Wahsega Valley Farm

Goodbye summer

Cold winds are blowing in tonight so Mike and I just brought in all the plants. The house looks like a greenhouse and I love how cozy it feels. The hibiscus has one big bright pink bloom left on it and they're all getting ready to kick back and rest for the winter. The cactus and succulents will go to the cool basement to sit in front of three windows, awaiting their time in the sun again next year.   

It's a blustery 48F now and will get down to 35F tonight. Even though it is still autumn, I do believe winter is pushing its way in a little early this year; we've not even seen the leaves change yet.

With the cold air moving in, I also brought in what was left of my tomatoes and peppers. I sure will miss them! Here is a picture of the last ones hanging in there. The tomatoes will ripen up on the kitchen counter, but I'll use the little peppers as soon as possible.

 

If I had a "real" garden - that is, one in the ground and much bigger than my little deck garden, I'd be planting and/or growing broccoli, peas, spinach, all kinds of greens and all the other winter veggies that prefer cool weather here. That will come soon enough though... 289 days until we can start working at our farm! That's the end of next July. Hot diggidy dog!

I'm leaving most of my herbs outside. Some are annuals and some are perennials. I think I'll bring in the basil, lemon thyme and rosemary to see how they'll do indoors, but the rest will have to brave the weather.

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"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." 

- John Muir

Circle of Compassion

Animals by the Watering Hole, tapestry, 'Ali Salim, 1985. Museum no. ME.1-2008

"As our hearts open to deeper understanding, our circle of compassion naturally enlarges and spontaneously begins to include more and more “others”— not just our own tribe, sect, nation, or race, but all human beings, and not just humans, but other mammals, and birds, fish, forests, and the whole beautifully interwoven tapestry of living, pulsing creation. All beings. All of Us."

- Will Tuttle, from The World Peace Diet

"Harmonious fulfillment"

Photo by April, taken in Montana, 2005

"When we are drawn toward a plant-based way of eating, it is in no way a limitation on us; rather it is the harmonious fulfillment of our own inner seeing. At first we think it's an option we can choose, but with time we realize that it's not a choice at all but the free expression of the truth that we are. It is not an ethic that we have to police from outside, but our own radiant love spontaneously expressing, both for ourselves and for our world. Caring is born on this earth and lives through us, as us, and it's not anything for which we can personally take credit. It is nothing to be proud of."

- Will Tuttle, from his World Peace Diet blog

Love

I was reading one of my books and noticed my quite old, favorite bookmark holding my place. I sure do like what it says...

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Friend

Two Women on the Beach at Skagen by Peter Severin Kroyer

Oh, the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. 

~ Dinah Craik, A Life for a Life, 1859

Introvert Power

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid.

-Bertrand Russell

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I like that quote - and just read it in a new book I'm starting, Introvert Power by Laurie Helgoe. The quote starts off the chapter titled "The Time to Think." I've not read it yet, but I see it discusses the rhythm of introversion and probably goes on to say that we need a lot of time to be alone with our thoughts. I sure do.

It's nice reading about introversion because for so many years I just thought I was a recluse or outcast - and felt kind of bad about it. Inferior y'know - to all the gregarious, bouncy people around me. But being an introvert is a good thing just like being an extrovert is - and reading about it confirms that all my quirks and idiosyncrasies are okay. That's important because I live with a loud, boisterous extrovert and at work I am surrounded by people all day. That I hide away alone on my lunch break and don't mind that Mike has to sometimes work on days when I am at home are both parts of being an introvert - and not bad at all. 

The only problem I really have with my introversion right now is that I like quiet and Mike likes noisy, and sometimes we want the opposite thing. He usually likes to empty his mind after a hard day at work; whereas I like to fill mine. So he wants some mindless, loud TV to take him out of his head  while I prefer to read quietly - putting things in my head. Our jobs are so different, along with our personalities in some areas that we occasionally need different input. But we like to be together. So I'm thinking some earphones for the TV would be a good thing. He could watch while I read - and we could still be close together.

Maybe Introvert Power discusses these kinds of things. Looks as though it does - and a whole lot more. Now I need to finish three other books so I can start reading it. I really do need those earphones; I could sure get a lot more reading done and that would make me one happy introvert.

The Church's Blind Spot

As my regular readers know, I'm not a Christian; I'm not a member of any religion. I believe in a higher power but can't adhere myself to anyone or group telling my what my per- ception of God should be. 

But I recently discovered a new site from one of my online Christian friends (thank you!), called all-creatures.org.Its tagline is "working for a peaceful world for humans, animals and the environment." There are a lot of Christian articles on the site and I've found myself agreeing with most of the content on this particular topic - and wonder why so many of the Christians I know turn a deaf ear to what these authors write about. Below is one of many articles to be found on all-creatures.org. I don't intend to offend my Christian readers; I just hope to bring to light some things that I was in the dark about not so long ago myself.

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From All Creatures - Christian Living
"True Christian living requires us to live according to the Kingdom standards which bring Heaven to earth."

The Church's Blind Spot
By Hugh MacDonald

Across the ages, the Church, in all its branches, has had many “blind spots”. How many centuries passed with most Christians seeing nothing wrong with war, slavery, child exploitation, capital punishment, the burning of witches, the use of torture, the subjugation of women, the persecution of heretics, the denigration of aboriginal peoples, the abuse of homosexuals, the pursuit of war, the destruction of the environment? Indeed, when brave reformers within and without the Church first cried out against these evils, the Church more often than not rejected their protests as extreme, foolish, fanatical, misguided! Despite its claims otherwise, the official Church has often dragged its feet in the struggles against evil.

Doubtless, we are still blind to many other issues which have not yet been recognized and named as the horrors they are. One such evil is so glaring, so terrible, so obvious that we have no excuse for our silence and complacency; indeed, that fact that the Church (in all its denominations) accepts this wrong and says nothing is utterly disillusioning. It is the reason that, after a half-century of ministry, my conscience is pushing me to leave the Church. Scores of people have told me that it is the reason they have dismissed Christianity as hypocritical. It is there all the time, daily before our eyes. We know about it. Like the three monkeys, however, we choose not to see, hear, or speak about this evil.

Humankind’s cruelty to animals is the great evil about which the Church today says nothing! Many denominations pride themselves on championing “women’s rights”, “children’s rights”, “aboriginal rights”, “gay rights”; but they say never a word about “animals’ rights”. In our own homes, most Christians consider ourselves to be humane people: we pamper our dogs and cats with every luxury, but we and our churches turn a blind eye to the horrors which we allow to be inflicted on helpless sentient creatures who suffer just as deeply as do we (and with most of that suffering at human hands.) As Dean Inge observed, “If animals had a theology, we human beings would be their devil” -- and yet the Churches say nothing!

Consider the horrors of factory farming with tens of millions of animals raised in huge` barns, often crowded together in filthy conditions, many never once seeing grass or sky, living in metal pens so small that they cannot turn around. (If slaughter houses had glass walls, many of us would never eat meat again!) Undercover videos show many animals, not unconscious but only half-stunned, being butchered or thrown into boiling water while still alive! The production of veal and pate-de-foie grasse is cruel beyond description. All of this is common knowledge. It has been repeatedly confirmed by investigative reporting. Yet the Churches say nothing!

Turn to the abuse of animals in so-called “sport”. In the Spanish world, it is considered entertaining to watch a magnificent bull, maddened by previous torture, his vision blurred by petroleum jelly, his horns shortened so that he cannot defend himself, his shoulder muscles cut by short spears so that he cannot raise his head, then teased and tormented for twenty minutes before a “brave” matador puts him out of his hell. Think of the fox-hunting, so much admired by English fops who enjoy putting a pack of forty hounds on the trail of a frightened fox who will be torn apart -- great sport which although now illegal is still admired even by members of the Royal Family. Attend the rodeos and watch as calves get their necks broken when lassos are yanked too hard. Go to the races, track or chuckwagon, and brush aside the fact that scores of beautiful horses break their legs and must be destroyed each year as part of this “sport of kings”. Support the circuses where tigers and elephants are forced with whips and electric prods to perform silly and unnatural acts so that we may be amused. Or, consider our personal involvement as we teach children that it doesn’t matter how much the worms or minnows suffer on their hooks so long as people have the pleasure of tricking, catching, “playing”, and finally killing small and terrified reptiles! Yet the Churches say nothing!

The list of horrors is endless: the use of animals in experiments is another whole field of scandalous horror -- in cosmetic laboratories, rabbits are blinded as hair sprays are shot directly into their eyes; in military labs, pigs are shot and brutally wounded without anaesthetic (but not killed) so that medics can practice their skills; in pharmaceutical labs, dogs and cats are fed deliberate overdoses of poisonous drugs to test their noxious dangers; in medical labs, our first cousins, chimpanzees, are subjected to all kinds of sadistic experimentation much of which is not intended for anything more than to satisfy scientific curiosity. In secondary schools, frogs and small mammals are killed dissected in biology lessons even though computer programs can illustrate and teach the lessons of the body far more effectively. Yet the Churches say nothing!

When did anyone ever hear a minister or a priest preach against such evils? When did a denomination ever issue an encyclical or even a directive on the need for humane treatment of animals? Our little children are taught to sing that “God sees the little sparrow fall,” “that God made all creatures great and small.” Lofty prayers are addressed to the “All-Merciful, All-Compassionate and Loving Creator.” Clergy content themselves with making non-offensive statements from their pulpits about humankind being the stewards of nature and it being our mission to be ecologically responsible! What sham! What hypocrisy! What cowardice!

What are the reasons for our silence? Because the suffering of creatures is not worthy of our concern? Because we fear that our speaking about animal suffering might detract from concern about human suffering? Because we are afraid of a backlash from the meatpacking industry and the poultry farms? Because we don’t want to offend the many men in our congregations who think it is great sport to kill animals, birds, and fish? Because we think that God has given us dominion over animals so that we have the right to use them and abuse them however we please? Or is it that we are just so immersed in the culture of cruelty that we, ourselves, are deadened to its evils, too bored to care?

Whatever the reason, our silence is shameful and evil, a denial of God’s love, a denial of our stewardship. Albert Schweitzer surely spoke for the best in all religious traditions when he wrote, “Persons are truly ethical only when they obey the compulsion to help all life which they are able to assist and shrink from injuring anything that lives.” By that standard, the Christian Church today is blind and mute and unethical to an extreme. Centuries from now, future generations will be asking about our indifference, even as we today say about witch-burning, torture, and slavery, “How could self-professing Christians have stood by and said nothing, done nothing?”

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The above article is found on all-creatures.org, along with many other articles supporting the compassionate and humane treatment of our fellow travelers - animals. There are many other Christian articleson this topic.

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"Animals are God's creatures, not human property, nor utlities, nor resources, nor commodities, but precious beings in God's sight... Christians whose eyes are fixed on the awfulness of crucifixition are in a special position to understand the awfulness of innocent suffering. The Cross of Christ is God's absolute identification with the weak, the powerless, and the vulnerable, but most of all with unprotected, undefended, innocent suffering."

- Reverend Andrew Linzey

One

We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE. The act of seeing and being the seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kindness

Here is a quote from one of my most favorite authors, Gabriel Garcia Marquez - who wrote one of my most favorite books, Love in the Time of Cholera.

 

Election Anxiety: Advice from Abraham Lincoln

Here is a Lincoln quote I just love:

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."

And here is another article by Russell Bishop that I like very much...

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Election Anxiety: Advice from Abraham Lincoln
by Russell Bishop

By the time the votes are tabulated and our choice for President is confirmed, we will find ourselves standing at a critical fork in the road, one that leads either to a precipice from which we leap to our own demise, or forward a towering mountain beyond which lies a verdant field of promise. The choice will be yours, mine and our neighbors.

As I found myself concerned about this election and its implications, I turned to Abraham Lincoln for inspiration. Most of us know that Lincoln was a Republican, one who guided us from a troubling past of slavery into a future that seems very much upon us. His guidance from the past seems ever current today.

Please consider these eloquent words and join in creating a future in which we can all grow and prosper.

On the need to unite:

"With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds."

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

As we move forward from the election, uniting for the common good will be critical, both for the well being of us as individuals, and more so for the well being of the country. Clearly, we need to support one another, to comfort one another, and to align ourselves in the restoration of good works from which and for which all will benefit.

"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"

Surely, neither the McCain nor Obama camps are trying to do harm to the nation, the people or to the world at large. They clearly disagree mightily about the right and proper course. Can we not find a way to align in service to common good, to respectfully disagree, and address the negatives of the world without having to add negativity in the process? We need to step past the animus, the name calling, and join together to improve this country and well being of all of our citizens.

"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

Could we please stop with the insults, the outrageous accusations, and outright lies? Just today I watched an interview of voters in Texas proclaiming Barack Obama to be a socialist, a Muslim, and a friend to terrorists. Even worse, robocalls are circulating today in Pennsylvania accusing Barack of activities basically supporting domestic terrorism. Could we please stop circulating this kind of trash talk? Even if you think Barack Obama or John McCain is a "dog", at least let us be clear that he is of the four legged variety.

And in case you don't like someone from the other side, consider this advice from President Lincoln:

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."

I sure hope everyone is listening! Could you be the person others dislike? Are you someone else's "jerk?" I am not a fan of John McCain the politician; however, I have no doubt that he is a fine human being, one who cares and cares deeply. I can easily disagree with his approach without having to vilify him.

I once commented that very few parents spend late night hours trying to figure out how to screw up their kids, despite what their kids may have to say about them. The same is true for both the McCain and Obama camps - no matter what you think of their politics or policies, neither is spending any time whatsoever trying to make things worse.

On America as leader in the free world:

"Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure."

"My dreams is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth."

I sure hope we are listening here. We have seen enough of self-serving excuses to use war as an economic tool or the lever to force upon others that which we deem to be in their best interest. Could we please lead by example rather than force? Protection and defense are one thing, aggression based on deception is quite another.

As we move forward from this election, I sincerely hope our new President shares Lincoln's dream and will craft policies intended to inspire, to lead, and to ensure equal treatment for all.

On fixing the current political, social and financial crisis:

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

Don't we need to spend a few hours figuring out how to fix the current mess without rushing into ill conceived "plans" that can be usurped as easily as the plans that created the current mess?

"Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar."

Knowing that Lincoln was a Republican, you have to wonder if and how things could have changed so much. Can we find our way back to valuing people more highly than financial gain?

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow be evading it today."

Every politician I have heard in the last couple of decades waxes poetic, with a bit of fire and brimstone thrown in when talking about mortgaging our future and shackling our children's children with insurmountable debt and financial problems. And then they seem to heap more kindling on the fire. Hopefully, our new President will heed Mr. Lincoln's advice and lead us into a new era of responsibility, accountability, and integrity. Please!

On leading us into the future:

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

Could whomever wins office today have the courage and character to address that which is for the common good, to look after the many rather than the few, and restore a sense of dignity and pride to who we are as a nation?

"He has the right to criticize, who has heart to help."

Nearly one hundred years later, Sidney J. Harris said, "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."

May we all have wisdom to unite, the courage to face the future, and the heart to help.

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No matter who wins.