Zen Garden Moment

A pleasant three hours weeding the veggie garden today. I love the way that gardening connects me with mother earth, with nature and with the magic of the present moment. No past, no future, just this moment. And the next. And the next.

The ground is still very wet from a rainy few days but I wanted to prepare the beds for laying down mulch. The sooner the seedlings are planted the better. It won’t be long now before the weather starts getting warmer and before you know it, spring will be upon us.

It seems a shame to have to pull all this stuff out. I am aware of how many wild edibles have been wrenched from their homes. But hey, more will grow.

Wild edibles - the rich cousins of our more cultured leafy greens - are regaining popularity through the likes of Sergei Boutenko and our own Melbourne-based Adam Grubb. And as part of this movement towards making the most of our food supply, there's now a growing interest in the inspired act of "liberating" food through foraging. I'm thrilled to see that folk in my home town have started a group which is mapping the location of foraging spots. I'll be checking this out on my visit to NZ next month.

Scrumping is another term used to describe the recycling of fruit that would otherwise go to waste. And though scrumping is imbued with connotations of stealing, it all boils down to etiquette. If the tree branch is hanging over the footpath, well that's public property isn't it? If it is in someone's yard, then a responsible forager will knock and ask first.

More resources on foraging:
On Wild Food and Foraging - a publication distributed by Free Range Activist Network (FRAW)

The Power of Process

This morning, reading from Dan Millman’s book "The Life You Were Born To Live", I realised the importance of taking things step-by-step. So much of my life I have been impatient, wishing for things to happen instantly.
Want to run a marathon? Do it next week. Uh oh. First I have to train. Do some preparation. This marathon called life teaches me that with every goal I have there is a process, a series of steps towards achieving it. I am not cinderella. The fairy godmother doesn’t appear and wave her magic wand. The ball gown is stitched together piece by piece over many laboured hours of loving work. I am learning to be patient with myself and in doing so, patient with others.
And in my haste to reach an end goal, this skipping over the process has led me to a life lacking commitment. So often when things have not worked out as expected: work, relationships, home, I have decided “this is not for me” and set off in search of some other holy grail. A life of rolling around like a smooth stone falling wheresoever the river takes me, I find I am without roots, without relationship and without a clear direction, goal or purpose.
But there is inner work as well as the outer manifestations. So I skipped a few steps on the path of career, home and relationship. There have been many obstacles on the path of achieving inner peace and calm. And now, in this time of reflection I am contemplating a way of building stability in the outer world based on the strength and calmness of a solid inner foundation.
Today rain cleanses the air, the ground. The power of moving water washes away all in it's wake that doesn't need to be there, just as tears clear debris from the path of the soul.

Ten Things to Be Aware of in the Raw Food Arena

Just been reading Nomi Shannon's post about the things to be aware of in the raw food movement. Though initially written in 2004, it is still relevant.
Her comments and advice make sense in relation to any aspect of life, not just how we eat. For example, Be Aware of People Who Tell You What To Do. And she adds, "Do not ask your neighbor or me what they eat hoping to emulate and be just like them. What works for your neighbor or me may not work for you."
The one that resonates most strongly for me right now is . . . "Be Aware that there is more to life than the food you eat." It has been too easy to become absorbed in thinking about food, eating it, buying it, foraging for it, learning about it, growing it, talking about it with other raw-fooders. But, when food takes up so much of my time, what room is there in life for doing other things?