Alchemical Blog

@ Danny or Dubby (2 names? same person?) You sign your blog 'Peace and love' but it is anything but. I'm not sure where you were during this event but you apparently were not in the same places I was in. I found the presenters very interesting and I was one of the wanderers who wanted to take in as much as I possibly could. So I did use my 'two feet' (and that was "Open Space Technology" they used - not open source) to learn and contribute where I could. Lots of great conversation. There was a variety of people there, perhaps you missed the ones I saw. My soup was delicious and nice and hot. And lest we forget - free!? And it doesn't seem like you stayed for the closing circle at the end. Everyone there had something positive to say about their experience. I made some new friends there, as well, that I know we will continue to stay in touch. I can't wait for another 'Gathering.' Did you write that story about the dandelion? That was delightful. Fran

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I had the sheer pleasure of spending last Saturday with the sweet and smart children of Permaculture Gathering participants. Wow, I wish we could do this every year! The kids just arrived with open minds and spent the day playing, creating and sharing with one another. Parents filtered in and out and made the entire day successful by leading activities, watching the little ones, and by being there when they were needed.

It was a bit daunting, beforehand, to think that we would have to entertain a mixed-age group. The youngest child - not counting the baby that stayed in its parent's arms - in the room was 2, and the oldest, 8. What would we have done without our her, our 8 turning 9? She was a perfect example for her very energetic brothers, and was kind and inclusive to a younger, much quieter (and very sweet) little girl.

The kids measured and mixed the ingredients for the playdough and oatmeal cookies. I think they really enjoyed the bird kits from Cornell Cooperative Extension...(I think there may be more urban bird kits available! The posters made it up on my wall) Casey, a Montessori teacher from Ithaca, came at lunch and led us in yoga to calm our minds and bodies at the end of the day. Our most spirited boy, who was doing flips and somersaults all day, surprised me by his determination to stay focussed in his lotus pose and shivasana. At the end of the day we made seedballs, out of clay, compost and seeds. They really enjoyed getting their hands dirty during this activity and I think this could have been a good activity for the adults, too! Ideally, we would have spent more time outdoors, but the Gear Factory location and the 30 mph winds weren't conducive to playing outside.

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Theres an old saying in my neighborhood; "bullshit walks". This is probably true in many neighborhoods. My first impression of the alchemical nursery was that it was dark and dirty. A sign on the wall says "moms feeds starving artists" (and they pay money like everwhere else. The next sign says "halo tattoos" (hence starving artists). The plantcycle folks had seeds to giveaway, that's nice. Second, in a neighborhood that boasts a darker melatonin, almost everyone at the permie gathering was pale, as in w.a.s.p.s. There was  no one there with black skin, or even what locals call "chocolate", organizers can do better than this. I was assured by a board member that they were "doing the best they could". I saw no fliers for the event in the gear factory's neighborhood. I would not like to think that people were overlooked.jason eaton talked about carpooling, perhaps organizers could carpool people from the neighborhood next time. It was disheartening, i dont like attending events that cater to white people. It feels creepy. There were no flowers, the soup was cold. The salad made from  GMO. The feeling was that of sickeningly sweet sacarin. To make matters worse it was "the same old same old". So a bunch of privelaged people got more free food and shared their knowledge (some of it cold like the soup, that should give you an idea of its application. Scott kellogg mentioned no names during his slide show of gardens around the world. His greasy hair made me question who would want to know him well, in syracuse we have a word for his look; skeezy). The not at all free for all, ahem... "Open source" got a big slam as the extremely confused groups of slightly less than disinterested individuals (stript of sense of self by the eerily placed ding of a bronze meditation bowl) followed "leaders" to ineffective "subroutines". Bullshit. Open source usually means open, but not there. The suburban folks talked about gardening. Other folks listened to another lecture about stoves (will they ever build one?). Then a small group talked about networking permaculture (of course frank was there). Some folks meandered, and bought dale's books. It would have been nice if the groups had heard what each other talked about.

Perhaps competing with paddy's day wasnt the best. Sorry to say thats where the average folks who need permaculture were (according to frank's sowing the seeds of permaculture, which frankly takes  a life time).

Im wondering what's next?


Peace and love,
Dubby

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let all be fine and well,

 

i hope you are enjoying a wonderful day. as some of you know i have taught/learned through freeskools in ithaca, ny. santa cruz, nevada city, california, and most recently in portland, oregon.

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a vegan permaculture children's story for the zine, (author's note -  for some vegan permaculture begins at the microbial and microfungal level. since that story would be difficult for some others to see and understand this story begins at the eye level of  very small things,  though still, we must be aware of life and its gifts everywhere. if you'd like to hear a story about the aformentioned species, request it. for that is a story vast and complete in its own way, for now, enjoy this tale, however, as a lesson learned from volunteers (aka weeds) peace and love, and pass it on freely to all, johndoe91269@yahoo.com).


Nellie the big fat cabbage meets the weeds

one day there was an uproar of sorts in the garden. everyone had heard that the new family was moving in, and they were weeds. now,  not everyone in the garden heard the news all at once or took it the same way. as with gardens the word travelled quickly, slowly and even paced too. down in the forgotten part of the patch where perennial vegetables and weeds grow hand in hand, ( or rather root in root0 they fed bugs.  big fat cabbage and her friends were having a party, the gardeners were often playing music on the porch, and that meant party time in the garden. in big fat cabbage's patch  they hadnt paid much attention to the news or the in betweens, but there were a lot of old critters and plants who had a special kind of anarchy, they didnt bother each other too much because it was almost always lazy in nellie's neighborhood close to the porch, with cyclical sweet intoxicating smells. a constant drop of water from a pipe kept all the small things coming to visit, and they could always take a munch, there was plenty of food for all the small things.  there were slugs and tiny bugs, and thousands of others.
big fat cabbage's name was actually nellie, but for as long as anyone can remember, years in fact,  she has been called big and fat and is feeding the whole neighborhood a little at a time. all of her children were home births and they have spread out and live all over the country. nellie grows where there is lots of  stuff that people call weeds or volunteers with lots of bugs crawling all over and not much sunlight past morning. she calls them her friends and family, nellie is one of the neighborhood's peace keepers she hadnt met a dandelion before,  she had heard they were invasive; up to no good. nellie had heard lots of stories, some she believed and others she didnt. so she waited to meet the dandelions herself. she had made friends with alot of folks that human people said she shouldnt, and still remained a lady.
 long ago nellie was cared for by people, they had started her indoors and sung her songs, fed her exotic things, enriched her life and tickled her leaves, they told her to trust them, that she would grow big and strong and feed lots of people. well, the human people forgot about her as soon as the bugs and slugs took a fancy to her patch of the garden, so the gardeners neglected that part of the garden and said it was for the wildlife. first it was spiders and their beautiful webs. they left a subtle note to humans that they werent the only "people" in the picture. nellie also knew that humans were fickle creatures and didnt like alot of her friends and family. she couldnt figure out why humans had such a hard time getting along with everyone. she slept that night dreaming about what the dandelions must be like. she bet they had lots of songs and stories too, she thought about the delicious nutrients/ nurturing they would bring and what color would they be.
not all of the human people disliked nellie, her bug friends, or the dandelions.  it was a bunch of guerilla gardeners and their seedballs that brought the dandelions. they had made them during a freeskool class and packed them with assorted other seeds and soil. then they learned about the plants and the important uses they have for animals, plants and people. they sang songs as they sowed and praised the bounty of life growing in forgotten waysides. though they were few, the guerilla garderners couldn't figure out why others didnt have time to partake in this extatic connection with nature.
the dandelions arrived the next day, they were trim and oblong seeds, slightly tall as seeds go. nellie thought they didnt look like dangerous dandelions. she didnt know what that would be, having never met any dandelions. they turned out to be very tidy about growing and unpacking. they set long deep taproots so as not to bother anyone who grew short broadroots. they didnt really bother anyone, where there were others living they grew skinny roots, and where they had more space they grew thick.  there weren't that many of them and the garden had no grass. in fact, it had a lot of open, available dirt spots showing signs of vacancy, thus providing ample opportunities to live and make companions. the dandelions made friends with everyone.
 as soon as they were old enough they sang their songs and shared their stories while they shot out bright yellow flowers.  plants and insects in the garden soon lost their fear when they saw the brightly colored magestic flowers. many jaws dropped, some in multiple sets. the color was so pure and, well, yellow. it was a mellow yellow. being peace keepers, the bees went forth to investigate; sure to tell everyone if the flowers were poisonous. right away they noticed the familiarity of the flower's color. one taste of the pollen set them slightly abuzz, ok to be true, they were buzzing. they rolled around in the pollen like pigs in a mud pond, and didnt want to leave, but soon the whole neighborhood of flying insects was lining up and some of their friends from neighboring counties joined too. the bees were chased off home with food for their young and the whole neighborhood followed suit taking long turns dancing with the dandelions, each one waiting impatiently with their dance cards.
nellie met some of the dandelions that had settled near her. they were very cordial and knew how to show respect for a lady. so she made some lovely mushroom tea to share. without a doubt, they did have dandelion songs, stories and the calcium they brought up from deep below had a rich earthy flavor as yet unknown to nellie and the garden. they were all beside themselves with joy. the new neighbors were a delight and every morning they gave a fresh smell and vibrancy.
with more food in their bellies, and such wonderful company no one in the garden fretted. some of the gardeners other neighbors, however, complained. they werent happy about the new additions to the neighborhood and started spouting off about decreased property values and other urbane nonsense. they told everyone that the dandelions had to go, the argument was that they would surely spread and bring the neighborhood to its knees, literally and figuratively. no doubt there was more sultriness where they came from and they would surely also bring their repulsive friends. there was even a veiled threat to remove them under a cover of darkness.
 what could the gardners do? after a quick concensus they realized that the only way to save the dandelions was to teach of their magic, and share their knowledge. so they composed songs and stories about their new friends and sang them for everybody. the poets read sonnets. there were stories and pictures for children.
there was even more partying and dancing than usual. someone brought out homeade dandelion wine and the whining stopped.  the salads all had just enough dandelion to not notice it well enough. and all the neighbors complimented the gardeners on their salads even more than ever. then they demanded to know what was in them, subtle hints were quietly spread about the uneighborly sport of keeping recipes secret. by soup everyone was feeling heartier and even a little frisky too. the gardeners were smart to add little diced dandelion roots, but saved the big ones in the ground; growing and spreading for later. the neighbors were thrilled with the rich flavor of the soups, then there were stews, and stir-frrys. all of the dishes had dandelions and there were candied dandelion roots for desert along with cakes made with dandelion root flour.  the gardeners were sure to tell their neighbors that the feast would be good for the digestion and high in vitamin A and D, and calcium.  everyone developed a greater respect for all the weeds/volunteers and social classes in the process.
nellie was enjoying the ongoing partying so much that she barely noticed the dandelions when they had put their bright colors away and were ready to reproduce; sending their little ones onward and wherever. the dandelions had more stories to share, now singing more songs of praise for gardens, gardeners and their neighbors. they flew off quietly. though their lineage had come from europe, far away, they knew that they had something to give that was valuable, much like their human cousins. their stories and songs would travel far, even back to their home country. to their credit , dandelions were once highly valued by french royalty and will live with anyone rich, poor or otherwise. they offer their gifts equally. may we learn from their extensive cultural heritage and the many substitutes poor folk have used them for/in/on. forgotten waysides teach us many things, and it is here that we see the beginnings of healing, if we are careful we will never loose our agricultural wisdom nor our ability to care for each other freely.

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the flower

 

 (in some african languages amani means wish or desire. in swahili, amani means peace. amani are also known in fantasy circles as a peaceful kind of elves).

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This breaking news should be brought to everyone's attention.  Onondaga County passed a resolution yesterday to recommend the banning of hydrofracking.

View the actual resolution here:

http://www.alchemicalnursery.org/administrator/index2.php?option=com_docman&section=documents&task=download&bid=396

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is permaculture a means of classwarfare?

yes, if the end result continues in the direction syracuse is headed.

 who here is truly poor,  tired, homeless, hungry, alone, and scared? as an affected person i have been all of these, and to this day i have never truly been helped by a single rich person. in other words, thats normal. i do not find a moral or ethical problem in poverty, i see it in the exesses. at the Good Samaritan one can find alot of gentle older men eating substandard food, nothing improves until the poorest are enriched. i find it highly unrational to have so many mansions unoccupied and for sale, while people are homeless due to lack of opportunities. if the opportunity to learn permaculture was available to many homeless and poor people we might have hope of improving our conditions and providing for ourselves, and our families. if the social strati of our society were leveled perhaps poor people could even make a living doing permaculture. unfortunately, our society would rather pay entertainers and hired guns than agriculturalists. the well paying permaculture jobs very rarely involve building a food shelter (or food production), and never in low class neighborhoods. i challenge this group to consider my words.

this permaculture gathering is questionably a case of the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. i do not fault any of the teachers here for practicing their craft, i do fault anyone who is a permaculturalist who does not improve the worst areas, that is neglect no matter the zone. art parks simply do not "cut it" and to call them permaculture is offensive.  its easy to perform permaculture with a vast amount of resources and happy well fed people. it takes a lot more diplomacy to handle the difficult work of creating/restoring/maintaining a food shelter or a real permaculture site in an impoverished neighborhood. however, the rewards outweigh the struggle. even the struggle is useful as it helps people to learn how to organize. if there is no struggle then the poor do not benefit.  this is not a new problem and by facing it head on (forward) we build real community with all of our neighbors. i assert that there is truly a class war continuing in america, and this gathering does not feel like a battle for freedom. may we all walk away from this event sharing knowledge freely with the members of this society who contribute the lowest financially. permaculture is truly for the birds and beasts. anyone can plant seeds. everyone should know that you cant plant seeds in concrete. the seeds are not the problem its the concrete and the mentality that pervades; pave paradise and put up a parking lot. the reality is that city dwellers spend more money on concrete than seeds.until october of last year i could easily research permaculture using the keywords "syracuse permaculture". today that is impossible, the first five and more pages are covered with invitations to this conference (which was formerly called a consulta, with that emphasis and sense of urgency gone  this conference feels stale, stagnant, lifeless and festering). the informational websites on permaculture in syracuse have been buried by sites with no educational content. stop and imagine what it would feel like if your important research had been buried by spam. this is what has happened to many like me, i am not the only person who has suffered. for a person, such as myself, paying for permaculture is simply out of the question. my annual income is less than ten thousand dollars a year. i cannot afford to spend one tenth of my annual income on classes, many of my neighbors will agree. quite possibly there are alot of people attending the conference who do not intend to earn a permaculture certificate. will any less be thought of us? to this i will add that it is simply not necessary, why learn permaculture in the country if you live in a city?   instead i rely on other sources of learning, i listen to nature everywhere not just pretty places. i also learn by word of mouth and read. my efforts to gain information about permaculture, and i would imagine that others too, in my local community has been hindered by all the spam for this event. i dont think all of the resources were widely considered when planning this event, or the impact on those who quietly do the much needed work of earth healing (for which i dont always charge).  my studies have included spending half a year in portland oregon where i am a proud  member of the portland permaculture guild along with toby hemmenway and others. portland's guild has a listserve monthly meetings and addresses all levels of income.  i am still a member and wrote to my friend toby just last week. i am a professional permaculturalists. i do not need a permaculture certificate to practice my craft professionally, and to my knowledge no one intends to take me to court (or anyone else i know who is a professional permaculturalists without a certificate.
i have lots of fellow guild members (also in santa cruz and nevada city, as well as other guilds) who also do not hold permaculture certificates. On the east coast i know of very few permaculture institutes within the confines of smaller cities, they are usually located in the country, with no bus lines connected. these institutes do not make a habit of devoting themselves to poor neighborhoods. this is a shame, because it would seem plausible to presume that if you take care of the most neglected areas the rest will improve. its like being in a building when it gets hit by an airplane, its better to be on the ground floor. i do not fault any of the teachers here for practicing their craft, i do fault anyone who is a permaculturalist who does not improve the worst areas, that is neglect no matter the zone. art parks simply do not "cut it" and to call them permaculture is offensive.  its easy to perform permaculture with a vast amount of resources and happy well fed people. it takes a lot more diplomacy to handle the difficult work of creating/restoring/maintaining a food shelter or a real permaculture site in an impoverished neighborhood. however, the rewards outweigh the struggle. even the struggle is useful as it helps people to learn how to organize. if there is no struggle then the poor do not benefit.  this is not a new problem and by facing it head on (forward) we build real community with all of our neighbors. i assert that there is truly a class war continuing in america, and this gathering does not feel like a battle for freedom. may we all walk away from this event sharing knowledge freely with the members of this society who contribute the lowest financially. permaculture is truly for the birds and beasts. anyone can plant seeds. everyone should know that you cant plant seeds in concrete. the seeds are not the problem its the concrete and the mentality that pervades; pave paradise and put up a parking lot. the reality is that city dwellers spend more money on concrete than seeds.

i live in a racially mixed neighborhood. we have macedonians, chinese, african americans, africans, indians, caucasians and probably more than a few have native blood. the root of nursery is nurse, and if taken literally the alchemical nursery should nurse alchemists. that being the case, i ask who is doing this at all levels of society? my intention is not to make a mockery of anyones efforts, but to encourage us to fullfill our mission statements, by truly understanding what they mean.  as many know a mission statement is useless and misunderstood unless it is put into practice universally.

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 is for the birds...
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 5:30 PM
From:
"dandelion" <johndoe91269@yahoo.com>
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How can i do permacultulre?" he asked. The moon looked down an benevolently said "permaculture is for the birds". "You're right!" he said. "No" she stated. "Permaculture is a human action". "And its for the birds?" He said. "Of course, you are bright enough to understand ecology.". they contemplated together. "But im a gadener i grow food and flowers to consume." the moon smiled. and said,"They do to." . "how? With their maps and charts?"  He cried. "In time that becomes alot of things, like the seeds birds cultivate. You know time. remember, you are an alchemist.The birds come and go. It takes seasons. " The moon laughed. Permaculture is for the birds. the boy laughed, and planted a fig tree in his mushroom patch. . "I'll keep doing this, its for the birds!". "and they will join you". the moon ended.

feed two with one seed.

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