The Bees and the Balance June 23, 2008

This weekend during a heat wave that rendered me completely useless, I stumbled upon an episode of Nature Silence of the Bees (KCET) about Colony Collapse Disorder and it’s suspected causes. Recently a few of the kids in my neighborhood threw rocks at a hive and I was pretty mad, trying to explain and educate these kids made me look like ‘that mom’ and probably once again embarrassed my kids….so of course I made them watch the program too… along with one other captive. A few parts were pretty heavy but they got the message loud and clear. My kids understand to a certain extent, I have several plants whose flowers did not get pollinated and they have no fruit, but nothing beats perspective.

There was a segment in which they showed a village in China whose overuse of unregulated pesticides killed all of their bee population…the bees have not come back. They still grow pears but they pollinate by hand using chicken feathers and dried pollen that they hand collect. Complete terrifying insanity!!! You can’t send a man to do a bee’s job. They are the link to food variety and flowering plant life which is the majority of the things we should eat, fruits and nuts. Grains are wind pollinated for the most part but talk about a drab carb diet.

Its not just the bees. They are not the first warning that we need to change our food system. One of the theory’s mentioned as a possible cause was mono-cropping. The idea was that the bees were being malnourished by only feeding on one type of flower. Imagine if we only ate potatoes, everyday, all day, for a month. We would be pretty weak and sick, it doesn’t take long to become malnourished. So just another possible theory. There are many more. Check out the program if you get a chance the full episode is available at :

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/by-title/introduction-2/38/

“Life hangs delicately in the balance” ~ 70’s era nature show narrator cliché

I like it because it is so true and can be applied to every aspect of our existence on this earth. Balance in the garden is natural and right.

seek balance :: find happiness

dandelioness

Arabian Coffee Plants Growing in Albertsons? June 19, 2008

The other day I was in the grocery store and I of course always check out the plants and cut flowers:( when I stumbled upon an Arabian coffee plant. I was like neato! but it came packaged in a coffee mug, how chic!?! I wasn’t about to pay 8 bucks for a coffee mug and one plant. I could buy the seeds for less. But because of my journey I am a bit reluctant to plant more than what we need for sustenance and ornamentation. (mind you my kitchen looks like a miniature jungle with all of seedlings I’ve sown the past few weeks) The point is that I am trying to keep it manageable for my husband and offspring.

I don’t drink coffee regularly, but I do want experience growing native Ethiopian plants. This is pretty darn close. I think any program has to take into account its usefulness to the people it serves. Of course it is important to introduce diversity but not at the exclusion of tradition. My goal is to introduce our best mini farming methods and fuse them with the experience, traditions, and best practices of Ethiopia’s farmers. My mission is not an attempt to go and say your wrong do it this way. But as partners lets work towards increasing the success and productivity of the small farms with agricultural practices that rebuild the soil, conserve resources, and feed the people.

• 95% of Ethiopia’s population have and maintain a small to mid-sized farm
• The primary method of irrigation is rainfall
• Rural water development methods need to be explored

I hope to determine on this visit what the direct needs of the farmers are and seek out solutions based on rediscovered and sustainable technologies. Main criteria is that it needs to be easily self managed.

There is no one right way. I know I will learn much more than I will ever be able to teach. Long live life long learning!

…back to Albertsons, so I didn’t buy it. Then I had to go in and pick up something from a different one and low and behold someone else dropped a mug and broke it… the coffee plant was now without a coffee mug and I bought it for $2.50. yippie! Ya just don’t find plants like that lurking around, ya know. Oh and the leaves look like they have been heavily waxed, they are gleaming, blinding, and just way too much… but I am sure after a few years of loving neglect they will dull down to a healthy glow. When will they learn….lol

now get off the computer and grow something,

smiles…dandelioness

Yellow Fever, menengitis, and typhoid, oh my! or Shot Damn! June 18, 2008

I have spent the better part of this week combing the CDC website (thanks Joseph) to see what vaccinations to get and it is really pretty scary… I don’t like needles, and I don’t like to be sick, and this time I just really can’t afford to be sick. So I will clench my teeth , practice my Lamaze breathing, and try to be a big girl.

I have been reassured by some of the other ‘lifers’ that I know living there that unless I am just totally reckless in food choice, drinking water sources, and behavior, I probably wont get sick even without the vaccs’. The Girl Scout in me insists that I’d better be prepared. So, shots it is.

Another thing that I need to do for the sake of disease avoidance is sew up my sleep sheet. Basically two twin flat sheets that are sewn to resemble a thin sleeping bag. A nifty little contraption that I used at hostels in Europe. No matter where you sleep, 5 star or 0 star, it is nice to have a barrier between you and borrowed linen.

I might even treat the fabric with the mosquito spray stuff used for netting, another thing I might take. I seem to send dinner invitations to mosquitoes, and they always RSVP. There aren’t any in Addis so there I’m cool, but anywhere else if there is a mosquito, she will probably bite me, and I hate getting shots.

denah hun!

dandelioness

Food Security June 11, 2008

Today on every news program the lead story was food security, and or safety. Paranoia, hype or truth? I guess the thing is, what is the source, and is it credible. On some programs it was limited to America’s salmonella infested tomatoes, and can we trust our food supply. I think the question needs a broader perspective to be answered. Our current undoing is due to our lemming inspired willingness to lose a connection with our earth, when was the last time you picked up a handful of soil? there is more to life than the b.s. we are so easily overly consumed with. myself included…

I don’t want this to turn into doomsday dairies, but the worldwide food situation is on the brink of crisis, and in many places beyond the brink. If it is not Korea and their abject repulsion of America’s beef, then its ‘pick a country, any developing country’ and you are certain to feel the tension building. While staple grains become scarce (thanks ethanol!) and climatic contractions (thanks insatiable energy abuse) are intensified, our Ameri-centric news coverage of food security was dominated by what fast food restaurant has stopped selling tomatoes. Mind you, I do love tomatoes…

We need a different approach to food, and there is a huge grass roots movement in this direction, I am just asking that while we have the opportunity to scrutinize the tomatoes, lets analyze the big picture.

Just a few thoughts to toss about:

• mono cropping
• corn based diet (corn country is facing severe flooding that is putting an even greater strain on supply)(Pray for our farmers)(Google Independent Lens King Corn)
• potash market prices (an ingredient in many store bought fertilizers)(now priced higher than gold)

Developing countries are facing famine, we are a global economy now, when someone coughs we can all catch a cold.

Be Active.

God Bless,

DanDeLioness

What am I doing here June 8, 2008

I think I’m here to reach out and touch someone, I am working my way through a journey that has no  prefabricated destination. One of those life-altering things that could end with unknown knows and some known unknowns and you get the picture. But I have this vision and a calling and I just can’t turn my  back on…

This all started 8 years ago when I decided to grow food on a plot of land that was about  2×4 feet. I planted corn, squash, beans, carrots, watermelon, and apples tree (from seed)… did I mention the space was 2×4 feet?

Well I have come a long way since then and have become completely O.C.D. about gardening.  Food Security in particular. Let me make this clear, I have had many other interests that have consumed me before. You know that person that has to try to do it from scratch just because they need to understand HOW… well I could very well be the poster child for this insanity. But I am okay with it… its like an itch, just needs to be scratched, ya know

Anyway back to the pressing issue at hand, I need to set up an bio-intensive farming training program in Ethiopia, with an emphasis on ecological sustainability. My husband has worked as a solar energy installer for 5 rocky years is working on rural water development. I just finished a Master Gardening training program which has given me a rock solid foundation on growing food, I have drank the kool-aid and become a supporter of the logic and mission of ECOLOGY ACTION. Add to that my unconditional love for Africa and all it inhabitants and maybe you can see what I see. I need to go soon and see what I can do, I need to do something.

I think I can make a difference. I have some wonderful examples in the works of GROW BIO INTENSIVE and their international partners, specifically Manor House in Ethiopia’s neighboring Kenya.

We will see. I will be going to ET in July on a fact finding and networking trip. Not before reading and studying until my eyes burn.

I’ll keep in touch…

tres besos,

DanDeLioness