Traditions In Western Herbalism Conference
Final Updates

The TWHC is only a little over 2 weeks away now, and it’s great how much excitement we’re hearing expressed from people coming!  There’s some important news below for those of you already coming to this unique event, as well for anyone still considering it.

Time Running Out To Register

There is only a short while left to register, with registration officially closed on the 16th of September, the day before classes start.  To get one of the limited number of tickets remaining, please go to the Registration Page at:

http://www.traditionsinwesternherbalism.org/pricing.html#Registration

TWHC Booklet

We just spent the last several days focusing on creating and uploading what has turned out to be a heavily illustrated, 86 page Conference Booklet, containing all the pertinent info you’ll need including teacher bios, class descriptions, and 43 pages of informative class reference and notes.… expensive to print, but free this year only to everyone attending.

Website Updated

Check out the many changes at the TWHC website:  www.TraditionsInWesternHerbalism.org

Conference Concerts Update

Included on the website are descriptions of the herb-focused flamenco performance as well as of our last minute addition, Tina and Her Pony (the great women’s mountain-folk band band filling in for Arborea now that they’re unable to make it).

Check The Revised Class Schedule!

The days and times of the presentations have been adjusted, so please be sure to look over the newly posted schedule on the site when planning your time at the conference.  Note the exciting new courses we have added, one taught by Rosalee de la Foret and another by Julie McIntyire.

Arrival

Please check in with our site manager Resolute Michaels at the Registration Table in Social Center when you first get there, before going to your camping spot or rooms.  She will provide you with your:
1. Conference Booklet 2. Site Map
3. Name Tag

Lodging and Meals
If you haven’t reserved a room at Ghost Ranch, you will need to either pay a small fee to them for camping, or reserve a room nearby (see the TWH site for motel contact info).  And you need to contact Ghost Ranch directly to let them know if you anticipate buying your meals at their cafeteria.

Audio and Video Recordings

We will have our own volunteer video crew filming the evening events as well as portions of some of the daytime classes, interviews of willing presenters and attendees, crowd shots, etc., with the intention of:

1. Editing for short TWHC 2011 promo pieces for YouTube

2. Audio CDs of the classes for sale, DVDs of the concerts

3. Possibly using in a future TWHC full length documentary

If you don’t want to be filmed just say so, otherwise you will be asked at the time to sign the usual waiver for our uses.

2011 TWHC: Sept 16-18th

Finally, response has been so encouraging that we’ve made the commitment to try to make this work again in 2011, September 16-18.  We’re going to try for a balance of well received teachers from this year, along with an approximately equal number of other leading herbal healers and speakers.  We’ve already begun the selection process, based on numerous factors including freshness of ideas, quality of presentation, practicality of material, attendee’s preferences and needs, and especially our need to see certain topics covered.  Let us know if you have any recommendations, or if you would like an application to present.

Finally

Thank you, to everyone who is registering, and thereby making this event possible in 2010 and beyond.  And thank you as well, to all of you who aren’t coming, but who have done so much to help spread the word.  You’re great!

Warmly,
Jesse Wolf and Kiva Rose, TWHC

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Intro: I never fail to be impressed by and grateful for the folks in our lives who honor and tend their commitments… to us, but especially to themselves, their studies, processes and dreams.  They are made special by their rarity, for staying focused in face of distractions, remembering the reasons for their promises and then unfailingly keeping them.  In Anima we teach that any pledge worth making is worth keeping, and that anything not worthy of that effort and devotion shouldn’t be promised to in the first place.  While relatively few may actually donate to the School’s needs or commit to a Sponsorship, you do so with unerring faith and follow-through.  And while none of us are flawless in this way, among the most dedicated and dependable are the Anima students devoted to their studies and practice, and the allies who support this work.

Commitment & FollowThrough

by Jesse Wolf Hardin

www.AnimaCenter.org

What in the world, is this world coming to?  Increasingly we are becoming a one-world society made up of city-states, where neither individuality, privacy or honor have any real significance.  We’re taught to compromise our beliefs, whatever the heck they are.  We’re fed salvational technologist lies, as personal responsibility is replaced by avoidance, compromise and obedience.  Instead of a code of honesty and compassion, we have a million and one complex new laws on the books regulating every element of our lives.  Rather than seek out what are at times unpleasant truths, a growing majority of people would rather pay for the paddings of comfort with their precious mortal hours, and trade in their native rights in exchange for the illusion of safety.  Outside of the cranky, archaic and highly opinionated rural towns of the West and South, it’s getting progressively harder to find anyone willing to “tell it like it is” no matter what the consequences, folks who live up to their oral contracts as well as the binding written ones, who make it a point to keep their word once given.  Rare indeed, is anyone willing to commit… even to the very people, ideas and things they themselves most care for and believe in, let alone to fully follow through on those commitments.

I spent some of my teen years hanging around rowdy, socially deplorable outlaw bikers who – in spite of their numerous and indefensible bad habits – curiously demonstrated a considerably greater degree of commitment and loyalty than the average citizen, including those politically correct and particularly sweet Peaceniks who nonetheless tended to look down their noses at my greasy-jeaned, saddle-sore buddies.  And of all the truly deeply caring, alternative type folks I have known since, sadly only a much smaller percentage seem to have taken in what it means to commit to a relationship or a project, or to follow it through on something to completion no matter what the obstacles or reasons.

Maybe it’s living in close proximity to the land that does it, setting the example with nature’s intense determination, extracting or inspiring a greater degree of authenticity and response, but I know far more cowboys and farmers that actually do what needs to be done, manifest their ideas in the real world and real activities, or bring to a finish what they once set their minds to.   My rural neighbors from Montana to the Mexican border often set the example when it comes to living their dreams, holding a marriage together, keeping a promise or completing a self-assigned task.  As it was in the days of the pioneers and before, if someone says that they’ll cover a debt later, they usually do.  If they tell you that they’re going to punch you, it’s time get out the rag for the inevitable bloody nose.  But when they pledge their friendship, we can generally count on their help and support no matter how odd we were at the time, or how unpleasant we might have since proven to be.

There are some basic tenets or beliefs that both the intense Anima teachings and the West’s largely conservative rural population generally hold to be true, that:

• A commitment is an unbroken promise.  And a pledge, deliberately and continuously fulfilled.
• Commitment is the full investment of the self – with no provision for default, no requirement of success, and no room for regret.
• Commitment binds us to that which we are committed to.
• Taken together, commitments form the foundation for relationship.
• It is better to fulfill commitments to a very few things, than to commit to many and fully honor none.
• We earn credit for the depth of our intentions, the degree of our commitment, and the extent of our follow-through.
• Commitment requires regular attendance: For example, one cannot claim to be committed to a buddy or spouse, unless we are there for them when we’re needed.  Or to a goal or practice, that we only honor one day a week.
• Commitment requires hands-on effort.
• Commitment begs for completion: We can’t say we’re truly committed to a process, unless we’re braced to stick with it through the very end.
• Commitment requires insistence: One isn’t truly committed, unless that commitment survives every distraction, challenge and test.
• It can take a hundred promises kept, to balance out a single commitment failed.

When folks are called on to define what’s best about “old-timey” or “country ways,” they often mention the qualities of gumption and completion, commitment and follow-through.  In the real world anywhere, one is measured not so much by what we think or say as by what we actually do.

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Intro: Besides our personal trials and tasks, we’ve been working such long hours on the Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference that I’ve been tardy in getting Loba’s following story – and resulting recipes – to you like I promised.  With all due respect to the sensibilities of our earth-loving vegetarian readers, this is a tale of fang and claw, hunter and gatherer, flesh and feast.  It is inevitable that we intimately and corporeally share with the rest of life, share in its body and force, then one day share in turn the nutrients that are us.  In death we are without exception a precious gift to the all, even if we never give ourselves enough credit for the gift that we are when alive. -Wolf

The Lion’s Elk
by Loba

Anima Wilderness School: www.AnimaCenter.org

Rhiannon and I were out near the third river crossing picking grape leaves early in the morning for a special morning adventure. We were picking from vines that wrapped all the way around a big oak tree. She had gone around one side of the tree to pick and wandered off a little ways, and came back to me all excited. “Mama Loba, there’s an elk that’s been half eaten, pretty recently!” Of course I had to investigate. We went through the forest a little bit, and there right under a juniper tree in plain sight were the remains of a young elk. The skull had been picked clean, the guts eaten, and the hindquarters were perfectly intact. Barely cool, it had been, I guessed, only a very few hours since the elk had been killed. Claw marks showed where she had brought the unfortunate animal down… marks that remind us how in the long run the lions bring a gift of strength and awareness to the elk tribe!

We picked some more grape leaves, then walked back to tell Wolf and Kiva about Rhiannon’s discovery. Kiva drove out in the jeep with me to gather up the hindquarters. When we came back to the site I went looking for tracks, and was able to find some very close to the elk that were, indisputably, lion tracks!  Later Wolf pointed out the clean, knife like, nearly surgical cuts, typical of a cat and not a coyote or wolf.  He told us that the lion had most certainly been interrupted by us in the act of eating, as they tend to cover and hide any remaining meat for later.  No doubt she was very close by, watching us the whole time!

Once discovered, I knew she wouldn’t go back to eating, so there was nothing to do but bring the undamaged portions home!  We far prefer to eat wild meat to any other, for flavor as well as to be getting chemical free, wild hearted protein, so this was a real boon!

I was so excited, I wasn’t even finished skinning the hindquarters when I had to heat up a pan and fry up a bit of the meat. It was as juicy and tender and mild flavored as any I’ve ever tasted.  This Wolf tells me is not only because the elk was so young, but probably because the quiet stalk, sudden rush and incapacitating bite to the neck happened too quick for hardly any adrenalin and fear vibe to kick in!

Needless to say I had to give Kiva a taste right away, too, and she was just as excited about it as I was. Altogether there was at least 15, maybe 20 pounds of meat to freeze at a friend’s house and can for storage at home. We were all so proud of Rhiannon for finding us so many wonderful suppers-to-come!  She’s learned so much about nature as well as herself, and Wolf’s awareness training has really paid off!

For those of you omnivores who might hunt, discover a truck killed animal still warm on the side of the road, or be given the gift of wild meat, below is my favorite way to serve it up fresh.  Note that this works equally well with deer and other red meats. Very easy!  And by preparing it so well, and appreciating it so much, we help honor its mortal blessing and gift!

Elk with Fennel and Garlic

1 pound elk meat
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, ground in a mortar and pestle OR 1 tablespoon fresh sage, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons mixed dried veggies (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Butter or bacon or lamb fat

Slice the elk meat across the grain in pieces about 1/2 inch thick. In a medium bowl, rub in the fennel seed, garlic, dried veggies, salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet to medium-high, add the fat and then the meat as soon as it’s hot. Fry the meat until lightly browned on one side, then flip and quickly fry the second side. The meat should be done cooking in about 5 minutes. Serve with sauteed wild greens or with other green veggies.

(Please post and share this piece…)

(photo of lion in the act of pouncing courtesy of Scientific American Magazine.  All other photos by Kiva Rose)

(For more homesteading and rewilding tales, stay tuned for our upcoming new online magazine site this Fall)

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A flurry of activity leading up to the big TWH Conference,  flurries of emotion and weather, as we honor the quaking changes, the earthen cycles, the balance and blessings.

The Face of Turbulence

by Jesse Wolf Hardin

(for my daughter Marriah, and all storms of love)

And the monsoons continue,
their swelling dark promise
bursting forth as searing lightning and crashing thunder,
setting an example some afternoons
by pouring their stormy hearts out.

Pouring down the cliff sides,
and deepening the river.
Pouring down our cabin roofs,
and overflowing the gutters.
Overflowing our barrels
with a deafening din,
overflowing the carefully dug ditches that
like many projects and missions in life,
we know must be dug again
and again, and again.

Pouring down on us as we rush to tend
what needs tending and covering,
rivulets down our faces indistinguishable
from life’s clearly unavoidable tears.
Pouring rain, and then pouring
hard
and unforgiving hail.

I look straight up
into the blinding white face of turbulence,
squint and then smile…
remembering well
what it’s like to be dry and thirsty,
even as the many little frozen balls
shoulder against the trail’s edge
in piles.

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Late Night Prioritizing

by Jesse Wolf Hardin

Anima Lifeways and Herbal School

Intro: The following is an excerpt from a recent letter to an understanding friend, summoned forth by the knowledge that my feelings as well as song of purpose would be truly heard.  As personal as this missive is, I have decided to share it here, in part in order to aid my readers’ comprehension of what our healing cause requires and our creative surges put us through.  Such late night or pre-dawn contemplation need not be perceived as torment, however.  By following the cycle of considerations through to a point of clarity, we come not only to acceptance and resolution but excitement and renewed vigor!  From these thoughts below, came an action list of change and development for Anima and our sites, approaches and means, which we may also share with you in a month or two.  We appreciate your company and support, in this life and work inseparable.

The days have finally gotten to the sweltering, with the dimming of the sun each afternoon a comforting relief.  Comforting, but a graying as well, in which the colors of my world seem a little more subdued, the facts of society and politic even more ominous.  The thunder is a relief in contrast, a dismembering of the gray sameness with a stroke of a lightning cutlass.  We could use more rain actually, and less build up, warning and hesitance, fewer intermediate shades.

I’ve woken up at night a few times lately, occasions where my mind has stirred itself in search of some new or enhanced recipe.  During such periods, it feels good to know those I am responsible are sound asleep as the hours of darkness pass into light, but I am also pleased not to have missed the sounds of the elk on the river sands below, the cries of rabbits at the clutch of an owl, the whispered lapping of the river’s waves… nor to have missed the ideas and insights that may arise only at such deep and undistracted times, or missed out on even the darkest of worries or heaviest of considerations that revolve like ghosts in the dark.

At such times, I may think of my wishes for the land and the threats to it, the sadness in certain special people that I can bring some balance to but never affect a cure, falling old growth redwoods and the FEMA regulations passed in part to control Americans with their own military, and every other detail of the sometimes pernicious web of human dictates and distress.  But what I most consider whenever I am awake in the predawn, is how to best utilize my gifts and knowledge, and further my purpose.  Such could well be one’s focus no matter how young, and certainly as one gets old enough to contemplate the truly finite nature and number of mortal moments in this form.  Not a second to waste, whether set to great tasks or given to rest and enjoyment, and again all the more so when there’s a sense of mission.  The question for me, of course, is never what my reason for existence is, or where I belong, nor even the essential elements of liberty and land restoration, teaching and writing, but rather the audiences, venues and means.  When writing, would I touch the hearts and lives of the most people by self publishing my essays, expanding course curricula, or writing fiction so that more people can be reached and my talents in that area utilized?  Historical or speculative and mythical?  How much time to the promotion and distribution of each, that might otherwise go to creating ever more new works?  Which audiences, the nature lovers, homesteaders, urban activists and wise herbalists who are already determined to live lives close to the earth, or the folks furthest from the land’s truths and values, who might do the mast damage or need our message most?  And what about oral, audio tapes and blogs or feeds, since it takes less time than typing and can be heard better with the inflection, rhythm and tone?  If so, how and working with what or whom?  And video, which is the way that most people today get their information, a series of YouTube and subscription stories, tales, lessons?

If the lifetimes were available, I would simply and gladly do it all, every way and means of communicating truths and tools, inciting as well as providing insight, entertaining in the ways that plant seeds of ideas and feelings, rock boats, rattle cages, heal wounds, promote wildness and heal separative wounds both physical and psychological.  I would do it if it won me no recognition or credit, if I did the work under a pseudonym or anonymously, if it cost me income or threatened my freedom or survival.  But there are only so many moments in a lifetime, and no matter how much or how little one sleeps there is a limit on what we can experience, create, affect or accomplish.  To do one thing, means that we are not doing others.  If I am giving much of my day to organizing a healing conference or writing a book, the result is however many hours of not drawing or painting, playing drums or making love, gathering medicinal plants or planting food, frolicking in the river or tracking the outlaw wolves, hours not given to fighting the system more blatantly, not demonstrating under threat of fines and jail, not being filmed or recorded in some nature-lover’s music studio.  The questions for me and those like me, are always “what is the priority this very second, what serves my spirit and purpose best, what ways will I be most powerful, helpful and effective?”  What audience, what article topic, what voice and information?

“Listen to your heart,” I might counsel others, but when I hear mine it is fully convinced in the value of whatever project it is I am working on at the time… as well as an uncloaked desire to still do everything.  It is how I learned, combining school and street life, reading and doing, martial arts and anti-war protests, making them all work together.  And it is how I most like to teach, connecting the myriad dots, the social and ecological, artistic and polemic, political and personal, soil depletion and the oppression of women, fungal communication and the power of prayer, historical events and future possibilities.  So when I am not actively doing, when I am listening the night’s quiet and the kindly silencing of my mind, there still seems to be a subconscious sorting of criteria and potentials, a weighing and measuring, assessing and apportioning.  It needs no words, measuring the way an old woman at an outdoor market might, by feel and not sound or sight.

I look around me, like a hunter-gatherer, seeing what rocks have the best shape for tools, what tasks and lessons await my attention, watching for new connections and helpers that might signal time for a shift to a new medium or media, an editor anxious for my next Medicine Woman short story, a film maker ready to roll.  But getting up with the dawn’s bright bird songs, there is no waiting, only some number one task that I am equipped to complete, and a sense of ever re-prioritized elements and redirected moments in my being more than head.

It is this, that I wake to, morning or nigh, and celebrate.

And it is mostly for this purpose, that I ever rest.

(Post and share freely.  www.AnimaCenter.org)

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Hello from the wild canyon, in one of the most jungle-y green Summers ever!  Wild grapes are puffing up, the storms have everybody green and growing (as our friend Walkin’ Jim Stoltz sings!).  I’ve really been enjoying getting into the river every day while the sun is still out, even though it is brown right now from the runnoff, and I love floating backwards downriver as some of you well know!

Rhiannon has been busy making dolls for the first 4 people that asked her for ones.  She’s really putting a lot of sweet personality into each, especially since she knows or has a feeling about each person getting one.  And our dear friend and Sponsor, Resolute, has just announced that she is grandmother again.  Congratulations!

By the way, I way appreciate all the sweet comments and encouraging letters that came in because of my wild grape leaf recipes post.  Yes, I really am doing a cookbook, but it is taking longer than expected.  When I lost some of the work in a computer mishap (some of our laptops are pretty old), I realized that I had changed a lot and so had my preferred meals.  While I still love to bake breads in the woodstove and make pies and so forth, we have really been enjoying the benefits of a diet with a lot fewer carbs.  And my voice is more earthy no I think, with more of the backwoods woman vibe needed now than when I was writing for a different audience.  What I want to say in the few hours I want to give to being on the computer, is something I’ve been thinking about.  And I know Wolf wrote a friend about that recently too, hoping he will make it into a deep-sharing piece for you here on the blog.

We didn’t get much response to the solar piece, we hope that doesn’t mean it wasn’t interesting or valuable to you all.  Wolf had been wanting to include more real life instructional material along with the historic, inspirational and so forth, talking about ways to make the philosophy and ethics real in our everyday lives.  When we get new sites going, it will be a pieces that belongs on the homesteading one, but I also thought it would be good for a everyone.  He will be running an even more specific third part next week on the actual pieces of a system, in case any readers are considering going for it (even if you have city power, you can sell power back to them you know!).

The Solar Fund that Rhiannon started has been a little slow, but we know that hardly anyone can spare any help in these hard times.  I know it effected other donations we get too, even while Wolf and Kiva have needed to give most of their time to the conference organizing instead of articles and consultations that bring money in. Big thanks go to Dio and Danu, for the $150 we now have to put towards one of the solar parts.  If anyone else is still wanting to give, please be sure and put a note on any paypal or snail mail donation.

I wouldn’t feel okay ever asking for assistance with projects, except that we are doing so much of this work for nothing money wise.  The donations we get for books and courses, and our few beloved regular Sponsors somehow make it possible to give the writings away to magazines and things for the benefit of their readers, and giving almost all our latest writing away on this free blog.  There’s a donation button next to this column, not to charge for this but just to make a way to give back.  We’ll keep you posted on fund raising, as well as on how the system shapes up.  We sure do need it working to do this work.

Speaking of the latest writings appearing here, below you will find one that Wolf just did on the amazing monsoons we have here and other parts of the southwest, which we all hope you will enjoy.  I next want him to tell the story of a discovery Rhiannon made this morning, involving a lion and its dinner… and ours!!  You will just have to keep wondering until then!

Sending you our love and thanks always, for being a part of this place and purpose!

-Loba

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The Southwest Monsoons:
The Gifting of Storms and Value of Extremes

by Jesse Wolf Hardin

Anima School & Sanctuary

Introduction: I find myself writing about the gift and lessons of our local monsoons, at the same time as villagers in Pakistan are dying by the hundreds in monsoon swollen floods.  All the more reason, to measure not only the ferocity and cost of these patterns, but the depth of their lessons, the value of their example, and the blessings of their life giving side.

The latter part of every Summer, the Southwest United States is host to what even the weather forecasters call the “Monsoons,” a series of thunderous daily showers that have more in common with the weather patterns of flood and drought ravaged Bangladesh than the remaining three quadrants of this country we belong to.  And sorry, friends, there are no monsoons in Oregon or east of Texas, no matter how strong your storms might ever be.  This particular weather dynamic often involves a seasonal speeding up and reversing of predominate wind direction, and on the North American continent always involves powerful winds blowing Northeastwards, powered by the extreme disparity between the Summer heating of land and ocean.  The resulting lower air pressure above the land acts as a siphon, drawing immense volumes of evaporated seawater high into the atmosphere and then releasing it in heavy concentrations on specific if seemingly random targets along its path.

They announce their start with the faint scent of salty ocean swells in deserts and mountains lying hundreds of Mexican desert miles from the Pacific coastline, and are characterized by dramatic dumps rather than slow and steady soakers.  Whereas the Winter monsoon patterns are dispersive and often contribute to drought, their Summer counterparts can result in flash floods in otherwise dry arroyos, and rivers swollen beyond their bed’s capacity.

It is perhaps that which I relate to most, the consistent embrace of wild extremes instead, the roaring and quaking over the calm and quiet storm, full sun followed by darkest imaginable clouds, the chance to thirst as well as to gorge and stretch.  There’s none of the uncertainty or equivocation of softer systems here, delivered on ever so gentle of winds.  And none of the kinder if monotonous storms that subtly inundate other places, settling in over the land and mind like great gray sheets.  Unlike with so many things in life from people’s characters to personal decisions, there are essentially no “gray areas” when it comes to the monsoons of the Southwest.  The boundaries between dense cloud and clarified sky are stark and easily referenced, and natural shape and fanciful form result from the delineation and contrast.  Sudden and severe fluctuations make boredom and desensitization nearly impossible, and contrasts and choices all the more obvious.  Indeed, if storms had minds, these would no doubt come with strongly formed opinions, forcefully argued in thunder’s rumble, and with pointed lightning bolts for impossible to ignore exclamation marks.  As a writer ultimately dealing with complexities and twists, I get relief from their certitude, feel gratefully affirmed by their make-no-bones-about-it honesty.  I find inspiration in their example of not hinging their act on audience response, “doing their thing” regardless of whether the human throngs either dread or adore it.  I only wish I could say as few lines as these storms, and understood as clearly.

I can intimately relate… to the monsoons’ immense energy, dedicated to what is in the end a life saving mission of bringing water to animals, people and plants that would otherwise perish without. To what feels to me like the freedom of the winds, of a great but guileless power answering to no authority other than its own true nature.  To the myth-worthy act of rushing in, accomplishing a goal and literally “making a big splash”, then slipping out before the applause like the Lone Ranger, while the gringo’s scratch their head and ask “Who was that masked man – masked writer, masked activist, masked healer?”

What I can’t relate to, and seem to have resistance to emulating, is the monsoon’s often absurdly consistent schedule, punching in like clockwork and almost always checking out on time.  Like a dinner date, these storms can usually be expected to arrive no later than 2 PM in the afternoon, and to pack up and leave that same night at a reasonable hour.  In the Northwestern sections of the country, folks often wake up to find a laid-back storm still asleep on their couch.  Not so in good ol’ New Mexico, where the Summer fronts storm in, perform a raucous rock n’ roll set for all assembled creation, and then get back on the road before before either their groupies or their detractors know they are gone.

Our monsoons begin after the July temps get up into the 80s.  And in the same way, their clouds seem to wait each day until the the afternoon’s heat is nearly unbearable before rushing in to darken, dampen and delightfully cool the Southwest’s fabled air.  It’s as if it were set up that way, so that we’d first have to really crave – and thus learn to better appreciate – the gift and relief of cooling moisture, before being subjected to what is often a discomforting deluge.

The clouds don’t roll in around here, they’re sucked in, on winds set to send fierce torrents splashing in great waves against the cliffs, bending over the tops of trees an hour before the first rain drop.  The thunder calls from a distance at first, then tumbles closer and louder, causing birds to launch and flutter, and leading a number of insects to take shelter on the protective undersides of leaves.  Magnificent white thunderheads suddenly rise up from behind the mountains like proudly unbeatable warriors, poised to overwhelm our bastion of relative tranquility and peace, a moment that arrests the prattle of the mind and bares the quaking heart.   The lightning arcs just overhead, illuminating both our inescapable mortality and the immanence of resilient life.  And with each thunderclap’s mighty roar, come the rains that pour, and pour, and pour.

Even with the lightning cause fires and the storms’ eroding of precious soils, the monsoons are still a sweep of the arm that bestows blessings.  The land is not just watered but graced.  The dusty greens of area trees and grass instantly brighten as if lit up from inside.  Normally dull pastel rocks shine like polished gemstones.  The seeps flow in serpentine patterns more beautiful than any artist’s design.  And everywhere a rejoicing!  Every person, plant and creature and even the soils themselves seem to give a glad shout!  A resounding “Yes!” to the rains that spur growth, the winds that test, exercise and thus make us strong, to the thunder that awakens and the water and spirit that sates our thirst.

As the monsoons pass over our cabins and Sanctuary, we do our best to gather every drop that pours off the metal roofs, transferring the life-giving liquid from barrel to barrel in what must look to an observer like a ballet of buckets.  We strive to make the most of these seasonal storms when they’re happening, to have our vessel emptied and waiting… and to be gladly willing to do the work of taking it all in.

As quickly as it starts, each monsoon storm stops.  The pummeling wind quickly dissipates, no doubt.  And what looks like a whole new set of stars soon pop back out.

—————————-

(Share and post freely, with credit and Anima URL please)

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Grape Leaf Suppers

by Loba

To walk the canyon in early Summer is to saunter through waves of the most beguiling scent I’ve ever known– the grape vines are flowering! It comes at me from a distance, just a hint of sweetness, then it grows and grows until it I am completely drunk on grapeflower. I lean against the rocks under their vines, surrendering moment upon moment… forgetting all the things I have to do, and deciding that picking grape leaves for supper is at least as important as any of them. Now the grape flowers have become fruits– the little grapes are swelling with the wonderfully welcome monsoon rains! And the grape leaves are still perfect for picking.

There’s not many foods that don’t take kindly to being wrapped about in a grape leaf. It’s refreshing to realize that we don’t need bread products to have the fun experience of piling complementary foods together and eating them with our hands, as in a sandwich, or a burrito. The extra fun of stuffing your own grape leaves is that every single leaf can be filled differently! Their tartness perfectly complements rich meat dishes or simply grilled steak or chicken, baked yams, hummus and other bean dishes, creamy nettle dip, even simply steamed or sauteed vegetables, especially mixed with any of the above. They’re also wonderful wrapped around certain fresh vegetables, especially fresh red peppers, with a bit of cheese and/or an olive and a bit of pesto. One of my favorite ways to serve supper this time of year is to arrange a beautiful, large platter of different foods, sometimes all of them cold, if it is a very hot day. I go through the pantry and coolers and find whatever scrumptious little treats and leftovers might be hiding in there, and slice up some fresh things, and decorate the whole creation with little piles of fresh grape leaves. Their bright green is so beautiful with all the other colors, it’s enough to make me hungry even when it’s almost too hot to think about eating! It’s beyond fun to take each leaf and fill it with any assortment of mouth-watering yummies! Don’t forget to admire each one before you eat them! We also have a lot of fun informing each other of particularly good bites. Suppertime conversation often goes like this, “Oh, I just had the best thing! It was a bit of yam, with some goat cheese, preserved lemon and some olive paste, and a bit of that elk!” “Oh, I have to try it!” “Did you try the roasted garlic with the chard and some eggplant yet?” “Yeah, it’s even better if you put a little hummus in there.”

If you don’t have lots of lovely little treats hiding in your pantry this time of year, you can go to the natural foods deli and get some olives and smoked meats, and marinated things, and delicious cheeses. But here are also some very easy dishes or condiments for you to consider having around for a inspiring summertime grape leaf feast! Some of them do require using an oven, which I suggest either doing in the morning if you have cool mornings where you are, or using a solar oven, which I am most likely to do whenever it’s not cloudy. I also tend to cook any sauteed dishes in the morning, whenever I can make the time.

Roasted Garlic
Gingered Eggplant Relish
Wild herb (or basil) Pesto (see recipe in a previous blog)
Baked Tofu
Delphi Chicken
Elk with Grape leaves
Simple Sauteed Kale with Lemony Leeks
Fresh Corn and Nettle Saute

Roasted Garlic

What a delight it is, to squeeze tender roasted garlic cloves from their papery shells and add this magic substance to just about any meat or vegetable or bread-like treat. If you use a homemade chicken broth with plenty of fat to roast it in, you won’t need to add any olive oil to the pan. But it will come out delicious either way you choose to make it, as long as it has just enough time in the oven.

To Roast Garlic in an Oven:

Several heads of Garlic (4-6, depending on size)
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons chicken broth or water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or rosemary oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
pinch or two of thyme

Place the whole garlic heads in an 8 inch pan. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan, and swish the pan around a bit to mix things around. Place in about a 350 degree oven for about 60-90 minutes, or until the garlic cloves have darkened and shrunk a bit, and are quite soft when you squeeze or poke at them.

coming soon– how to roast garlic in an open fire!

Baked Tamari Tofu

You can buy good packaged baked tofu at any whole foods store, but it’s much more fun to make your own.  This home baked tofu is so irresistible that I have a hard time not devouring the entire batch as it first comes out of the oven.  If I hope to share any with Kiva and Rhiannon, I make sure to double the quantities.

(serves 2)

8 oz. package raw tofu, firm or extra firm
1/3 cup tamari
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger, minced
4 or more cloves garlic, minced

Slice the tofu into 1/2” pieces.  Put the tamari, ginger and garlic in a wide shallow bowl, or a loaf pan, letting it soak for at least a half an hour, turning once.  Preheat the oven to 375˚.  Remove the tofu from the marinade and arrange the slices on a greased pan.  Bake for about 20 minutes, watching carefully and rotating the pan if needed.  The slices will shrink and firm up considerably, but should still be moist inside.  Enjoy straight from the oven, as a garnish on soup, pasta, or rice, or as party to my Udon Noodles With Tofu and Peanut Sauce (see p. ?).

Gingered Eggplant Relish

This one’s great so many ways, with chicken or fish, in burritos, on polenta, in sandwiches, mixed into scrambled eggs and on and on!  I’ve made many variations on this theme, but the onion, ginger and garlic are always a constant.  I suggest that you try it without the dill and coriander before you try it with…. it’s so good both ways!  I love eggplant so much, it’s always on my list when someone offers to bring me treats from the city.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or butter)
1 medium eggplant
1 large onion
6 medium-large cloves garlic
2-4 tablespoons minced grated fresh ginger (to taste)
1 teaspoon ground coriander (optional)
1 tsp dried dill (optional)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Chop the onion into small pieces and cook with the grated minced ginger, in a skillet until halfway tender in the olive oil.  Chop the eggplant while the onion is cooking, in chunks a little bigger than the onion pieces.  Add the eggplant, and stir as often as you can while you are mincing the garlic.  Add the garlic, and the dill and coriander if you like, and stir frequently until everything is tender but not mushy.  Do you have any homemade sesame crackers around?  I hope so!  If not, you’d better try it immediately on some good bread!

Delphi Grilled Chicken

What evokes summertime more than lemony grilled chicken, redolent with fresh herbs?  With fresh corn-on-the-cob and a big Greek salad, this is the perfect meal for clan get-togethers on those sultry Summer evenings.  I like to put on some extra sticks of juniper on the campfire where we grilled, to delight the kids and light up the faces of our friends.
We prefer dark meat, as it’s more flavorful and juicy, so we often buy packages of nothing but thighs.  If not, we purchase a whole chicken that I cut up into quarters. The chicken soaks in the marinade overnight, which is also used to baste the bird during cooking.  Served as is and hot, or mixed with some plain yogurt or sour cream, it makes a scrumptious sauce!

1 whole chicken, or 6 thighs, rinsed in cold water

Lemon Rosemary-Thyme Marinade:

Juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup canola or olive oil
2 tablespoons honey, warmed (optional)
2 teaspoons fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary, (or 1 tsp. dried, ground in a mortar)
6-10 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Mix up the marinade in a nonmetal bowl large enough for the chicken to fit comfortably. Combine all ingredients with a whisk or a fork, put the washed chicken in the bowl and bathe it with your hands in the marinade. Cover the bowl with a plate and put in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours, turning at least once.  Remove chicken from marinade and grill 4-6 inches above medium coals, turning as needed, for 30-40 minutes or until the juices run clear when a knife is poked in close to the bone.  Careful not to overcook it!
Marinade Variations:

•Spicy Caribbean Marinade
Omit rosemary, increase honey to 4 tablespoons, add 2 jalepenos, seeded and minced finely, plus 1/4 teaspoon each of ground allspice and nutmeg.

•Mexican Marinade
Substitute the juice of half an orange and one lime for the lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro for the herbs.  Add 2 teaspoons ground chile powder and 1 teaspoon cumin.

•Sesame Ginger Marinade

Instead of the herbs, substitute 3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger and add 2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil.  Add up to a teaspoon of cayenne if you happen to like it spicy.

Elk and Grape Leaf Stew

Mediterranean flavors complement stewed elk meat in this earthy, hearty dish. I like to serve this with a salad or a simple dish of sauteed greens or green beans. It’s also lovely on corn tortillas or any flatbread, with scrambled eggs, or even as a simple snack, served cold with some fresh grape leaves or other greens suitable for stuffing. Try it with some Red Chile or Paprika Sauce and homemade piima cream for an extra special treat! And do be sure to try it with the fresh mint or pickled mint garnish– it’s sooo good! If you can’t get elk meat, both buffalo and lamb would be worthy substitutes.

1 lb. elk stew meat (or 2 pint jars Home Canned Elk)
1 onion, diced, sauteed in 1-2 tablespoons butter till golden
3 cloves garlic, minced, sauteed with the onion
1 1/2 cups chopped grape leaves, fresh or preserved
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons sweet paprika or Aleppo pepper
1/3 cup sesame seeds, toasted in a skillet
1/3 cup Homemade Olive Paste, or chopped kalamata olives
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint leaves, or 1/4 cup chopped pickled mint leaves

Pickled Mint:

Simply pour apple cider vinegar over whatever amount of fresh mint you can get into a jar. Be sure to cover the mint completely. Ready to serve after 1-2 days.

If starting out with fresh elk meat, cut into small pieces, heat a skillet to medium-high and brown in a tablespoon or two of butter. Place in a medium sized pot, barely cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer until tender, usually about two hours.
If starting out with Home Canned Elk, simply empty the contents of 2 pint jars elk meat and broth into a medium sized pot. Add the rest of the ingredients except the mint, and simmer until the grape leaves are tender. Time will vary depending on the thickness of the grape leaves, usually somewhere between 20-45 minutes. Garnish with the chopped mint leaves before serving.

-Love, Loba

(Excerpted from Loba’s upcoming cookbook — Share freely so long as credited)

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SOLAR ELECTRICITY:
Viable Now, Potentially Crucial Later

by Jesse Wolf Hardin
www.AnimaCenter.org

Solar electricity is more affordable and practical then ever these days, powering remote rural homesteads like the Anima Sanctuary, enabling urban dwellers to actually sell wattage back to the power companies, and helping prepare us for the time or times when there may very well be no functioning grid or other national power source.

I never tire of the dance of the first morning’s rays across the welcoming features of this canyon sanctuary, lighting first the tops of its pine stalwarts and orange and purple cliffs, then frosting in sequence the leading edges of glinting stone, and igniting one after the other its brilliant seasonal flowers.  For awhile, the deep river canyon bottom is as a long bowl carved out of ruddy metamorphic rock and ghost white cottonwood trunks, holding like some dark soup the last of the night until it, too, is drained of all opacity, giving way not to emptiness but to clarity.

The canyon’s seeming pleasure, is mine as well, and we seem to share a common covenant.  In my heart is a morning song not unlike the birds’.  I arrange my body so as to soak up the comforting first rays, while somewhere in the canyon a black bear is doing the same, initially stretching out to warm its back, then rolling over like an overgrown puppy to make available its characteristic belly.  As the moth-pollinated Datura blossoms begin to close for the day, I join in the motions of the wild Beeweed and medicinal Mallow, with the many hundreds of other native and often rare plant species here that lean and tilt, rise and swoop, tracing the arc our days in our favoring of the sun.

The sun is, for most of us, a joyous thing.  As often as I hope for the wild storms that quench these mountains’ thirst, it is not the covering of the sun that gladdens my heart but its certain reemergence.  Nor does it take a sufferer of “Seasonal Affective Disorder” to deeply, bodily sense its many benefits.  And of late we are seeing new scientific data suggesting the importance of sun-provided Vitamin D in preventing an ever larger list of common modern ailments.  The sun provides not only warmth without which this planet would be iced over and lifeless, but also the immense usable energy that life itself depends and draws upon.  Since oh so long before there were cleverly engineered solar electric panels, made of monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon and running the laptops of spoiled backwoods scribes like me, there were already innumerable species of plants from simple algae to complex conifers harvesting the sun’s bountiful wattage through a still not fully understood chemical process called photosynthesis.  Without these oxygen producing plants, the planet would lack the exact atmospheric mix that animal life including human depends upon.  The sunshine that these plants feast upon comes to us courtesy of a fortuitous, natural nuclear reactor an approximate but nonetheless crucial 93 million miles away… much further away, and it would be too cold on Earth for most or all life forms to survive, while a great deal closer and we as well as the green beings we partner with would most certainly be burned alive.

What is especially amazing to remember is that – unlike the coal fired power-plants that are the primary and most affordable source of electricity in the United States – there is only moderate pollution associated with the production and eventual disposal of solar panels, and none with their use.  And unlike the otherwise practical nuclear reactors that have been built, there is no tradeoff with either long lasting hazardous wastes or possible disastrous meltdowns.  It is, in fact, an undeniably sustainable power source, at least until the star’s projected Red Giant phase some 5 billion years hence.

The estimated 15 terawatts of total electrical use by people at this time, is only 1/6000th as much as the approximately 89 petawatts of sunlight bathing the Earth’s surface.  This isn’t to say that solar or other so called alternative energy technologies are anywhere near currently able to meet the immense and ever increasing electrical consumption of technologized Americans.  They can, however, be immediately put to use by the urban home or apartment complex owner to offset the rising cost of grid supplied power, or in some areas to harvest enough electricity to sell it back to the very companies we’ve been indebted to.  The initial cost of a grid-tie system is slowly made back in this way, while the absence of electric company bills makes remote or stand-alone systems seem more affordable.  Solar equipment is more affordable than ever, dropping from in its early per watt cost as production and sales have increased.  And of late, both State and Federal tax incentives and rebate programs have brought the prices down even further.

When the power in the nearby town of Reserve goes out as a result of heavy snow or a lightning strike, we never know it until we drive in for groceries and see the gas stations closed, un-fueled cars parked alongside the only road, and the lone grocery store running a loud gasoline dependent generator to keep the meat in their freezers froze.  Through it all we continue to make use of our modest but unhampered power supply, submitting our articles to magazines via a solar powered satellite internet connection, lighting our evenings with the soft but adequate glow of low-draw LED bulbs, to the odd world music emanating from the 12 volt stereo speakers.  So would it still be if we had no money to pay a provider, or in the event of a terrorist attack on the power stations, or if civilization itself were to collapse as a result of the manipulations of unscrupulous banking elites, all out war or the assistance of unforeseen natural disasters.  While not immune to the effects, we would still have the possibility of recording our impressions and insights on the illuminated screens of Apples for at least for the life of our deep cycle batteries, and to what could prove to be an oddly affirming Gothic-Americana ballad.

Increased self reliance is available to almost everybody, and in the case of a family’s electrical usage, it can purchased for the cost of a solar system.

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Part 2:
Empowering Anima – Experiences With a Remote Solar Electric System

Outfitting what has become Anima School and Botanical/Wildlife Sanctuary with a functioning solar electric was never in question, even if it’s been an incredibly slow process.  Being situated seven river crossings from the nearest power pole, the only option would have been a gas or propane powered generator, and I loathe the tedious industrial noise of such engines even more than than the hassle and smell of regularly refilling fuel tanks.  Plus we being in the mountainous Southwest, we are blessed with more daily solar gain than the majority of the country, really only losing half a day average during the late Summer monsoon season, and seldom more than three consecutive cloudy days throughout the Winters.

I was a 26 year old man when I moved here, having sold the engine out of my hippie/biker/artist school bus home for the earnest money to start the purchase of this land.  That bus, minus its engine and axles, had only a single deep cycle battery for power.  I allegedly earned the respect of most of my county’s few residents by carrying the 40 pound power storage on my young back for the 20 mile round trip sojourns to buy food and get the local gas station to put it on fast charge.  While I enjoyed the recognition such feats provided, I was nonetheless extremely grateful for the gift of my first solar panel.  Forget that it provided no more than 30 watts at 12 volts DC, requiring several hours of sunshine for every hour of playing my Credence Clearwater Revival cassette tapes.  And never mind that I always suspected my Luddite friend with the felonious tendencies might have “liberated” it from a highway billboard, one no doubt selected because of its shameless glorification of Chinese-stocked super stores or investment firm propaganda.   It wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep a small incandescent bulb going inside of a disassembled automotive tail light, dimly illuminating the paper I was hand writing pieces of my first novel on, an unimposing glow nearly imperceptible from outside.

Over the course of the next two decades I traded my artwork for additional panels of varying size and output, then added a few more with the help of one of Anima School’s first financial Sponsors.  My initial solar education came one mistake at a time, as I miswired, bought incompatible elements, and depended on aged batteries intended as trolling motors on small bass boats, but somehow I managed to not only wire our cabins but keep enough electricity stored for the growing needs of computers and peripherals.

Households investing in solar usually have the daunting task of designing and installing a system that can handle the lion’s share of their exorbitant daily usage.  Since most every appliance and many tools that people use are 110 volt AC (alternating current) and draw a lot of power, a large number of batteries and panels are required as well as an inverter that will convert the DC (direct current) power from the panels into the required AC.  I had no such challenge, starting with nothing but a single car tape deck for tunes, and making sure that every electrical item bought thereafter was DC.  This meant stereos meant for mounting in cars, or else “portable” boom boxes that run on “D” batteries, and whose battery boxes I could wire to run direct off the growing 12v system.  DC lights that we changed first to less amp hungry halogens, and then to LED once their brightness was improved substantially in the 1990s.  For years I wrote all my articles and books on a manual typewriter, taking the sheets into town and paying someone to enter them into a computer, until finally getting one of our own.  In the case of computers, too, we avoided the need for an inverter by using laptops intended for mobile and remote use, first a horrid PC with a screen with no backlight, then a series of Macs beginning with a classic Model 160 and leading up to our current MacBook Pros.

These days we are not simply entertained and illuminated thanks to solar power, but also dependent on it for our very work.  Publications that once required typed out pages, now accept submissions of writing as digital attachments only.  Only bills are sent to our Post Office box and no one ever writes us a “snail mail” query letter anymore, making emails the only way that we communicate with the world.  This includes book manuscript submittals, answering folks asking about wilderness retreats, exchanges with our Home Study students, writing and managing the Anima and Healing Arts blogs, and organizing and promoting the Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference.  We are reaching and aiding more people than ever, through a satellite internet box that is one of our only 110v contraptions, thanks to two sets of purchased and donated batteries, a controller, seemingly miraculous solar panels, and above all the glorious and advantageous sun.

Unfortunately it seems I made yet other serious mistakes in the system’s development, requiring yet another upgrade and reconfiguration.  First, the potpourri of panels we’ve accumulated are of drastically varying output, when it is ideally recommended that all panels in an array be of the same make, type and size.  Secondly, we have been combining two different kinds of batteries, confusing the controller and making ever completely charging them impossible.  Thirdly, the batteries are prone to sulfation of their plates and thus early demise, for the lack of periodically administering a high amperage equalization charge.  And lastly, time on the online NAWS Solar Forum revealed that we have only half as many panels as what our total number of battery storage requires.  The result is the splitting up of our dissimilar batteries, and the upcoming purchase of two superior controllers, two important battery system monitors, four additional 120 or 130 watt panels and much larger diameter wire all around to better carry the juice… especially in Winter..

The expense of this upgrade is difficult for us at best, but is absolutely essential, inescapable, and will power our place and work for possibly decades to come.  In support of our School and conservation work, the kind manager of Northern Arizona Wind and Sun – a reputable low cost supplier – has offered to provide everything we need at considerably less than their asking price, only 10% above their cost plus shipping.  To help cover the expenses, we’ve initiated a Solar Fund and invited earmarked donations, ably spearheaded by our enthusiastic 9 year old daughter Rhiannon.  We are very fortunate, as well, to have the able services of friends Don and Daniel now, professional electricians giving their labor in trade for an old Willys Jeep that I loved but didn’t really need.

A lot of time and attention has had to go to the system remake lately, but it has also meant my reading a lot on forums and elsewhere to further my knowledge, and inspired me to share some of our experience with you, as well as some of the particulars of building your own solar electric system (coming next week!).

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(Please feel free to quote, forward and post this piece… with credit and Anima URL of course)

If you are interested in the particulars of putting together a Solar Electric System of your own, watch here next week for Part 3: Basic Elements of a Solar System

For general details and suggestion regarding solar electric systems, you can go to the NAWS Information Page

For an in depth discussion of all solar topics, I suggest the many alternative energy forums online, including the one I’ve personally learned the most from (featuring independent moderators not employed by the host company) the NAWS Solar Forum

Other articles of Wolf Hardin’s on homesteading will also be appearing as part of the upcoming ReWilding magazine/website

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Solar Power Fund Appeal

by Rhiannon (in Fairie green!)

Hello Everybody!  Today I’m writing a special appeal for help with making our Solar Electricity work.  It’s the only electricity we have and it hasn’t been working right so it looks like we have lots of things we have to buy and then put together.  Papa has traded the old Willys Jeep we loved for an electrical person’s help putting it all together, but we still have to come up with the parts like more panels, a controller and monitor and things.  The sun is what powers everything we have and do, especially the computers and emails but my music and lights for Mama Loba’s kitchen also!

We’re lucky to have a great place offering to give us the equiptment for just a little bit above their cost because they support the work we do and understand how little we ever have to spend because of working for donations and all.  They are called Northern Arizona Wind and Sun, and thanks to them we should be able to make this all happen and keep the internet going!

We haven’t even posted the appeal yet and we already got a donation from sweet Dio, a woman who raises bees and a garden and has been a champion for Mother Earth for a long long time!  She’s  a friend of Papas and wrote us that she wanted to be the first to start a “Solar Fund” (with an “o” for Sun!).  Thank you Dio, we love you!  So any amount you might be able to spare would be great!  You can send it in the mail or send it using the donations button that says “Pay Pal”, but make a note that it is for solar power so it is sure to be used for that okay?  And if you don’t have anything to spare, we appreciate just getting your wishes and love!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Have a very sunny day!
-Rhiannon Cadhla Hardin

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