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While reading a wonderful book sent by our Monastery gardener, I came across something that left me gobsmacked. The author guided us to recall a time when going for a drive of any length left a car’s windshield covered thickly with dead bugs. I was in shock. Of course I remember that. Every stop at the gas station involved removing huge numbers of poor little dead creatures. This past late summer and fall I made numerous drives from Northern California to Western Washington, through miles and miles of farm land. Rainy weather, hot weather, dry weather. Farmers harvesting, plowing fields, planting. Never did I need to remove dead bugs from my windshield. The windshield needed to be cleaned often, true, but only of grime from the highway. I’m still stunned contemplating the implications. The name of the book is Rebugging the Planet, by Vicki Hird. A sobering, important read. |
Reading articles and books on supporting the earth, gardening, native plants and the like puts me in touch with all sorts of tidbits I find fascinating, and as you’ve no doubt noticed, that I love to put others, who might have missed them, in touch with. Which fruits and vegetables should one really not eat if they’re not organic? Well, seems it depends on whom one asks, though there are several agreed upon universally. Top of the list is often strawberries. Apparently, because they’re so delicate and difficult to grow, they get a pass to use the most noxious of pesticides. Then we have spinach, kale, lettuce, collard and mustard greens; celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, and hot and sweet peppers; nectarines, apples, grapes, cherries, peaches, and pears. Potatoes and carrots made only some of the lists, which I found surprising having read that those are two crops people use to “clean up” soil abused by toxic chemicals because they are so adept at “ingesting” them. Peanut butter and milk made a couple of the lists. I found this helpful because I no longer have to wonder which vegetables and fruits to start with in our new gardens: those we love to eat and don’t want to have to buy organic! To the best of our ability we have always fixed organic foods for folks on retreat, and this will support that commitment.
As with the realization that I no longer have dead critters on the windshield of the car, it dawned on me that I no longer have flies in the house. Whether the diatomaceous earth is acting as an unappealing barrier or I simply put so much in the window track that they can’t get past it, quien sabe? I am content to be happy they’re no longer sharing quarters with me.
This house is so perfect for solar that when the chap I was discussing the possibility with googled the property his response was a near reverentially soft “wow.” A house could not be more ideally situated: south-facing and not a tree for acres. When he came back with an estimate of the cost to install solar, my response was also “wow,” but from quite a different place. $45,000.00. Oh, my. Now, of course, if this were being done for anyone but our Mother Earth we would not even consider such an expense. However, it is for our Mother Earth and so we must. Checking with those very lovely folks at Power Trip Energy, I find that there’s no real downside to a two-step approach. Do some “now” and the rest when we can afford it. It’s still a huge amount of money, but not as huge! Will you keep you posted.
The reason I began looking into solar is the result of learning more about electricity, the sources of electricity, the rising cost of electricity, the rising cost of an electric vehicle (which it would be wonderful for the Monastery/Farm to have one of), how much non-LED lightbulbs raise an electric bill, and how not good they are for the environment, etc. It’s one of those “it’s all interconnected” places. As we were reminded in Braiding Sweetgrass, nature has provided us with access to all the energy we need; it’s just that modern, privileged life has made what is so abundantly and freely given very expensive to access!
Speaking of money, another message for you Aspiration tree/bank folks: I recently learned that one is not notified of the referral payment for 4 months. So, if you’re due to receive one—and have one come to me as the person who referred you—please let me know how you want me to use the $50.00. You likely indicated that when you signed up, but it would really assist me to keep everything clear if you would let me know when you’re notified by Aspiration, so I can look for the funds in my account and send them on.
In gasshō,
ch
P.S. For your viewing "pleasure": a three-part video by Kirk Semple, Adam Westbrook, and Jonah Kessel called "We're Cooked." The first segment is titled "Meet the people being paid to kill the planet."
P.P.S: A completed fence!
