Playing in the Rain

After months of feeling as parched as the landscape, we are finally getting some decent rain here.

This morning the little one raced out for a turn on the swing, it had just started drizzling, but I thought "what the heck, we were about to have our shower anyway". So I popped him on the swing. As I sat out there pushing him the rain fell upon us. Lightly at first, then quite heavily. We stayed out there as the rain drenched our clothes and skin and hair. It felt so nice the pitter patter of rain drops on bare skin.

When the rain eased up we headed inside to dry off. I felt so refreshed and energised, like that feeling you get after swimming in a brisk ocean. Then the sun came out turning all the raindrops into tiny crystals. Everything looked all the more beautiful for us having just been out there.

I wonder why people have become so afraid of going out in the rain? It's only water! The only thing that would have made our splash in the rain more perfect is if we were naked, then I wouldn't have been left with a pile of soggy clothes to deal with :)

Hope you had a good Christmas!

Photo credit http://30secondrule.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rain-puddle.jpg

Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree

We don't get a lot of kookaburras here in the suburbs, but lately there's been a group of three of them hanging around. I snapped this magnificent one sitting on the neighbors clothes line this morning.

"Nature and the Human Soul" a Book Review of Sorts

I read a lot of books. Too many books really. Any time I want to know something I immediately turn to a book. Which is fine, but all this reading takes a lot of time. Time in which I could be actually doing things. So in a way reading about something is a form of procrastination for me. An excuse. I can put off actually doing something until I've finished reading about it. Which is not really fine. Because often reading about it is as far as I'll get.

I've also come to realise that there are a lot of ordinary books out there, and life really is too short to waste time reading an ordinary book. I also find that I invest many hours reading a book, only to have it tell me something I already know. So with free time at a premium, I could save myself a lot of time by just listen to my inner wisdom first. Too much reading is just clutter for the mind.

You could say that "Nature and the Human Soul" by Bill Plotkin has changed my life. This is IT. This is the one book that I have been looking for my whole life. This is the book that I have been searching for in all my readings, all the ecology, sustainability, spirituality, pagan/wiccan books I have been reading to date have just been skirting around the issue. This book is the real deal. I admit that I haven't read the whole thing yet, but what I have read so far I am mighty impressed by. So impressed that I took all my other library books back. So impressed that I actually ordered a copy of it from Amazon to have for my own. I know I will be referring back to this book again and again.

"Nature and the Human Soul" offers a model for the life long spiritual development of our wild selves. The parts of our selves that are denied in our current culture of unremitting production and consumption. But the best thing about this book is that it's not just a theoretical model Plotkin's offering. There are actual practical guidelines for the "tasks" of each stage of development. I intend to work closely with the advice offered in this book. I don't know about you but I feel keenly that there's some dimension sorely lacking in my current life, and I hope the exercises in this book will help to address that.

This book is deep and dense and not always an easy read. But don't let that put you off. See if your local library has a copy. If you live in Brisbane, it definitely will (because I've currently got it!).

What Did You Do?

it's 3:2 in the morning
and I'm awake
because my great great grandchildren
won't let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do when the earth was unraveling?

surely you did something
when the seasons started failing?

as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?

did you fill the streets with protest?
when democracy was stolen?

what did you do
once
you
knew?...

DREW DELLINGER, "HIEROGLYPHIC STAIRWAY"

Photo from http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/lens1766242_1227240845Last_Child_in_the_Woods.jpg

Deep Ecology

Small Steps - Disposing of Garden Poisons

Spurred into action by reading Silent Spring and having a very inquisitive toddler on the loose, I decided it was time to get together and dispose of all the bottles of garden chemicals that have been lurking in the garage for who-knows-how-long (certainly longer than DH and I have been together...) These chemicals are not the sort of things I want to be using in my garden, and honestly I don't see why anyone needs to be using poisons in their garden. Seems like overkill to me.

Unfortunately you can't just dump this stuff in your wheelie bin and forget about it. In landfill the poisons would leech out of their containers and contaminate soil and groundwater (just like what happens when you spray them in your garden!). In Brisbane the council runs designated "collection days" at local tips. Our next one is not until December 5th. So I have gathered the offending items into a box with a big label on it reminding me of the collection date, and placed it somewhere that I definitely won't miss seeing it. I do not want to miss that date!

Contact your council to find out how garden poisons are to be disposed of in your area.

And if you haven't read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, it will frighten the heck out of you. Certainly makes me more committed than ever to purchasing organically grown produce.

Small Steps - Locally Grown Garlic

Garlic is one thing we use a lot of but unfortunately don't get much of in our CSA boxes at the moment. I used to just pick up a bulb or two at the supermarket to make up the shortfall. Unfortunately at nearly all supermarkets and fruit and vegie shops around here, the only garlic you'll find is imported. Though it was obvious that the imported stuff looked a lot different to what we get in our vegie boxes, what I didn't realise was that all garlic imported into Australia is fumigated with Methyl Bromide. This is not something I want to be ingesting while eating something that is supposed to be good for the health!

Now the only garlic I'll buy is the Aussie grown stuff, which I get at the Chandler Markets. It is a lot more expensive than the imported stuff, but you don't need a lot (I paid $1 per bulb for those above). And just look how beautiful it is :)