So very exciting!

I am thrilled about this great news out of Europe:

"In an environmentally historic vote, the European Parliament has moved to ban single-use plastic products across Europe. This ban outlaws plastic bags, straws, plates, cups, drink stirrers and cotton swabs."

"The EU ban aims to eliminate single-use plastics within two years, and Simon hopes it might lead other countries like the United States to follow suit. Until then, she says, everyone can help reduce plastic in oceans by being a "bringer of your own."

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/02/11/a-beautiful-world-europe-bans-single-use-plastic?fbclid=IwAR35Hq0ySTMRW_f0l0m3q3Uf3wnQkypuc2Y5glyXN_IWbgChGCc0ne0dE_Y

"we must be careful about what we use instead of plastic. "If you start replacing plastics with materials that are pulp- and paper-based, for example, you need to be really conscious of the responsible forest management practices that we need to see. Otherwise, we're just sort of shifting around the environmental cost to a part of the ecosystem."

Which of these can you incorporate into your life?

Here are some tips the World Wide Fund for Nature suggests.

1) Fix your caffeine fix (I'm not about to give up coffee, but I always bring my own mug)

2) Bring your own bottle

3) Say no to plastic cutlery

4) Straws suck

5) Ditch the cling wrap

6) Say bye to teabags, hello to loose leaf tea (tastes better anyway)

7) Give up gum

😎 Glitter, the one member of the party that never leaves!

9) Bring back the milkman

10) Become a wine bottle sommelier

Peace and thank you so much to all who are doing what they can to help with this!

Throwing a midlife crisis

Our cat, Bunchie, the one on the right in the picture, has been pretty grumpy lately, and Aiyana said this morning that he's "Throwing a midlife crisis".

I thought that that was a great way to refer to a midlife crisis, but it actually turned out that I misheard, and that she had actually said he was "going through a midlife crisis". Regardless, I am going to adopt the former expression from now on.

This incident made me think of throwing a midlife crisis party. I told my neighbor about it as he was plowing our driveway, and he said he'd come, and that many other people would come. That made me laugh.

So I'll let you know if I decide to throw a midlife crisis party. I wonder what that would be like? Interesting for sure, but I don't know about anything else. Could be really funny.

All right, enough silliness...

Peace

February morning in the barn

A one minute video from yesterday:
https://youtu.be/lOX2gYD9gRc

Other than that, I've been crazy busy with Sena's UConn application, financial assistance application, and SAT preparation.  The SAT prep is my favorite; the rest is tedious paperwork....

But the animals give me a nice break and change of scenery. I hope you enjoy the little video.

Stay warm!

Poetry for Pollinators Campaign

Dear friends,

I am very excited to announce my Poetry for Pollinators campaign, combining two of my passions: Poetry and supporting pollinators.

As you may know, pollinator populations are imperiled worldwide. I am donating 100% of profits from my book to helping pollinators through creating habitat, encouraging pesticide free practices, and education.

So if you like my poetry and want to support this endeavor, you can get my book for $15:

Right here's at Shundahai Farm;

At the Willimantic Food Coop;

Or on Etsy: etsy.com/shop/shundahaishop. 

Please share this if you'd like. Thank you! 🌸🌿🐝🌻🌷🐝☀️

Peace 

Pride and Shundahai's new website

Aiyana braided Pride's mane this morning, while I milked the cows in the stall nextdoor. Pride is so gentle and good natured....

And I've updated the Shundahai Farm website. What do you think? I'd be grateful for any feedback:

https://www.shundahaifarm.com/

Peace 

To al the rebels and their half-broken dreams

Image: Pixabay

Some that have recently inspired me: Camus, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Bukowski...

Peace 

Poetry news

I'm pretty excited about two recent possibilities with my poetry:

One, I was asked to submit a few poems for inclusion in an academic publication on social theory and climate change, by a woman I know who's a professor of sociology.

And two, I was invited to do a poetry reading at Fiddleheads Food Co-op for Earth Day.

We'll see how these opportunities pan out, but for now I'm just happy to look forward to them.

 

Here are some recent poems:

Plunge into being. Break down the walls. (Image: Pixabay)

If truth is what you're after.

And this one is for all of us, who've known broken dreams. Don't be ashamed of your story. It makes you beautiful. (Image: Pixabay)

Peace 

Catching up on Dostoyevsky

An answer to existential angst?

Freedom is seductive!

And the real thing: being in the moment. Thank you to all the amazing animals for reminding us. 

Peace 

Dreams come true

Aiyana got her horse, Pride, today. This has been her dream since she was 3 years old, and it's finally come true. She's worked for it and trained for it and she and Pride love each other very much. It's really great to see.

Thank you Keri at Iris Creek Farm for raising Pride and teaching Aiyana about Natural Horsemanship! Thank you Bill Kennedy for your generosity getting Pride here, driving him in your trailer when you didn't even know us, but just heard that we needed help! And thank you to Janina Pietrosky for all the equipment you gave Aiyana!

Keri with Pride, getting off the trailer.

Standing in our field

I couldn't believe how well Pride and Jasmine, our lead cow, and the rest of the herd, got along as soon as they met.

Love 


Peace 

Let it be of use

Peace 

To hold it all

Non-duality

(Image:Pixabay)

And more white: our duck, Brownie 

At my sister's house 

Wild turkeys in the field this morning 

It's tempting

Sweep clean 

Images: Pixabay

Peace 

You will not be inspired

Sorry about this current mood, everyone...

Peace 

Void

Rejecting that which is toxic and finding that which is right for us are sometimes separate processes. Often, they are separated by a terrible, painful void of uncertainty and unknowing.🌸 

Poem by Raluca Mocanu. Image: Pixabay 🌼🌷

Peace 

Who's helping whom?

Be grateful if you ever have the opportunity to help someone. Be grateful to them for being in that position which gives you the opportunity to be of service. 🌷🌿🌺🌼

Read along with me. I will keep sharing passages I like from my current read, The Brothers Karamazov.

Background image: Pixabay 

Peace 

So excited!!!

Excellent news! 😀😀😀😀😄😄😄

The Single use plastic bag ban, or Bring your own bag ordinance was adopted by Mansfield Town Council tonight! This is a small step in the direction of reducing plastic pollution, but a very important one. We hope that other towns and states will follow Mansfield's example. Thank you so much to Town Council for passing this ordinance, and thank you to everyone who worked to make this happen.🙏🌺😀🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎

Better and older as of yesterday

I finally started to feel better yesterday, right on my birthday. 47! Aiyana says that's a good number. I believe her. Why not?

Here are a few highlights from yesterday:

Freesias, my favorite winter flowers 

Lunch at Indigo, the best Indian restaurant in CT I know of.

Aiyana drew this peacock for me. Isn't it beautiful? (And now she says she wants a real peacock to add to our menagerie)

Peace 

Walking

After several nights of nasty body aches with this flu I have, this morning I put on my Doc Martens and went out for a little walk. That made me feel a little better. I loved the wind and cold air.

Peace 

Since quite a few people are sick now...

Including myself 

Peace 

Dostoyevsky read-along

I did get sick too from Sena and Aiyana. It's not fun!

Here's an update of favorite passages as I read The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsy:

The root of it all

 Love in action

No self deception

 Love is not a transaction

 Our heart is the battlefield

Peace

My dad in Mexico

My dad's not a selfie kind of guy. In fact, this may be his first ever. But it's a good one: rocking the goatee in Mexico!

He's sending us regular email updates on all the fruits he's eating. I'm jealous...

Peace 

Watch the parade and go on with your day

Peace 

Sick!

This is Sena and Aiyana playing chess during their homeschooling break last week.

Then, Aiyana got sick with a cold on Friday, and on Saturday, she laid on the couch all day with a low fever. She was better yesterday and today is almost back to normal.
At the same time, LT, our female cat, got a nasty gash on one of her hind legs, and we put a cone on her, so she couldn't lick the wound and make it worse. Aiyana and Ed have been treating her with Neosporin and Goldenseal solution, and Ed made the head cone.

Then, today, Sena got sick and had to miss her chemistry lab and English quiz at Manchester Community College. Speaking of Sena, she finished her application to UConn and submitted it a few days ago. Now she's focused on practicing for the SATs, which she's taking in 5 weeks. If all goes well and she gets admitted, she'll be at Uconn next fall. She'll be only 15. I'm a little worried about her being so young, but she really wants to get out of MCC and go to UConn. She finds the students at MCC not too motivated, and wants to go somewhere more rigorous. She does like her teachers at MCC though.

My mom is also sick in Montreal with a bad ear infection. My dad is in Mexico, doing well. Hopefully nobody else gets sick. Stay healthy!

Peace

Lesson from the cows

One of my favorite jobs on the farm is shoveling cow manure. This is not what I expected.

Manure is stinky and disgusting, and something you just have to put up with and get rid of, right? That’s what I used to think. But over the past few years, I started to see it differently. Shoveling manure taught me to appreciate my mistakes and failures; I’ll tell you why.

Manure is a waste product that can either become a big problem, or it can turn into the famed black gold you’ve heard about. It all depends on how you manage it. If not managed properly, manure accumulation can become toxic to the land, plants and animals living on it, including us, humans. On the other hand, when composted properly, and given enough time to break down, manure can generate incredible soil fertility, and soil fertility is the basis of health for plants, animals and all of us.

For me, shoveling manure is like dealing with life’s unwanted aspects: mistakes, failures, losses, things that didn’t work out the way we hoped, or anything else that brings us pain, shame or a sense of failure. All of those things can become toxic, if not handled properly. They can cause us to become sour, angry, vengeful, numb, etc, and thus continue creating more suffering in ourselves and others.

However, when handled properly, and most importantly, when given enough time to “compost”, or transform, all that stuff that we think of as unwanted, can become a wonderful source of growth. It can become the seed bed, the fertile ground for our understanding, generosity, compassion, and other things that enrich ourselves and others.

So for me, every day, as I clean up the manure in the barn, I think about this, and there’s a quiet excitement and joy in knowing that I am contributing in a small way, to this great conversion from waste to renewed life.

This is what I learned from the cows: that nothing is ever wasted. Isn't that liberating?

That's Aiyana and Jasmine a week ago.

Peace

Read along with me

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing passages that move me from my current read, The Brothers Karamazov. 

I am having fun doing this and I hope that you will too...