Going Dust

This is my favorite poem.  It was in Yankee magazine years ago.  Apparently Yankee is my go-to source for poetry...I still remember a phrase from one poem, that I think, was about early spring...the sun picks at scabs of snow...


This one captures the beauty of this time of year so perfectly.  Enjoy.

GOING DUST

This is mine, this calm and modest
      twilight
When night begins early to filter
      between
The flaps of gray sky and the
       evergreen
Mocks the maple.  The kaleidscope
       plight
Of leaves, the cold end of summer
        roses, blight
On the garden that comes in the
       unseen
Hours of frost, to others, these things
       may mean
Sorrow:  to me, they are joy and joy
       outright.
I hope to die in such young November
 as this and be laid to rest under just
Such a sky, to finally, peacefully lie
In the scent of apples that will
        remember
How I gazed on them once, when
       going dust
Was a dream that living could not
       mortify.

-Paul Smithers, Cottontown, TN

I Dream of Slumber

Soule Mama recently posted a story about falling asleep in the woods. There is something that seems so decadent about napping, Rip Van Winkle-style, in the forest in the middle of a November day ablaze with sunshine.  It is beyond sad for me to think I am that far removed from the simple joys of following my cicadian rythym and my heart into the wild.

I have tasted the sweetness of a purloined cat nap out in the open.  I have fallen asleep lying scrunched up on the floor of my kayak. The waves lulling me to slumber much the same way they did when I was a child  under the decking on my parent's teal blue Starcraft run- about. I have slept soundly on a beach under an azure October sky near Mt. Blue among the tracks of raccoons, fox, and deer who had ventured to the lake for refreshment. That is one of my fondest memories actually.  It felt so ...good and familiar. Tired, rest. Rested, get up. No clock watching, no alarms, no schedule.

I have been taken with the notion of sleeping out in a snow trench in the back yard as soon as we get snow and I get a winter sleeping bag.  This idea was planted in my consciousness years ago by my gear- headed and happiest- to- be- sleeping -on -the -ground -in -the- unfettered- night -air best bud.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Here is a book by Rebekah Raye and a poem by Wendell Berry to inspire you to find your wild resting place.

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

Nearing Halloween

They say that on Halloween the veils between the worlds, this one and the next, thin.  This year, the veil between the seasons has thinned.  We had a nor'easter come in last night that left us with several inches of snow.  Even though it is still October and the time hasn't changed, the light seemed different tonight and the sound of snow crunching under foot was an unexpected joy.

All day, I have been visited in memory by ghosts of Halloweens past: Going with my father to the barber in Mayfield. The shop was in the A- frames.  I can smell the warm scent of the aftershave hanging  in the air and watch with anticipation the white-tails in the snow peering out from their life-sized wall mural framing the nook where the magazines were;  Riding in the snow in my uncle's red Willy Jeep behind the station.  The morning sun is bouncing off the snow and the bright sky as chains clank on the metal floor and I try to hold on to my seat located over the rear wheel.  Everyone's cheeks are as red as the paint on the vehicle; Excited to be in the "little school" Halloween parade,  marching down North Main Street  my blue winter coat with white faux fur fringe around the hood covering my costume. Snow flakes swirl in the air.  I am haunted and I am happy.

Jack the third, 2011

Playing in the snow, October 30, 2011

Trick or Treat?  Snow, October 29, 2011

Permaculture Transformation

We held a permaculture sheet mulching work party at our house this past weekend.  This sentence most likely needs decoding.  Permaculture is an approach to living that is focused on sustainability and connection. The word itself is a contraction of "permanent culture" and "permanent agriculture".  There are guiding design principles and attitudinal principles.  For example in the sheet mulching project we did, three main principles of permaculture design were key:  use small scale, intensive systems; optimize edge;  use biological and renewable resources A permaculture attitude reflected in our garden design is get a yield.  Sheet mulching is  composting in place and building soil in a similar manner to the way nature does it.  The benefits are many including weed suppression,  water conservation and maintenance
soil health and organisms.


The designer and skill facilitator was Dave Homa.  He led us in the design,  multiple steps and layers of laying out the key hole gardens and the furrows.  We used leaves, coffee grounds, seaweed,  newspapers, wood chips,  stone dust, cardboard, chicken and rabbit manure, woody plants, straw and compost.  The garden transformed from essentially a "weed bed" to an organized and optimized space for planting and pollinators.

More information about permaculture can be found at Portland Maine Permaculture.

BEFORE

Creating a starting point

Laying the outline of a key hole with material from the garden

List of  inputs

The Design

Adding the compost

Laying down the base for the paths

Straw on the beds and wood chips in the paths  complete the design

Fitness is intrinsic

I've noticed Maisie, at three and half, moves her body -ALOT.  But more importantly, she intuitively executes moves endemic to Crossfit and MovNat.  She jumps up and down, across over and off of things, she planks and bridges, she does dips, presses, squats, and pull ups and she can run...for a long distance and time. She also is into yoga. And she is ripped!  She has a six pack, calves and thighs and glutes that adults strive for and the cutest little biceps and deltoids.  She incorporates all this activity into her day in a natural and flowing way.  She eats based on her hunger-sometimes a bottomless pit, other days very light.
Last night, she was at a party where there was a small trampoline.  She was eager to show me her "new" move-essentially a pull up and knees to bar into a roll. After that she spent time in another room-spinning her body around and around and around...

I am trying to emulate her activity and verve.

Lunge!

Welcome to the gunshow!

Up on the Catwalk...Common Ground Fair Style

Cold Splinters did a piece for GQ about the most stylish environmentalists of all time.  Here is my contribution to the blogosphere;  The Cultivation of Organic Style-What Farmers Wear. 

bold facial hair

no shirt can be stylish

these boots were made for walking-the baby

floral motif

sometimes it's in the details-check out the belt

jewelry for men

If you like honey, I suggest you try to get your hands on some of Overland Honey's Ruby Red raw honey. It's a seasonal honey made from the pollen of Japanese Knotweed (bamboo).  It is the best!
I got mine at the Honey Exchange in Portland.