We watched the debate the other night, noted Kucinich's absence and Paul's small amount of speaking time. Particularly I noticed the lack of integrity many of the candidates seemed to display. That's as much as I want to write about that, except that we saw a Ron Paul blimp flying around Tampa yesterday. That was kinda neat. I respect him, at least.
Went to the Palm River Thai Buddhist wat yesterday for old Thai lady breakfast/lunch. They were out in droves doing their Sunday service for the temple, including selling locally grown Thai herbs and fruits. My sister bought she and I baby Kaffir lime trees. hurray! We had noodle soup, coconut milk and rice flour dumplings, thai iced tea and coffee, rice cookies (like fried crepes), and coconut dumplings filled with brown sugar. O, also fried bananas, sweet potatoes, and taro root. Saturday she took us to the botanical gardens in Largo, outside of St. Pete. We couldn't get to the historic village or the inside the studios or museum, but it was still wonderous! Tropical plants galore, fruit tree garden, alligator pond, etc. In the herb garden they were growing common herbs, mugwort, cinnamon trees and ayahuasca. It was an exciting visit for me, and I'm particularly excited to go back. It was part of my sister's free weekend plans for us. :)
We had an exciting few days on the grove with the freeze. The temps predicted fortunately were lower than it actually got, but the damage was done to a number of plants and trees, particularly the banana trees, papaya trees, the sweet potatoes, the baby seedlings, the fennel and the oregano bush. Mike and Craig covered the peppers and potatoes, they also laid down all the bamboo in the nursery and covered them with frost cloth while I went around covering all the baby avocado trees throughout the grove. Craig drained the hot water panel and cistern lines, and he got up every two hours on the night it got down in the low 20s to re-load the wood stove in the greenhouse where the jackfruit, cacao, pineapple, miracle fruit, adamoya, eggfruit, papaya, and strawberry guava reside. He also reloaded the wood stove inside where we were soundly sleeping through the cold. I am glad I'm not a naked tree when it's freezing outside. Craig made an attempt to pluck some fruit from the trees on the second day of freeze, but a lot is still on the trees. Some froze, but it's still edible for a while. If anything, the fruit won't last as long, so we won't be taking it to market as long. On another note, I found out the Food Not Bombs peeps have one meal before the market on Wednesdays, so that may be a lovely volunteering opportunity. I realized how much I love cooking for people, good food I feel good about, mostly because then I know they aren't eating corn syrup or MSG. It is, however, difficult to always enjoy cooking for different dietary restrictions. Sometimes that bugs me. But mostly I feel a sense of communion with others, a real feeling of community when sharing food. It is incredibly intimate and something that should be done frequently among friends and neighbors. It is the thing that sustains us, food and sharing. We should certainly pay more attention to our common needs of good land, clean water, clear air and food in particular.
Mike just told me they collect presidential shit. :/
Also, I read Farmer Boy this last week, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I love Ms Wilder, her straightforward interpretation of homesteading, farming, community and integrity. She gives explanations of family and community systems that are meant for young ears to understand, and certainly most of us have young ears these days. I found the book I was reading recently in the Little House series almost eerily connected to our situation. The folks are in northern New York, and the other books are in the northern midwest (Lakota territory!), and they dealt with freezes and inhospitable climates. While I'm thinking of creating life and community in the north, these books seem to me a godsend. Friends, read them so you will feel happier and more able when it comes to making things happen with the Lakota, if that is ever possible.
We make possibilities. We are creators.
