Paradise Confirmed
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Yesterday I noticed a hum coming from one of the apple trees, and looking up, I saw a few bees of various types, enjoying the nectar. The leaves have changed from bright red to light pink. Here are two pics of the same bird nest, taken maybe two weeks apart.
and the humming of the bees was quite hypnotic and meditative. Even the flight path of the bumble bee seems so creative and mind/heart-expanding.
Well, it is today’s blog, so let me say how it is amazing how you wake up some days and feel it is special, joyful, even sacred. Today was one of those days.
This morning as I looked out the kitchen window to the backyard, the dandelions were particularly shining bright yellow - like, we’d make a good lunch today. So I went out to see if that was the case, and sure enough, along with the yellow flowers, the leaves were quite big and delicious looking.
After collecting the lunch menu’s items, I went down to the stream, and it seemed to say, wouldn’t you like to picnic today? And you know, I did feel like picnic-ing. And so I did. I ate my lunch right there, staring at the stream and listening to its sweet song. But I digress...
I also collected some raspberry leaves, and a few violets and common strawberry flowers for lunch too - just for color - ‘lunch decor’ as it were.
The day was special and so I felt cooking lunch could be more special than just pressure-cooking everything - the dandelions seemed to not want to be just mushed together with the rice and chickpeas and potatoes and cabbage. And who could blame them? They deserved to be enjoyed freshly picked, vital, and so they were.
I steamed the dandelions for about two minutes and then ‘chunked’ them - that is, melted some ghee and added some spices, and then sauteed the dandelions for about 30 seconds... yum-eee, they were...at the picnic.
Along with homemade yogurt/lassi, there was some steamed dandelion water, so I brought that to the picnic too. Took some stream water for lunch prayer and then ate a most delightful meal in a most delightful shady spot next to the stream.
Well you know there is nothing better after a tasty lunch than a satisfying nap, and I happened to be just a few walking steps away from the hammock...mmmmm, hammock, drooping in air; o joy-giver; o hammock, here I come.
And there I went, resting dozing, and then a bumble bee came by and gathered my attention. He was looking for nectar (I imagine) in the grass. How strange, I thought, there is no flower, no nectar there. But he kept right on seeking, for a good few minutes, sometimes disappearing into the grass, becoming silent as if he found his nectar, and then buzzing out and a-searching once more, before finally flying off somewhere else.
Eyes closing, but just taking in the time, when suddenly I heard some considerably louder noises. Again, surely this is a large animal. Eyes shot open, head turned up, and there it was, two deer, about 150 feet on the other side of the stream. Wow! They were hidden a bit by the brush, but still I could make out their thin spring coats.
One deer came up closer to the spring, about 100 feet away from me. I was just hanging in the hammock, taking it all in. How wonderful, words fail me. Then, as the deer began to get a bit closer, he looked in my general direction, sniffing and quite alert...stranger! danger! unknown human scent, run! And so he or she did, about 50 feet back. Then the deer seemed to feel they have eaten all they could find and moved on. And then so did I.
Today was also and auspicious day astrologically day to plant trees (from Arborday.com), and it was getting to be that time to plant. Put the saplings in water to soak and went out to pick the best location for them to reside. The first spot is in a line from the apple tree at the edge of the driveway, down closer to the house. Measuring the tree’s spread with a tape measure, I picked a spot along the driveway that seemed like a nice place to live if you were a tree, and also, if you were a person living in the house, the spot would offer a nice view of the paper birch from all the windows in the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom.
So, facing northeast, praying to God and Mother Earth, Hanuman, the son of the Wind (this is a lovely windy spot), I placed the shovel on the selected ground site and jumped on it to sink it into the ground. It sunk nicely. Sometimes it doesn’t sink so nicely because of all the shale in the ground. But when it sinks in nicely, it is a wonderful feeling - a feeling of completeness and satisfaction overtakes me. But then, rather quickly, another jump on the shovel produces a ‘clunk’, and its back to negotiating how to unearth that portion of the sod.
The instructions said to dig a 3 foot diameter hole for the saplings and so I put a ruler on the ground and dug a second sod square on the other side of the first sod square that I dug out; this was 3 feet away from the first dig-out. Spinning the ruler, I made similar opposing dig-outs until the circumference of the circle was dug out.
I won’t bore you with how I dug the hole, but to say I saved the topsoil for reuse, pulled out lots of stones, and overall, found digging a hole is not really the back-breaking work I seem to have heard from others, though it is a good way to tire you out a bit.
The hole dug, I brought out one of the saplings and planted it. The rocks that were unearthed from that spot, I put around the 3 foot circle to show there is a sapling here (because you can’t really see it), and to give the rocks the honor of doing some new and important work in the neighborhood they lived in. And I must say, those rocks are making the site look very magical and special.
Two trees planted and it was 8:30 pm, the sky was getting dark and I was getting tired and hungry, so I thought it would be best to call it a night. And so I did.
I’ll check the panchang (almanac) to see when I can plant more trees. I have one more paper birch, two butternuts (they need two to pollinate), a quaking aspen, red maple, two yellow azaleas, and a cute 2 inch tall red cedar that will grow up one day to be 40-50 feet tall.
More special things today, I saw a new wildflower in full bloom. Brought out my Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Flowers and found the flower is called Common Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris Brassicaceae), from the Mustard family - its high in vitamin C and it may be on tomorrow’s lunch menu. [see materia medica blog for pic and details]
I also happened across the name of another wildflower blooming in large groups in the front and back yards - little white tipped sticks - they are called Field Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta Green - from the Aster or Sunflower family (Asteraceae), but it is unclear from the Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants which part of the plant is eaten to receive the benefits it mentions. Online searches resulted in an additional lack of information. [see materia medica blog for pic and details]
Confirmed that the little white flowers all over the ground are Common Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) of the Rose family. [see materia medica blog for pic and details]
I had some homemade ice cream tonight too. Such a sacred day. I’m truly living in my paradise.
Well that’s it for now. Talk to you again soon.
Good night y’all.
