Christmas Day, 2016
|
The Desert Sleeps, waiting for water -- then wakes up in an instant.
This is a little moss heart that spends most of its life dry and brown. I've been watching and watering it for seven years. 
|
This picture was literally taken five minutes after the first one --
I just satisfied the moss's thirst and it came alive, immediately onto the job of photosynthesis. 
|
Permaculture
After my house fire in '09, after my new home was built and I was able to settle in all the furniture I had been given, August '11, I still felt too core depleted to have the energy or courage to re-start my private counseling practice, which, of course, had fallen away in the years since the fire.
I've always gotten high on learning new things, and literally days before the fire, I completed my first Permaculture training. Since I was young, I've grown my own food, and kept my own hens for eggs. Permaculture felt both like a personal and an ecological fit for me. A good entry-way into the next phase of my life.
With two buds 30 and 40 years younger than I we co-created the Slow Water Team -- the idea being to teach folks how to 'plant' water slowly into our desert landscape. We did Permaculture consultations for the City of Sedona, spawned and received an ADEQ Grant through the Oak Creek Watershed Council.
The part of the work that stoked my creative furnace most was going to individual properties and doing a permaculture assessment for them. It seemed a natural fit to me to envision how one could bring all the parts of the landscape into a harmonious working whole.
We did this work until 2015 when I joined Sedona Soul Adventures and started doing my own Awareness Education and Transformational Counseling work with people again. In the interim, my abilities to touch soul had opened, deepened,and gained in inner skill and presence. I was replenished and ready to go.
So, in my life I have had three really very different, or so I thought, professional works: music, psychotherapy and body work, and permaculture.
One day it dawned on me that actually all three worlds were the same, the purpose was the same, only the venue was simply different.
The overall goal is to create a harmonious whole within whatever the playing field: playing a sting quartet (or being part of a symphony orchestra), is really very much the same as doing family counseling therapy, or giving a Trager session, helping an individual bring their own past demons into ease and balance; again, working on a permaculture site presents the same opportunity.
In each the desired outcome is to get all the working parts to function/ flow together, so as to form a well-balanced working whole. How cool is that?
After my house fire in '09, after my new home was built and I was able to settle in all the furniture I had been given, August '11, I still felt too core depleted to have the energy or courage to re-start my private counseling practice, which, of course, had fallen away in the years since the fire.
I've always gotten high on learning new things, and literally days before the fire, I completed my first Permaculture training. Since I was young, I've grown my own food, and kept my own hens for eggs. Permaculture felt both like a personal and an ecological fit for me. A good entry-way into the next phase of my life.
With two buds 30 and 40 years younger than I we co-created the Slow Water Team -- the idea being to teach folks how to 'plant' water slowly into our desert landscape. We did Permaculture consultations for the City of Sedona, spawned and received an ADEQ Grant through the Oak Creek Watershed Council.
The part of the work that stoked my creative furnace most was going to individual properties and doing a permaculture assessment for them. It seemed a natural fit to me to envision how one could bring all the parts of the landscape into a harmonious working whole.
We did this work until 2015 when I joined Sedona Soul Adventures and started doing my own Awareness Education and Transformational Counseling work with people again. In the interim, my abilities to touch soul had opened, deepened,and gained in inner skill and presence. I was replenished and ready to go.
So, in my life I have had three really very different, or so I thought, professional works: music, psychotherapy and body work, and permaculture.
One day it dawned on me that actually all three worlds were the same, the purpose was the same, only the venue was simply different.
The overall goal is to create a harmonious whole within whatever the playing field: playing a sting quartet (or being part of a symphony orchestra), is really very much the same as doing family counseling therapy, or giving a Trager session, helping an individual bring their own past demons into ease and balance; again, working on a permaculture site presents the same opportunity.
In each the desired outcome is to get all the working parts to function/ flow together, so as to form a well-balanced working whole. How cool is that?
Rain completely changes the smell of the desert.
It also changes the contours:
It also changes the contours:
Yellows are bright in the desert and things bloom after the rain.
A few of my Favorite Desert Books:
Antoine Saint Exupery: The Little Prince: "And here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." -- one of the most tender love stories I know. Saint Exupery was a early pilot -- did night flights. He crashed in the Sinai desert -- and this story was gifted to him as he repaired his plane and facing death.
Brad Lancaster: Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life and Landscape Brad is pure creative regenerative brilliance; his work has changed the landscape face of Tucson, AZ -- all the way into getting Humanure approved in the city ordinances.
Craig Childs: THE SECRET KNOWLEDGE OF WATER -- There Are Two Easy Ways to Die in the Desert: Thirst and Drowning. This is a totally brilliant and inspiring work. Child's writings are pure oxygen for the soul. Also: ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS.
Gary Paul Nathan: The Desert Smells Like Rain, A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country
Jean Giono: The Man Who Planted Trees: The story of a shepherd's single handed quest to re-forest a barren valley.
The Legacy of the Oak Creek Watershed is a lovely witness to our immediate area complete with beautiful photographs. It was put together by the Oack Creek Watershed Council of which I was a member for several years.
Masanobu Fukuoka: SOWING SEEDS IN THE DESERT: NATURAL FARMING, GLOBAL RESTORATION AND ULTIMATE FOOD SECURITY.
Antoine Saint Exupery: The Little Prince: "And here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." -- one of the most tender love stories I know. Saint Exupery was a early pilot -- did night flights. He crashed in the Sinai desert -- and this story was gifted to him as he repaired his plane and facing death.
Brad Lancaster: Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life and Landscape Brad is pure creative regenerative brilliance; his work has changed the landscape face of Tucson, AZ -- all the way into getting Humanure approved in the city ordinances.
Craig Childs: THE SECRET KNOWLEDGE OF WATER -- There Are Two Easy Ways to Die in the Desert: Thirst and Drowning. This is a totally brilliant and inspiring work. Child's writings are pure oxygen for the soul. Also: ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS.
Gary Paul Nathan: The Desert Smells Like Rain, A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country
Jean Giono: The Man Who Planted Trees: The story of a shepherd's single handed quest to re-forest a barren valley.
The Legacy of the Oak Creek Watershed is a lovely witness to our immediate area complete with beautiful photographs. It was put together by the Oack Creek Watershed Council of which I was a member for several years.
Masanobu Fukuoka: SOWING SEEDS IN THE DESERT: NATURAL FARMING, GLOBAL RESTORATION AND ULTIMATE FOOD SECURITY.
www.rockymountainseeds.org:
Belle an Bill Mcdorman are the most amazing seed save pioneers I know.
I was privileged to attend their Seed School. They have a global perspective.
The world needs their wisdom now.
I cannot recommend their teachings highly enough.
Theirs is one of the most generous, linked, informative web sites I know.
Go and enjoy.
The desert is far from bleak. It is one of the most colorful and alive places I have ever lived.
Belle an Bill Mcdorman are the most amazing seed save pioneers I know.
I was privileged to attend their Seed School. They have a global perspective.
The world needs their wisdom now.
I cannot recommend their teachings highly enough.
Theirs is one of the most generous, linked, informative web sites I know.
Go and enjoy.
The desert is far from bleak. It is one of the most colorful and alive places I have ever lived.