Sara Rose Up

bikram yoga class 12 -- over the hump

2010-07-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

yesterday's class was even stronger than saturday's -- when i went in with terrible cramps. other people were complaining that it was too hot yesterday and i felt it was cooler. it is possible that i have simply gotten over the hump and am now beginning to really get the benefits of the yoga. i only had to sit down once in class, during the second set of triangle pose. other than that, i made it through class strong and focused and calm. the core muscles in my belly feel worked which is a sign that i am using them more than my extremities to hold postures and push myself deeper.

i plan on attending class again today and will hopefully again walk out of there with that familiar super-hero feeling.

namaste.

bikram yoga -- interlude to letting go

2010-07-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

during one of the first bikram classes i took here in austin, the teacher said something very interesting. it was about how people in the united states have a really hard time letting go, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally and in all ways. the teacher said that this manifests in so many ways; when we get injured and create stories and meanings and blockages about that injury, when we go through hardships and then define our lives by the challenges we've been through, when we tell ourselves we can't do something because we could never do it before, when we generally just hang on to all the hard stuff because "it made us who we are" rather than letting it go and moving on to what we can and will become.

this was a really powerful and important message for me right now as i contemplate moving away from the place i've always thought of as my home and as i practice breaking out of old patterns and constrictions based on old, old stories i've always told myself about who i am and what i want and what i'm capable of.

i have such a hard time letting go. i have such a hard time moving on from difficulty. i spend a lot of time telling myself and others about all the things that have happened to me in the past. all the ways i'm limited or scarred or scared or hurt. i constantly remind myself of all the ways i've been abused, misused, misunderstood or all the terrible things i've experienced or had happen to me. it's like somehow these things keep me grounded and remind me of who i am. i think, though, that it is okay to let go these things. that it is okay to set these things on the memory shelf to ponder and look at as needed, and instead to start creating new stories and new experiences. to make space for who i am now and who i will become.

because of course the problem is that it is only the challenges and difficulties and hard things that i keep reminding myself of. it's not the great experiences, the wonderful friends, the joy and happiness i've had, the wonderful places i've seen, the successes, the great journeys, the love i've felt from others and the love i've given, the praise i've recieved, the personal goals and achievements i've made and reached. it is none of these things that i remember and none of these stories i repeat to myself. i seem to find it really easy to let these things go.

so, a big part of my practice right now is to let go; physically while doing the yoga and mentally/emotionally in my daily life. it is a real challenge and mostly leaves me feeling both ungrounded and full of excitement and anticipation. like learning the inside of some new skin.

bikram yoga, class 11 -- so much better

2010-07-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

i skipped class yesterday to get a massage and nurse my cramps. today, i didn't want to go because my cramps were so bad. even as i drove there, i was sure i wouldn't be able to even stay in the room. but i went anyway. as soon as class started, my cramps released and i did one of my strongest classes yet. the temperature was just a little cooler today than it has been the last few times i've gone and it seemed to make all the difference in the world.

there wasn't much new or different about today's class, only the huge relief when i left the yoga room feeling so much better than when i went in.

afterwards, amy and i hosted a few ladies for a summer dinner of pesto, pasta from athens ohio, a zucchini/summer squash/fire roasted tomato sauce, and fresh tomato slices with salt and pepper -- all purchased at the austin farmer's market today.

bikram yoga, classes 9 & 10 -- when will it get easier?

2010-07-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

when will it get easier? this is the question i keep asking myself. i've now done 10 classes in 12 days and i still have to sit down multiple times in class. i keep thinking i should be further. i should be able to do more.

the truth is that i am doing more. i am finally starting to feel the edges of the full expressions of some of the postures in class -- standing bow pulling pose and rabbit pose and even triangle pose when i can actually get through this posture without having to sit down. maybe it's because i'm going deeper into the postures and going practically every day that i am still struggling to stay standing or engaged through the whole class.

i ate pesto 3 hours before class today and that was a bad idea. raw garlic can be added to the list of foods not to eat before bikram yoga -- this list is currently peanut butter and raw garlic.

i'm also stronger during the breathing exercises. i've also figured out how to touch my hand, my knee and my opposite foot all together while twisting my upper body around in the very last posture of the class. i've also worked most of the residual swelling out of my wrists and forearms seemingly for good. i've also been able to straighten my legs almost completely (for the first time today) in the 2nd to last pose of class.

my whole body is tightening up too; stomach, thighs, arms -- the skin is smooth and the muscles feel strong. my skin in general looks great -- my excema has cleared up, my skin is hydrated and clear. my mind is clear. i am focused. feel really able to deal with stress. i'm calm and collected. even in the midst of my friend's car accident, the very clear message that i need to go back to school, the idea of moving (again), quitting my previous job, even with all that and probably more i'm forgetting, i feel calm and focused.

there are still postures that are very difficult for me -- standing leg head to knee posture, eagle pose, full locust, cobra, but there are more that are just getting easier -- locust, standing bow pulling, standing stick, triangle.

i'm still having trouble remembering to breathe while in posture. and still also having a little trouble adjusting to the actual heat of a 105* room. but all in all i think i'm doing pretty good. and feeling even better.

bikram yoga, class 8 -- a new view

2010-06-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

8 yoga classes in 9 days.

today, the owner of the studio i'm now attending taught the class at 2pm that i attended. his sweet white dog cashew hung out outside doing her own form of yoga in the waiting room.

the owner's name is cosmo and he taught a great class, walking around and giving people adjustments and corrections.

at one point in a posture called "fixed firm pose" he stood next to me and suggested i try to go further. i said "i can't do it". he said "try". i did but only part way. he said, "now raise your arms over your head and see what that feels like". i said, "i don't think i can." he said. "try". i did and i went into the full beginner's expression of the pose. in this posture, you sit with your knees bent under you, but to the sides of each hip so your butt is on the floor and your knees are bent with your feet out to the sides of your body. you bend backwards towards the floor so the whole front of your body is facing the ceiling, except your knees, shins and feet. normally i stop with my elbows on the towel next to my toes, with my back arched and my head hung back.

today, cosmo got me to lay my entire back down on the floor!! and then to raise my arms above my head in a crossed position!! before, i had always thought i would break in half if i did this. or really hurt myself or have some kind of panic attack. but none of that happened and i rested there, felt that new view throughout my entire body and now have a new yoga move under my belt.

it was a great day.

bikram yoga, class 7 -- a new studio

2010-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

the class package at the first studio i attended expired yesterday so today i drove at least twice as far to the second studio on my list of bikram studios to try out while i'm in austin. the first studio is called byd and is located just west of downtown austin. i had to drive within a stone's throw of the capital building and through the main tourist center of Austin, past the whole foods headquarters and then i was there at the heart of the city doing hot, sweaty yoga.

the new studio is out in strip mall world, i have to drive north of austin city center along two highways and into the land of strip malls and gas stations and concrete.

my first day at this new studio did not leave me with a good impression. but i will refrain from details until i've given it a little more of a chance.

the room was very very hot. maybe the closest to the 105* temperature i've ever been in a yoga room. i think even the byd studio didn't fully heat their rooms to the 105* temp even though it felt so much hotter than i was used to.

during the class, i was up against a wall in a crowded room, 3 rows back from the mirror and right next to the owner of the studio (i didn't find this out til later) whose dog sat right outside the door and stared at his owner throughout the class, sometimes barking to get his attention. the barking picked up as class drew to a close, as if the dog friend knew the timing and knew he was about to get more attention and the company of his owner very very soon.

the first 50 minutes of class are a series of standing postures that focus on balancing and strengthening the legs, core muscles, even the arms. usually this is the hardest part of the class for me but today i pushed hard during this first part and was able to maintain my balance so much better than at any time in the past week. my legs are getting stronger and i don't have to think about getting them in the right state of strength and solidity anymore -- "locked out, knee and thigh lifted, like a solid concrete lamp post -- you have no knee" -- they just go there automatically.

but by the time i got to the floor series, usually the strongest part of the class for me, i could barely stay in the room, let alone do the postures. i lay in savasana (corpse pose) for at least one quarter to one half of the floor series, trying not to get up and leave the room.

this is the closest i've come to ever leaving the room. i think i was dehydrated and didn't have enough water to get through the class. i drank 1 quart of water and a coconut water in the first 5 minutes after class.

all in all, a good class. i can feel my body getting stronger in certain ways and staying put in others. this is normal. i feel good.

bikram class 6: a scorpion in the room!!!!!!!

2010-06-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

i skipped my 6th day and moved my 6th class to the seventh day i've been in austin. i needed a break for 1 day to re-group and also to take care of a couple other things that were going on.

my 6th class was yesterday (saturday) and it was a little wild as far as yoga classes go.

first, right before i arrived a saw a man in a thong riding his bike around the city streets of austin.

second, there were two new students in class and a brand new bikram yoga teacher who didn't know how to give them corrections. they were doing all the postures wrong and could have potentially hurt themselves. plus they were really distracting and standing directly in front of me. maybe this repeating circumstance is just a reminder to me to pay attention only to my practice and not to everyone else. i did a lot better this time than with the previous distracting situation.

third, halfway through class a woman sat up and pointed to the ground and said "it's a scorpion." yes, that's right; A SCORPION loose in the room with a bunch of half naked, sweaty, focused-on-other things people. the yoga teacher smashed it and someone said "are you going to kill it?" as if it was some horrible anti-yoga thing to do. he said "yeah. it's a scorpion!" i agree!

anyway, it was a good class for me. i felt stronger after my 1 day break. i worked hard.

today, i go to a new studio here in austin to take advantage of their 2 weeks for $20 unlimited yoga special. it's further away and i have to get on the highway to go there.

one thing that has been really interesting in doing yoga so regularly is that it has helped the swelling that hasn't left my forearms since i had carpal tunnel, tendonitis stuff happen in february. each day in yoga, the heat and intensified circulation of blood through my body makes my forearms swell to epic proportions. then after i leave class and cool down, the swelling goes down and they look more and more normal after each class. it's really great. all the blood rushing there during yoga creates a draining away of more and more of the stagnant blood or fluids that have been stuck there for almost half a year now.

i feel good. so happy to be here giving this gift to myself.

bikram yoga, class 5

2010-06-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

my fifth class, and i still feel tired. not much like a superhero. the one thing that is getting better is my "bikram-style sit up" -- a straight legged sit up that explodes up from a prone position on the floor with two loud exhales. usually i have to bend my legs to do the sit up. i've been able to use my core strength and belly to come up quickly and cleanly and with strength. that is the one part of my practice that seems to be continually improving. oddly enough because i've never gotten better at it throughout the whole time i've been doing this yoga -- over a year.

i came home agitated again from this class. and not sure why. there was no floppy, annoying person in front of me this time and the teacher did a good job. i just felt agitated.

i was able to focus on my breath a lot more today and used my breath to go a little deeper into some of the postures.

i'm still having a really hard time with balance.

the teachers often say at the end of class. "thank yourselves for coming to class. sometimes the hardest thing is just getting here". this is true. i find myself wanting to run the other way for a moment every day when i arrive. especially as i look in the big floor to ceiling windows of the yoga room and see the class in progress sweating and contorting themselves into ridiculous positions.

but each day at the end of class, if nothing else, i am keeping a promise to myself, working on self-discipline and working towards a goal that is fixed and much bigger than me. these things are as important, if not more important, than anything else i get out of this 2 and half week foray into yoga every day.

bikram yoga, class 4

2010-06-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

my fourth class. a real disappointing class. for several reasons.

first, a woman came in late to class and set her mat directly in front of me. she proceeded to spend the entire class one to three beats off from the rest of the class AND talking to the (admittedly very handsome) teacher. but come on!! it was so distracting. she moved into and came out of postures at different times than the rest of the class, she left the room once, got up and got a tissue once, talked directly to the teacher 3 or 4 times.

in bikram yoga, you're supposed to move together as a class throughout the entire 90 minute class in controlled and precise movements. its not only about doing the postures, its about staying as still as possible between postures despite the sweat and the heat and the discomfort and your clothes sticking to you in the most unfortunate of places. its just part of the practice. and teachers are supposed to keep students accountable to this part of the practice -- reminding students to stay together as a class. even the corpse pose is one you do with precision and control.

the hot (pun intended) teacher, eddie, would not say anything to this woman even though it was obvious it was all a play to get his attention. it was obnoxious but mostly just really distracting.

second, for some reason it seems like the yoga teachers here move faster. there is less time to rest between each posture and so i spent this class especially just feeling like i could never catch up. normally breathing comes natural to me in class, but today i not only was not aware of my breath throughout class i also just couldn't ever get settled into breathing at all. i felt like i spent the whole class trying to catch up.

third, i'm just exhausted today. not sure really why. yesterday i felt great after class. today i just felt angry and bothered and like i just couldn't keep up.

fourth, i've been having a really hard time with anything that has to do with balancing. so many of the first postures -- the standing series; the majority of the class -- are about balancing with a strong, locked standing leg while doing some wild things with the top half of your body. i can't seem to get past the first step of any of the balancing postures. today, because of the distracting woman in front of me -- or actually because of my inability to tune her out -- i fell out of the postures (or couldn't even get into them) even more than in my first class four days ago.

on another note, my headache is still gone. my muscles are feeling less stressed and tight and more open, flexible, clean. i'm still really glad i'm doing this. it is an amazing experience even with the challenges. i can feel my body getting stronger and my life focusing in on the important things -- the things i want and who i am.

my stomach and hips still are pudgy and i wonder how long it will take with a regular practice before i start to see a difference, not only in my physical appearance but in my core strength -- which, once developed will help me go much deeper into all the postures.

on yet another note, i rode my bike to an urban organic farm about a mile from where i'm staying here in austin. i bought fresh heirloom tomatoes (oaxacan jewels), fresh basil, arugula, french sorrel, pigweed amaranth, peaches and cherry tomatoes along with some pickled zucchini sticks. me and amy jones had a great picnic lunch on the UT campus and then repeated the same exact meal for dinner. this is what we had:

arugula and french sorrel salad with peaches, yellow cherry tomatoes, spicy roasted pumpkin seeds and a sweet vinaigrette
fresh baked 6th street sourdough bread from sweetish bakery
sliced oaxacan jewel tomatoes with sea salt, pepper and slivers of basil
various cheeses, sliced
a few pieces of fried turkey bacon

it was the most satisfying meal i've had yet this summer. so simple. so many vegetables. so many fresh, crisp flavors.

until tomorrow.

bikram yoga, class 3

2010-06-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

my third class in a row. sunday, monday, and today is tuesday.

i entered the yoga room today with a headache -- one i've had since my first yoga class a few days ago.

i was tired, sore, tight, wondering when i will ever start to feel better.

for the first 45 minutes of class, i just surrendered. i could barely keep my arms up for the very first breathing exercise, the first pose was excruciating and they mostly just kept getting worse and harder. i couldn't even focus on the teacher, what she was saying, my body, breathing or anything. i just watched other people and put my body in some semblance of the poses they were doing, my body at least recognizing the way from constant repetition. i was oblivious to everything except just watching myself struggle in the mirror and trying to keep up with the class. balancing postures were especially hard for me today and i couldn't get past the first step in each of them.

by the end of class, i felt energized. my bikram sit ups were getting more powerful and precise and clean. i moved through the entire floor series (the last 30-40 minutes of class) feeling really good and strong. the last sit up of the day, my legs stayed on the floor, my core stayed strong.

when i left class, i realized my headache was gone. later tonight i realized the soreness in my throat muscles is gone. my sternocletomastoid has released, my shoulders are looser, my legs less sore and generally i just feel good. not great yet but good and strong and alive.

on my way . . .

bikram yoga in austin texas, day 3

2010-06-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

so, i've come to austin, texas to visit a friend, to research possibilities for moving here and most of all to do bikram yoga every day. this is a kind of yoga where the room is heated to 105* with 40% humidity and you do a 90 minute series of hatha yoga postures. you do two sets of the same 26 postures to the same dialogue in each and every bikram yoga class from now until the end of time. this yoga has actually been copyrighted by bikram choudhury himself and is fairly controversial for that point alone. it is intense, powerful and life-changing. when i do this yoga regularly so many things i've struggled with in my life disappear -- i feel centered, balanced, clear in my mind and heart, more in tune with myself, strong like a super-hero, and able to do anything. all the loneliness and self-doubt and low self-esteem disappear with my regular practice. it's amazing.

the only studio near where i live in ohio is 45-60 minutes away and i have just found it too difficult to make a regular practice from that distance. when i have time off of work, i can find time to go, but it's not enough. i really want to get the full benefit of a regular practice and i can;'t do that going one or two times a week if i'm lucky.

so, i've come to austin for many reasons but my big goal in being here is to see what two weeks of straight yoga practice will do for me. will it inspire me to do more? will i just be exhausted? will my body feel or look any different? will it inspire me to move?

i'm on day 3 of my daily yoga practice here in austin. outside it is over 100* on the heat index. my first class on sunday kicked my ass. i had to sit or lay down through at least 10 of the 26 postures. i hadn't been to class in over 2 months and hadn't been going regularly since ab out 6-8 months ago. i felt beaten after class, not anything like a super-hero. plus i got a headache. i know this is from dehydration and loss of electrolytes. my body protesting the heat outside and the heat inside the yoga room.

the second day, i already felt stronger, though i still struggled to do both sets of all 26 postures. i felt less dizzy, and more able to make it all the way through class. afterwards though i still feel exhausted. and my head still hurts. i drank a coconut water before class and my headache went away in the short term. but came back after the 2nd class. it's a dull sort of rope of a headache wrapping around the base of my skull on the right hand side of my head -- from the neck to just above my ear.

today, my muscles are so sore, especially my legs (which i've always thought of as strong) and also my shoulders. i'm going to my 3rd class in half an hour and hope to soon get back to the place where my post-class feeling is more on the super-hero side than the super-out of shape side.

i haven't really had much energy to do anything besides prepare for and recover from class. but i know that in the end this is sort of like a run through the fire for me. it will hurt and not be very comfortable and i will probably hate parts of it. but i know -- because i have experienced first hand -- that the end result will change my life for the better. and i need that desperately right now. i need to know that there is more to life than what i've been doing. that the empty and lonely feelings and self-doubt and paralyzing fear can be overcome. it is exactly the reason i am here and exactly the reason why i've considered doing the bikram teacher training even though it's $10,000 and even though i am nowhere close to even being able to attend the training.

there are so many cool things to do in austin and i'm here for 3 weeks. i'm trying to just be kind and gentle with myself and remember the reason i came was to do yoga. i already know i could live here happily.

the FOOL

2010-05-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

paraphrased from a very incomplete website, re-printed in a way which casts me in a good light: one shameless and unobjective interpretation of the fool archetype and what it has meant to humanity throughout the ages and what it might mean now to one tiny person quitting her job:

Fool is the teacher. With his lessons, he awakens us to who we are and allows us to explore the true purpose of our soul's journey . . .

His energy allows us to break out of old stereotypes, whether they've been imposed by ourselves, our families, our culture, or circumstance. This is the energy that opens the world of limitless possibilities and it behooves us all to work with it before it destroys us . . .

Someone kindly requested that I remove comments about "fools" from my previous post. Instead, I chose to look at the term "fool" and how it might, in a grand stretch of the imagination, apply to the way I used it there.

In my years of working life, I have constantly been attracted to these "great opportunities" which are very exciting and where I have to become a trail blazer, taking on lots of responsibility, doing the vision work in addition to the nuts and bolts work of making these great opportunities into potential careers all the while working myself to the bone for little to no pay (that seems to be how "great opportunities" work). Each time it has failed. Often it is because the people I work for take issue with my strong personality, grand ideas and potent but well-intentioned critiques. It has taken me a long time to realize that I am not really a good employee. Not because I don't work hard, but because I work as hard for other people as I would if I was working for myself and then end up resenting the fact that they can't see, don't appreciate it, won't compensate me for it, etc. etc.

So, the fools with good intentions I have been working for, have played exactly the role outlined in the above quote: I am leaving this job with a much clearer view of the true purpose in my life, a much clearer understanding of the journey I have been on and how my current difficulties fit into the bigger story of my life. I am also breaking out of old self/other/circumstantial stereotypes by leaving this job now. I believe if I had waited much longer, the job I was doing would have destroyed me. And I would have again been in the position of having to put the pieces back together. Instead I am moving into a place of limitless possibilities.

I have worked for many fools with good intentions and each has taught me valuable lessons that have brought me to this great place of transformation and awakening. I feel like a new person.

I'm happy to be moving on, happy I took this particular and most recent "great opportunity", happy I gave it my absolute best shot and most of all I'm happy that I recognized the right time to get out of a situation that was detrimental to my health and well-being on many levels. (Not the fault of any one person, but a circumstance of a difficult situation where no one seems to be very comfortable or feel really good).

a new year

2010-04-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

it has been a long time since i posted anything here. life has taken me down many bumpy roads, some quiet roads and around many unforeseen corners. it is spring again in ohio. i am living on the bike path -- the old railroad bed for the coal company that used to own these lands. the bike path between the plains and athens (a stretch of about 3 miles) contains some rich, beautiful, healthy woods. so far, i have seen dutchman's britches, turkey corn, trout lily, coltsfoot, red trillium, may apple, buckeye and many other plants i can't quite remember the names of. the last few days of warmth have turned the deep wooded hills green with life. april is really the best month to be alive in southeast ohio i think.

i quit my job today. and boy does it feel good. i'm not done working, but i'm done putting up with the craziness of the people i work for. i will stay for 1 more month in my current position for my current employers then be back on my own again. i am hoping to buy a catering truck -- a small one that fits my means and budget. something that is the scale of one lady with lots of big ideas and tons of skills.

i hope to finally -- for once in my life, to be working for myself, to create exactly the kind of life i've always wanted -- one filled with flexibility, abundance, creativity. i am an unconventional sort of gal and have always tried to take the safe road, getting a paycheck and driving myself crazy working for fools with good intentions. now, i want to work for myself (maybe i'm also a fool but at least it will be my own good intentions and foolishness making me crazy and not someone else's).

all is up in the air again. and i am happy. ready to look forward, move forward and shake myself free of the chains i have so foolishly chosen . . .

it is april in southeast ohio. the hills are turning green. the trees are coming out of hibernation. my skin is warm and i sweat freely in the sun. i am filled with hope and expectation and some sense that i am breaking out of a cacoon (cliche i know but it really is true) it is really this moment every year when it feels like the year begins again.

happy spring everyone and here's to new beginnings.

My Favorite Meal of the Year: Morels and Ramps

2008-04-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I ate my all time favorite meal of the year. It is only possible to eat this meal once or twice a year. Three times if you are really lucky -- which I may be this year.

The meal I am referring to is fresh morel mushrooms and ramps (wild leeks) sauteed in butter with red pepper, salt and fresh garden sage served with rice. It is one of the simplest meals I ever make and also one of the most delicious and uniquely satisfying.

Morels are one of the most famous of the wild mushrooms. Rare, elusive and only found growing for a few weeks a year, often deep in the woods. They can appear overnight with just the right combination of warm, humid weather, sunshine and the correct soil makeup.

A morel hunter must develop a keen eye for finding these mushrooms as they poke their multi-toned brown heads above and through the leaf litter that surrounds them. Often you can look at an area of moresl for a long time before you actually see the mushrooms right in front of you. Once you learn to see them, you can spot them easily, from a distance and often out of the corner of your eye despite their camoflaged appearance.

Since I just moved from the deep woods of southeastern Ohio to the city of Dayton, I thought for sure my annual spring meal of ramps and morels would be impossible to come by. But my parents live on a beautiful 3 acres with nice big trees and the biggest patch of morels I have ever seen in my life. They are prolific and growing right next to the driveway under a giant old ash tree. My mom told me they were poking their heads out of the soil, and I quickly went to investigate. I found 20-30 morels, some as large as the mouse for my computer.

With a little rain tomorrow, they could balloon up even bigger. One year, the morels here grew as large as a coffee mug.

The ramps or wild leeks show their leaves early in the spring in the underbrush of the still leafless forest, looking much like a lily or any other non-descript leafy green. But when you pick them, they give off a pungent onion-y smell and their flavor is unique. I always leave the bulb and eat the leaf though some people I know dig up the whole plant. The leaves are so good by themselves, I see no reason to take the whole plant for myself.

If you are lucky enough to have some morels and ramps, you can prepare them as follows for a uniquely and deeply nourishing spring dinner. Please note that my mother is very allergic to morels. I have never met anyone else with this allergy, but be aware that it can happen.

The Best Meal of the Year

Soak morels in salt water to remove bugs (at least 1 hour)
Slice morels into 1/4" thick slices
Heat butter to very hot.
Add morels, crushed red pepper, celtic sea salt and sliced fresh sage to hot butter.
Cook for no more than 1 minute on high heat.
Turn off heat and stir in sliced ramp leaves, stirring until residual heat has wilted them.

Serve over brown rice.

The Bones: A Poem

2008-04-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

I don't usually plan to write a poem. Usually it just comes to me out of the blue. Sometimes I don't even know I have written one until I look back over my journal and there it is. It's almost like I am channeling something greater than me. I am not an actor, only a vessel through which action (the writing of the poem) takes place. It's a little unnerving really since it is almost as if I am not present. I discovered this poem (or half of it) in my journal about a week ago. I loved the raw rough feel of it, the connection to food, the juicy body parts -- and wrote the other half a little more consciously over the past week. It feels true and right -- the distillation of the experience of trying to understand the story of my life, which feels alternately meaningfully huge and silently hidden. Thanks for reading.

The Bones

I’m looking for the meat
For the dark, sour substance of the thing
The juicy bits and morsels that slip
Between the cracks
Get covered in dust
Or rot in the corner

I’m looking for the story
Underneath the story
Looking for the secrets you never whisper
(even in the softest voice)
for the moments you wish you could take back
and the words that echo and slap
my face the moment you utter them

i don’t want to hear the pretty lies
i don’t care about politeness
or the carefully stacked house of cards
i only want truth
a declaration of reality
a single shot at redemption maybe
but always truth

i’m looking for the center of the thing
i want to suck this marrow from the bones
swish the essence in my mouth
swallow and digest
i want to dip the tips in a salty brine
that stops sugar in its tracks
and instantly puckers the lips of your sweetest smile

i want to pry apart your insides
inspect all the parts
dissect your spirit while i hold my breath
i need to see it all
i need to touch every piece
every sorrow, every joy, every pain,
every fear and insecurity
i want them all
laid out and perfectly arranged
on the table while i eat my breakfast

i have to see farther and deeper
peeling away the layers and layers of soft rubbery fat
fatty spirit, fatty soul, fatty body
we must shed this all and stand naked
here in the spotlight
facing each other in a house of mirrors
we have to see everything

i want to cut you down the middle
inspect the heart that beats there
in your chest
touch it, measure it, poke my finger around the insides
i need to understand the way it thumps
the way it swells and shrinks
creating pockets and shadows in between
the folds of skin

i want to touch the stomach and spleen
squeeze the liver to see what you’re made of
taste the ovaries
and gather the testes into my water glass
i want to see you all
pulled apart, like chicken bones
wings sucked dry, emptied of all meaning
in a pile of downy feathers

[maybe then i can begin to move]

i want to sift through the layers
peel back all the skin
hear and see and devour my story
until there’s nothing left but a heap of
meaningless words
a series of images and sounds
that do not even slightly resemble me

in the end i will shit all this
into a freshly dug hole
cover it with leaves
and plant a tree

in the end i will bury the bodies
in the soft brown earth
and plant spring bulbs

i will swallow the sorrow
pour it into the earth,
muster a river that will
smooth the edges of all these bones
carry the feathers to the sea
and rip these anchors from the flesh of my body

i will model this fear after my deepest hurt
shape it into loaves of pain
then look away quickly
as i heave them into the ocean
to dissolve in their salty, rocking tomb

i can’t carry this story any longer
it wants to be compost
to simmer in the sun until it is nothing
but soil, plain old dirt
that will gently cover someone else’s bones
and stories and feathers someday
the meat of the daffodil bulbs and oak tree
will then work relentlessly to break apart those bones
uncover those stories and i will be free

A New Home :)

2008-04-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while because I've been in the process of moving . . . again. I've moved everything I own into my parents' house in Dayton, O. It feels good to be here, even though I feel a little funny moving back into my parents house and wouldn't have believed it if you had told me 6 months ago that I would be moving back to southwest Ohio. Funny how life takes you down many paths you never thought it would.

I actually feel really really really relieved to have all my stuff moved into my parents place. Things have been so topsy turvy for me in the past couple (many?) years that having my things here actually makes me feel more grounded than I have in a long time. Like now that my things are all safe in the basement, I can feel more free to roam or settle in or boomerang back and forth between my many different interests. In moving this most recent time, I began to notice a pattern (finally) emerging in my collections -- kitchen stuff, fabric/yarn/sewing supplies, BOOKS and rocks. These are the things I collect. Most of these things are heavy things, which I attribute to my airy Libra self needing to be brought back down to earth from all the flying about I do in my mind, and across the planet. Did I mention how relieved I feel to have all my stuff at my parents house? I love my little dungeon (basement) bedroom/living room/bathroom and the beautiful yard, trees, flowers (blue carpets of squill are the most recent bloomers) and soon the morels will come up under the giant ash trees that dot the property.

I will be starting my annual spring raw food fast soon. I will be posting recipes to go along with it. Simple guides to using raw foods to cleanse the system at the start of a new year. Last year I did this raw food fast and I felt amazing, energetic, clear -- all my muscles felt clean, revived, energized, my mind felt the same. I have treated my body poorly this winter -- getting out of shape, over-indulging my sweet tooth and generally just eating my way through feeling bored, broke and somewhat ill. Blech!!

I will also be starting work on the farms next week -- I will be working primarily on two CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) called Smaller Footprint and Wild Soil and sometimes at a third CSA called Heart Beet Farms. I can't wait to get my hands dirty and be outside on a regular basis. This winter has lasted far too long and the spring is inching along so slowly, it's about to drive me crazy.

Check back soon for updates on the farms, raw food recipes/spring cleanse and a little story about buzzards.

NO NEW COAL IN OHIO!!

2008-03-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

HockHocking Earth First! decided to kick off our newly revived group with a No New Coal in Ohio! campaign. Ohio is now in the cross-hairs of a major energy project that would bring 3 new coal plants to Meigs County, Ohio and 2 new plants to Mason, W.Va. in the next several years as well as a resumption of underground coal mining that could begin as early as this year. The completion of these plants would create the highest concentration of coal-fired plants in the country.

Racine, Ohio is a town of less than 1000 inhabitants sitting on the banks of the Ohio River. Gatling, Ohio LLC, based out of Beckley, W.Va. has been busy buying and leasing mining rights and conducting pre-blast surveys on privately owned lands in Meigs County. They are preparing to begin blasting on a 90-acre coal prep site, slated for development in the floodplain along Yellowbush Creek, near Racine.

Citizens have requested a public meeting with ODNR to answer questions regarding changes Gatling made to the original mining permit application since the 30-day public comment period ended almost a year ago. They have yet to confirm a meeting to answer community questions. The local newspaper, however, is reporting that blasting could begin as early as April 14^th, 2008. This in spite of the fact that, as of March 23^rd, ODNR has not issued a mining permit or a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit to Gatling, and in spite of the fact that ODNR is alleged to have stated it would be almost impossible for them to provide the permits within that timeframe.

Additionally, Ohio EPA, ODNR and Army Corps of Engineers have repeatedly denied citizens’ requests for a 401 permit, which would evaluate the impacts of the proposed mining site on groundwater. Amazingly, each of these agencies determined there would be no significant impacts to the water despite the presence of 3 high quality streams running through the proposed site which would sit on two overlapping flood plains and empty almost immediately into the Ohio River.

In Gatling’s communication to local residents, the company states that blasting activity aimed at removing overburden, building up the minesite in the floodplains and potentially building sludge impoundments could begin April 1^st and last through September.

Completion of the prep site would pave the way for Gatling to process the coal it proposes to gather from its 2000 acres of new underground mines (this is the initial proposed mine site which would be expanded in 5 year increments to encompass a much larger area in coming years). The prep site and the underground mines would cement Racine as the heart and soul of mining activity in the area.

Gatling plans to mine the area for the next 40 years and Tim Myers, Gatling’s former Chief Engineer, told community members that the company intends to begin doing sludge injection into underground abandoned mines when they re-apply for their permits in 5 years.

If plans continue unabated, citizens of Racine and surrounding areas could hear blasting nearly every day for the rest of the year, will face potential damage to drinking water supplies, will be at risk for increased flooding, subsidence and dust from the processing plants. In addition, roads could be impacted and the county will be strapped to deal with potential damages. Finally, many landowners get free gas and royalties from natural gas wells on their properties, which are also at risk due to underground mining.

The context for increased mining activity is the recent approval granted by the Ohio Power Siting Board for two of the five proposed coal plants in the Meigs County area. The AMP-Ohio plant is slated to begin construction in 2009 and, if completed, would burn 12,000 tons of coal per day. AEP received approval to build an IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) plant, also in Meigs. Many environmental organizations approved this plant, staunchly defending IGCC “clean-coal” technology as the best available. Almost certainly, none of these organizations’ leaders are residents of Meigs or surrounding counties.

Meigs-CAN (Citizens Action Now) is the only community-based group currently working to stop all new mining activity in the area. Since their inception, they have educated residents about their rights in relation to the siting of mining related activities, including pre-blast surveys, regulatory processes and public participation. They conducted listening projects to identify community concerns and created opportunities to address those concerns. They are currently receiving no major funding and are almost exclusively citizens of Racine and the surrounding countryside.

With Mountain Justice Spring Break in Meigs County, the Heartwood Annual Gathering in Shawnee State Forest (Ohio) and the EF! Round River Rendezvous in southeast Ohio, there is the potential to gain significant strength to use in support of local organizing efforts. As many have said, it is impossible to shut down a plant once it is in operation, but very possible to stop a plant from being built before it’s even broken ground.

NOTE: This information is based on a phone interview with Elisa Young, a founding member of Meigs-CAN. To join the resistance or for updates contact Elisa at – 740-949-2175 or elisayoung1@hotmail.com

Living on the Dole

2008-03-20T20:06:00.001-07:00

I applied for food stamps this winer. I wasn't sure I would ever do this, having a proud working-class background that instilled in me the feeling that I should always, no matter what, be able to provide for myself. But after being unemployed for almost 6 months and being really sick this winter, something had to give. I applied and realized that my income -- even working full time for the past 2-3 years - made me eligible for other government subsidies. And definitely eligible for food stamps.

In order to receive my monthly food stamp allowance, the State of Ohio requires that you "work" at a pre-approved site, usually a non-profit or some other community service facility. This is a requirement only for food stamp recipients who are also unemployed. I have to work 23 hours per month in order to maintain my eligibility. Being a lover of all things food related, I chose to work at a local food pantry and soup kitchen. It has been an enlightening, eye-opening experience.

I grew up in poverty in southeast Ohio, but my family always valued gardening, fresh healthy food, homesteading to some extent -- milking a cow, raising a calf for slaughter, collecting fruit from the fruit trees, etc. We always ate really well, even though we qualified for free lunch at school and didn't always have enough money for the coolest clothes or the best shoes.

My experience at the food pantry has shown me an entirely different face of rural poverty. People are unhealthy, desperate, proud. There is a hot meal served every week and in the few weeks I have been there over 50 people have showed up in this little backwater town in rural southeast Ohio, most of them hungry. Many of them come every week, they chat with their neighbors, hug their friends, laugh and sing, say the Our Father together before eating and always come back for dessert and sometimes for seconds.

The food served is terrible. It is canned, processed and passed off as food, but it's really just sugar, trans-fats and salt disguised as food. I've eaten there both weeks and have felt my digestion go to shit after eating only these two meals of processed, packaged food-like substances. It is a wonder to me that people can eat this way and not die of malnutrition or simultaneously of an overdose of chemicals, sugars and salts. When they go through the pantry, they get much of the same -- sugary cereals, canned vegetables, canned fruits, processed cheeze spread, beef stew in a can, frozen pizzas pasta, sugar coated snacks. There are cases and cases of candy and chocolate.

I began to ponder last night a large grant funded project in which I could pay 50 people in rural Appalachian Ohio in varying states of health or disease, to eat a diet made up entirely of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and meals made from scratch with organic locally grown produce. I would want to handle the food prep and serving and partner with a doctor who could monitor health conditions of the participants. My guess is that many of the participants' health problems would decrease (after an initial detoxing period that would undoubtedly be somewhat uncomfortable), they would have more energy, maybe even begin to feel clearer in their minds, more empowered. In general, they would just feel healthier and better able to deal with stress, relationships, etc.

I believe it would create a radical change in most of the participants' lives. It is amazing to me that people eat the crap that they do and still function. I truly believe that food is the first medicine we put into our bodies. It can buffer us from illness, stress, emotional instability and can also poison us slowly, rotting our insides and clogging all the systems that are supposed to keep our complex bodies functioning properly. I think it is no wonder that people in this country are so disempowered and disenchanted. We are poisoning ourselves from the inside out with food that creates ever more powerful cravings but never fully satisfies.

Sara's (Raw) Beet Salad

2008-03-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

". . . the recipe is officially known as "Sara's Beet Salad." Yeah, everyone who has tried it raves about it. What a way to gain fame and immortality!"

This was an excerpt from an email I got from a friend about the fresh beet salad recipe I gave him last summer. I made this salad up after I got back from traveling in South America. It was in Peru and Ecuador that I was first introduced to beets. Until then, I had only seen beets in a can and what a travesty that was -- the beets in the can and my ignorance. In the Andes Mountains, they put fresh steamed beets and raw avocados on beds of lettuce, sprinkled with lime juice and call it a salad. I was inspired by the South American beets -- even though I just realized that I never even learned the word for beets. ( I just looked it up and it is remolacha -- pronounced with the emphasis on the -lach-)

The food in South American markets is so fresh and full of flavor and color that it was really difficult to return to the dull, drabness of the flavors and colors of the typical North American supermarket. The food down south of the border made me feel alive in a way that most conventionally grown food in the US could not live up to. I suppose in retrospect, it was my travels in Latin America that brought me round full circle to my current food preferences and philosophy which includes at its heart: local, seasonal, organically grown, sustainably and justly produced and made from scratch. I hope to make my life work providing food that fits this criteria to as many people as possible.

The beet salad is prepared as follows:

Sara's (Raw) Beet Salad

2 large organic purple beets, shredded
olive oil
fresh lime juice
3-5 fresh cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. fresh ginger, shredded
2-3 Tbsp. red onion, shredded
black or cayenne pepper to taste
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp Bragg's liquid aminos or 1/2 tsp. tamari

Add olive oil to grated beets until beets are just coated, but not swimming in oil.
Add juice of fresh lime, to taste.
Add minced garlic, ginger and onion.
Add pepper to taste.
Add ground cumin, parsley and Bragg's.
Mix well together and serve.
If you serve this salad with avocados, the avocados will really bring this light, airy salad back down to earth. They are a great compliment to each other. However, if you are feeling heavy, slow or sluggish, just eat the beet salad by itself or maybe with some rice or salad greens (even better). It is an excellent cleansing salad.

Building a Thatched Hut

2008-03-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

A friend recently asked me to tell her more about my experiences building thatched huts. Since I realize this is not an experience many people have had I will describe it a little here and include a picture. This picture shows the Winter Solstice house with about half of its thatched roof finished (ca. 2002).

For 3 summers I worked at a reconstructed 12th century native american village site/archaeological park called SunWatch (www.sunwatch.org). There are way better photos of the buildings at the official SunWatch website. My job for 2 of those years was to supervise a team of international interns in doing archaeological reconstruction, which essentially means we were building daub and thatch houses using 800 year old post holes as our blueprint. We tried to match wood types, post sizes, roofing material (native Big Blue Stem prairie grass) daubing materials (clay, prairie grass and water) as closely as possible to what appeared in the archaeological record.

For instance, early excavators found intact chunks of burned mud dauber nests when they excavated the site, buried under about 1.5 feet of flood deposited topsoil. These nests were often imprinted with the Big Blue Stem seed heads, this grass being a native and very tough prairie grass. They then looked around to see where mud daubers build their nests currently and they were almost always found at the tops of walls, under the eaves of the roof. This led archaeologists to believe that the ancient mud daubers did much the same thing and since big blue stem seed heads were clearly visible in the nests, that the roofing material largely consisted of big blue prairie grass. This is a simplified and shortened version of all the thought that went into this particular question, but gives you an idea of how these kinds of interpretations are made by archaeologists.

SunWatch is a unique place in that it is an in situ reconstruction meaning it is "on site", in its original pre-historic context. There are not many reconstructed village sites like this one, where you can walk inside the cool shade of a thatched hut, sit on a bench made of rough cut branches and kindle a fire in a hearth that was used some 800 years ago for cooking meals of corn, deer, beans and squash. It truly is a unique experience.

My work at SunWatch was very creative and at times maddening. I loved collecting materials -- looking around the forest for straight black locust trees that were just the right width and height, cutting endless bunches of Big Blue, looking for just the right curve of the piece of wood needed to fortify the corner of the roof and shaping hearth after hearth after hearth, hoping that this time it wouldn't crack as badly when it was fired. This was also my first introduction to medicinal herbs since I put together an exhibit in one of the cabins detailing what types of herbs were found in the archaeological record, how they could be used medicinally and hanging actual bunches of the herbs gathered from our very own prairie for visitors to see, smell and touch.

It was maddening because I question everything and always felt that there wasn't enough critical thought and current research going into the process. That even though SunWatch was a version of a living museum, it was still too heavy on the museum and too light on the living. I felt we needed to be constantly questioning past interpretations, re-interpreting new and old findings and researching old documents and artifacts to see if anything was missed.

I wrote my Master's Thesis on my work at SunWatch -- see the link below. In it I talked about how archaeological data can be used to inform restoration ecology. In using archaeological data, especially botanical data, restoration ecologists can make choices about what set of criteria they are restoring an ecosystem to, rather than arbitrarily picking a generic and 'pristine' ecosystem that existed when Europeans arrived, as if the environment was a static thing and totally unaffected by the native people who were living here.

http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/search.cgi?q=DeAloia&field=&pagesize=30

Anyway, building thatched huts was quite an experience. It is nothing like the thatching that is famous in places like England or Scotland. The kind of thatching I did requires much more maintenance and would never keep a modern house dry. But it was a lot of fun and is a really great conversation starter or pick up line. Hey baby, can I thatch your roof??

Veggie Currry

2008-03-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

My sister sent me this request . . . "do you have any recipes for spicy indian food using cauliflower & potatoes".

And I do in fact have such a recipe. Here it is. This recipe was scaled down from one used to serve 40 people so definitely play around with the amounts of veggies needed as this will likely make enough curry to feed a family of 10 -- I made this for a permaculture class with Peter Bane that I helped cater last summer. It was a big hit. Also go light on the cayenne and hot chile until you know what you like. You can always add more hot stuff but it's really hard to water down hot stuff once it's already cooked.

Not much time for writing today. I am starting to build this site and adding features when I can. It's a lot of fun but kind of a long and tedious process since I have no clue what I am doing. Hope you like it!!

Veggie Curry a la Sara

¼ cup canola oil
1 tsp. Black mustard seeds
1 Tbsp grated ginger root
½ head garlic, cut into thin slices
1 cup finely chopped onions
3 Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp. Turmeric
3 Tbsp curry powder (hot curry if you want it spicy)

2-4 green peppers, seeded and sliced into bite size pieces
2-4 pounds carrots, cut into ¼ inch thick slices
1 head broccoli
1 head cauliflower
4 medium sized potatoes, cubed

2 ½ cans coconut milk
1 bunches scallions/green wild onions
½ hot green chili pepper, seeded and minced
1 Tbsp salt
1/8 cup cilantro, minced

¾ cups peanuts (optional)
1 tsp. Cayenne pepper (or to taste) – depends on how hot the chili pepper is or you can omit the chili pepper and just use cayenne

Heat oil, adding the first 7 ingredients and cooking thoroughly in a large, deep stock pot
Have all veggies cut into bite sized pieces ahead of time.
Add the veggies to the oil mixture
Mix scallions, chili pepper, salt and half the cilantro into the coconut milk
Add coconut milk to the veggies and simmer until veggies are soft over high Heat

Add peanuts and cayenne pepper during the last 10 minutes of cooking and allow to cook until veggies have reached the right amount of hotness. The longer you heat it, the hotter it will get.

Garnish with additional cilantro and serve over rice.

A Recipe for Childhood: Blueberries

2008-03-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

This is a mid-winter picture from the east side of Blue Hill Bay -- less than 5 miles from where I was born. If you could pan around to the left you would see the small town of Blue Hill which is a lovely little town in mid-coast Maine. It was listed (along with Athens, Ohio -- the place I currently call home) as one of the 12 Best Places to Live You Never Heard Of by Mother Earth News. Somehow I am deeply connected to both places.

The hill in the distance is one of the three mountains making up Mount Desert Island, where I spent much of of my early childhood. When I was young -- 8 or 9 years old -- my best friend Elihue and I used to row our little dingy out into the middle of Bass Harbor amidst huge cargo ships, sailboats and lobster boats. We also spent hours and days exploring the rocky coast line near Bass Harbor Lighthouse which was about 2 miles from my last Maine home. I remember running fearlessly and quickly over the rocky coast letting my feet guide the way -- never hesitating and never falling. We found some huge caves that led way back into the shoreline. It was a pretty magical childhood really.

When I returned a few summers ago with my friends, I once again decided to run fearlessly and quickly over the rocks way down the coast, leaving my friends far behind. The smell of the ocean and the pounding surf, the rough, sharp rocks, the spray of the ocean as it moved endlessly, the sound of seagulls above and the endless coastline (Maine has the longest coastline of any state in the US -- longer even than California's, though the state is much smaller) kept my feet moving and my footing solid. The motion of my body over these rocks a memory that required no thought process.

I associate that feeling with freedom from way back in my childhood and was happy to know that even as an adult, I could move over that landscape almost like a bird -- no fear of falling, only the quick pushing off of one foot, the jump to the next rock, pushing off again, and again.

Behind the photographer in the above photo is a hill with a bumpy unpaved road that becomes a mess of mud and ice throughout at least half of the year. That road leads to the Circle Farm, the old name of the hippie commune where I was born. It is covered in low-bush blueberry fields and some 5-6 houses spread out through the 80 or so acres of the Farm. It is my second home.

My recipe for remembering what it feels like to be a kid goes like this:

In mid August find a large, open blueberry field
Sit down in the middle of it
Eat as many blueberries as you can from that spot
Move on to the next spot
Keep eating blueberries
and move on again, until you can't possibly eat another blueberry and at some point later you will probably, as I did when young, make some pretty awesome blue poop.

Three Sisters Stew

2008-03-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

I have lots of black beans in my life right now. 3 gallon jugs full of dried black beans (the same amount of garbanzos too) -- more than enough to last me for several years since, of course, beans double in size when cooked. 12 gallons of beans. Well, I have some work ahead of me to find creative uses for these little guys.

I also have a very large (I mean like 3 times the size of my head) hubbard squash and a container of these weird dry corn kernels that are also quite large compared to the normally tooth sized corn kernels we are used to seeing in the US. they are closer to the size of a dime or even a nickel, than the size of a 10 year old's tooth. This dried corn was procured at a nameless international food market some years ago with no label, so I'm not even sure what to call them, though in my mind I have begun calling this particular ingredient parching corn -- but keep in mind that this is only my own made up name and not based on any kind of research or fact.

So with these three things in mind I decided to make something that I am calling the Three Sisters Stew. Some people may not be familiar with the term three sisters. It was used to describe the trio of corn, beans and squash that native americans began cultivating a few thousand years ago and which sustained them fairly abundantly through the colonial invasion of the 1700's and 1800's, when most native groups were uprooted and forced to take on new agricultural practices in new habitats out of necessity rather than choice.

The three sisters grew well together with corn creating a stalk for beans to grab onto and climb up and with the broad leaves of squash creating a blanket over the surrounding ground that kept moisture in and weeds down. The three complimented each other nutritionally as well, providing many more necessary nutrients than either crop could provide alone. The beans and corn together provided a complete protein and the combination of these with the squash kept the corn from leaching important minerals and nutrients from those whose diet was based on this important early native-to-america grain.

In addition, corn alone can greatly drain nutrients and especially nitrogen from the soil, being a heavy feeder while it grows. The beans fix nitrogen in the soil and so, in addition to providing good nutrition for people, these three sisters also protected the delicate balance of the soil for much longer than a monocrop of any of these three would alone.

In Ohio, there is archaeological evidence of these three sisters being dominant in native gardens dating back to at least 1000 years ago. Currently, Ohio has quite bastardized this tradition by planting huge tracts of genetically modified corn and soy beans primarily used for animal feed -- not together but strictly separated along farm boundaries. Pumpkin farmers plant huge fields of pumpkins for the annual pumpkin mania that happens each fall around Halloween. Most of our other squashes and almost all our edible corn and beans are trucked in from the southwest, California and other countries.

Well, anyway, I'm sure I could go on and on about how I wish the current food system was different -- more localized, less dependent on trucks and pesticides and not threatened by the booming "green" energy of biomass, ethanol and corporate biodiesel, but that's for another time.
Three Sisters Stew

soak 2 cups black beans
and 1 cup dried corn kernels
in 6 cups clean water
soak these overnight

Dump soaking water. Beans and corn should take up 1/3 of your pot. Fill pot to 2/3 full with water and bring to a boil. Boil lightly for up to 6 hours, adding more water if needed. (I tend to boil my beans for a long time or else I have a hard time digesting them appropriately -- in other words they make me fart a lot and make me constipated -- if you don't have this problem then follow whatever guidelines you usually use for cooking dried beans. I think most sources say that soaked beans only have to boil for a couple hours).

While beans and corn are cooking, bake an orange squash in an oven at about 375*. Can Use Hubbard, acorn, butternut or whatever kind of winter squash you have. Cut squash in half and put face down in about 1 inch water and bake til soft. Pull from oven when soft and let cool.

Saute
3 Tbsp. cumin seed
and 1 head of minced garlic in
1/4 cup butter or oil (I like butter better because it has a richer flavor)

At the end of the boiling,

add 4 sheets crumbled nori wrapper or a handful of dulse (a type of seaweed)
add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of brown sugar
add salt to taste
add cayenne pepper to taste

Add
up to 4 cups of the cooked squash
the sauteed garlic, butter and cumin
to the beans and corn.

If you like meat, add some chunks of cooked sausage, pork roast or maybe even chicken.

Let all this cook together for about 1/2 hour and then serve garnished with

chopped parsley
ramps
chives
cilantro

Herbs for Bronchitis

2008-03-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

It's been snowing, sleeting, raining, blowing and otherwise messy here all day. I love this weather for the time being. I have felt like doing nothing more than hibernating this winter. I've been reading a lot (A Sorrow in Our Heart, Eat Pray Love, A Language Older Than Words, Gods Bits of Wood, Rumi, The Path of Transformation, Dark Alliance, various magazines, etc.), writing a lot (here, an overview of Ohio for an upcoming event, journaling, poetry, etc.), making myself delicious and nurturing food, working as little as possible and generally relaxing into a slower state of affairs that feels really appropriate for the most winter-y winter we've had in Ohio for a long time.

I've almost kicked my bronchitis which knocked me flat on my ass before I could ignore all the warning signs that I needed a very bear-like winter -- one where I would come out of my den every once in a while to stretch, fart, look around blearily and assess the situation and head right back inside my cave. I'm even living in a basement -- my bearish winter couldn't have been more appropriately manifested. The intense cough of the bronchitis is daily getting better on a heavy dose of the following herbs:

1/4 cup marshmallow root
1/4 cup mullein
1/4 cup horsetail/shavegrass

Add a few Tbsp of mint or a few bags of ginger to this tea to make it taste better.

I brew these into a quart of hot tea at bedtime and then in the morning use the same herbs from the night before to brew one more quart which I drink throughout the day. The cough is greatly improving though sometimes I still sound like a hiccuping, wheezing high pitched engine as my bronchial tubes pull tightly shut during some of my coughing fits. Though this is really much much better -- each day it happens a little less. (1 quart of this tea a day is probably sufficient for most people -- mine just got so bad, I was drinking two).

I should warn you that if you really need a quick fix for your bronchial problems, herbs are probably not the way to go, as they take time, patience, attention, consistency and commitment. (Nor is waiting until you are drooling with the effort every time you cough before going to the doctor, which is precisely what I did). I do recommend continuing to be active -- even in my bear like, bronchial weakened state, I have managed to go walking with the dog every day this winter -- always with a heavy scarf protecting my mouth and neck from the cold air.

If you had told me 5 months ago that I would spend 2 months of this winter sick, coughing and weak I probably would have laughed at you and gone about my insanely busy schedule, glad I hadn't let your naysaying ruin my perfectly constructed house of cards. I was actually thinking I would start my own business this winter and sat down several times to write out a business plan and compose key emails. But, instead of starting a business, I just got really, really sick. It's funny -- and really fortunate -- how our bodies take over sometimes when our minds stubbornly refuse to accept our limits. I am sure I got sick so that I would not embark on a premature business venture that I am in now way ready to begin.

I am grateful and feel, tentatively, that maybe I just might have learned my lesson this time, maybe, finally. I am cautiously hopeful that this is true. And more confidently hopeful that this winter of hibernation will end gracefully and gratefully with the coming of spring.

Spaylaywitheepi -- A Fierce and Final Act of Forgiveness

2008-03-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

I've been reading Alan Eckhart's "A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh". It's a historical narrative that reads like a novel but is based entirely on well-researched documentation of conversations, newspapers articles, oral history and many other sources.

The thing I love about this story is learning what a key role the Ohio Territory (as defined by the great big Ohio River in the east and south) played in the history for the battle to control this country, this land currently known as the United States. Even as white colonizers pushed hard to the west on all fronts, they were stopped again and again by the native people in Ohio -- primarily the Shawnee tribe of which Tecumseh was a member -- but also the Delaware, Potowatamies, and many others. Kentucky and Pennsylvania were well settled before whites were able to get a foothold in Ohio. The River, as a natural barrier, of course was a huge part of that. But also the Shawnee were fierce warriors who first fought for their land, then negotiated a treaty with the whites to keep their land and then fought hard for their land again when that treaty was broken again and again by white settlers.

Being an archaeologist by training (though not really in my heart) this is especially interesting to me since I had heard somewhere during the time I was working on my thesis that the Ohio territory was largely abandoned by the time white settlers began to move in. This seems to be categorically false. Not only was it not abandoned, it was highly settled and heavily defended long after many other lands around it were stolen, native populations terrorized, cheated and beaten out of their ancestral homes.

This is also interesting because I recently worked at a place -- a beautiful place in southeast Ohio full of forests, rolling hills, much plant medicine and a generally sacred feeling -- that had been named by some unknown psychic as the burial place of Tecumseh. This is a dirty rumor of course, as Tecumseh's burial place is to this day unknown, but an interesting connection nonetheless.

I'd like to think that this spirit of rebellion and fierce attachment is still part of this land. That the blood of the people who were destroyed on this very ground seeped in and somehow, in some fierce and final act of forgiveness will seep back out through soil, streams, roots, leaves and infuse us, its current inhabitants with the ability to withstand the coming invasions that hope to (again) strip the land of its resources, destroy its people and count the profits in some far off city.

I got a phone call last night at about 12;30 from Elisa Young who is a 9th generation Meigs County resident fighting the proposed resumption of coal mining in southeast Ohio and the 5 new coal fired power plants currently being proposed in her town -- which sits on the banks of the same Ohio River or Spaylaywitheepi as it was known to the Shawnee. Elisa works with Meigs-CAN (Community Action Network is what it stands for I believe).

Elisa told me last night that the coal company has a 90 acre surface mine with 2000 acres of initial underground mines slated for immediate development beginning on April 1st (2008). The coal company, once all permits are completed in the next couple weeks will begin blasting the 90 acre site, removing its "overburden" (otherwise known as a perfectly harmless and intact mountaintop) to create sludge impoundment ponds that will be located above and upstream from many local homeowners. This surface mine will be used for processing the coal that will come out of the 2000+ acre mines they will be developing underground.

The coal company has been busy buying out homes and properties from people with little bargaining power, forcing them to move to other areas which have a high potential for coal mine development in the near future.

I had been loosely following the developments in the neighboring county, but it was a surprise to hear that the blasting could start as early as the next 3 weeks. The company has refused to release relevant information to local landowners, like how much money they will carry in a bond to pay for any damages inflicted to private property by the coming blasts and coal mine development.

There is no doubt that the Ohio Territory is once again under attack. It is land coveted by coal companies seeking to make a profit on the low-quality coal they left behind when they abandoned these mines after past intrusions (in the late 1800's and again in the early 90's when higher quality and more easily accessible -- read more profitable -- coal was available elsewhere). Now, with exponentially increasing demand for cheap electricity to run our 4 televisions per household, to dry our clothes, to plug in our fuel efficient feel good electric cars, the Ohio River and surrounding rolling hills are once again hot property. Not only because there is still coal under the ground here, but because coal can be easily and relatively cheaply moved up and down the Ohio River and water from the Ohio River can be used to cool the operations of these power-generating facilities.

I am hoping I can find some of the strength of this land, of its people and its history in myself in order to defend it properly. It is after all the place I know as home. It is a place I feel in my bones.

The idea that we can somehow save ourselves from the effects of this ravenous beast of capitalism, which demands constant and exponential growth, by switching our light bulb choices, buying a more fuel efficient car or eating local food alone is an illusion and a distraction from the realities facing us. It doesn't mean we shouldn't do these things but there must be more.

And yet, I feel confused, powerless and afraid. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should or can do anything more or different than what I'm doing right now. My computer is sucking up that coal powered energy as sure as anything else. Maybe we all have to just watch in horror as this beast crashes in on itself. Maybe we will all be saved by the return of some messiah. Maybe nothing will happen and this agony of empty words and inaction will haunt us to the death. Maybe Ohio will turn into a desert and the bones of Tecumseh will finally emerge and "he will be angry" as Mary Oliver says. I just don't know.