Jane Goodall Institute

I feel like I have been dreaming for so long about exactly how I want to contribute in this world.
Almost 5 years ago I studied abroad in Norway, where I had begun working on an application for Greencorp.  In Norway, we hardly had class.  Maybe an hour a day, and no homework, no test, not until the end of the semester.  Basically I had a lot of time. To do absolutely nothing.  But I worked on this applicaton.  The question for the application was, "If you could do one thing in the US and be successful at it, what would you do?"  After learning about global warming and food miles and generally our disconnect with nature, I decided that I would initiate greenhouse building across america, to help improve our access to fresh foods despite the climate.

From there, my brother helped me edit this essay question, and showed me a permaculture video.  I fell in love with the idea of creating beautiful fertile life from a completely barren desert.  I decided that was what I wanted to do.  I turned up of course not getting accepted to Greencorp, but it was for the better.

My ideas over the years, have changed, relatively they've had the same overall idea, to connect the gaps between us and our environment.  To reduce carbon emissions, protect pristine ecosystems, and restore the landscapes that we've over-used.

Looking at everything the Jane Goodall Institute is involved with, I am just so inspired by their work.

I love how they are taking such a holistic approach to environmental conservation.  Nithya gave me the idea to start contacting organizations that are an inspiration to me and that I could see myself being of use to after college.  Definitely Jane Goodall's Institute is one of them, and I just got done writing an email to them.  We'll see if I hear back.  If nothing else, I can sneak myself in by volunteering.

I am just so touched by all the amazing people in our world, and the incredible work that they do and have created.

http://www.janegoodall.org/cc-livelihoods

If you feel like making a difference to families of chimps and the ecology of the planet you can donate here:

https://www.janegoodall.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=21

Zinc Foliar Sprays

12. (and the list continues)

It's interesting that a common practice in farms are foliar nutrient sprays.  Once a year the farmer will spray a diluted nutrient, for example zinc, on his crop.  The interesting thing is, even if the plant or the tree is showing signs of deficiency, the nutrient sprayed on the plant will be immediately taken in by the leaves, flowers and even fruit to help alleviate those problems.  It seems like such a bizarre yet amazing thing that fruits and flowers can directly use the nutrients applied to them.

On the flip side, is that this means that everything we spray on our plants, is readily taken in by the plant.  All the pesticides, the insecticides, herbicides.  Plants have evolved to take in substances through their leaves, flowers and fruits.  Of course before we created these 'cides', this ability of the plant to absorb from their leaves, could only be of benefit to the plant, and perhaps some of these chemicals don't necessarily hurt the plant, but everything has repercussions up the food chain.

bon appetit.  Another reason to buy organic.

According to this study:
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/41/1/99.full.pdf

Even with organic trees deficient in Zinc, and no zinc foliar sprays applied due to lack of availability, the same trees the very next year were not deficient in Zinc.  In fact they had equivalent levels of zinc to the conventional plots which had received foliar sprays.

Because compost is essentially, a 'whole' food for plants.  It should contain all the nutrients that the plants need for growth and health.  It may seem like we need micro-manage every part of our operation, but it may not be so necessary.

We have three 30year+ old apple trees in the backyard.  For 3 years, and most likely much longer as well, there are no visual signs of past pruning on the trees, they haven't been pruned.  They also haven't been fertilized by us, the most we have done is mow the weeds/grass underneath them.

Much literature will say that the fruits will be small, won't taste as good and may break the tree, because it produces more than it can properly support.  While I think this may be more true with younger trees and especially peach trees, it's not always the case.

We get an immense supply of apples on our trees, every year, we do have some kind of bugs getting into some of them, but not enough to destroy the apple enough that I am not interested in eating it.  Perhaps the apples are smaller than the ones you get in the store.  However the taste is amazing.  We harvested ample supply of apples this year and honestly, once I've eaten through 1/2 of a box, once I try store fruit again, all I can taste is water.  It's almost unbelievable.

Has the quality of taste of our fruits and vegetables from the store really become water?

During the time of harvest-- when local foods are at their best, yes, my taste buds usually are heavily disappointed with grocery store food at that point.

Not saying that this is a possibility for many farmers, to do nothing.  Because at the end of the day, beauty unfortunately pays more than taste and quality.  On top of the fact that it's rare if not impossible to find a fruit tree production site which isn't in a typical orchard tree growing fashion, where each row has as many trees that it can fit and nothing else is produced but fruit.  In these orchards, most if not all of the trees are harvested, and those nutrients that were in the soil, were first harvested by the tree, into the fruit, and now that fruit is being shipped across the state or country.  When farmers don't replenish their soils, it can be a sort of, 'soil mining'  Getting everything from the soil as possible, until serious deficiency problems start occurring.  In these large scale operations it is really important to add back to the soil.

My farm can get away with it since, we have a variety of plants and weeds growing, and the act of mowing underneath the fruit trees can add a good proportion of nutrients back into the soil.   But once our compost is ready, I'll be sure to give these trees a nice dose :)

Plus, our families income isn't dependent on the income from these fruits, in fact we mostly give it away for free.

Basically what I am saying is, there is an easier way to farm.  It's less complex than we think, and it makes healthier tastier food.

Thanks!

Improve work productivity

So even though, I am fortunate enough to work in a field I feel very passionate about. Sometimes, it's hard not to get stressed about deadlines, projects, hours needed... etc.

I am going to school part time and I have 270 hours of work that I have to finish by the end of the semester.  I am grateful for this opportunity, however sometimes it can be a little anxiety ridden when I feel overwhelmed by assignments, tests.. etc.

My husband, offered a different way to look at it.

instead of thinking about number of hours to do... instead.. change the story.

How about 270 insights, wonderful learnings.  So I am starting now.  The grateful learnings of my internship.

1.  Iron chlorosis is a common disease affecting many utah orchards.  It can happen when the soils are kept excessively wet.  A possible remedy to this, is to plant alfalfa in the orchard, or the parts of the orchards that don't get a chance to dry in between waterings.

2.  Plants often turn yellow while soils are cool and moist and recover their normal green color as temperature increases.

http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1298&context=uaes_bulletins

3. general work tip of the day.  Stop looking at the clock! In fact, don't even look at the clock.  Unless you are 99% sure you've worked the amount you've needed to.

4. Repeat this mantra, "work is getting easier and easier, the hours are just flying by (while I'm attaining amazing productivity), I find myself getting more excited about work all the time, and it's getting funner by the minute."

5. Just because you have reached a new wall in your area of interest.  Does not mean that you have 'lost' interest in what you originally thought was your calling.  Often professionals, athletes, artists must break through new realms of their work in order to make it to the next level in their desired field.  A pianist doesn't give up after months of working and perfecting a piece of music.  It may become discouraging, and breaks may need to be made more frequently.  But success is inevitable when dedication and perseverance continues.   If you fail 8,000 times at something.  You know a lot of ways not to do something.  Keep trying, keep going. Don't give up on what matters to you.

6. It's possible to combat zinc deficiency in the intermountain west by planting hairy vetch and austrian winter pea in your orchards.  

I wrote the previous six yesterday and have started again today....
My mom always tells me, it's not really about the subjects you learn in school, it's really about all of the aspects of applying yourself to one thing, that really creates the most benefit.


7. When you set the alarm early to do work in the morning, but when morning comes and tiredness seems overwhelming. Just get up, it will take just a couple of minutes of walking around, drinking some fresh water and the tiredness will dissipate.

8.If you have many tasks in a day.  And many of those tasks are long houred projects, don't try to finish one task in one go.  It may cause burnout.  Switch it up, do something different every hour to keep your brain and body energized.  It can be tempting to not do this, but can be lead to more overall productivity by the end of the day.

9.
"Organic materials with low C:N ratios of 15:1 to 20:1, such as legumes, will release nitrogen more rapidly, whereas materials with high C:N ratios of 40:1 to 80:1, such as grasses, may actually immobilize nitrogen during their decomposition before it is made available to the tree roots.
Sawdust, which has a very high C:N ratio and is a very fine material, can immobilize nitrogen for an extended period of time, whereas coarser wood chips are not incorporated into the soil as readily and do not immobilize nitrogen as much" --http://ucanr.org/sites/nm/files/76675.pdf

10.
"Manure, especially if
unprocessed, has very low C:N ratios, and the rapid release of nitrogen together with the salts it contains can injury tree roots."
From same link as above

11."When new trees are planted in the spring, immediate supply of adequate water is essential to settle the soil around the roots, but application of nitrogen fertilizer is not recommended.This is because the initial tree growth is mainly supported by the nutrient reserves within the tree and the uptake of nutrients from the soil is often delayed due to the damaged root system. In addition, it may even cause damage to the roots" --http://fruit.umext.umass.edu/2012netfmg/10-nutrient.pdf

12.  Get realistic about your goals, and your work week.  Don't imagine the 'best' case scenario for yourself and strive to set completely unrealistic deadlines for yourself.  The quickest way to burnout is to set the bar too high and consistently fail to meet that standard.  If it means having to work on the weekends to meet your deadline, it may make more sense, instead of trying to cram it all into a work week.

Thats all for now,  I'll post more as I continue working on my hours

Finding your path

It's interesting being married to a happiness teacher.  I get the opportunity to learn about many awareness teachers and wonderful techniques in self-discovery and living in the present moment.  We are often gifted books on the latest and most cutting edge techniques of embodying the true self.  Which despite the hearsay, isn't actually about, 'being happy'.  It's about, accepting you as you are.  And in so doing, being able to recognize the difference between the ways we experience our situation and the perception we have of it as well as the stories we tell around it.  That are often times, perhaps not so beneficial.

What I mean is, there is the bodies experience of pleasure and pain, there is also the mind's experience of pleasure and pain which can be totally different.  And then there is the observing self, which actually isn't affected at all.  It's the witness of these events.  In being the witness of these events, one doesn't have to attach so heavily to the fears that play in to the current situation and exacerbate our anxieties of the future.

It's possible to allow our bodies and our minds to experience the joys or the sufferings that they are experiencing without building stories around them.  For example, if someone has a headache, and this headache lately has becoming worse and worse and coming on more frequently.  The tendency may be, to become worried, "What's wrong with me?  Why is this happening?  It's only going to get worse, if it's this bad, what will tomorrow be like?"  This is building on to the story.  Instead of witnessing that the body is experiencing pain or some sensation in the head.

The latest book we were gifted is called, "The happiness trap."  It's a pretty interesting read, and talks a lot about what I just mentioned above, of course mentioning tools and tricks to dissociate one's self so heavily with one's thoughts.  But it asked also a very interesting question,

"If you had 1 year left to live, and if you had the complete and total love and support of everyone around you to do anything that mattered most to your heart, what would you do? How would you spend your time?"

I found this a deeply meaningful question.  Currently I am in school, and it is a lot of work, but if I only had a year left of life itself.  It would be difficult for me to say that I would actually stay in school.  The choice seems obvious to me that I would like to spend my last year, visiting family and friends and spending time in nature.

It's common to hear these kinds of questions, what would you do with your last moments on earth, or if you could do anything with the knowledge that you could not fail, what would you do?  If time and money weren't limiting factors, how would you spend your time?

It was interesting for me to play with the element of time.  How would my goals change depending on the amount of time I had left on earth?  As of now, I'm assuming that I will live a long and healthy life, which many people in the beginning of their journeys often also assume.  I don't necessarily know it to be true.  On one hand there is a lot of strength and boldness in living today as if you won't make it to tomorrow.  However, if living fully today means lounging around, watching tv, or something of the sort, the decision to live like this is rather irresponsible, it's taking the path of inaction.  It's giving up on life.  It's a misinterpretation of what living fully today, means.

But how can I justify going back to school a 2-3 year commitment if living fully today is actually my end goal?

There is a strength in realizing the impermanence of our bodies, minds and lives; however, just because we live each day as if it were our last, in fact each moment as if it were our last, enables a few things.

1. It's impossible to contemplate the future -- because it's completely utterly out of our frame-work of reality as we know it.
2. It's completely worthless to contemplate the past -- because none of it matters or has meaning today.  All that matters is the loving relationships in our lives, the relationships we have with people, animals and nature, as well as our work, our frequented places, and ourselves.

It's a tool to get us present with our lives as we know it.  To not take the love in our lives for granted.  To not take our experiences or goals for granted.  And at the same time, not attach to the idea that we will be dead tomorrow.  It may not be the case.  If we could dream any dream, what would it be.  What if that dream involved the next 50 years, 40 years, 20 years, 10 years.  How would our direct relationship with our values and goals be shifted?

Since I consider myself at the beginning of life -- essentially, I have my whole career ahead of me.  I have goals upon plans upon goals and dreams for myself.  But can I not attach to them to heavily?
Can I hold them lightly in my heart and in my mind.  Nothing is certain.

However can I live fully and embrace the positive in my life today as if I'd die tomorrow yet my dreams will continue for the next 1000 years.  I think that's what is meant by it.

It's possible that our dreams will die with our bodies.  But can we know it for certain?  Just because we are dying or not dying... doesn't mean that we are any further from our dreams or the realities of them.

Today, or more specifically this moment, is the compilation of tens of millions of dreams of tens and millions of dreamers.  We are living the reality of beautiful dreams from all over the world from all over the past centuries to experience every moment we have.  If we have the capacity to tap into that beauty, we can appreciate today for what it really is.  And we can choose to live this dream while furthering it's pursuit for those who come after us.  This is the beauty of life and the beauty that connects us all.



  

Fullspeed forward

I was so touched by Maggie's story.  The story I posted yesterday.  It really got me thinking about the world.

I've lived in India, New York and Utah, I've seen poverty.  My heart has broke while witnessing some of these situations where people or animals are living in terrible conditions on the street.  The best I could muster at those times, was to bless them.  Although I have given money at times, and more often I have given food.  These measures, don't create change.  And perhaps only fuel these problems?

It's too easy to blame the government, individuals and everything else who may be to blame for these conditions we dislike seeing in the world. And we go home feeling angry, sad and confused, how can we allow this to happen in the world?

That is called victimizing yourself.  It has nothing to do with the person you saw on the street or the some 'corrupt' government.  You are allowing yourself to beat up on you!  You are not embracing yourself as the fully embodied individual that you are!

If we want to live in the world we want.  WE have to create it.  There is no other way.  We can't sit around and cry about our surroundings.  We have two options.  We can accept the world the way it is, or we can actively pursue embracing love in this world.

I used to feel that the only place for me in this world, was in some remote, beautiful exotic village where I could live free of gasoline, energy, grocery stores, etc.  Where all my food was homegrown and everything I needed was in an arms grab away.

Maggie in her video talks about, creating the world that you want to see.

Life isn't about escaping into some dream world, and denying whatever reality you have right now, just waiting for the pieces of your life to fall into place.  What steps can you do today, to make where you are that piece of heaven, that you have always been looking for.

Nithya, showed me a video today about a man who stopped walking -- instead he only gets around by dancing.  This happened one day after visiting his mother, his mother's health was compromised and just before this visit he thought that she wasn't going to be alive once he got there.  Turned out she was feeling fine, and she was well.  He was so happy that he hadn't lost his mother, he was dancing the whole way home.  He said it felt so amazing, that he never stopped dancing!!  Something more interesting about his story was that before this incident he felt that he lived in such a miserable town, that everyone had miserable looks and no one was happy.  Now he says, everywhere he looks people are smiling.  His attitude changed his world.  Upon interviews with others who live in the same town, they all had positive remarks to say about this man, about how he always brightens their day and is such an inspiration, that he can always be happy like that and he doesn't care what anybody else thinks.

So, I'm here.  I live in a town with less than perfect public transportation, dependence on grocery stores, and automobiles.  But I am alive.  And I am here.  I can not go on believing that things as they are, aren't as they should be, without any effort on my behalf to create the kind of place that I would like to see.

It's complete junk to believe that you cannot make a difference in this world.

I've decided to get involved in whatever capacity I can.  I can take wild food foraging classes or join meet up groups.  I can research local greenhouses to buy winter veggies.  I can research on how to run my car on veggie fuel.  I can actively get involved on campus and see if I can promote sustainable energy sources and better public transportation systems.  I can take advantage of living in the west, by making connections and fundraising for holistic projects locally and or abroad -- for our brothers and sisters in places like Kenya, where 1 dollar goes a lot further than it can here.

Be thankful for where you are.  See the opportunities which surround and support you everyday.

It's impossible for us to go back to the way things used to be.. horse and buggy.. growing all of our own food (well maybe it is still possible)) But it's totally unlikely that all of us are capable of these things.  So what are the next steps, how can we move our human family forward?  In what ways can we support each other, both locally and abroad?  In what ways can we actively engage our neighbors and friends for the rights of those who may not have a voice, the wild areas in our towns and the animals who may be subjugated to tests and or abandoned or lost.  Whose life can we impact today, and how can we contribute to the greater good of our beautiful world.

Thank you.

Creating the world you want

This has got to be one of the most moving stories I have ever encountered.

She was 18, and wasn't feeling right about starting college yet.  She decided to take a gap year to travel the world.  She found herself in Northern India, working with refugee children from Nepal.  One thing led to another and she was opening a home and school for these children in Nepal.

In addition to this, she started noticing how poorly the women were being treated at home, she opened a center for the women to get together and learn life skills and also just to support each other.

Of course it's better to hear the story straight from Maggie, the one who lived it,

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/09/24/maggie-doyne-the-26-year-old-mother-of-40-kids.html

http://www.dailygood.org/story/536/talking-good-with-maggie-doyne-rich-polt/

I am so touched by her story.

If we could all have that courage to follow our inner most compassion.  Our inner calling and whispering.  How could that affect our home, that is, earth?

I loved the way she referred to the people on planet earth.  Our human family.  That's exactly what we are.  At 26, she has adopted 40 children.  What would it feel like to have 100% ownership of everything you don't stand for in this world, and 100% ownership to change it with love and compassion alone.

It really inspires me, to delve deep.  How can I live more compassionately?  How can pursue my beautiful dreams of how the world could be only through actions of love and passion.

Her dream is to see the day where all children have their basic needs met.

If I delve deep into my heart, I see the same image, I'd like to see no suffering.  And I have to lump all beings into this as well.  perhaps I can call it our earth family.  Our family of all beings.  I'd like to see a cage free world.  Where animals and humans love and live peacefully alongside each other.

It's interesting because I know that there are many who say, "how can we even begin to think about compassion towards animals, when we can't even have compassion for ourselves, our family, our people, or any other people of the world."  Maybe this is true.  Maybe I'm being Naive to think that growing compassion in one aspect of ones life, can grow compassion in all others.

Just because you have a soft spot for animals or nature, doesn't mean that you don't have a sense of responsibility or love for humans!  Just because you only have 1 child, doesn't mean you won't have enough room in your heart to love more.  There is always more love.

What is your dream?  What can you do today to act on that?  What breaks your heart to see in this world?  What initial step could be taken to change one life, to help 1% or .00000001% of that problem.  Go ahead fearlessly and ferociously with the power of love within you.  And never ever ever give up.  Be the change you wish to see.  Allow the empowerment of divine compassion to take you forward.  

October...

So I know I haven't posted in a while, I currently am taking statistics and organic chemistry as well as an internship for the school.  I will have to give an update soon, but in the meantime, my brother has written an awesome post regarding localism...

I couldn't agree more.  I think re-creating wholesome local culture and supporting local artists is just as important as obtaining material goods locally.  Even though at this point it may be more of a nice idea than an easily pursuable reality, regardless it's always good to focus on what positive changes can be made in a community and what may be attainable now.  The more we are able to talk about these things, the more it will be possible to integrate these ideas into our everyday lives.

Dogmas of intellectual elite or be a locavore of ideas