Blogging for Sanity

The Orchard: Early Spring?

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:26:00 +0000

If we had a local groundhog emerge yesterday, it would have predicted an early spring here at Dancing TreePeople Orchard. The signs of spring are everywhere: daffodils are emerging, jonquils have already begun their flowering, the orchard canopy is teaming with a variety of birds: robins, redwing blackbirds, swallows, wild turkey, red-headed woodpeckers and an occasional heron. On the domestic front, last seasons chick have begun laying eggs, though they have not selected a consistent location: each day brings another egg hunt for sport and entertainment.

Our soil is soft and saturated with the recent rain, grasses, grains and legumes have sprouted. I wish I had made some seed balls this winter as the conditions are perfect for their sprouting right now. Perhaps next season.

In the meantime, it is a joy to plan this years garden: the soils are alive with rich compost and rotting straw cover. Dancing TreePeople orchard is coming back to life.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 07:04:00 +0000

Today, I made lentil soup and served it with some crusty garlic bread. Lentil soup on New Year's Day is a tradition in our family. My grandmother and great grandmother brought the tradion over from Germany--it was believed that lentils on New Years Day would bring abundance and health in the year to come.

Loretta's tradition is the observe January 1 with a Peace Prayer. This can take a variety of forms and focuses on the world and others outside our own community.

So today, we combined the traditions and had others over for a peace prayer and lentil soup as a celebration of the day.

Commencement Speech

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:02:00 +0000

I really like this--Paul Hawken is amazing anyway and this is a speech I wish I wrote (I've given a similar one) , This one is SO right on.... Enjoy!

Commencement: Healing or Stealing?

The unforgettable Commencement Address 2009.

By Paul Hawken

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” No pressure there.

Let’s begin with the startling part. Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food—but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn’t bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: You are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring. The earth couldn’t afford to send recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here’s the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, “So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.” There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice,” is Mary Oliver’s description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown — Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood — and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, non-governmental organizations, and companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.

The living world is not “out there” somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. We are the only species on the planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time rather than renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. And dreams come true. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe, which is exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a “little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven.”

So I have two questions for you all: First, can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. You can feel it. It is called life. This is who you are. Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. Our innate nature is to create the conditions that are conducive to life. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television.

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn’t stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn’t ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

Our Inauguration Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:24:00 +0000

I've posted a few entries on my drushing.com blog:

Washington DC Day 1

Inauguration Day: January 20, 2009

Photo Account of the Inauguration

Enjoy!

--Denise

A poem

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:53:00 +0000

Different Dreams

Google me and you might find
that I once sat behind a mahogany desk
In a corner office
with a view of the bay
I decided things of importance, and thought myself so
Awake.
Ah, but wisdom found my hiding places
haunting me with dreams of twisting buildings and tidal waves
and earth shifting, opening wide the ground
beneath my feet.

Now, I spread straw in the orchard.

I harvest snow peas and snap beans and sage,
and create fragrant, savory soup from fresh kale.
Squash and tomatoes fill my baskets in summer
I am as morning mist descends from our mountain
and white pelicans ride gossamer threads
above our waters
I make clay pots,
and pray amidst dancing trees, listening
deeply called
to heal the land
from a wildness within me that doesn't decide
anything
yet knows what it means to be in this place,
enchanted and magical, loving.

At night, I dream
different dreams.

A love story

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:03:00 +0000

I was reminded today of how very much I love this place and the people who live here.
This montage of photos is offered as a gift: in deep gratitude for what we have. The photographs were taken at or within a few miles of my home here in Upper Lake.

March 11: Renee's Birthday Message

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:48:00 +0000

It took me a whole year to post this. Here is a very short video message from Renee at this time last year here:

Couldn't bring myself to post this until today.

Denise

Springtime

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:15:00 +0000

I do not remember last spring. Or summer or autumn for that matter. It has been a very long winter --seems like a very long one indeed.

But we live in a Universe of renewal, and spring does eventually come, doesn't it?

I wrote this poem after a weekend of beauty here. And I, overcome by it.

Springtime

VIolets and jonquils
celebrate sunlight,
together.
Mint and Marjoram,
your new leaves
sing aloud!
Quail
so quick and fleeting…
Did you remember her promise?
(She said you would come!)
a glimpse,
unexpected, brought
tears.

Song of Joy,
I thought you would not find me!
Gratitude,
You remembered
My fragile heart.
Springtime,
Thank you for being here,
Thank you, Thank you
For being.

Other poems are here: Poems of Grief

Healing

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks so much to all who have supported me in my grief process in whatever ways i have asked of you. There are some who expect me to be okay by now.... I'm really not, and I do not know when I will be. What I know is that healing will take more time than I could have imagined and I will never be the same as I was before. I need time and space to heal --sometimes it helps to withdraw from social events, sometimes work and activity is a balm. Grief catches me by surprise on most days.

Your kindness is a lifeline, each gesture a gift.

Thank you

Good Good Food

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:05:00 +0000

In the last 24 hours, I chose meals that were locally grown--all grown almost entirely from my own farm and garden.

Yesterday, I ate "farm-grown fast food" for dinner: 2 giant freestone peaches off my peach tree, a handful of cherry tomatoes off my tomato vines, a bunch of grapes off my grape vines and a sparkling glass of mint-ice water using the mint from my herb garden.

This morning for breakfast: A scramble--a sliced zuchinni from the garden sauteed in locally-produced olive oil with two farm fresh eggs (produced by my chickens), seasoned with chives and basil.

For lunch today I am having some more grapes, and a fresh tomato salad with walnuts and an herb vinagrette. And for dessert: some of Sky Hoyt's local strawberry sorbet.

In our country, food travels, on average, 1500 miles from producer to table, requiring huge amounts of fossil fuels both to grow it and deliver it. Most of THIS food traveled less than 100 feet. And I guarantee it tastes a lot better.

Everything is flavorful and colorful and nutritious. August is so bountiful here... it can't get much better than this. I can't think of a better way to heal my own spirit, and heal earth at the same time.

Natural building. continued...

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:30:00 +0000

We are still in the process of building a small demonstration cottage from cob (monolithic adobe) and strawbales. Here is a pictorial chronicle of the progress so far. Enjoy:

Buy Local Food

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:24:00 +0000

We already know how important it is to shop locally. And by buying local food, we support our farmers and economy right where we live! So why not pledge to buy a portion of your food locally?

If you are interested in taking a local food pledge , pledging to eat at least 1 pound a week from local sources, then visit this link:

As an added incentive: by signing up, you could win a prize! For example, the top prize of $6000 worth of landscaping would plant a great garden. (If you win that prize, and don't have room for a garden, let me know and I am sure we can help you find a fledgling community group that could use the help.)

If you live in lake County, to help you meet your 1 pound a week commitment, I have posted some ideas from Lakefuture members on the LakeFuture website

Remembering Renee

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 20:52:00 +0000

The loss of Renee is profound. My grief: deeper than words... As I attempt to share a glimpse of what is in my heart at any moment, I realize that the whole of it is too much to describe. How does one sum up such all-encompassing love? Ours was an unlikely and magical and sometimes infuriating love story. We companioned each other through fourteen years of raising children, joys, devastation, transformation, heartbreaks and triumphs. We ended more in love than we began.

Now I carry on alone. I am filled with awe and gratitude for this amazing gift of Renee (renewal) in my life, mindful that her love changed me, strengthened me and is more than enough to sustain me, even now. Her final gift, saying goodbye, has set in motion a new process of transformation.

Here is a slideshow of recent photographs:

Renee is at Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sun, 13 May 2007 04:59:00 +0000

Renee died very peacefully this evening at 8:44pm Thanks to all for
your love and prayers as we send her on her way.

In love and gratitude,

Denise

======================================

Below is her obituary and here is a brief clip of Renee's own thoughts on death and dying...

OBITUARY

Renee Shields

Born: March 11. 1944 Died: May 12, 2007

Renee Shields, resident and teacher in Upper Lake, CA, died on May 12, 2007 from cancer. She was 63 years old.

Renee was born Lorraine Gail Shields, in Merced, California on March 11, 1944. She entered religious life as a Sister of the Holy Family in 1963, taking the name Sister Mary Renee, and remained in religious life for 30 years. She left the convent and entered into a committed partnership with Denise Rushing in 1993 and helped raise two children: Brian Rushing, now 24, and Teresa Rushing, now 22.

Renee taught Special Education at Upper Lake High School and was a licensed family counselor. She held two Masters Degrees: One in counseling from California State University-Fresno and one in religious education from University of San Francisco. She was a credentialed teacher, who worked in Public Schools since 1997 and taught religious education for 30 years, while a Sister of the Holy Family. She also co-founded Rockhaven Ecozoic Center, a non-profit eco-spiritual retreat center and holistic community in House Springs Missouri.

Renee is survived by her sister Cynthia Shields of Fresno, California, her brothers, James Arthur Shields III of Parker, Colorado and Harold Shields of Clovis, California as well as nieces and nephews in California, Colorado and Texas. She leaves behind immediate family including domestic partner of 14 years, Denise Rushing and her two adult children: Brian Rushing of Portland, Oregon and Teresa Rushing of Upper Lake, CA.

Renee took great joy in flower arranging, weaving, caring for the pets and livestock at the family’s farm and creative tasks, including baking cookies and cakes for the students and staff at Upper Lake High School. Throughout life, she was known for her kindness and humor, her generosity, and her love of children. She is remembered with deep love and gratitude by all she encountered.

Private Services will be held at a future date. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be sent to one of the following organizations:

Sisters of the Holy Family,
P. O. Box 3248,
Mission San Jose, CA 94539-0324

Hospice Services of Lake County,
1717 South Main Street
Lakeport, CA 95453

Rockhaven Ecozoic Center
7621 Rivermont Trail
House Springs, MO 63051

For Renee, I need....

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sat, 12 May 2007 22:40:00 +0000

Renee has been more than 5 days without water, just shallow breathing and no change in vital signs.... this is wearing on her body, on me and everyone near... she is so close to death, but not letting go.
So, I need your help...

-------------------------
THE DREAM.
Renee visited one of our Renee-care group in a dream last night. In
the dream, a room full of people were drumming for Renee. Renee came to her and said "tell them to stop the drumming, they need to let me go, I cannot go while they keep drumming" but the drumming continued. Renee asked her to make them stop, but the dreamer was powerless to stop it.
--------------------------

So, what is "the drumming?" Perhaps it represents everyone's worries and concerns about me and those she is leaving behind? Or perhaps it represents wishes and thoughts for her to regain health? (Or maybe someone is really drumming?)

Here is what I need you to do: Turn your thoughts from any worrying about me, or Brian, or Teresa, or her classroom kids, or family and relatives and friends. I need you to place your thoughts and intentions on saying goodbye to Renee--letting her go, and wishing her well on her way. She needs this.

Oh, and please stop drumming.

With love, and gratitude,

Denise

Hours...

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Fri, 11 May 2007 22:00:00 +0000

It is surreal here at this hour. Renee's breathing is shallow and changing. Her heart rate is up even more, she is still hanging on, even though she hasn't been able to drink water for more than four days.
We are present to her, here and now. Powerless to stop death, we simply work on small comforts... repositioning her body, moistening her mouth, applying lip balm, massaging her feet with lotion..... and whispering goodbye.

Please know that your words and ongoing acts of love and support have been a great comfort, sustaining us even now.

In gratitude,

Denise

Just days...

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:35:00 +0000

Renee and I have been together for fourteen years. She is so ill now that she can no longer speak and she has only a few days left to live. I, for once, am without words...

...except to say that the time seems to have passed in an instant.

Here she is in the kitchen just a few short weeks ago.

New Life

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:06:00 +0000

Spring time brings new life to Dancing TreePeople Farm. We have seven new baby pygmy goats!!!

Here is a video of Daisy's babies:

The Daisies

Letting Go

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 20:36:00 +0000

During the campaign, Renee aquired a puppy. I bonded with this little dog --"Star." She could have just as easily been named "Joy" for the delight she brought to our home.

We now find Star SO energetic that we needed to give her a new home during this time. To me, letting go of this little dog carries with it a great sadness--I suppose that she represents how much letting go is happening right now. So I thought I would share a few photos...

May 2007 UPDATE:
Star came back to us. I got a call--she was found 40 miles from her new home, and she still had our license tags on her, so those that found her called ME. When I went to pick her up, she fell asleep in my arms--it was like she was trying to make her way home. I see this as a sign! The new owners say its okay--I plan to keep her after all.

Gratitude, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:28:00 +0000

This past month gratitude entered with an even greater poignancy and depth for me. News arrived with a clarity and force that shook my reality: my partner and soulmate of 14 years has been diagnosed with advanced terminal cancer. Suddenly, our world has changed. Whatever our personal plans were, they have evaporated and life is now grounded in the day-to-day.

Gratitude.

I am even more mindful that each day, each hour, that passes is a gift. I am filled with gratitude for the time we have been given, for a special love, and for a life-giving friendship. I hold a deep admiration for Renee’s grace and courage, and for her astounding acceptance and trust, even as she faces the great abyss of her own death. That she has been part of my life can only be described as a grand miracle, one to which I still pause in amazement.

Many of us watch those we love face their own brave journey with this horrible disease and we all watch it play out, powerless in the face of its progress, taking our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters, our children and friends.

So let me tell my truth about all of this: I do not want to see my loved one die of cancer before her time. I just don’t. But this is the reality of it. And as we work so hard to stop death, or slow its march, all we accomplish is perhaps eking out a bit more life along the way to the inevitable. So I hope to celebrate what we’ve been given in the present moment and accept life on the terms it has been given, grateful for every bit. It's all good.

Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 06:33:00 +0000

What makes this Thanksgiving special?

At the end of a long and difficult campaign, some might think that it would be my winning the race for local political office. And while I am thankful for this win, gratitude takes a different form today. First, I am mindful that many good people worked so hard to make it happen and that other good people who worked hard for the other side have been disappointed. My gratitude is for all the hope and effort and energy that went into this race... from both sides. For my part, I ran to serve my community, so I am thankful that the majority of my fellow citizens have seen fit to grant me that opportunity. No doubt I will need to work hard to earn it. For whatever reason, I feel called to do this right now, and to know that I am working on something noble, and much bigger than myself, and to be engaged in a process of transformation and courage and humility... well, that is something, isn't it? Humbing and hopeful.

Victory in this race was dampened by the fact that I lost a dear friend and colleague to cancer partway through. And now this week brings news that someone close to me is facing her own brave journey where the outcome has yet to be written. So today, I am mindful that each day, each hour, that passes is a gift. I am filled with gratitude for the time we have been given, and a special love, for friendship, and an admiration of the courage one must have to take on such a difficult illness.

We are an insane people. These illnesses that we biopsy and irradiate and remove (and often to which we succumb) are but a symptom of a greater problem--many are awakening to the insanity with a chilling realization that we have taken for granted the most basic of gifts: clean water, wholesome food, and a world that accepts and tranforms the waste we create. This path we are on leads to ruin: we will consume ourselves... soon enough, I suppose, unless we choose not to.

The heart of our problem may well be a lack of gratitude.

So today, let's give thanks for the miracle of our own lives, of the life around us and the precious gifts that allow us to be. For friendship and love and for all those who bear the painful burden of our excess, and for the simple gifts that mean so much and were given to so many of us for free: health and sunshine and love among them, and (of course) life--which is so very very fragile. Perhaps our love and gratitude will help us create a new way forward.

Work in progress

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 06:59:00 +0000

Here are a few of photos of the natural building project at the orchard. Look for a few more photos later after we complete the plaster finish.

Building a cob wall.
The building takes shape... with Hobbit-like nooks and peaceful spaces.

Natural Building Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 19:12:00 +0000

Our Dancing TreePeople Orchard and Garden hosted its first workshop this past week: Natural Building. Massey Burke was the instructor and did a terrific job teaching as well as keeping the group on task. I was pleased that most of those taking the course were from Lake County. Within the first day, we were working well together and formed a cohesive group for the duration of the class.

The materials are all from Lake County or nearby (we decided to get the rice straw from the central valley). With the exception of the roof and a few supports--we are avoiding the use of wood in the structure. The walls are either strawbale or cob. NO not CORN cob--but rather clay adobe build in place. Cob is from an old english word meaning loaf or lump. It is a mixture of clay, sand and straw--and is suprisingly strong, resiliant and maleable. In England, the cob homes exposed to the weather lose one inch a century. This small structure will have the added benefit of a natural plaster protection as well.

The clay cob is surprisingly easy to work with--and a lot of fun, too.

At this writing--our class structure is half complete. In August (8-12) , we will have another class: Natural Plasters where we will finishh many of the walls.

I will post a few photos soon thereafter

Baby chicks

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Sat, 06 May 2006 00:12:00 +0000

One of our Silkie hens has been brooding for the past few weeks. A couple of days ago, the chicks started to hatch. Here are a couple of videos:

First watch:

This morning (3.5 MB)

Then:

This afternoon (7+ MB)

Enjoy!!

Untended, Unintended

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Rushing) — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:52:00 +0000

Untended. The walnut orchard is overgrown as we cultivate other actions this spring. My campaign for supervisor takes precedence this season, and many neighbors and friends are wholeheartedly working to make it happen. Still, it is difficult to see the oat cover crop go to seed on unplanted beds. (My no-till grain planting experiment WORKED!)

Unintended. I moved some hay bales away from the chicken coops today. When I lifted one of the bales, out scurried a half-dozen baby mice. Next to the nest of mice was another nest... I expected mice in the hay. What I did not expect was a baby rattlesnake. There it was--were there others?. Before i could get a tool to poke around and see, it was gone. Where's mama?

I concentrate on caring for the animals as a first priority, and after that, we will have to wait until after the election for the next innovation at Dancing TreePeople orchard. Brian is here for a week or two to help with the garden. we may or may not get the orchard mowed. We may or may not get the next experimental cover crop planted. We will not replace the sheep, for now. We will be lucky to plant vegetables, but won't get the food forest trees planted. While all this is left undone, much is afoot. We are planting different seeds this spring.

My effort lately has been to meet voters face-to-face. I am lucky now to be able to leave much of the daily organizing, phone calling, voter registration and fund-raising to others. We've created a campaign that gains more energy by the week. It's fun and it is already making a difference.

To have so many talented and interested campaign volunteers is both humbling and energizing. This campaign is designed to harness that willing energy. What I did not expect was how reinforcing the energy is to me as a candidate. The harder i work, the more volunteers and donations I receive. The more people donate of their time, talent and treasure, the more energy I have to give. Amazing.