Monthly Archives: February 2013

Employ Nature. It Works for Free.

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That’s what permaculture does. It eliminates the unnecessary jobs we create for ourselves and gives it back to nature.

Take for example the nuisance of the squirrel. It’s a menace to many nut farmers since they have a habit to collect hard shelled seeds to store for the winter. In many cases the lil guys just hoard more than what they’ll need. At Triple Brook Farm, Steve Bryer developed an ingenious solution.

Squirrels would place his hazelnuts to store in a hollow tree trunk. Instead of harvesting himself, he would go to the hollow trunk and exchange the nuts with sweet corn. As time developed and the squirrels adapted to a better salary, a mutual exchange was developed. Steve gets the best nuts harvested by the squirrels and the squirrels get a better food crop in exchange.

We can employ the same strategies for everything and anything as long as it is mutually beneficial to all parties involved.

Repackaging

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That’s all gardening is, and that’s all people ever do in life.

Take communication as an example. We take our ideas, find the words to sing it to another, and it comes out in a flurry of sound waves that hit our ears. The other person interprets the waves, gathers their thoughts and sends a verbal package in return.

In my opinion, the ultimate form of repackaging is Gardening. Manure (poo, crap, shit) is taken and transformed into a tasty morsel of leafy greens, delicious fruits, or a vibrant display of flowers. In time, the repugnant idea of crap is alchemized into the desired state of good food and well being.

In many ways, gardening is also the ultimate form of forgiveness. Gardeners take the filth of the world and return it in a better state than it was once in. There’s no harsh emotions or feelings. Gardeners willingly take the fermenting pot of vegetables and the stink pile of poo to enrich the soil. It’s a remarkable trait and one that I believe everyone can benefit from.

So. . there are an infinite number of possibilities out there.
Find your passion and Repackage it.

Breaking Boxes

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People find every little reason to box your ideas in. I assume it’s done with the positive intention to inform; however, it most often has the criticism with no constructive value to it. It’s simply there to bog you down.

You have to consider these rules and regulations before doing anything. That’s going to take a lot of money and time. There’s no money in that. and so on. .

This phenomenon of criticizing starts at an early age of a child when parents and teachers are telling us, “NO!,” without explaining why not. From there, it snow balls into an idea that we cannot do anything without someone holding our hands.

My suggestion is to unlearn the idea of “NO,” break down the mental boxes and go for it. We have all the resources and knowledge available to us at our figure types. The only reason you need to move forward is if you love it. You don’t need another reason why.

Don’t Be Afraid to:

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Try

The saying usually goes Trial and Error but if you don’t even try you’ve already failed.
I hear so many people talk about great ideas and dreams to manifest into reality. The sad truth is the mental blocks that prevent that from happening. I’m not sure if it’s a fear of lost or failure, but the common factor is fear.

The realities of a dream are worth infinitely more than a lifetime of failures and they are definitely worth infinitely more than we can perceive. Fear of trying always leads to failure. So why not fail a little bit more?

Everybody needs to fail a little bit more by trying. .

Self-Reflection: Face Yourself

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Do it! As soon as you can.

Here’s the rundown. When we are working on our passions and life legacy, it’s hard to see through our own eyes the areas we really need to work on. It’s easy to see the successes. It’s easy to report our wins and ignore the losses.

The shortcomings and challenges we face hit our blind sides or they blur out around our peripheral vision. It’s hard to face the mountain we have to climb. It’s difficult to face up to the reality of a huge portion of ourself, the failures. Many times, we don’t see what’s happening and it continues to happen because of unconscious ignorance.

The cure to unconscious ignorance? Mindful observation, self-reflection, documentation. I’ve been working as a part time educator and a part time gardener. I reflect everyday on what’s going well and what needs work in the garden. As a teacher, it’s difficult to see myself, what I’m saying and doing in the classroom. I get feedback from other teachers, but it’s difficult to get the reality of what’s going on. To change the paradigm of ignorance, my co-worker and I are going to video our lessons, reflect on what we’re doing well, and find potential solutions to our shortcomings, continually challenging us to become better educators.

It won’t be easy at first, it’ll most likely be humiliating, but that’s what makes it fun. In time, we’ll make great strides through many laughable moments and failures, warriors in the field of education and cultivating yourself.