Saturday, July 24, 2010

Boundaries


All this rain is just one more incident on how the element of Water has been entering my life so strongly these last few days. I need to take in more water physically so I can stop having all this water enter my life in other ways. I’ve watched emotion documentaries, had passionate conversations with co-workers, and consciously overstep my own boundaries in regards to my sisters healing process.

A little witchcraft 101:
The cup is the tool of the Water. It has clear boundaries in which the water is held. I have to remember that the size of my cup is determined by me. The waters can run clear or muddy. They can be slow and lazy or torrential and become overwhelming. How we swim in and paddle though these currents is all determined by how well we know our own abilities to handle what life has to offer.

The waters are turbulent right now. I feel like I can’t paddle with the current. I feel the pain of those whose boats are bashed about by life’s currents. And in doing so my boat gets filled with water and I fear drowning. So I have to re-center myself and do the work that is laid before me. Perhaps if I can swim in my life’s waters with grace and power then I can lead by example. I have clear boundaries around myself. I have to keep them there in order to protect myself from drowning in other peoples emotions. They are there for me to remember that in times when I worlds problems seem to big and we aren’t doing enough to fix them that I’m not meant to drink the whole ocean. I can put down my glass and return to it when I can hold more.

I want to have compassion and I do. Empathy was a skill that I had a child and for a time in high school, I replaced my soup tureen with a champagne flute. This severely limited my emotional connections to others. Now, realizing that as a human, I have the capacity to truly feel others pains and happiness’s. At the same time I’m not meant to hold their emotions indefinably. There are times in which we can commiserate and have commission and though water we heal and transform.

When I’m grounded and well fixed in earth (I have to do more grounding work), clear on my work at hand (see my post on True Will) and have open awareness about my senses, then I can hold more water and help others with their emotions. How is this? When I’m secure about where I am, what I’m doing, and how I’m doing it than I don’t fear that I’ll get caught up in others egos and like a old oak or ancient willow, I can withstand the floods. I get really clear about what I can handle and how much I’m willing and able to give and take.

Water keeps us alive. How often is it that you go outside in the pouring rain and feel each drop as it wakes your skin? When was the last time you went puddle jumping. If you haven’t gone cliff jumping/diving, imagine the rush of fear and excitement you would feel in doing so. Water keeps us alive. It enters us, leaves us, and connects us. The world is 75 percent water and so are humans.

What are your boundaries?
What are you capable of holding without drowning?
Are you sailing with or against the currents of life?
Are you able to hold someone while they cry or conversely, share in their excitement?
How big or small is your cup and how full is it?

These are big questions, I know. But when you answer them, in either a large global or life long context or within a particular situation, I hope that they are able to help you gain clarity, hold and transform the world around you into something beautiful or at least know the way to find better waters.

Blessings,
Charles

Monday, July 19, 2010

Red Goose Garden Newsletter

This is from the Fifth edition of the 2010 season Red Goose Gardens Newsletter. It's from the segment 'Meet the Interns'.

Hello all Red Goose Garden Members

First, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of this amazing CSA. Your participation has kept chemicals from entering the ecosystem, supported Thor and all the other interns, and brought organic, local produce to 100’s of people. Thank you!

I’ve been on a great journey since coming to Red Goose Gardens. My home town is Lakeville, MN. A truly great place to grow up! From there, I found my way to the University of Minnesota, Duluth. There I studied Biology with an emphasis on botany. Struggling with chemistry caused me to follow my other academic passion, Women Studies. Within the program, I took a course called Ecofeminism. This class took what I already knew about different aspects of our society that harm the ecosystem, women, and colonized others and really made it the forefront of my academic and professional world. Being already fascinated by plants and horticulture, the topics of alternate agriculture and specifically CSA’s grabbed my full attention. Seeing how food, which is at the very center of our lives, could bring communities together, support farmers, use less land, help protect and restore the surrounding environments being achieved through CSA’s made me so happy that I just had to get involved. Using wwoof.org I found Thor and Red Goose Gardens.

I’ve find myself being completely taken in by this CSA. Riding my bike to work, seeing bald eagles and hawks fly around, watching and being a part of all the beautiful and wonderful things in the field is an experience all the parts of me wished and wanted. That is not to say that everything thing is roses and rainbows (even though both are here at the farm). There are the buffalo gnats that bite and made us bleed and the ever present state bird, the mosquito. The storms and rain made planting the winter squash hell. 20 pounds of mud on each boot is not fun and something I hope to not repeat more than once a year. The summer heat makes 10 hour days really suck. And when the rain doesn’t come and whole beds dry up and the cabbage you planted is dead, makes me wonder if it is even worth it. But then the kill deer and gold finches fly around and the borscht you made for the week tastes so creamy and good (made with beets from the farm of course) makes me remember that it really the work and hardships are all part of the deal.

Losing 25 pounds of excess weight and getting a good deep tan isn’t bad either.

I can’t say how the rest of this summer will be or the future of our agriculture system will look but judging by the past, I can firmly say that it will get better with time, and taste amazing too. For things to improve, it will take visions, dreams and lots of hard work. I will take storms and droughts. It will take more farmers and more members. If we all do our parts, do a little more than we did the year before, take what we learned as kids and adults, and build something in harmony with the nature and ourselves, we can create a system that is something we can be truly proud of. What I am learning here at RGG, I will take with me to Duluth and my classes. I will take it to the next CSA I work at and hopefully to my own CSA someday.

I hope that you find some time to come volunteer at the farm. Come meet me and the fellow interns. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or just want to chat about CSA’s, plants, agriculture or social justice movements please feel free to contact me at grabu004@d.umn.edu or check out my blog at http://almost-chosen.blogspot.com. Thank you for your support. The farm wouldn’t be here without us.

Green Blessings,

Charles Grabuski

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Fire Fly


Opening Space and become aware.
Shining lights, evanescent spirit,
matter in various states of manifestation,
Breath deep,
Gently Hold with Will and Intention

4, 3, 2... 1

Release into all that ever is.
Falling into Abyss and Flying towards Love.