Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

The empty lot behind my house is generally completely overgrown with blackberry vines. Over the years, they have damaged and even killed trees, so occasionally I clear away as many of the vines as I can. Two days ago, I hired a friend to help with the clearing. He did an amazing amount of work during the four or five hours he was there.

The lot is on a steep hill. At one point, he and I noticed that there were some yellow daffodils towards the bottom of the lot. They were beautiful and it was intriguing to see them rising out of the mass of dried blackberry vines. They looked bigger to us than they do in the picture below.

During the next hours, I couldn’t get them out of my mind. If they were this big from a distance, what would they look like if I was closer? As evening approached, I decided to plant some potato starts in one area where my friend had cleared the blackberry vines. As I did that, I kept glancing at the flowers. I wanted to see them up close.

I gingerly made my way towards them, my arms and legs getting pricked by the vines as I walked. Soon I came to a steep drop off. There were years of vines piled up there and I couldn’t see the land below them. There was no doubt in my mind that if I stepped into that mass, I would fall and be immersed in a very painful situation.

How else could I get there? I looked north and noticed an area where there were no blackberries. Maybe I could get to the flowers that way! It was at that time, the saying, “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,” first came to mind.

I made it down the steep hill and as you can tell from the pictures above, I could even see the flowers, but I still couldn’t get to them. Once again, the blackberry vines were too thick.

I looked south and thought I saw an area that had fewer vines, so I made my way back to the center of the lot and surveyed the situation. There was no way for me to get to that clearer patch other than to step into the mire that had looked so unsafe to me. I knew I was too tired to be doing that so decided it was time to stop for the day.

The next morning, my mind was still on the daffodils. I walked down the hill to check the terrain again. After a night of rest, the center area didn’t seem so daunting. I could even see the ground under the vines. I decided to go back to the house, exchange my sneakers for heavy boots and pick up a tool to cut (or beat down!) the blackberry vines.

That plan worked great. I soon made my way to the small clearing on the south part of the lot. I noticed a big mushroom and an area of bamboo along the way.

I continued on, cutting the vines as needed. Before I knew it, I could see the flowers before me.

With renewed vigor I worked towards my goal. Before long I was very close!

And then I was there!

The daffodils were so beautiful

But…. what’s that? Something is moving in the inside of the middle daffodil! Look closely below, can you see what I saw?

I was fascinated. Watch the progression as the scene unfolded!

I thought it was a winged insect at first but when it stretched out completely, it appeared to be a spider. The top two legs were held close together most of the time, which had given the appearance of wings. Do any of you who are reading this know what kind of spider it is?

What a grand adventure I had had. I loved seeing the flowers up close, and then to have the unknown creature come out of one of them was such a bonus. I wrote a poem about my experience with the spider in Nature’s Miracle. (I also wrote about another “adventure” on this property last June in A Journey into the Jungle.)

Note: I looked up information about the phrase “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.” According to Wikipedia, it was the name of a folk song that became part of the American Civil Rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Watching that video led me to this one. The song is “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” The slide show is so good…. and a trip down memory lane for me.

Who would have guessed that this post would have ended in this way? I sure wouldn’t have. To me, that is what living in the moment is all about!

Nature’s Miracle (Haiga)

hello little one
I am so pleased to meet you
what a gift you are

as you look at me
what is it that you feel
are you afraid

when I look at you
delicate beauty I see
nature’s miracle

Wordless Wednesday

The View

When I remodeled my house in the mid 80’s, the kitchen windows were boarded up for three months. The day the boards were taken down, I was treated to a view that was breathtaking. While the tree is much bigger now, I feel as moved by what I am seeing from my kitchen window today as I did on that day in the 80’s. (In the 80’s it reached this stage mid April. Due to the warm winter, it is in full bloom on March 9.)

I’ve shared pictures of this tree several times lately but here is a collage of the progression between February 20 and today.

February 20

March 4

March 9

Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange

Posted for Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange

Banana Circles in Amritapuri, India

When I visited Amma’s ashram in Amritapuri, India in December 2014/January 2015, I was fascinated by the banana circles that were located in one of the ashram gardens. Banana circles are a permaculture technique that is most often used in tropical and subtropical regions. They help create humus and water retention where soils are either sandy or heavy clay.

I found this description of banana circles:

“Papaya, banana and coconut circles are developed by digging pits up to two meters in diameter (for papaya and banana – 3 m for coconut) and approximately 1 meter deep. They are then filled with dampened, compacted organic material to a height of 1 meter above ground. Up to seven plants of the appropriate type are then grown on the rim of the pit. Taro or other moisture loving plants may be grown in the inside edge, as sweet potato along the outside edge to provide a living ground cover and mulch, as well as additional food production.”

Banana circles also are a way to compost organic materials, produce food, and utilize grey water. They are filled with microorganisms.

I learned something else in researching this topic. I always thought bananas grew on trees. It turns out that banana palms aren’t trees, they are plants. I was even more surprised when I read the following information from The Permaculture Research Institute:

Did you know that banana palms are actually a grass? Also, each plant only gives fruit once, so after you have cut the bunch of bananas down you can remove the whole plant at ground level. By this time, there should be new suckers coming up — only allow a couple of these to grow, as too many will make your bananas overcrowded and they won’t fruit well.

When I first looked at the banana palms in Amritapuri, I was astounded by how fast they grow. The first picture below was taken on the day the palm was planted. The second and third pictures are of banana palms three or four days after they were planted.

Here are some other pictures of the Amritapuri Banana Circles.

For more information:

http://permaculturenews.org/2014/04/08/banana-circles/

http://www.homegrownediblegardens.com/banana-circlemulch-pit-guilds.html

http://www.mitra.biz/joomla/index.php/writingssustainability/3050-howtobananacircle

http://permaculturenews.org/2008/06/23/build-a-banana-circle/

https://treeyopermacultureedu.wordpress.com/chapter-10-the-humid-tropics/banana-circle/

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Originally written for PNW Green Friends Newsletter, Issue 44, March 2015

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Reward

This morning, I walked while chanting the Sri Lalita Sahasranama. This is a sacred text that I ideally would be chanting daily. As I walked, I was pulled by the desire to be focusing on the beauty around me rather than reciting the chant. I have felt that pull many times before, but it was particularly strong today.

Then the question “Isn’t focusing on the beauty of Mother Nature a spiritual practice too?” came into my mind. Of course it is; about that I had no doubt. I realized what wanted to be doing was to immerse myself in nature, taking photographs to share on my blog and in the GreenFriends newsletter I organize monthly.

For the rest of my walk, I continued my chant, but if I felt called to stop and look at something and/or take a picture, I did. Sometimes I felt literally “called” in that it seemed like a song bird or crow was calling out to me.

I felt “rewarded” for being flexible in my definition of spiritual practice by capturing several beautiful photographs.