal our spiritual, mental and physical bodies. These types of practices were an intricate part of life in past millennia and now have become largely forgotten. As a result, many in our culture are at a loss as to how to access our natural connection with our inner self. Kalumba (pronounced “KA-LOOM-BA) is an organization formed to support all beings in awakening. We seek to provide opportunities for all beings to awaken to their fullest potential through
Kalumba offerings • Weekly Awakening and Transformation Workshops. Monthly series explores different topics regarding spiritual awakening. Learn sacred rhythms that correspond to specific intentions. • Sacred Drumming Ceremonies. Learn to use the drum as the heartbeat of Mother Earth and a doorway to the Universe! Fridays, twice monthly. • The Shaman’s Drum: Monthly Guided Meditation and Relaxation Sessions. Shamanic Meditation is an ancient practice used to create positive change in our lives and relaxation provides our body the opportunity to revitalize itself. • Spiritual Retreats. Spend time in a Sacred and Ceremonial Healing center, just across the border into Mexico. The retreats include everything from dialogue, music, singing and chanting, meditation, hiking and evening ceremonies. reflection, devotion, pure intention and selfless service. We seek to build a global community and provide opportunities for deep spiritual awareness in all people. We use music as a vehicle for healing and transformation. Healing music is a language that envelops and transcends spoken word, thought and action in the physical world. It is a direct connection to the spirit world, where real healing and transformation takes place. At Kalumba, our goal is to reintroduce the core of these ancient practices in a form that serves today’s needs and culture. We keep a great reverence and respect for the ancestors who keep these rituals alive by passing them on from generation to generation as they were taught. Our classes, events, workshops and ceremonies provide a foundation for self-determination and self-realization. Participation enables one to transcend physical limitations and release one’s own potential as a being connected with the stars and the universe; a being, part of a cosmic whole from this enlarged and peaceful state of awareness, one naturally discovers his or her own potential for self healing and guidance. For more information, contact Martin Klabunde at 520-245-4547 or martin@kalumba.org, or visit www.kalumba.org. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Recurring Events Celiac (gluten free) Support Group, Payson. We will provide important resources and information for people on gluten-free diets. Snacks will be provided from Gluten Free creations bakery in Phoenix! Contact Christine for more information 928-595-2379. Monday nights, 7 p.m., Phoenix—Self Search/Channeled Readings, The Way To The Light Within. This class has been going on for over 12 years now. In the first part of the class, Dominique uses her psychic ability and StarWheel™ tiles to give each participant a mini reading. Bring your questions about anything you want to know, because in the second part of the class Dominique connects to her own as well as your guides, to get answers and guidance for you. Dominique is also a medium and can connect with and give you information from departed loved ones or friends. $20, Call 602-279-2941 to reserve your place. Wednesdays, Dec. 2, 9 and 16, 7 p.m.–8:30 p.m., Tucson—Sacred Drumming for Transformation Workshop Series. This series explores letting go of the past, opening to the magic of the universe, inner knowing and creating your own reality. Learn sacred rhythms that correspond to specific intentions. The workshop is comprised of lecture, learning a rhythm and a ceremony. RSVP required. $50 series
or $20 drop in. Ask about our reduced rate referral program. For more info, call or e-mail: 520-245-4547, martin@ kalumba.org or www.kalumba.org. Thursdays, Jan. 6, 13, 20 and 27, 7 p.m.–8:30 p.m., Tucson—This series explores Freedom, opening to the magic of the universe. Integrating your Spiritual path with your life, manifesting all things that support your path. Learn sacred rhythms that correspond to specific intentions. RSVP required. $75 for the series or $20 drop in. Ask about our reduced rate referral program. For more info, 520-245-4547, martin@kalumba.org, or www.kalumba.org. Thursdays, Prescott—Vibrational Realignment, a unique form of spiritual healing, with Mike Davis at Mountain Spirit Co-Op, 107 N. Cortez St., Suite 100, Prescott. For more info or an appointment, call 928-862-0594. Saturdays, 9 a.m., Cottonwood, Prescott Valley, Scottsdale, Flagstaff and Kingman—Saturday Solar Seminars presented by Arizona Solar Power. Learn about solar energy for your home. Listen to a presentation on the most up-to-date products, how they work, and how they can save homeowners and even businesses money! Question and answer session follows, so you’re sure to leave with
a greater knowledge of solar and how it can be one of the smartest investments you’ll make for yourself and the future. Call to reserve your place at either of our great locations: Cottonwood 928-634-7341, Prescott Valley/Dewey 928-632-5525, Scottsdale 480-607-5339, Flagstaff 928774-0753, Kingman 877-496-0167.
Hearty and Entertaining New Year’s Eve celebration sponsored by the Sedona Center of Vedic Culture. Mystical sounds of the Temple Bhajan Band, classical Indian dance, sumptuous vegetarian dinner. At the ’Tis building, 105 S. Cortez St. $20 for adults, children under 12 are $10. For reservations, call 928-204-4455.
First Saturday of each month, beginning Feb. 2, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Prescott—Children’s Clinic: Free Vibrational Realignment (spiritual healing) sessions will be offered to children at Mountain Spirit Co-Op, 107 N. Cortez St. No appointment necessary. Donation requested. More info, call Michael Davis at 928-254-0775.
Jan. 3, 2 p.m., Sedona—“Insects Around the World” presentation at Red Rock State Park. Bill Harding, an insect enthusiast and volunteer at the park, will present an overview of selected specimens. Harding leaves sufficient time to relate short anecdotes about his experiences on his collecting trips and then opens the program to questions from the audience. Reservations are recommended, as seating is limited. Call 920-2826907 for additional information or restrictions. Program is free with paid admission to the park.
Nonrecurring Events Dec. 31, 7 p.m.–Midnight, Sedona—OM in the New Year, An Enlightening, Hearty and Entertaining New Year’s Eve celebration sponsored by the Sedona Center of Vedic Culture. Mystical sounds of the Temple Bhajan Band, classical Indian dance, sumptuous six-course vegetarian dinner provided by Govinda’s Natural Foods Buffet of Tucson. In the Sedona Public Library Community Room, 3250 White Bear Road. Reservations only. Call 928-204-4455. $25 for adults, children under 12 are $10. Jan. 2, 6:30 p.m., Prescott—OM in the New Year, An Enlightening,
Jan. 5-16, 2010, Entering the Maya Mysteries. Spiritual travel to Mexico and Guatemala visiting hidden sacred places and nearly extinct ceremonies with the last Spirit Keeper of the Lacandón Maya. Hopi elders travel as invited guests. For info, go to events page at www.kenosisspiritkeepers.org or call 928-778-1058. Jan. 9, Prescott—A day of Healing at On The Mesa, 3390 N. Hwy. 89,
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in the Granite Dells. Mini sessions: Healings, Lectures and Meditations. Reserve your spot if you are a teacher, healer or student wanting to participate. All services and classes by donation. For more info, call 928776-7671. Jan. 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Prescott Valley—Open House at Ultimate Automotive. Learn about Ultimate’s practices, structural changes and equipment that qualifies as a Green Automotive Business. Learn methods to make your own home or business more green. Beverages, food, pizza. 8737 E. Florentine Road, Prescott Valley. RSPV to 928-775-7575. Jan. 9, 1:30 p.m., Superior—Edible & Medicinal Desert Plants Guided Walk at Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park. Apache Junction authors Jean Groen and Don Wells guide the walk This tour explores the Curandero Trail, which has steep sections that are not suitable for visitors who use wheelchairs or walkers. For more info, contact the park at 520- 6892811. Jan. 11, 2 p.m., Sedona—Guided geology hike through Red Rock State Park. This hike includes the Eagle’s Nest Trail for a great view of the Park and surrounding area. This is an interpretive hike for the beginner as well as advanced geologist and lasts 2 to 2 ½ hours, with a 250 feet elevation climb. Bring water and wear suitable shoes or boots. For more info, call the park at 928- 282-6907. Jan. 12, 5:30 p.m., Prescott—Free Lecture: Vibrational Realignment. Mountain Spirit Co-Op Conference Room, 107 N. Cortez St., Suite 105. Join Michael Davis to experience a unique form of spiritual healing; everyone will receive a mini-session. Cost: Donation. For more info, call Michael Davis at 928 254-0775. Page 44 • January 2010
Jan. 13, 6 p.m.–7:45 p.m., Chandler—Vegetable Gardening 1-2-3. Why settle for grocery store produce when you can grow vegetables from artichokes and asparagus to zucchini in your own backyard? Students will learn about garden preparation, what, how and when to plant, selection of quality plants, mulching, watering and the basics of composting. For more info, call 480-782-2890, or see www.chandleraz.gov/veterans-oasis. Jan. 16, 1 p.m.–2 p.m., Tucson— Martin Klabunde and friends (East African music) perform at The Valencia Pima County Public Library, 202 W. Valencia. Free. 520-594-5390. Jan. 17, 2:30 p.m., Prescott— Launch of The Artist’s Path (www. theartistspath.org), a nonprofit committed to the notion that Artists Change Our World. Founders Suite, Prescott Public Library. A sampling of art forms from opera to visual art and photography, to drama and sand animation. Playwrights note the call for new plays on the Web site. For details, visit Web site or e-mail gailm@theartistspath.org. Jan. 19, 1 p.m.–5:30 p.m., Austin— New Year New You Presentation by Sarah McLean, Barton Creek Resort, 8212 Barton Club Drive, $50. Reservations are requested. You can sign up online at www.sedonameditation.com e-mail info@sedonameditation.com,
or call Stacy at 512-484-0811. Space is limited. Jan. 20, 6 p.m.–7:45 p.m., Chandler—Vegetable Gardening 1-2-3. Why settle for grocery store produce when you can grow vegetables from artichokes and asparagus to zucchini in your own backyard? Students will learn about garden preparation, what, how and when to plant, selection of quality plants, mulching, watering and the basics of composting. For more info, call 480-782-2890, or see www.chandleraz.gov/veterans-oasis. Jan. 20, 6 p.m.–8:30 p.m., Elk Grove, Calif.—Meditation for Mind Body Health. Presentation by Sarah McLean at the Hilton Garden Inn, 9241 Laguna Springs Dr., $30. Reservations are requested. To register, call Lee 916-686-4488 or e-mail lee@ elkgrovevitamins.com. Jan. 23, 9 a.m.–11 a.m., Chandler—Rainwater Harvesting. This class will introduce you to the principles and techniques of rainwater harvesting. You will be able to apply these principles of water harvesting to your own yard. For more info, call 480-782-2890, or see www. chandleraz.gov/veterans-oasis. Jan. 23, 11 a.m.–3 p.m., Superior—Australia Day at Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park. A “virtual day in the land down under”
is planned as Australian folklorist Paul Taylor spins stories, poems and tales. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is home to one of the largest collections of Australian plants in the country. Arboretum staff and volunteers will give tours of the Australian walkabout trail and explain the wonders of the giant eucalyptus and gum trees at 11 a.m. Paul Taylor’s concert in the eucalyptus grove begins at 1:30 pm. There’s also a “Build Your Own Didjeridoo” class in the morning. Enrollment includes park admission for the day; sign up by calling Arboretum staff at 520-689-2723. Jan. 23, 1 p.m.–2 p.m., Tucson —Martin Klabunde and friends (East African music) perform at The Valencia Pima County Public Library, 1035 N. Treat Ave. 520-594-5305. Jan. 27, 6:45 p.m.–7:45 p.m., Chandler—Introduction to Birdwatching—the where, when and how of birding in central AZ, including bird identification, equipment and birding opportunities. Two Saturday field trips. Optional guide books available at a discounted price. For more info, call 480-782-2890, or see www. chandleraz.gov/veterans-oasis. Jan. 30, 9 a.m.–11 a.m., Chandler—Rainwater Harvesting. This class will introduce the principles and techniques of rainwater harvesting. You will be able to apply these principles of water harvesting to your own yard. For more info, call 480782-2890, or see www.chandleraz. gov/veterans-oasis. Feb. 2, 6:15 p.m.–7:45 p.m., Chandler—The Fascinating World of Hummingbirds. Learn how you can entice hummingbirds to come to your yard. We’ll discuss hummingbird feeders, nectar, and plants that you can grow to keep hummingbirds returning. Learn the
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Feb. 14, 8 a.m.–9:30 a.m., Peoria—Registration at Arrowhead Harley-Davidson for the 5th annual “Bikers Soar For Wildlife” motorcycle run hosted by the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center Auxiliary. The run will end at Robson’s Mining World just west of Wickenburg. At the ride’s end there is lunch, live music, a raffle, 50/50 and an auction with Indian Kenny. Riders will also be greeted by a large display of the animals that benefit from the generosity of the participants (see story on pages 18-19). Proceeds from this event go to the care of the animals at Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. Donations are tax deductible. For more info, contact Sandy Cate, the Center Director at 623-587-0139 or visit our Web site at www.azwildlifecenter.net or e-mail Sharon at bikerssoarforwildlife@hotmail.com.
best hot spots to see hummingbirds in Arizona. For more info, call 480782-2890, or see www.chandleraz. gov/veterans-oasis. Feb. 10, 6:45 p.m.–7:45 p.m., Chandler—Introduction to Birdwatching—the where, when and how of birding in central AZ, including bird identification, equipment and birding opportunities. Two Saturday field trips. Optional guide books available at a discounted price. For more info, call 480-782-2890, or see www. chandleraz.gov/veterans-oasis. Feb. 13–14, Camp Verde—The Buffalo Soldiers will be at Fort Verde to celebrate African American Heritage Month in conjunction with the Town’s Pecan and Wine Festival. Living history presentations and riding demonstrations. For more info, call the park at 928-567-3275.
Feb. 17–21, Phoenix—Journey into Healing, the mind-body workshop, The Biltmore Resort & Spa. Deepak Chopra, David Simon, and a team of guest experts will guide you on an intensive four-day exploration of holistic medicine and Ayurveda, India’s ancient natural healing system. Whether you’re just beginning to explore holistic healing or are a seasoned practitioner, this experience will take you to new levels of understanding. For more info, or to register, call Libby at the Chopra Center at 760.494.1629 or send her an e-mail: libby@chopra.com. Feb. 20 and 21, 1 p.m.-5 p.m., Prescott—Introduction to Animal Communication: The Basic Course with animal communicator Nancy Windheart. Learn how to communicate with animals of any species through the universal language of
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telepathy. Creekside Center, Prescott AZ. For more info, call 928-2272868 or visit www.CommunicateWithYourAnimals.com. Feb. 27, 2 p.m.–4 p.m., Sedona— Meditation 101 with Sarah McLean. A 2 1/2 hour meditation training that is perfect for beginners or anyone who wants to get back on track with meditation. No experience is necessary. For more info, or to register, call 928-204-0067. March 6-7, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Flagstaff—Holistic Wellness Fair, High Country Conference Ctr., 201 W. Butler. Experience alternative therapies, body work, intuitive readings, wellness products and toys, plus speakers throughout this fun weekend! $3. For more info, see www.AZHolisticEvents.com www.azholisticevents.com/, or con-
tact Caren Seabeneck, at 928.204.5912, or ihatt@msn.com. April 1 and April 8-10— Introduction to Wildlife Tracking, Yavapai College Verde Valley Campus. Sign up for Rec 102 11369. Two-hour orientation on April 1. Field trip on April 8-10. Three-day, two night field trip. This is a fun, intense and in tents class. Instructors Bob Matthews and Matt Keating. For more info, call 928-308-6548 or send an e-mail to bmatt@instructor.yc.edu. The best social network is still a campfire. April 15 and April 22-24—Introduction to Wildlife Tracking, Yavapai College Prescott Campus. Sign up for Rec 102 11267. Two-hour orientation on April 15. Field trip on April 22-24. For more info, call 928-3086548 or send an e-mail to bmatt@ instructor.yc.edu. January 2010 • Page 45
Sudoku!
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains numbers 1 through 9. The puzzle has only one solution. The solution is on page 32.
Solution on page 32 Page 46 • January 2010
Christina, Megan, Olivia, Cameron, Mackenzie and Benjamin counted the number of pennies that they saved. Each person had a different number of pennies. One has 448 pennies, one has 502 pennies, one has 930 pennies, one has 289 pennies, one has 777 pennies and one has 696 pennies. How many pennies does each person have? 1. Among the number of pennies that everyone has, Mackenzie’s total has the largest number in the hundreds place. 2. The sum of the tens and hundreds place in the number of pennies that Megan has is 10. 3. For the number of pennies that Cameron has, the tens place is three more than the hundreds. 4. Among the number of pennies that everyone has, Benjamin’s total has the smallest number in the tens place. 5. The sum of the ones and tens place in the number of pennies that Christina has is 12. Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com
Stop yo-yo dieting
Try Real Food Diet this year
T
he holiday season is over, let the dieting begin! If you are like most Americans, you have resolved to lose weight this year and whether it’s that last 10 pounds or 100 pounds, losing weight is a challenge. The problem with most diets is that they are complicated programs that you must follow in order to lose weight. Drink this shake, eat this bar and replace every third meal with a grapefruit. You stumble along this path for three or six months in the introduction phase, the intermediate phase, the maintenance phase. After all those phases, then what? You stop buying the shakes, bars or prepackaged meals and go back to your old eating habits and the weight comes back. Then you try a new guaranteedto-burn-fat program. The other problem with diet programs is what do you feed the other members of your family while you’re drinking shakes and eating bars? While you’re slurping down your low-carb highprotein shake that tastes nothing like strawberries, you stare at you children happily eating and you want to grab that fork out of their little hand and devour their macaroni and cheese. This year I want to encourage everyone to start a Real Food Diet. I want to challenge everyone to cut the processed and fast foods out of their life and make every calorie count. Processed foods are full of empty calories and chemicals that can leave us feeling hungry and we end up consuming far more calories than we can burn. Real food is naturally full of fiber, water, vitamins and miner-
By Christine Bollier
Chicken with Peanut Sauce Serves 4 1 ½ C. Shredded leftover Roast Chicken 3 Tablespoons natural peanut butter 3 Tablespoons Braggs liquid aminos 3 tablespoons rice vinegar 3 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil 1/4 tsp hot sauce to taste 4 C. baby spinach and or chopped Swiss chard In a blender combine peanut butter, Braggs liquid aminos, rice vinegar, water, Asian sesame oil and hot sauce. Process until a smooth sauce forms. If too thick, add more water. Put spinach and chard in a medium size pot with an inch of water and cook until greens begin to wilt and water starts to evaporate. Then add chicken and peanut sauce, cook until heated through. Serve over rice if desired. This whole process should take no more than 20 minutes start to finish. All of the ingredients for this recipe can be found at VITA-MART, 512 S. Beeline Hwy., Payson, AZ 85541. Questions can be answered via e-mail: Christine@thevitamart.com; or by calling (928) 474-4101.
als that fills you up faster than its processed counterparts. One of the main arguments I hear against the real food diet is that people think they are too busy to cook their family a wholesome meal. We have come along way from the days of June Cleaver when mothers stayed home and cooked, cleaned and cared for their families. Now, we work hard during the day and even harder at night to keep a clean house and care for our families, but there is hope! Wholesome family meals can
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be had, with a little planning. Just like any endeavor we undertake in this life, we have to set ourselves up for success. Start by planning five or six meals a week, leaving open days for leftovers. Plan according to what kind of schedule you have during the week. On especially busy days, throw a beef roast in the crock-pot in the morning and have shredded beef tacos. The next night use the leftovers for BBQ beef sandwiches. On your day off, roast a chicken that takes time in the
oven but not a lot of prep time, then turn leftovers into weeknight meals and lunches. Most nights try to find recipes that take about 30 minutes to prepare and subscribe to a few different food magazines like “Eating Well” that have quick and healthy meal ideas. Once you have decided what you are going to eat for the week, go through your recipes and make a shopping list of the items you need. I have a very organized shopping list that lists our meals and side dishes on the top. The bottom of the list is broken down into sections like meats, dairy, produce, etc. Having an organized shopping list makes trips to the store quick and efficient (download a copy of our grocery list at www.thevitamart.com.) You pick up fewer impulse items that you don’t really need and you’re not zig-zagging all over the store to get the items you do need. Although it is tempting to want to overhaul your diet overnight, you will be overwhelmed if you do. Gradual changes are more effective and lasting. Start by cutting out fast food and trying to work more real foods into you diet. Over the next few months, we will delve further into the world of real food and explore how and why our society has gone astray. Just remember when it comes to changing your lifestyle, you can be your best motivator or your ultimate saboteur. If you have any questions or comments you can e-mail me at greencrusader@thevitamart.com.
January 2010 • Page 47
Growing from seed: How to get started
W
e are often asked, “Why should I grow from seed?” Or, we get comments like, “I don’t have space to start seeds inside, or I never have any luck with seeds.” These are good questions and concerns, but we would like to set your mind at ease and give you some pointers and tips to get you started. January is the perfect time to snuggle up with your seed catalog and dream of spring. Diversity of plants and food is the number one reason to grow from seed! If you compare your seed catalog offerings to that of plant starts available at the local nursery, you will soon see that there are so many more choices when you start from seed. If you grow with open-pollinated seeds, you also have the opportunity to save your seeds from season to season. Many varieties, such as corn, beans and pumpkins are best started from seed directly sown in your garden. With a little planning and knowledge you can get started now with your garden plan. Here are some tips to get started: • Know what USDA Plant Hardiness Zone you live in. Visit www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html or www.garden.org/zipzone/. This information will allow you to know more about your local growing conditions related to climate. • Get to know your local Cooperative Extension office personnel. Visit www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/ to find the office nearest you. Your local office is a great resource and a wealth of knowledge about your local growing conditions. They can tell you your local frost dates for the spring and fall. This information is important to know so you can count backwards from the last frost date in the spring to start your seeds indoors. For example, if your last frost date is May 20 and you want to have nice-sized tomato plants to transplant outside, you need to start your seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost. When planning your garden, first grow vegetables and herbs that you like to eat! We recommend growing a few new things to try each year. You may think you do not like beets, but maybe after you have tasted a fresh homegrown beet from your own garden you just might change your mind. Growing things you like to eat helps ensure success, because you will be excited about it. If you hate squash, this is not the best thing to start with. Many varieties, depending on your climate, need to be started inside before your last frost to ensure that your plants will flower and produce fruit before your first fall frost. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant all need to be Page 48 • January 2010
Heirloom Garden Seeds & Stories by Cindy and Stephen Scott started from seed indoors. You do not need a lot of space or any fancy equipment to start seeds. You can recycle a lot of different food containers, such as yogurt cups, to start seeds in. Also, a handy little device is a paper pot maker, which uses newspaper to make small 2” pots. We used these last year and had tremendous success with them. You can plant the whole paper pot ,or transplant to a larger container very easily. Also, there are many commercial choices from peat or coconut starter pots to elaborate seed tray systems. The key with any of these pots is to use a high quality, preferably organic, potting/seed starting mix. When you become more experienced you can even create your own potting mix. The next important step is to follow the planting/starting instructions on your seed packet. The depth in which you plant some seeds is critical to germination success. Some varieties need light or darkness to germinate. Also, most germination takes place between certain temperature variables. By now you are thinking this sounds complicated, but not really. Most seeds can be put into their pots and/or trays and placed on top of your refrigerator and they will germinate nicely. Your refrigerator acts as a reliable seed-heating mat. Place your hand on top of your refrigerator or freezer and you will notice some nice warmth that is constant. A nice sunny warm window will work as well. We have heard of many things used to provide a little supplemental heat to get your seeds started, even a heating blanket. Once your seeds germinate, your next concern with them indoors is light. Many things can work to give your young seedlings the light they need. A warm sunny window or a fluorescent light made for plants are easy options. You can construct a simple seedling grow cart
Diversity of plants and food is the number one reason to grow from seed! If you compare your seed catalog offerings to that of plant starts available at the local nursery, you will soon see that there are so many more choices when you start from seed. from a small shelf and a fluorescent light fixture. There are many ideas and options available on the Internet. We recommend trying a few things indoors your first year and focus more on things you can direct seed into your garden. After some time and experience, it will all become easier and you will know what to do differently next time. When you direct sow seeds into the garden, refer to the seed packet instructions for the optimal planting time and depth. Succession sowing is also important on many varieties such as lettuce and carrots, because you can grow successive crops throughout the season. Winter is a perfect time to do some reading about growing from seed. There are some great books on the subject, including a very good beginners guide from the Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin series called “Starting Seeds Indoors.” Another resource about seed saving and growing techniques is “Seed to Seed” by Suzanne Ashworth. Also, check with your local cooperative extension office as they have many educational bulletins free to the public and many of them are also available online. If you are a first-time gardener, find a friend or neighbor or even a complete stranger to be your gardening mentor. Gardening is a skill passed down from generation to generation. A lot of knowledge and skill has been lost because a number of generations have not farmed or gardened. This is where community gardens can help society regain this lost knowledge. Share your knowledge with others, help a beginner get started. But just remember to get started, you do not have to know everything to start gardening. If there is anything that we can tell you it is that the seeds know what to do! When you think about how such a little piece of biological heritage is stored in such a small little seed, it is just amazing. Life will grow if you just get started. We know it will not be perfect at first, but the rewards are great. Next month, some more stories about some of these great seeds! Earth Odyssey • www.EarthOdysseyOnline.com