greening your thumb

I used to have a definite "bad thumb," which has turned to a pretty green thumb over the years. While my son thinks houseplants are useless, and I used to care them to death, I have come to love them in recent years. Like my cats they are something like children to me - definitely cheaper, definitely less work, yet work nevertheless, and a lot of pleasure. I am pleased when my plants grow stronger, sometimes I talk to them, I love watching them grow a new leaf or new blooms.  I get especially excited when one of my orchids begins to sprout a new flower stem, which then grows and unfolds over weeks, and blooms for months. I find that plants add softness and life to a home, a calming and quiet living presence. Plants eliminate toxins from the air, absorb our carbon dioxide while emitting oxygen, humidify the air by releasing water, their presence seems to increase productivity in offices and adds to our wellbeing in general (apparently sick people get well faster if they are around plants).  From a decorative perspective they can make such a statement, such as a tall ficus tree in a big space, little succulents growing between pebbles in a pretty pot, or a basket planted with a variety of plants. Plants add to the quality of life in so many ways.

a shift, then a gift

Shifts are neat. A shift is when you suddenly think totally differently about something than just moments ago, and can't believe you haven't seen it in that new way all along. You can't seem to force shifts, they just happen - pop! Et voilà, your outlook has changed.

Eeewww, I thought the other morning when I opened the window and saw a swirl of insect eggs stuck to the  window screen. But the swirl was pretty neat in its shape, and I looked closer, wondered, took some pictures - and then my mind went pop. All of a sudden I thought, wait, whatever this is - I get to watch these eggs transform and hatch and do whatever these things do (I think these things are moth eggs). Suddenly eeewww transformed into a gift, a gift from nature. How neat is that!

this or that?

processed cheese slice with yellow dye #5

or

raw-milk artisanal cheese from a small farm?

canteloupe melons tasting like cardboard

or

freshly plucked cherry tomatoes bursting with sun-ripened flavor?

cornfed-antibiotic-supplemented-growth-hormone-infested beef from a feedlot cow with red dye #3 to make it look fresh

or perhaps

no meat at all?

artisanal cheese

this or that?

our unsung heroes

            In the end how much does an investment banker's work really contribute to my quality of life? Nada, nothing. Same goes for a real estate developer's work, a sports champion's work (some people may disagree, but I believe certain professional athletes are vastly overpaid for what they do), and many other overpaid and overvalued jobs that we have come to admire simply because they earn lots of money. Instead I'd like to sing a song to our unsung heroes, the farmers. They are generally underpaid and overworked for the long hours they work and the incredible risks they have to take year after year. Yet without them we are nothing, not even alive. No farms, no food, as the bumper sticker goes. Weather conditions are a real gamble and a constant source of worry for farmers. Wet or dry summers mean less money. And what about several-year droughts?  What about the difficult decisions between new technologies and true sustainability?  The question whether bigger is better?  Farmers simply don't get credited or appreciated for the importance of their work.

Many pioneering young farmers do this job out of conviction and passion for a better world, and unfortunately have to work for a pittance. The government should be giving away farmland to willing and qualified farmers to encourage farming in areas with a sustainable climate (certainly not out west). Why not subsidize small farms, sustainable farms, organic farms, new farmers? That would acknowledge the value of the farmers' life sustaining function.   We ought to thank our farmers, we ought to celebrate them, we need to support them.  

Guess where I went today?

bloodworms and brine shrimp

My daughter loves all animals, and her cats to pieces. She was never afraid of animals, not even when she was little and got bitten by a big dog.  A few months ago she got a Betta fish. Now she is doing extensive research on a proper diet for this predator of a fish, that sadly oftentimes only gets fed pellets and flakes in captivity. This diet can eventually lead to illness, as can feeding kibbles to cats and dogs, feeding grain to cattle, and the Western Diet to mankind. We are what we eat, and so are animals.   I am so pleased that she wants to give her little fish the best possible food for his kind, and realizing the importance of diet on a living thing. She told me that Betta fish thrive on blood worms (ahem...), preferably live ones (not so sure about that one...), and brine shrimp.

This post is really not about the specifics of Betta fish food, but rather about the direct connection between diet and health and wellbeing in all living things. I wrote previously about the homemade raw cat food our cats thrive on, and which emulates as closely and feasibly as possible what a feline would eat in its natural habitat. The dried foods the pet food industry promotes are less than sorry versions of a carnivore's natural diet, as are packaged supermarket foods for us. If you are still interested in the ideal Betta fish diet, here is a very humorously written webpage on it.

We all need our own version of bloodworms and brine shrimp.

awesome details

The advice not to lose the forest for the trees general a good one because the big picture frames our perspective and reminds us not to get lost in minutiae. This is especially practical advice when trying to get something accomplished.  Yet, you may miss out on some hidden jewels.

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Contemplating nature's details can be a deeply meditative activity. I am always amazed at the intricate and delicate details of my orchid blossoms. Nature creates such incredible complexity on such a micro level, it's awe inspiring. It's also easy to pass by without noticing it. The first picture above just shows an abundance of phalaenopsis orchids, too many to look at the details.  But get down on your knees - so to speak - and the colors alone of the orchid center are spectacular. Orange, crimson red, lime green, and lemon yellow set against a porcelain white background. And how about the shapes, tiny as they are? So elaborate, so intricate. How about the two wispy filigreed extensions, that start out white and end in a curled yellow spiral? Or the yellow and red striped part in the throat of the orchid? Or the orange pad (is it the stigmatic surface?) with the red dots in the very center?   And did you notice the see through holes the petal shapes are creating? Or the interesting shape of the lip, the protruding part the insect would land on?

            Ultimately the names of the parts don't matter at all. It is about the experience of savoring the exquisite details and colors inside the otherwise so sculpturally white orchid that gives me such pleasure when I walk past the flower that I need to stop every time and tell it how beautiful, how perfect it is.

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            Of course you can contemplate other shapes in nature and be awed - moss for example, or crystals, or a butterfly's wings. There is endless beauty, perfection and intricacy to be found all around. Each one merits its own attention.

on respecting nature

Hearing bear stories and seeing one up close are two different things. A few days ago I observed a bear out of my office window, playing with a log, meandering along the tree line, trying to get down from the cliff behind our house, then deciding it was too steep, and slowly disappearing back into the woods. Today, I took a - brief - lunchtime walk and saw what I presume was the same bear, slowly crossing the road in the not-so-distant distance. I was in awe and treaded back, hence the brevity of the walk.             Even the Native Americans respect the bear because it is so powerful and can be fickle. It behooves us to respect nature, to bow in reverence before its grandeur, power, unpredictability, and force, whether nature comes in animal, plant, weather or geological form. It seems to me that we as a culture

have unlearned to work with it, alongside it, leaving it alone when need be, and not walking all over it with disrespect and hubris. When we live away from nature we tend to see nature as something different from us, something we can use and exploit.

But are we not nature, too?

bamboo socks?

Yes, bamboo socks. There are a lot of new and old cool natural fibers out there that are still crowded out by the cotton lobbies and what not. But as we explore alternatives to the oh-so-last century petroleum based nylons and polyesters (please, people, make some better gym shorts!) we find that many of these fibers are more drought tolerant than our beloved cotton, organic or not, can be grown in poorer soil, and thus require far less water, chemical pesticides and fertilizers. These fibers tolerate broader weather imbalances and many of them grow fast. And, not unimportant either, they are natural and comfortable to wear.             I had no clue that you could make fiber out of bamboo until I found these socks, which are incredibly soft and comfortable to wear. Although I later learned that the process is not so eco-friendly compared to some other natural fibers out there.

Better alternative fibers are hemp (poo pooed for years because of the supposed marijuana connection - but it is a non-psychoactive member of the cannabis family), which is drought tolerant and easy to grow, as is flax (currently mostly grown for its omega-3 rich seeds). Lyocell or its tradename Tencel, which doesn't sound very natural and has its detractors because it goes undergoes a lengthy industrial process, is a fiber made from eucalyptus trees. Something really exotic is SeaCell fiber made from cellulose and seaweed (mmh, maybe better to eat the seaweed), and also SoySilk, made from the leftovers of the tofu industry (now that's a good one, what with all the tofu we now eat).

So many new fibers made from natural materials to explore.

the color of life

I find the color Green very soothing. It seems restful to my eyes. I love when vibrant green begins to mix into the drab gray browns of winter and slowly takes over by the end of May. I can look at an expanse of thick juicy green grass for ever and feel peaceful. Walking in the woods I enjoy staring at the dense green tree canopy.            "Green, the result of photosynthesis, which creates all of our food, is the color of life," says Petra Fromme of AZSU. The NY Times reported in a recent article on the color green that blue and green are the world's favorite colors. Our vision is optimized for green, says Bevil Conway of Wellesley College.

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Not only our mind, but our body, too, thrives on greens, whether in the form of leafy green vegetables, that miracle healer wheat grass juice (2oz of it provides as many nutrients as 5lbs of raw vegetables - wow!), that other super healer chlorella algae, and various other mineral rich sea vegetables.

As Popeye already said.....

effortless perfection

On this sunny morning I heard a bird chirping away in a nearby tree while I was getting ready - how beautiful after a long winter of silence. I find that there is nothing more pure and clear than the bright voice of a song bird - effortless perfection. I didn't know what kind of a bird I was listening to, and it didn't really matter. Besides, words often utterly fail to describe an experience. They tend to be insufficient and cumbersome.  That moment was an exquisite experience, no words needed.