Old faces new Places, New places old Faces

I’m sitting at the San Jose Airport on a chair facing the window in the direction of the plane I will momentarily be boarding to fly across the Pacific Ocean and land in an archipelago, thousands of miles from any substantial land mass, to what Mark Twain dubbed “The Sandwich Islands.”  I am 25 years old.  To some, this is regarded as old, and others young, and in the past, this age may be interpreted contrary to the present. 

We’re always spinning, and it is desirable to have constants such as family, landmarks, arbitrary dates like New Years and holidays, to hold onto.  I have found these helpful with grounding and gaining faith or trust in the world and processes outside of yourself.  I would suggest this as convincing an argument for a reason to choose to believe in a higher power.  In the last year, I have explored the new, in the form of Asia for 8 months and the Middle East for 2 months, and have recently come back to America, where I have attempted to utilize all my abilities and resources to revisit the familiar.   To arrive at a reliable geographical site (that contains a personal history) and to try to understand it within the frame of one’s past context.  And then to examine experiences post being there to discover a healthier, deeper perspective on this life, this world and oneself.   Balancing this with new places and old faces, and old places with new faces has been the crux of the last month on the mainland, from New York to Colorado to California.

I now face Hawai’i.  My home for over 3 years, where I grew to love ecology, observation, getting dirty, plant identification, building and growing (shelter, food and community) from the ground up, appreciation and respect for traditional culture, and formed many lasting relationships with people and place.  It has been a year since I stepped foot on the lava rock, inhaled the coastal tropical sea breeze, and engaged with the vivid and pure sensory experience that has remained with me on my travels and occasionally in my dreams.  I miss it dearly but do not long and weep for Hawai’i, and given that I am here for 3 weeks, it appears to an appropriate length of time.  It is my final escapade before returning to school after a 5+ year absence.  I am very grateful to be returning to education in such a nurturing setting as the Blue Ridge Mountains.

With life, I accept the chaos and randomness, though appreciate when the patterns and symmetry come to the forefront of my attention.  (Both schools of thought are always present, it is what we are drawing our mind and attention to in the moment that dominates our reality.  Also there is scientific proof and debate of both theories existing simultaneously and not being contradictory [thanks Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Everything].) What lays ahead of me is a 2 week Permaculture Design Course (PDC) on Oahu, instructed by a friend of mine who nearly convinced me to take the course 3 years ago.  There are multiple Guest Instructors who I have tremendous respect for, including the woman who helped bring me to the island of Maui in the first place and introduce me to land I would fall in love with and the concept of ecological design, exactly 5 years ago.  Meeting her on the side of the Hana Highway in between Waianapanapa and Airport Road to the present has been a journey.

The upcoming PDC will outline design principles and ethics based on the observation of natural systems, and the integration and implementation of those systems into the functioning of those landscapes and the lives of those interacting with them.  Paraphrased from Introduction to Permaculture, the best way to learn Permaculture is to go through a walk in the forest and observe all the life around you .  After working in sustainable agriculture in the tropics of Hawai’i, the high altitude mountains of Nepal and the desert of Israel and Nevada, I would agree.  I can relate to how all systems are fairly similar with the flow of water, structure of the soil and the functioning of the plants, displaying their disparity mostly in directional flows and names of the species.  The design techniques will help me understand this foundation of nature and apply this knowledge to diverse ecosystems.  I am grateful to take this course in Hawai’i, where I have a familiarity of plants, landscape and function.  This is also the place where my passion for this understanding began to germinate.

I have seen edible forest gardens in the desert with little to no water access, tropical food forests grown in geodesic domes at 8,000 ft, fully self-sustaining communities in the woods in the North East America, 200 edible/medicinal plant species being grown in 1/10^th of an acre (in an area that receives snow), small villages subsistent from the land for their shelter (natural building using the clay deposits in their soil) and high food production and seed saving in Southeast Asia, and people trying to integrate rather than segregate with nature across the globe, based primarily on Permaculture Design Principles (another way to say Ecologically Conscious Design). It began theoretically 40 years ago in Australia, and this and the following generation are aiming to prove or disprove if this is a viable solution to regenerate our society and landscape presently designed without conscious care for the land being farmed (earth), people (farmers and consumers), and community in mind.   The jury is still out, though small-scale solutions have been noted across the globe with favorable to spectacular outcomes.

I will certainly be learning more in the next few weeks, and I will share it here in the future.

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Highlights on the places I’ve visited since returning to America:

Northeast (Fingerlakes in upstate New York and Western Massachusetts).  Blown away by some artists, potters, woodworkers, major community and co-op vibes, wineries and breweries (Two Goats!), and the beauty of the area (specifically Watkins Glens and the foxes).

Colorado:  Culture of the state whose passions include Eat Good Food, Drink Good Beer, Play Outdoors!  Aspen-Tree with Eden, family vibes, cooking and biking and highway driving!

California: Chico to Mt. Lassen to Bay Area.  The beauty and amazing ecology of the Northern California Forests, a very warmed heart as a result of seeing familiar faces, gardens, family and friends.  Beer drinking, beer brewing, Jazz and Brass/World Live Music, San Francisco’s old style architecture and modern interiors and artisan food makers and bakers.  Brief reunions with friends, More family vibes, Brotherly bonding and Dal Bhat Khane.

Hawai’i:  Kolea Farm on Oahu North Shore.  Green, lush, vibrant topography.  Oahu’s stunning rock faces, green forest, true blue oceans, bursting flowers, towering canopy trees, diversity of plant species, make this, among millions of other reasons, a really special place.   Used the o’o, weedwhacker, machete, sickle, and worked with cut flowers, harvesting, and landscaping in a few short days.  Papaya, White Sapote, Soursop, Lychee, Ice Cream and Apple Banana, Jamaican Liloquoi.  Tropical Fruit, how I missed thee!

APW: Today I Ate a Sandwich

A Short and Crucial Daily Gratitude.

Today I ate a sandwich.  

The bread, which I had baked yesterday and had proofed overnight, began before I mixed the flour water salt and yeast.  We'll have to go back earlier than the long day in the fields when the farmers harvested and threshed the wheat, and before they sowed the seeds.  I would claim too, this bread would not have exited the oven with its spongey chewy center and crispy crust, before the cultivars of wheat were naturally selected and bred into those which we enjoy.  Its inception does not predate beginningless time, though when the evolution of the homo sapiens discovered fermentation and the breaking down of substances to synthesize into new forms of life, thus growing enough food to support more of its kind.  Many thanks for all those conditions to occur, I love a good sandwich.

On the bread was a spread of hummus, which I also made the day before.  After refining many recipes of friends,  tastings at multiple recommendations of those on a life long journey to find the ‘world’s best hummus,' and experimenting on my own, I can now make hummus.  This occurred through the many stories and meals shared during travels with Israelis in both Nepal in Israel.  This adds a great list of places and people to be grateful for besides the farmers, and associate many memories with the sandwich on my plate.

The beans were purchased from the local co-op, with the most impressive bulk section I have come across in the North East (though I am not well traveled in this region of the world).  Members bring their own bags and containers to minimize the packaging and ecological harm plastic creates with its inability to be ‘re’cycled or ‘up’cycled.  Many more people in proximity of being apart of and responsible for the creation of the co-op to express my gratitude to.

Of course I will have to thank the neighbors, for they raised the chickens that popped out what is now the hard boiled eggs that I am currently digesting.  And then there is the cheese.  From another neighboring farm, whose goats are as happy as the grass that they fertilize, and the family farm who is nourished (economically, socially, culturally and spiritually) through the act of nourishing others.

I do not consider each facet every time I consume a sandwich.  But this is an attitude of the integrated nature as opposed to the segregated nature of our culture that I am in the process of cultivating.  Food and all design systems would do best to consider the producers, consumers, the communities and the planet, as they all effect each other.

Why gratitude?   Gratitude -> Compassion -> Kindness -> Happiness

But the real reason…

Pausing for a second, and taking a deep breath, I find myself enjoying a better tasting sandwich!

APW: Observe and Learn

I have difficulty entering through the main entrance.
Though it tends to be the most accessible,
Well paved and immaculately landscaped,
It is also the most expected.

And when one follows the path of what is expected,
The future offers this idea of comfort, familiarity and knowing,
Though concerning what is to come,
Aside from certain organic propensities,
Patterns of growth and general seasonal tides,
Nothing is known.

 

I have been living on a Kibbutz in the Arava Desert in Israel for the last two weeks.  It is the smallest Kibbutz in Israel, and is in the process of privatizing (a trend for nearly all kibbutzim in Israel it would seem), therefore it is losing some of the traditional ideals it was founded on.   It began as many others with the Zionist movement, though this one practices Reform Judaism (very rare in Israel, much more popular in the states), and has evolved into something truly unique and most extraordinary.

Through a handful of Kibbutz Members who had a dream, this place has grown and affected the lives of many visitors who walk through the land, and has created a home and community for those who live here.  It shares a common structure with most Kibbutzim.  They raise cows for Dairy and have multiple large scale Date Orchards.   All the essential and desirable structures of a community, from dining hall to football field (soccer) to pool to bomb shelter (also functioning as a library) to gardens to classrooms are here, and then there is the side that most attracted me to this place.  The Center for Creative Ecology.  There is an Eco-Campus and Eco-Park, along with all the natural (mud) building and alternative energy sources (mostly solar) found throughout the Kibbutz.

Everywhere you look in the Eco Centers on the kibbutz you draw inspiration.  From the parabolic solar ovens to window gardens, to the finely crafted animal playground made from mud and tires to the sheetmulched and seed saving gardens.   Recycled art fills the landscape like beautifully organized scattered trash, and mature trees surrounded by beneficial plants fill up the once barren desert.  A tea house, offering healthy food options utilizes the plants grown on the land for produce and dried herbal teas.  Not to mention the stunning beauty of the Arava in a valley where one watches the sun and moon rise to the east over the vivid red and oranges of the Jordanian Mountains.

I have come here not as a volunteer on the kibbutz or an eco-volunteer, not as a becoming member of the kibbutz or as a visitor from Israel.  I am not a part of the Green Apprenticeship (although I would very much like to be one day) and I am not just passing through for a few days, but instead staying for a month.

I consider myself very fortunate to have this experience.  To become involved in the EcoCampus for a brief period and help contribute in any way I can.  I bring with me a background of organic gardening, nursery work, some alternative building and experience with Permaculture Design, and more experience in community living.   I have found work also at a nearby Kibbutz, where I bike ride to work and help with the growing of arid medicinal plants and erecting a shade structure the size of one dunam. 

After the first week I have found my rhythm and routine here, from watering the plants in the morning, feeding the chickens, feeding the BioGas, stretching and starting the work day at first light.  Then there is either work in the garden, mostly seed saving and maintaining the container gardens as we approach the hot season rendering it very difficult to grow plants in the desert without shade and ample water (both in limited supply), and maintaining all the natural building structures (such as 'painting' on the roof our dome kitchen another layer of mud.  We all live in domes in the EcoCampus, designed with passive solar heating to effectively keep the inside of the structure warm in winter and cool in summer.

I am learning here through observation.  The mode of kibbutz life begins with take what you need, give what you can, and you can see the place thrive and take care of you.  Everyone here wears many hats, one of the head gardeners is also the rabbi, the natural building instructer is also in charge of marketing and networking, people overlap working in the dairy, the orchards, the kitchen and the cleaning crew etc.  And there are some absolutely incredibly individuals who do a little bit of everything.  I am watching the plants too, reacting to the especially hot sun, the unseasonal storm, how they thrive when the spacing is adequate or stretch for the sun when everything is densely compact, how they respond to the compost tea in different dosages, how different varieties of the same plant grow substantially different, and which is best for the next season to save the seeds. 

Everywhere you go, before you so eagerly interact, it is most appropriate and important to take a step back and observe and then you and the environment can both mutually benefit each other.  It is contrary to this attitude that we are at the state we are at with our planet, both socially and environmentally.

You may wonder how did I arrive here in the first place and find myself under these circumstances.  Very simply, I showed up.   I had a contact through a friend who lived here.  I talked to many people.  I observed.  And I saw where I could help, and then I offered it.  Yes, having a skillset is beneficial.  Though when you know the environment you are seeking and have an intention of what you hope to learn, the path to pursuit becomes more clear.  This experience is very rich for me and I do not need to receive money to feel like I am growing from it.

In a sense, I have tried to live my life like this, and I am grateful for who I have become in the last 5 years while following this philosophy.  In a month I will return to the states.  It will be the first time I am going without a plane ticket out in 5 years (not including Hawai'i as the states).  I will observe what has changed and how I have changed.  And I hope to share valuable time with family and friends.  It will certainly be a culture shock, perhaps on the same level as life in Nepal.  I will write more in the future on this. 

Tentative schedule:

Now to June 21 :: Israel -> New York
June 21 to July to Aug :: NY -> Colorado -> California -> New Mexico -> North Carolina (Maybe like this)
August to Dec :: North Carolina - Fall Semester at Warren Wilson College

And a short piece here that I wrote recently concerning affairs in this modern world:

Evolution has brought us this far, and in this last century, we have dangerously chosen to play the role of God with our intelligence. 

I would like to say that nothing is lost, nothing is forgotten, but this would be a lie.  We have lost thousands and thousands of species, languages and cultures in our efforts of becoming conquerors as opposed to harmonious with the natural world.  There are many efforts to unify people, to bring them together, though this is not usually an appropriate measure to take. 

In an ideal world, people would be peaceful and content in their place, feeling strong with their own culture and roots and having the opportunity to travel.  Every region would have a local market that can provide its sustenance and be able to trade for what is beneficial.    If one lives in alpine climates where snow covers the ground in winter and this person feels they cannot live without tropical fruit, they should consider relocating.

We are at interest crux on this planet.  And it is interesting because it is not expected, yet it is created, almost entirely, by man.  Everything in the last century occurred so quickly.  And while damage can be done so quickly, it is a long process to restore something back to its pristine state, and we are not accustomed now for waiting for life to happen.  We have grown to a place where we have found control and urges and we wish to see results and gain satisfaction immediately.  Life ought not to be viewed as a race to the finish, but as an enjoyable walk through a park.

To begin to regenerate landscapes, not only to a state of sustainability, but into a nature as diverse, complex and thriving as a rainforest, it begins with a change of mindset. It begins with small steps and patience, with positive and comprehensive thinking.  Once this mindset is achieved and the principles and ethics are solid, we can begin to approach each unique landscape and culture appropriately, not using the same uniform model because it worked once somewhere else.

We have grown into something larger than we can handle.  Though we have made tremendous leaps in our research, there has been many casualties, and there will continue to be.  If we can begin to eliminate our desire for wanting more and faster results, we can turn around and begin to repair some of what was lost.  However, the trend continues in the opposite direction.  Best advice:  Get children involved in garden classrooms and community service programs with great mentors that will stay with them for the rest of their life, so they in turn will be able to impact the next generation positively.  Teach them how to observe and how to learn instead of what to learn.

Keep it small, keep it local.

Happy growing,

Matthew