15. DOING THE RAIN DANCE

Just to add some color to a cloudy and rainy day.

Raining again, but this time it is extremely welcome, you see, we ran out of water. We have been using rainwater since we got here, but we ran out and then found out that the pump to the borehole is on strike, might have been for a while.  So we where without water, no fun I tell you. The reality is that anybody that has ever lived on a farm or small holding and  was depending on borehole water, will sympathize with this situation, the things are costly and fickle and always lets you down at the worst of times.  

We (Melissa, David, Riaan and myself) decided that we need to do a rain dance.  That was on Friday night, by Sunday it was pouring, it is still pouring, I am starting to wonder if we did not overdo the dancing a bit. We made a big fire in the fire circle, played drums and danced like crazies, why not, we had nothing to loose. 

Gratitude in advance is the most powerful creative force in the universe.. This dancing for rain again made me realize the power of gratitude. I actually called the dance a "thank you" dance, because "thank you" creates acceptance and gratitude and we got the rain we asked for! While "please" creates a need or a want  -  a Very small change in words, but a very powerful shift in mind.  So the ritual of dancing was great fun, but the real creative power lies in the thoughts. 

It might also have been pure luck, because the Weather services did predict rain for Monday...

Tim testing the waters...

We might soon have to do the "sunshine" dance, if it carries on raining like now... Tim just told us that our low water bridge is under water, so we are going nowhere today. Nobody seems to mind, accept that we are waiting for some new guests, a couple with four children, they are going to stay in one of the other houses on the property. I guess we will see them as soon as access is possible.

14. VOLUNTEERS AND WORMS

David and the biggest Sweet Potato I have ever seen

There are two types of people that normally visit an Eco community.  There are volunteers (they normally stay for free, but bring their own food) and in exchange, they help and learn about the community and the things we do.  Volunteers often visit a community with the intent of joining the/a community as some stage. 


We currently have two young American volunteers, Melissa and David. They have been helping me a great deal with the garden. We are planting seedling and seeds, making cutting and generally just planting plants all over the garden, soon we will have enough food to cater for the other group of visitor, namely wwoofers. 

Melissa (right) and David helping me make new mulch beds

Wwoofers (World wide opportunities on Organic farms) stay and eat for free, both groups come from all around the world (including South Africa, we would actually love to see more local people take an interest). They either have experience in alternative lifestyles or they want to learn more about it. The wwoofers obviously do more of the physical work, because they stay and eat for free. Wwoofer does not often join a community, their aim is more to work their way around the world. What a wonderful and affordable way to travel, see the world and learn new skills. If you want to know more about wwoofer or are interested in becoming one, here is a link to their website -  http://www.wwoof.org  


The worm farm, is actually not a whole farm full or worms (earth worms), just something the size of a bathtub, full of them. The reason for a worm farm is two fold. Firstly your catch the worm "tea", which is like a concentrated liquid compost. Secondly you can also use some of the compost from inside the bath, but first you have to separate the worms from the compost. The process goes like this, you scoop out little heaps of the compost, the worms do not like the sun, so the automatically crawl to the bottom and you scoop the compost from the top of these heaps, go back later and do the same until you only have worm left, which you put back in the bath.  The worm farm is also a great form of waste disposal, you can feed all your left over food (accept for citrus and onions) to the worms, they love it! Our worm farm is up and running and already producing tea for the new plants. 

Riaan "havesting" from the worm farm

Melissa got all creative and cooked lunch, time to go and eat..

13. PERMA CULTURE COURSE

Where to start. It has been so busy around here lately I haven't had much time to write.

Yellowwood forest in Morgan Bay

We finished the perma culture course on Sunday. We had a lady with a Agricultural Degree and a Landscaper on the course. That is very interesting, because it means the "mainstream" is starting to show interest, or maybe, as one lady said, her clients are asking about it and it makes so much sense, so we will soon have perma culture incorporated in suburban gardens in East London and even people in cities can actually know what they are eating i.e. vegetables and more from their own gardens. I think the interest will keep rising as the food prices rise. 

Newly planted tree and Marigolds, as companion plants

Make way for the worm farm

The attendees, minus the camera man, Riaan

We spend the whole first day of the course in a forest. In today's monoculture systems (rows and rows of exactly the same crop and any other plant is seen as an enemy or a weed). We are depleting the soil and after ten years the soil can no longer yield any harvest and needs to rest, then we chop down more trees for more land to plant and destroy the soil again. The sad story is that one of our neighbour is doing exactly that right now. Big scrapers are just pushing every tree and plant flat and then they burn all the vegetation! It is like listening and looking at the earth being raped !

The idea of spending a day in a forest is so that we can see the difference between the way we destroy the soil and everything else and how a forest flourish and carries on forever and ever in complete synergy, providing live to very many plant and animal species on a long term scale, that is until we interfere and need more space for more mass production of food, then we destroy the perfect system and plant our plants in little rows, spray them with pesticides (witch also kills the microbes in the soil, giving you dead soil) then we add all sorts of chemicals to make the plants grow in dead soil. Most people call this farming, I call it slow suicide, for us and the planet.

What you basically do in perma culture, is to copy the perfect systems of nature. Certain plants actually help each other grow by enriching the soil, other plants keep insects away from food crops nearby and water is used in a much more effective way. You can do this on a small scale in your own garden, just to supply your own food or if you are lucky enough to have the space, you can create a complete food forest, which can provide food for years and years to come, without destroying the natural environment. I can write a book about the subject, but that has already been done and I need to get to my garden, so if you are interested you can read all about the basics of Perma culture here - 


http://www.permaculture.net/about/brief_introduction.html

or if you would like to do the course, you can contact Tim Wigley - tim@keimouth.co.za

12. FEAR AND FINANCE

Butterfly

Our way of life (alternative, of the grid, trying to be self sustainable) is not necessary the right way, it is just a different way, at least we are trying, because the truth is that capitalism is bound to fail, it is a system based on a endless supply of resourced (which we do not have), you are expected to slave away, so that you can buy buy, throw away, buy buy some more , slave some more and so the vicious circle continues.  These resources we are wasting and polluting  are starting to run short already, even in the so called Western societies. What will happen when all the money in the world cannot buy you clean water, because there is no clean water...... So we either change this system or let it run into self destruct and we destroy ourselves, that simple. 


The amazing part is that most people just do not see this, why is this ? 

Is it 12 years of indoctrination called schooling, followed up by live long brainwashing via TV and other media (The media does play a missive roll in sustaining the current system). We are being bullied, bombarded and brainwashed into supporting a system that works very well for very few, yet we strive to be like the few, we buy magazine and gloat over some movie star, because he/she is good looking, wealthy and famous (but famous for what exactly) we spend hours watching the Royal wedding, but I guess that is okay because you actually paid - via your tax money you sucker-  for the wedding. We buy the most ridiculous products, (products that create waste) like under arm moisturizer, because the pretty (airbrushed) girl in the advertisement  says you will be ugly and socially unacceptable if you don't. We treat our slave master and torturers like kings and we aspire to be like them.


 Sometimes I think we are so dumb we deserve to self destruct, but we are not really that dumb, it is just that our whole system is designed to keep us in a state of fear, fear of shortage, fear of alienation, fear of fear, for that matter.

Yet, every single messenger/master, like Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, etc. all brought the same message - 

All you need is love.

11. BIRTHDAY BLUES

Just a perfect day... Riaan in Haga Haga

So this is entry no. 11, and yesterday was my birthday. I am now 47 (4+7 = 11) in 2011... all just coincidence ?


We went down to Haga Haga, our nearest town.just Riaan and myself. It is such a beautiful little place and the weather was perfect. Riaan also gathered information for the walking trails he is planning. 


The only damper on the day (the last few days actually) is a massive tooth ache. I mean massive. At first I was the brave one, I will fix it, it kind of worked, but kept on coming back.  I would wake up with no pain, but as the day went on it got worse and worst, until that point where you want to rip the tooth out with a pair of pliers or chop your own head of just to be rid of the pain and I am no sissy, or so I say... This carried on for almost a week and came to a full blown confrontation yesterday. The pain was just to much, I have to admit I lost the battle, went to a Dentist this morning.  My poor ego is crushed, (now that I can feel that and not the tooth ache) I have always been quite proud of the fact that I do not get sick, not even colds and no allergies.  


I am also not big van on Pharmaceutical products, but you know what, it is easy to talk.  When you are in serious pain and you have tried your best and nothing works, these pills suddenly does not look so bad, the side effect are suddenly not that important. I took a view Grandpa's (very mild compared to some of the painkiller out there), which worked for a few days, but by yesterday they made no difference. Now what do you do, take stronger pills and then even stronger ones until you end up with an addictions problem and you still have a teeth problem (you are just not aware of it anymore) or do you get to the root (pardon the pun) of the problem, i.e. stop being so stubborn and go to a Dentist. 


I also read somewhere, a while ago, about the amount of people walking around with constant tooth ache, simply because they cannot afford dental services.  I have a lot to be grateful for, but  I honestly think this is the worst pain I have ever experienced, but then again, as Riaan said "isn't every tooth ache always the worst pain you have ever experienced?" I have to admit my teeth have always been a weak point, never been pretty, never been strong.


I also believe that there is very often a mind, body, spirit connection with pain and disease, maybe in this case it is some sort of retarded stress reaction to the whole uprooting and replanting my life just went through, not sure. 


 My timing is just really bad, because we are missing out on the 1st day of the Perma Culture course.  There is nothing I can do to change that now, we will just have to catch up one way or the other. I have been wanting to do this course or a similar type course in Pema Culture for a while, but nothing of this sort was happening in Limpopo.  
I am very much looking forward to tomorrow.....

10. UNDER THE RAINBOW

All the rain is making me very philosophical, hence the  previous entry, It is still raining outside, but there was a short moment in the late afternoon when the sun  and a rainbow came out.....

Rainbow over Haga Haga

Double blessing

Under the rainbow, the Communal Hall

That pot of gold must be close...

In this case four pictures speak more than a thousand words.

9. FINDING 3RD OPTIONS

Eye-flowered Mantis, a visitor to the garden

We go from extreme to extreme, from the yin to the yang, when will we stop, when will we evolve to the realization that we have the power to change things, not just repeat the same old same...

This is the next step in our evolution, stop repeating the norm, find the 3rd option and very important, stop blaming God for everything.

Are we close to breaking this circle and entering a next dimension of perception, this will tie in very well with all the 2012 predictions of "the end of the world - as we know it" theory.

Age of Aquarius, my summary of that - each one to their own and keep in mind the REAL message, which is Love and faith, the bottom line message with Christians, Muslims and Jews etc. Unfortunately more often than not the rules and regulations becomes more important than the actual message.

Is this paradise or paranoia, what is the difference, only perception.

I would like all to blend and create a work of art called heaven (whatever your picture of heaven is) What is your picture of heaven? Make sure it is a good one!

But why is your heaven "out there somewhere on a cloud" or wherever. What about the here and now, why not create heaven here. You are not dead yet and we have the power to create heaven on earth. Most people still does not realize this, do you realize this?