Introducing Eco Design + Living! Please visit www.ecodesignandliving.com for the metamorphysis of this blog. Posts here will continue to dwindle as I’m narrowing the focus on where I want to direct my energy. This new website will be an information resource for living lighter on the planet in the Northwest Florida region and beyond.
Live well.
The data now backs up the belief I’ve long held about those individuals at the lower end of the affluent and higher education spectrum and their impact on the planet. It doesn’t take a graduate degree in systems design to understand that more education and more wealth OFTEN equate to more spending and a larger ecological footprint. I know and work with many highly educated and wealthy individuals who express their status through vacations, multiple cars, large houses, boats, etc. (more…)
I receive a tremendous amount of “call to action” e-mails from organizations I belong to, most of which I skim through for juicy tidbits. Sometimes I may forward them to another friend, but mostly, I like to live and let live. I have a friend that e-mails me updates on local environmental news as it’s unfolding. He/she is a dear, but it doesn’t take too many of these e-mails and I feel overwhelmed and/or helpless. Living in Florida with a depressed economy, the e-mails are mounting, as one program after another is being slashed. (more…)
Contrary to popular belief, I have not abandoned my blog. I’ve simply found that more of my time these days is spent reading, writing papers and working on community and personal projects. That doesn’t mean I don’t have material to blog about, I most certainly do. For instance, the youngin’ is “individuating”, as my dear friend Cynthia likes to say. That means my only child has moved out of the house, somewhat prematurely. Another for instance, the mead has been racked and was a big hit at a couple gatherings. One more, in my move toward a more abundant life, we now have a papaya, a granny smith, red banana and a fig tree planted in the yard. Albeit, a bit crowded in the space I planted, though they are in and seem happy for the moment. Well, they aren’t ALL planted but that’s on my list of things to do today. (more…)
The Labyrinth at Rose Creek
I thought I would be posting sooner than now, though “re-entry” into reality has left me a little shell shocked and bewildered. I was away for two weeks at a permaculture design course outside Ashville, N.C., but it wasn’t the run of the mill pc course. For starters, we were spoiled with three ‘organilocal’ squares a day, which were shared over in depth conversations of conflict resolution, tantra, permaculture playground design for burning man and the like. This was preceded and or followed by various earth based rituals with lots of singing, sharing and getting in touch with your inner self (looking like a fool).
Laying out contours w/ an A-frame and a quick permaculture design on 1/8 acre
Not to be taken lightly, this was an intensive course to say the least. Interwoven with the required course material, including a design project and participation in a no-talent show, we were sporadically exposed to surprise actions in which we were enticed to procure a collective intelligent response. As example, a spontaneous dance party broke out between lectures and was abruptly halted when we (the dancers) were corralled by the police (actor children and other students) and beaten with batons (paper batons). Things got quite physical when we banded together, fell to the floor and started to chant. The police, thoroughly engaged (and enjoying it) in their role, began to attempt to pull people (me) from the pack. I was ultimately terrified of becoming seperated from my sisters & brethren, who had a firm clasp on my extremities to the point at which I began to wonder if this were a real direct action, would I simply be pulled apart? Note: see Starhawk’s non-violent activism resources.
Jack’s restored 67 VW
There were herb walks, where I learned how to identify water hemlock – ‘veins to the cut, pain in the gut – veins to the tip, everything is hip.’ There were peaceful nights in the tent and wet soggy mornings in the tent. There was a girl named Dragonfly, a guy named Noah who is an active member of the International Solidarity Movement, a girl that was studying to be a doctor in Cuba and the author of Radical Healing, among other inspiring souls. I didn’t get as dirty as hoped due to the relocation of our course, but I did get to hike to the Tennessee River and take a dip. Oh, and the mead. If I got nothing else out of this course, I took away an intense interest in mead and mead making.
Noah & Kelly exhibit their Fire Poi talents
We were remotely located away from cell phone service and nearby towns, so we created our own “bar” at our retreat, where the organic porters, double belgian brews, ports and meads flowed. I sampled apple-lemon cyser, hyssop-anise metheglin, apricot-cinnamon melomel and various other home made meads. I witnessed a small (30-40 gallons) homebrew mead operation, a mead making demonstration at the no-talent show and various wild yeasters sporting their wares. Within two days of arriving home, I had a gallon of Joe’s Ancient Orange mead bubbling away on the counter and another gallon in the makings.
Mead at AVI
I got to hang with the female permaculture heavy weights for two weeks, Starhawk, Penny Livingston-Stark and Patricia Allison. I forewent the day trip (our one day off) to Earthaven Ecovillage to catch up on some much needed relaxation. Ah, another time I’ll make the trip to see how they have assembled their little village. I’m back home now, immersed in courses and design work. Back to 90 + degree days and the land of the flatwoods. Got mead?
