Rhythm

​Ahhh, cool weather.  What a summer!  I’m sure we broke records for 90º days in July here in the Northeast.  It was relentless!  We now dip down into the deep dark.  Three weeks of Summer remain and we will be celebrating the Equinox September 22 this year.  The day and night are of equal length and the nights grow longer thereafter with the longest night of the year occurring Winter Solstice, December 21.  The days are visibly shorter these days.  We have thirteen Moons annually and it is suggested that having moved to twelve Moons, we have thrown off our natural rhythm which can account for the chaos we are currently experiencing.  The Establishment is an artificial construct that destroys our natural rhythm.  I have tried to design a calendar indicating the thirteen Moons only to realize that my Moon calendar, that I purchase from Snake and Snake Productions every year (www.snakeandsnake.com) has already done it for me.  What a thrill to bring back this rhythm to my life!

Moon Calendar

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​​​Rhythm occurs with engagement with the natural world.  The vision and planning of the Winter Solstice, the excitement and drive of the Spring Equinox, getting set to return to the field, the pause at Summer Solstice, first opportunity for gratitude as harvest begins and now here as Autumn Equinox approaches, the pull back and in and down with gratitude and reflection.  I write an assessment this time of year.  I learned to write an assessment annually from Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.  There is something to be learned from just about anyone.  Abraham (www.abraham-hicks.com) says that there may be aspects of individuals that we admire and we can take those pieces and leave the rest that are not so appealing.  Business sense, money sense and leave greed and power sense.  If we could focus on our similarities instead of our differences, wow, what a world!
 
As growers, we flow with the seasons.  We can disengage from the Establishment and step into ourselves in the garden.  Peace and quiet and connection to Spirit and our Plant, Rock, Insect and Animal Families.  We belong to Earth, Earth does not belong to us.  To our great dismay, we have sought to control the natural world only to find chaos in its wake.  The Establishment believes they can escape to outer space, but who wants to wear that bulky space suit, not to mention, pregnancy cannot occur in outer space.  The Establishment would rather develop an artificial atmosphere on another planet rather than preserve our beautiful Earth which provides everything for us.  “Sigh.”  We stewards of Earth work to maintain it.  As climate change ramps up, we remain engaged with Spirit.  
 
I lost my home and my car in 2011, which I believe now was my Rite of Passage into the wilderness.  Around the same time I spent a day in the void which I’m learning now may also be the Dark Night of the Soul, the jumping off point where one’s awareness is elevated.  We meet our maker here, whatever we choose to call what I call Spirit.  Spirit is benevolent, kind, loving, friendly and wishes only to elevate us to our higher selves.  Abraham states that “we are entitled to all the blessings that life has to offer, by the very fact that we are born.”  I have spoken this statement as a mantra for the past couple of years.  I was raised Catholic, Pentecostal and Southern Baptist so the phrase has been in my mind for at least ten years, but I have only started to believe it in the past couple of years.  As I have mentioned, I am a simpleton, not in intellect, but in a life dedicated to simple living, throwing off unnecessary material things.  I live in a tiny apartment upstairs of a house, grow food and medicine and even barter for land.  I believe it is absurd to spend five years paying for a car and ridiculous to spend thirty years paying for a house.  It costs $7000 to build a car, the rest is advertising.  It costs $50,000 to build a house.  Enter the Establishment (Empire) and we’re locked into lifelong drudgery.  Not to mention our tax dollars finance corruption and war.  I am as free as I can be, no children.  Children became optional in 1970 where some say we reached the carrying capacity of the planet at 4.5 billion people and the second wave of feminism.  We have 350,000 orphans in NYC alone.  700 people die in poverty everyday according to Rev. William J. Barber.  We are disposable to be sure.   
 
Rhythm stretches to eternity these days throwing off the idea of “life is too short” and “we’re running out of time.”  Life is just long enough and there is time for everything.  When I vision eternity, my gait immediate slows, I look up at the blue sky and feel the sun and breeze on my face.  There is nothing but this moment, no where else to be, no other chore to be done, be it dishes, laundry, watering or weeding the garden or managing A Farm for All!  Peace abounds and I am still.  Where are we going in the rat race?  How about the human race?  The Protestant Work Ethic means work oneself to death.  I am not Protestant, I am Yoruba if anything and dedicated to my relationship with Earth.

The heat has affected the gardens.  I’m also curious about the shift in energy with the new members at SDG.  I recall my disbelief when I was a novice and the energy from the membership may have affected the garden.  It’s harder to garden with others than alone I have found.  “Duh!”  But community is part of the work.  I’m chalking up any missing crops to the heat.  I make dried Tomatoes, Pesto, Pickles, Sauerkraut and Tomato Sauce for Winter.  I made Lamb’s Quarter Pesto this week.  I have one container of cooked and frozen Kale in the freezer and I will make more this coming week.  We have an abundance of Mustard Greens at SDG so now I’m considering Kimchee.  I have lots of Pickles from last Winter so I’m not pressed for anything this Winter.  Corn was short, Tomatoes are slow and no Zucchini!  Green Beans and Fennel were eaten, by what we believe to be a Bunny.  I have fallen in love with Zucchini fritters so I’m slightly bummed we didn’t get any.  Zucchini bread thickens my body, but it was a big hit at potlucks last season.  

Lamb’s Quarter Pesto

Pickles

​Of course everything has been overshadowed by Covid-19, the protests and then the heat.  It sits on top of my head like a hat.  I have to recognize it and pull it off to count my blessings this season.  Relationship with the natural world makes everything all right.  We can lay our burden down in the garden and Earth will take it and return love.  We need not fear the natural world.  She is our partner through life.  Rhythm a dance.  Ebb and flow.  Coupled with the Moon cycles we can dance through vision, effort, gratitude and retreat into the deep dark to collect ourselves for another round.   The New Moon like the Winter Solstice we are full of vision and prayer.  As the Moon Waxes to full we have lifted our prayers to the universe.  Once full, Moon invites us to pull back our effort and be thankful as she wanes back to new.  Ebb and flow through Solstice/Equinox and Moon.  Gentle rhythm a dance through life.  Of course with the Solstice/Equinox and Moon comes the change of the seasons.  As Sun moves away from us beginning with the longest day of the year at Summer Solstice, we burn until now when the night temperatures have dipped and we have no choice but to vision indoors and warmth and rest from the season.