THE TREES REMEMBER - Imbolc and celebration of life.

Though my days seem slow and pointless right now, natures move on. Her cycles do not wait on the mood of man. Sadly, she may however, have to deal with our greed as industrialization continues to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It is funny how a principle that no one would deny when confronted by the blast furnace of a closed car in summer, is bitterly denied when we create the very same conditions on a global scale. Sad, indeed and although dreadfully important – it is not our subject today.

For we have come upon Imbolc, an ancient Celtic name for the day falling halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It is comes commonly on February 1, and it heralds- if not signs of spring, at least its approach. It is the day when the wheel of the year moves closer to the birth of spring than it is from the start of winter. In modern terms, it is the tipping point from which winter cannot long survive and spring cannot long be denied. We celebrate it as the returning of light and warmth and the fertility of nature.

This event is celebrated by earth based groups as Imbolc, by Christians as St Brigid’s day and Candlemas, as Americans as ground hog day. The celebration has deep roots and remains on the calendar of many faiths because it arises from the natural joy evoked by the return of spring.

Muller's 4 questions - basic foundations for a simple life of purpose

Wayne Muller, in an attempt to strip life down to its basics, wrote the book “Four Simple Questions That Reveal the beauty And Meaning of Our Lives.” This book is one of many that try to lead us down the path to a simple life. These 4 Questions will also be the basis of my Unitarian Universalist congregational retreat. Upon the answers to those questions we will weave a path to the next year. The questions are as follows: Who am I; what do I love; how shall I live, knowing I am to die; what is my gift to the family of the earth?

These are the four questions; how do I answer them? These are the kind of questions that most of us dread to ponder and even more so to answer. They require us to give precise form to vast ideas and subtle distinctions, to distill the noble and bestial aspects of our lives, and to sum this up in the space of a few sentences. Moreover, these sentences, these fragments of meaning and language must stand up to scrutiny from ourselves and others. They must stand alone in a world of perfect expectations and imperfect performance and present your view of truth to the world. That is a daunting task, but one should try and so I shall.

The Falcon's cry - American hope for reform becomes desperate

Yet hope remains.......

I have only this to say about Obama and the defeat of health care reform. He ran as a beacon of hope for real change in America. I felt that we were approaching a real rising of the people demanding change and an agenda that included the interests of the people not just the wealthy. I believe this change is urgently needed to oppose corporate control of our lives. I opposed him in the election because I felt he was a false messiah. He seemed to have co-opted much if not all of the progressive, left wing fervor for change and funneled it into a corrupt Chicago style campaign slogan. Once elected, he put hope for change to bed when he chose Rohm Emmanuel as chief of staff.

Now, a year later, his agenda is in shambles and no change is obvious. We are still kowtowing to Saudi Arabia, still redentioning people overseas to be tortured. Still blowing the tops off 500 mountains so far in the Appalachians and filling the valleys with filth so corporations can fill their pockets with money that they use to buy congress. Health care ceased to be about reform and became yet another subsidy for the corporations. The list goes on and on. No – by any measure, change has not gone well this year. We and Obama have clearly been handed a year of basically zero accomplishments while corporate power grew at a rate that would stretch the plotline of an apocalypse novel.

Apple Butter, the kind of home made preserve ANYbody can make - A simple living treat

Apple Butter, the kind of preserves ANYbody can make …...
- As long as you have one element – time

In order to describe the relative simplicity of making apple butter, I have paraphrased my Nanny. Once, my mom brought a friend of hers to the deep Georgia woods where my Aunt and Uncle were living with my Nanny (grandmother). Harriett was a lovely, lovely person and we all liked her. Well, that was the start of the problem. My Nanny was many wonderful things but if she had a weakness, it was jealousy. At first, all was fine and dandy. But then after a day or two of hearing how great mom’s friend was, nanny had had enough. At one point in the day, Harriet brought out some homemade fudge she had brought as a gift. Passing it around, everyone responded with oohs and ahhs and the usual southern pleasantries. Having had quite enough of the attention given to Harriet, nanny looked at her fudge without eating it. When Harriet left the room, Nanny laid her piece on the plate and leaning over to me, whispered, “That’s the kind of fudge ANYbody can make,” I Laughed so hard I thought I would die.


Well, apple butter is the kind of preserve anybody can make. The recipe and the technique are simplicity itself. But, there is one catch. Yes, apple butter is a simple recipe and simple technique. Simple yes – but not easy. I suppose that sounds contradictory. But the fact is apple butter is notoriously easy to scorch because it requires long, low cooking and that means it is easily forgotten, allowed to stick and burn. In the following, paragraphs, I will share with you an heirloom recipe that Nanny and I used to prepare this simple but delicious treat.  Plus, I will share with you some modern tweeks you may want to try.  So, read on.

Hinc Illae Lacrimae- hence these tears - A lesson I learned from my Nanny

Imitation of Eternity


This little thing we call our life
is neither strong nor free
A mere flame flickering in wind
It trembles ceaselessly

And all that we can hope to do
Is use our little light
Before in cold eternal wind
It flickers into night

To shine against the stifling dark
By burning hot and bright
We imitate eternity
By holding back the night

For every lone flame that dies
Another rises up
And for a moment, oh so brief
One light holds back the night

However short our burning time
But this, at least, is true
Lighting the path of those to come
Is the best that we can do

To lift and share our little flame
To grudge not, but to give
Whatever here we have of strength
That yet more flame may live

Chickens in the backyard - answers to common questions

As we take the steps to build our own little flock, we often hit roadblocks. Hopefully, I can share some information with you which will allow you to learn first and avoid any problems as you dive into the world of raising chickens. I will attempt to deal with some environmental issues with Backyard chickens – providing them with a clean, safe and engaging place to live. Backyard chickens and cold weather, heat, rain, how much room is ok, how much room is better. I hope to answer these all briefly and succinctly.

This is a simple primer in the many little things one needs to know to be successful raising backyard chickens. First, let me say, me decisions and advice are based on the needs and limits that a small homestead or backyard gardener would meet trying to balance the concept of sustainable living and ethics with the needs to actually produce food. Not to say that I intend to reproduce the horrors of factory farming, but neither am I going to be able to provide a life of lavish, perfect solutions for my chickens, They are living a life of simple care and optimum living conditions – not minimum and not maximum, but the best I can provide on a limited budget and very limited space. Not, that they have not had some splurges like the cedar coop and the lovely vinyl screen door that hey peer out of every morning waiting for me to sing them out into the garden. Yes, they may not meet the ideals that once can imagine with fresh pastures awaiting each morning and their pen and coop could both be a little bigger – but they do receive a steady diet of extravagant love and care. It seems to be enough to make both chickens and I happy.

So here are some quick, practical things to handle, given these conditions. The answers will not be in detail. Basically just a yes/no, this high, this big, this much kind of answer to common questions the backyard farmer would have adding chickens to his projects. Read on for the details.