Jack Stebbins 1925–2008Today it was chilly and cloudy for the second day in a row. I guess fall has finally come. With fall comes the dying, leaves falling, and bulbs and seeds buried. In midst of the two festivals last weekend, one at the Urban Ecology Center and Peacefest, I learned of the death of my friend Jack Stebbins last Friday. But with all the festivals his death only sank in today. With any death of a friend, sadness and memories come alive. Although Jack was around during the 60’s, the Milwaukee 14 days, and at the beginning of Casa Maria, Catholic Worker House of Hospitality, we had just known each other in passing at various peace and justice events. Our knowledge of each other and friendship got a spark when some members of the Milwaukee 14 and supporters like Jack had a gathering at our house four or five years ago.
Jack knew quite well and had stayed in contact with Lorenzo Rosebaugh, a member of the Milwaukee 14 and an oblate priest now serving the poorest of the poor in Guatemala City. At our first gathering with Lorenzo he was working on his memoirs. At the second gathering Lorenzo was here to promote his book To Wisdom Through Failure. I had already received a copy of the book and read it. Jack purchased one at the gathering with Lorenzo. About a week later he called me up one day quite excited and said he had just read the memoir and was so deeply moved by it that he had to call someone to share his experience with. He chose me because he knew I had read the book. This book of our friend had also impressed me. We talked for quite a while on the phone until we had both shared the joy, pain and peace we had discovered in Lorenzo’s life story. We also shared the experience of the passing of another mutual friend, Gordon Zahn.
Jack planted a lot of seeds of hope and joy in his life and I know that, like all seeds planted in good soil, they will rise again in the spring of life. We who knew Jack, even a little, were greatly blessed. You can read his obituary in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Peace, my friend, and remember us who, like you, strive to bring the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Tonight, after loading some pictures of Peacefest that John K and I took, I was going to write something about each picture. But the only words that came to me were the words of a friend who emailed me this morning to say it was a “profound experience.” It was just a simple celebration of old and new friends, of food and music, displays and talks. But it was moving. You could feel the Spirit moving in the wind. Maybe the Dalai Lama was correct when he said you could make nonviolent changes with festivals. So I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Garden of ResistanceIt has been a very busy weekend for the Nonviolent Worm and me. There was the Fall Festival at the Urban Ecology Center Saturday and for a while today, and and Peacefest today, the 40th anniversary of Milwaukee 14 and the 40th anniversary of the Resistance to military at Marquette University. I had many wonderful conversations, shared some good music, poetry and stories with friends old and new. I now have material for many postings and pictures to share. But being tired I will share just two brief stories with you. I was talking with my friend Joyce, longtime advocate for Peace and Justice, at Peacefest and she shared with me a metaphor she had found useful. She was talking with a group of persons about the meaning of “resistance.” She told them how important the spinning wheel was to Gandhi and his followers in India during their resistance to British rule. It was a symbolic act of resistance to the British rule of India. By spinning their own clothes they did not have to purchase British-made clothes but were nonviolently resisting British rule. The symbol of a spinning wheel did not resonate with those she was sharing with. So she turned to another symbolic and real act of resistance, a Garden. In a garden we can grow our own food and like with the spinning wheel can show resistance, this time to the major agribusinesses that run our food system. It might be a small act of resistance for us but it is an act of resistance. She found that many in the room could relate to this symbol. Growing a home garden, as so many persons do these days, is an act of resistance. As I digest this thought and reflect on my talks with Joyce and others more I will have more to share.
Worn Worm - Friday, September 26, 2008
Sept. 26th and Sept. 27th
Due to preparing for the Fall Festival at the Urban Ecology Center tomorrow and Sunday, and Peacefest on Sunday at Marquette University, the Nonviolent Worm ran out of time, is tired and cannot post tonight or Saturday. Both the Nonviolent and Worm sides of this web site are being pushed to their limits. However, many pictures and observations will flow from these two events in the days to come.
In Health & SicknessFeeling sick like I did today just makes life harder, but it goes on. Fortunately my main task today was to get ready for my display and worm magic show at the Fall Festival at the Urban Ecology Center on Saturday. But any time you do not feel good it just makes doing anything harder. Fortunately my ‘bug’ is quickly disappearing, but it is still a reminder of how many persons, like my friends Ann and Marna, live with constant sickness. Marna lives with a long list of illnesses and Ann with an unidentified heaviness and pain in her chest. Both keep going and making the most of life. I remember how sick my sister was when she was dying of cancer. To do anything, even working in the garden, takes real courage and willpower when one is sick. However, physical illnesses, hard as they may be, seem easier to deal with than the suffering of persons with depression and other mental illnesses. In our fast-paced society it seems like a growing number of persons are suffering from illnesses, physical or mental or both. I am daily reminded of how blessed I am with my health.
Making pictures today, for the display at the Fall Festival at the Urban Ecology Center, of the gardens in front and back of house, my sunroom GP box, my worm bin and depository, vertical growers and plant stand as well as my Air insulation system made me realized how blessed I am to have the opportunity for these home model garden systems and with the help of the web and my wiki master, Tegan to share them. So in health and sickness Uncle Bob of the nonviolent worm lives on.
Ways and Means - Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Milwaukee 14. I was 25 years old on Sept. 24th, 1968, when 13 other men and I entered the Selective Service offices in Milwaukee, took thousands of 1A files outside and burned them. Also 40 years ago, in 1968, Marquette (MU) students(of which I was one at the time), after winning a major battle against “institutional racism”, took on the issue of having Marquette Being Faithful to the Gospel and No Longer Hosting Departments of Military Science. The first issue, like that of “institutional racism” at MU, was won. There is no more forced selective service system. The second issue, resistance to military training for war at MU, continues on. Actually, after 40 years I realize there is no “winning” or “losing”; what matters is how you work for changes you seek. Like in a garden, it is the “how” not the “what” that determines the outcome. Violence breeds only more violence, and wars do not end wars. It is in the Way you change, not what you change, that determines the end. George Orwell taught us that lesson in the book “Animal Farm”, and Gandhi says it clearly in the statement: “Be the change you want to see.” This is an old lesson of history that often is forgotten.
Sometimes computers can waste garden time, and I am not talking about the kind of waste that can be composted. I was trying to send an email about Peacefest today to a large number of persons and had major computer problems, saving it as a draft, finding the email address that was stopping it, and getting error messages. My stubborn attitude kept me at the computer until I had solved most of the problem. Finally I managed to send it out to different grouping of persons; some may have got it more than once and some that I intended to send it to probably never got it. In the meanwhile, the nice summer afternoon disappeared into time to make dinner, and I did not work in the garden. I still do not know the source of my problems and probably will never know. But I do know that the time spent on that email is non sustainable. With preparing for the Fall Festival at the Urban Ecology Center this weekend and Peacefest this Sunday, all I can hope that this nice weather continues until next week. The GP box inside is half planted and most of the soil for the bulbs is ready but there is always more to do in the garden, a place where work, unlike work on the peacefest email, is sustainable.
But not all work on the computer is non-sustainable. Hopefully these daily postings will help give new life to more Growing Renewable Affordable Food G.R.A.F.. I may not know this for sure but believe it. I am a computer consumer as well as a sustainable gardener.
My brother-in-law, my deceased sister’s husband who lives in Houston, told me tonight that he nearly died from a heart attack recently. Last night I found out that my brother-in-law, my wife’s sister’s husband who lives out East, has a serious form of cancer. They are both fortunate to have health insurance or otherwise, like many Americans, health cost would be destroying their way of life. These days I often feel our country is sick and infested with some type of insects, just like at times my Growing Power Box seems to have insects in it. However, with my Growing Power box in the sunroom I can just spray on an organic soap and the insects go away. I cannot do that with our infected health care system. Like in China now with tainted milk for babies, greed seems to have taken over our health care system and many other systems of government.
As a child and adult I’ve always been taught by the Catholic church that the main purpose of government was to serve the ‘common good’. Whatever happened to that idea? The success and failure of the garden seems to be somewhat in our hands, but the success and failure of the government seems to be out of our hands. Now I understand why there is a deep sense of Christian Anarchism in the Catholic Worker Movement in this country. Catholic Workers believe in the one-person revolution, taking personal responsibility for the common good and not relying on government. Like taking care of a garden, we can take some control of our responsibilities for common good by feeding the hungry or giving shelter to the homeless. Yet part of me says that while doing the works of mercy I must work for justice, changing the systems, like the health care system. If we do not, there will not be many brothers-in-law anymore.
Today while working in the garden preparing the soil to plant flower bulbs this parable came to me.
Preparing for the “kingdom of heaven on earth” is like preparing to plant flower bulbs. In the fall you prepare the soil, cleaning out weeds and tilling the soil. You make some rich soil, with compost and castings to place in the ground around the buried bulb. You purchase the bulbs, perhaps tulips from Holland. When you make everything ready you bury the bulb and put some ground covering on top of ground, like wood chips to keep the soil below warm. You have done everything you need to do to prepare and plant and now all you can do is wait out the cold winter months for the bulbs to take root and flower in the spring. How this all happens you may not know. But you can see, touch and smell the results, a beautiful tulip or another flower. Once the bulb is planted it will continue to rise, be beautiful and die to rise again the next spring. As long as the soil remains good the flower will grow. You can pick the flower and it will still grow back next year. Your preparation and planting the bulb with a little care for the flower is all you need. Nature will do the rest.
A parable is a picture story with a point. If it speaks to you, that is great. If not that is okay too.
Adaptation - Saturday, September 20, 2008
When Venezuela purchases 51% of a major corporation it is called socialism and is considered bad.
When the USA purchases 80% of a major corporation is called nationalism and is considered good.
When Democrats create a new regulatory agency it is called big government and is bad.
When Republicans create a new regulatory agency it is called good business and is good.
There are more and more things happening these days that are good or bad depending on the source talking.
There also seems to be more blame than there was before.
When I was a child my Dad took me to stock car races at State Fair Park. I used to feel guilty about wanting to see a car crash make the race more exciting.
Today NASCAR, stock car racing, is a big sport and nobody feels guilty when there is a big accident.
Time or point of view changes what is good or bad or who is to blame or who feels guilty or not. Those who can adapt to times or points of view survive.
Adaptation is at the heart of evolution. Although certain laws of nature and principles remain the same, those creatures that can adapt to change survive.
Last night I saw a four star movie called “Adaptation”. On one hand it is about a screenwriter adapting a book to a screenplay. However, it was really about life and how, like one of the oldest creatures in the universe, the worm, we need to adapt to an ever changing world. But as the movie points out, adaptation also means being true to ourselves and not always worrying about what others may think.
Humming Bird FlowerAgain today I saw a humming bird flying around a red flower in my rain garden. Again today after I got my camera to take a picture, the humming bird was gone. I am now calling this red flower, whose formal name I do not know, the humming bird flower.
A number of years ago when I was leaving a job I got a red humming bird feeder as a gift. I put some sugar water in it, as instructed, and put it in my garden at the time. No humming birds ever came by for a drink, and now it just hangs inside the garage of my present house ignored by me until today. A number of friends told me that humming birds were not in the city and I believed them. No longer. This red flower attracts humming birds. Tomorrow I will dust off the humming bird feeder, put some sweet water in it, and hang it up in the rain garden in front of the house near the red flower.
I do not know the name of the red flower. When I purchased it via the Milwaukee Sewerage Department for the rain garden I did get the name on a tag. I put the tags near the various flowers but now they are all gone. Really I do not care for the given name of the flower. It is more than enough to know it as the humming bird flower.
Peony Time? - Thursday, September 18, 2008
When I was in one of those big home stores today purchasing material for the AIR project to insulate wood storms for low-income families, I checked out the Garden section for any end of the summer deals. There I found a small peony plant for a couple of dollars. I purchased it even though I do not know if it is the right time of year to plant such a bush. I came home and planted it in a bare spot in the rain garden covering the roots with fresh castings. I hope it works, since I remember that at our former house there was peony bush that every summer, for a short period, was beautiful. The picture on the left is not that of the peony I purchased but what I hope it will be. Only time, care, rain and sun will tell.
I spent more time today getting ready for the now 112 bulbs from Holland I intend to plant soon for spring and early summer beauty around the house. The weather these days has been beautiful, extending my time to get things ready for planting the bulbs and to get things ready for planting inside the sunroom. I took some young plants from outside into the box today and planted some other salad greens in part of the box. So while I plant bulbs outside for next year I am planting salad greens and herbs inside for this winter. There is a season for everything under the sun they say, and this is the season for planting bulbs outside and greens inside. I also hope it is Peony Time!
Birds are Back! - Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Soft down feathers trap still AIR
close to the surface of the body,
thermally insulating a bird .While working in the garden today I heard the birds chirping in the tree next door. Because of the leaves on the tree and the grape-leaf vines on the fence I could not see them. But I know what the music means; “it is time to feed us.” Although it was a beautiful day outside and there was plenty of food around for the birds, I decided to once again fill the bird feeder. I had not been doing it in the summer. I did not expect them to go right after the food, like they sometimes do in the winter, but I did see a few of them checking the bird feeder out. After I went inside for a while I looked out the sunroom window only to see a chipmunk, not a bird, feeding on the seeds. I went outside to chase the chipmunk away but he just stayed there looking at me until I was right at the pole. He then skipped down the thin pole he had climbed and took off. I went back in the sunroom to wait for the birds but just saw a squirrel on my fence checking out the bird feeder. The squirrel took off as soon as I stepped outside. For a squirrel to climb the pole to the feeder is more difficult and it was not going to wait for me to chase it away. I looked out once again when there was still light and did not see any birds. The feeder still has seeds in it but less. Maybe the birds did some feeding or maybe the chipmunk and squirrel got the spoils. When the feed is plentiful the birds do not challenge the chipmunk and squirrel for the food. The chipmunk and squirrel will go after the easiest food in the fall, but in the winter stay in their warm nest and let the birds have the seeds.
Ernesto Cardenal at UWM TonightTonight I went to a poetry reading with Ernesto Cardenal. He is an 83-year-old priest, renowned poet of Latin America and revolutionary. He was the former minister of culture in Sandinista, Nicaragua and now is persecuted by the present Sandinista government of Nicaragua. He studied for the priesthood under the auspices of Thomas Merton and has written over 35 poetry books, many translated into other languages. Tonight he mostly read from a book called “Cosmic Canticle”, a 500-page collection of canticles about the cosmic origins of the universe that he wrote over a 30 year period. It combines politicians, Latin American history, science and spirituality with the evolution of human understanding. His ability to interweave so many diverse sources, from science to mysticism, into one fascinated me. Afterward I purchased an English copy of this epic. I know the poetry will be lost in the translation to English but most of the integrating of diverse thoughts should remain.
Seeing all things as related and as one, as he does, has always fascinated me and is one of the reasons I am so drawn to growing power and urban gardening. During the question and answer period tonight he was asked what he thought of present Latin American leaders like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. He told the story about how he was in the front row of one of Chavez’s speeches when Chavez talked about Venezuelans being brothers and sisters to Americans, and Americans being brothers and sisters to Venezuelans. Chavez seeing him there asked him: ”Cardenal, what do you think about that?” He responded that he had never heard a politicians speak like that and was glad to hear it. There is something revolutionary happening in Latin America, perhaps not in Nicaragua currently, but in other Latin American countries like Venezuela and Bolivia. From my experience in Venezuela last April (see Risen In Venezuela) and tonight, there is a wave of a truly revolutionary and spiritual movement taking place that is unstoppable. The Cosmos, as a garden in spring, is growing and flourishing.
Famous RejectionFame and rejection come hand in hand.
In all times those who find fame one day often suffer rejection the next day.
St. Ignatius of Loyola prayed for poverty, shame, insults and rejection.
He suffered all of these yet became a famous saint.
In nature the lowly worm, rejected by many as creepy and slimy,
Is the central focus of vermiculture or Growing Power.
The lowly shall be exalted and the famous humbled.
This is the upside down world we live in.
In the garden I find the balance between fame and rejection.
Fame is the flower that blooms so beautifully.
Rejection is the compost pile of waste materials.
Fame needs rejection to stay humble,
Rejection needs fame to keep hope alive.
Life delivers both.
The trick is to balance both at same time,
To enjoy the fame and rejection.
To suffer the rejection and fame,
To be famously rejected.
AIR insulating windowOne of the common objections I have received about the Air Insulation Resource (AIR) system is that unless the plastic on the windows is sealed properly the cold air will leak in, minimizing the effect of the air pockets in the clear plastic covering. I knew this was not correct, that the surface covered with the air pocket would have the same effect with or without a tight seal, but could not explain why. My friend from Madison, who is the science person behind the AIR system, explained today why leaks in the seal do not affect the air insulation factor of the rest of the surface. Air in the pockets is not like water. Water inside pockets would find the leak and rush out. Air in the air pockets does not work like that. The air in the pockets is not pressurized like air in a tire, and unlike water does not seek to escape through the leak. So if you have a down jacket with air pockets in the feathers keeping you warm, one hole in the jacket will not affect the rest of the jacket’s insulation.
Godfather - Saturday, September 13, 2008
My godson, TristanToday as it rained on and off all day we went to Middleton, WI so I could be a godfather to my daughter-in-law’s sister’s newborn. I am not sure what being a godfather means today but I felt proud to be a witness to Tristan’s baptism into the waters of a new life. We believe baptism gives you the blessings of God to be a follower of the Way of Jesus. This baby went into the waters of Baptism only to rise up again living the life of Jesus. It is mostly up to the parents to educate the child in the Christian life but godparents can play a small role in this formation. The symbols used in baptism, water and light, are similar to the essentials of a garden, rain and sun. A newly baptized person needs the cleansing waters of baptism and the light of Jesus as a garden needs water and sun to grow. As I godfather I lit a candle for my godson to symbolize the light of Christ. My grandson was awake during the baptism and the liturgy before it. So today the garden and my new grandson were washed in rain of nature or waters of baptism. Both will need more refreshing waters in times to come and both will need light to grow.
Waiting after Prayer VigilAll summer I have been asking persons at Growing Power about purchasing some coir. I have received all kinds of answers from “we need to order some more”, “we have only enough for ourselves”, “we do not sell it”, “we have not ordered it”, to “I will ask the ‘big man’ (Will) if you can purchase some.” Finally, a friend of mine from Church, who is on the board of directors of Growing Power, said he would ask the questions at the next board meeting. The question takes on more importance as we move the GP home model into the sunroom and inside planting. Coir mixed with castings is important to growing inside using this method of growing power.
Marna’s Best - Thursday, September 11, 2008
Strawberry Fields Forever in Marna’s
‘Little DMZ’Today I first met my friend Marna at a prayer vigil for a young high school girl who met a violent death. As usual Marna had some consoling words for the group of persons that had come to pray and remember. Marna’s youngest son was a homicide victim some years ago. However, out of that tragedy Marna became the co-founder of Mothers Against Gun Violence, which has been working for passage of the Responsible Gun Ownership Bill in Wisconsin. From this terrible tragedy of losing a son to senseless gun violence, Marna has made something good come from it — increasing awareness of ways to decrease gun violence. The second time I met Marna today was at her house where I went to help her in her own garden, the ‘little DMZ’ and with the DMZ community garden. Marna, with Dawn of Foundation Dwellings, are the real powers behind the DMZ community garden. When I was working with Marna at her home Garden and the DMZ community garden I noticed she was always on the look-out for discarded material she could use and recycle into something useful. I helped her get some discarded pallets from the school across the street and some waste material that a neighbor of the DMZ was throwing away. She has plans to turn this waste into useful products. Marna makes the best of any situation that life gives her. She suffers from many illnesses but keeps right on going. My cooking is like Marna’s life, making the best of what we have on hand. So tonight’s dinner is called Marna’s Best.
Picture Outside The BoxLast night I was trying to describe in words the new and revised GP Home Model box in the sunroom. This picture of outside the box should help. The 8’ by 2’ box is filled with compost, worms and castings. Above the box will hang two fluorescent grow lights to add light for 12 hours a day. After I add more castings to the box, seeds, mostly of salad greens, will be put in the box to grow. The bottom of box has holes so that water put in the box can drain down to the slanted black tray below as tea. The tea will flow left and drop into the wood tray in the shelf below. In the tray that is tilted to the right will be planters with holes in the bottom to grow more salad greens. The plants on the bottom shelf will take up some of the tea from the bottom and the rest of it will flow into the basin on the right side, ready to be placed back into the system as fertilized water. It is a self-contained system that just needs a little extra water at times, and sun or light.
With the AIR insulation system on the windows in the sunroom the room will stay at a comfortable growing temperature for salad greens in the winter. This is the fourth season for the GP Home Model Box and I can picture it as being the best. Time and the picture outside the box will tell.
100 Bulbs from HollandThe other day at my local international discount grocery store, Aldi, I purchased a box of 100 bulbs for fall planting. The box says “100 Bulbs = 100 Days of Flowers” but what drew me to this purchase was not the 100 Days of flowers but the 100 bulbs of perennials from Holland for a very affordable cost, around $9. I have all kinds of places for these flowers,in the rain garden, around the rain garden, in the center circle of the garden in the backyard garden and in the flowerbed in front and side of the house. Ever since I visited my friend Jim Forest in Holland some years ago, purchasing bulbs from Holland have had a special meaning for me. Also my experience with these bulbs from Holland has been good. With the help of some compost and castings I need to extract from the Worm Condo the next few days the bulbs will have a good start this fall, take root in the winter and be ready to bloom starting next spring. I am excited thinking about all the excitement and color the flowers will bring to our yards. This is one of the good experiences in living in a global market—one can purchase bulbs from Holland at a discount grocery store in the USA.
Rain Delay - Monday, September 08, 2008
It rained all day today, which is good and bad. Good for the ground and not so good for working outside. Being a light-sensitive person I can feel down on rainy, dark days. But today rather than work outside I went grocery shopping, cooked a nice dinner and got some ‘community organizing’ done on the computer about “Peacefest” a peacemakers’ celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Milwaukee 14 and of the resistance to the military and teaching of violence at Marquette University. So the delay at working in the garden has other benefits. Obstacles in life can be like rain delays. They can get us down or give us opportunity to do other things.
Insults also can be like rain delays. They can get us down or motivate us to keep going. Notice that above I called my work being a ‘community organizer’. The term ‘community organizer’ was used in a pejorative way at the Republican National Convention last week and the next day by the Republican candidates in a rally near Milwaukee. Having been in the past a real community organizer, at first I felt hurt. But then I took it as badge of honor. A ‘community organizer’ is someone who brings persons together to work for neighborhood improvements, better conditions and human rights. There have been a lot of great community organizers in life, like Dorothy Day, Gandhi, Saul Alinzky, Martin Luther King, Caesar Chavez and more. Someone reminded me that “Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor.” Like rainy days, even demeaning remarks can be turned into a badge of honor. At the Olympic games someone asked Michael Phelps’s, the winner of eight Gold metals, coach what is the most important thing he taught Michael. He said that it was to turn adversity into something positive. In one of the races when Phelps’s goggles took in water, this obstacle motivated him to swim harder and, even without seeing, win. So bring on the rain delays.
Watching the 10 pm news last night, story after story was about violence, shootings, stabbings, car accidents, war and more. The fast paced news of violence reminded me how ‘speed kills,’ not only when driving a car but when driving through life. It reminded me how I needed to ‘slow down to live.’ So it was only right and just that this morning, Sunday morning, I spend some time with my friend, Ken Butigan, a coordinator for Pace e Bene at a training session in nonviolence at Marquette University, sponsored by the Marquette Center for Peacemaking. I have been at workshops, talks and retreats with Ken and the staff of Pace e Bene before but it is always good to hear it one more time, what “creative nonviolence” is all about. Ken was the person who some years ago, when I was searching for a way to be effective in the peace movement, told me to pick one specific issue and do my best to work on it. The issue I picked was getting Marquette University to be Faithful to the Gospel and No Longer Host Departments of the Military. In our resistance struggle at Marquette, which is now 40 years old there have been many slow moments when all interest from students and faculty seems to die, but they have been followed by moments of new life and growth. The many seeds of resistance planted by many over the 40 years have died but once again some have taken root and risen.
Survivor - Saturday, September 06, 2008
Potato SurviorTonight we went to a birthday celebration for a woman who is a cancer survivor. She gave a talk filled with gratitude for all the people who supported her. My prayers and hopes go out to her and her family. My younger sister was a cancer survivor for many years until her cancer came back and she died. However, there is more hope today for cancer survivors. For although there still is no cure, there are effective treatments to overcome cancer and keep the cancer in remission. At this celebration I was talking with a young woman who is a survivor of a mental illness. Like cancer there is no cure for mental illnesses, but unlike cancer there is no remission and, to my knowledge, never a time to celebrate overcoming the illnesses. Besides the disease, persons with a mental illness suffer a stigma from society, something fortunately people with cancer do not need to face. We call persons with a mental illness, mentally ill, but would never call persons with cancer, cancerous. Mental illnesses are associated with a person’s being, unlike all other diseases. Yet one of four persons has a mental illness or knows someone with it and is affected. Insurance companies do not give parity, equal coverage, to mental illnesses as to other illnesses. Even soldiers who fought for our country do not get the quality of treatment for mental illnesses, like post-dramatic syndrome, they receive for other, physical, injuries. When the mind or brain gets sick it is a terrible thing and made worse by our treatment. Is there a lesson from the garden that we can apply to this discrimination for persons with mental illnesses?
Silent Rain - Friday, September 05, 2008
Rain Garden TodayRain Gardens need rain. That seems obvious but it became clearer today why that is so. Rainwater, unlike water from the city water system, has no additives. At Growing Power we were taught to let our water sit in watering can for a day before we watered our plants. I guess the additives, which are not good for plants, dissolve in a day. I guess this is what ‘distilled water’ is. Now we all need to use city water to water our plants inside and out when there is no rain. Outside I often fill up the rain barrel with tea bag in it, let it sit for a day and open the spigot and let it run through the rain garden. But rainwater, though probably not pollutant free, is the best for plants. You can tell the difference today after the all-day rain yesterday. We have been watering the perennial flowers in the garden. But today, after the rain, they took on an extra shine and seemed to be bigger. We all need the real thing, be it rain for a rain garden or silence for a person.
Hug a Cow! - Thursday, September 04, 2008
Hug A Cow!Last weekend we went to my oldest son and his family’s house in Shawano County. Part of the reason we were there was to attend the Shawano County Fair, where my two grandsons display their 4-H projects. Sunday at the fair one of the first places we went was to the Cow Barn where their neighbors, across the highway on a Dairy Farm, displayed their cows. When we were there a little girl, a complete stranger, came up to me and asked me to pet the black and white baby calf that was on display in front of the barn. My first response was to ask her to repeat her request. She again told me to go out and pet the calf in front of the barn. Then her dad told her to stop bothering me and she was gone. After finishing my conversation, I went to the front of the barn to look for the girl and the calf. The baby calf was there but the girl was nowhere in site. I did not think much about the incident until the next day, Monday, when my daughter-in-law asked us at dinner if we noticed that the black and white calf in front of the barn was gone. She explained the calf had gotten ill of heat exposure the day before and had either died or been taken back to the farm. She said that the calf was male, and because of the high cost of feed, baby male calves were going for about $5. She had been told there was a shot that could have been given the calf that was dehydrated, but that the shot cost $15, three times the value of the baby male calf. We do not know if the baby calf was allowed to die or given the shot. Did the girl know that calf was dying when she asked me to pet it?
David Cook, American IdolMonday, Labor Day, after dinner, I was sitting on chair outside of my son’s house up north watching my three grandchildren jumping on a trampoline. It was the last day before school begins and they were creating little plays with their bouncing around. Last night I was in Green Bay with my wife at an American Idol concert. She is a fan of David Cook, the number one American Idol. Today I was once again out in my garden picking more beans and preparing the GP home model growing box in the sunroom. At the first activity, watching trampoline jumping, I found my head slowly clearing of distracting thoughts as my attention was drawn to the play of my grandchildren. At the second activity, the concert, I kept busy taking pictures and trying to understand the words with the loud pop music playing. Today I found myself fully focused on my gardening work.
In terms of refreshing activity I would have to say the first activity was like preparing to mediate or pray, cleaning my head of distractions. The second activity, watching the Idol concert, was like observing a well-organized distraction. As my wife said: “It keeps you from thinking of war, violence and all the terrible things happening in the world. The third activity, gardening I would describe as a Zen activity. I was just present to what I was doing; there was no letting go of distractions or viewing of distractions; it was just doing what I was doing. Taking time out to watch children play or to experience a music cultural phenomenon are okay. However, today I was ready to come home to the soil. I will take gardening over idoling any day.
