I can't help it. I see the buds busting out on the blueberry bushes on the balcony, the tarragon pushing upwards and I start to get excited!
So off I went to the local nursery and bought seeds (plus a meyer lemon tree) and spent way more than I really needed to. Impatience is expensive and lonely as there are many local seed-swaps that I could have participated in if I had been smarter!
However, this is what I have planted thus far:
This is a space atop the worm bin and instead of the vague mushroom log I envisioned, I found this mushroom kit for shiitake mushrooms at Homesteader's Emporium. It lives for now in a plastic pot atop a dinner plate, but I'm sure I'll find a nicer house for it soon.
And if you like referring to the base plan, this is where the worm bin and the plants etc atop it live in relation to the rest of the Balcony Permaculture Food Forest:
"Because the relationship between self and world is reciprocal, it is not a matter of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the Earth, the Earth heals us."~~Joanna Macy
I want this post to be one of gratitude! Through my permie course, I am getting to know an amazing group of people with a diverse range of experiences and viewpoints. They are also hooking me up with super-interesting (I acknowledge that assessment is relative to my personal point of view) resources and happenings around the city and around the world.
So here in random order is some of the stuff they have helped me find or expand my knowledge of:
Songza, now a regular part of the sound-track to my day when I'm home, working, reading, working out, checking out updates on twitter and facebook, daydreaming, knitting, cooking or whatever. (note strange omission of housework)
Occupy Love, awesome documentary about a new paradigm for a post-peak-oil world
the kraut guy, the guru of fermented foods, Sandor Katz.
a new appreciation of kale
anticipation of tea with Toby as often as possible (the amazing golden bird -- more on her later)
mushroom expert, Paul Stamets:
Joanna Macy, deep ecology, buddhist thought and environmental activism
Toby Hemenway and permaculture as a design approach that fits into a larger philosophy and approach
The biggest thing the group is helping me personally with is letting go of the anger I've been carrying around for a while at the state of things in the world and the agony of grief I've been experiencing for the loss of our natural environments. This group is giving me hope that there is a tipping point, that as our world of peak-oil collapses, there is a way, a design strategy and an energy of positivity, inclusiveness, sharing and growth that is already happening!
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