Gardening: "Homegrown Revolution" (video)

(UrbanHomestead)

This urbanhomestead.org film features Jules, Justin, Anais, and Jordanne Dervaes. It is a short introduction to a homegrown project called a revolution in urban sustainability.

In the midst of a dense city setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over 20 years, the Dervaes family has transformed its small home into an urban homestead, a model for sustainable agriculture (permaculture) in the city exposing homesteading.

• VIDEO: Living Off the Grid (documentary)
  

The Dervaes and screeners show that change is possible. They harvest three tons of organic food annually from their 1/10th of an acre garden -- incorporating back-to-basics practices, solar energy, and biodiesel to reduce their carbon footprint.

Homegrown Revolution was never created for the film festival circuit. It is a real homegrown story. The original version was made in three days for a lecture Jules Dervaes gave at UCLA in 2007 on Slow Food. It received a wildly enthusiastic response from students, YouTube viewers, and has won many awards. More

Creating a backyard paradise

BREAKUP: "Be Gentle With Me" (comedy)

Wisdom Quarterly

"Be gentle with me, oh oh, be gentle with me...please be gentle with me, handle with care, be gentle with me...or I shall kick your teeth in."

Breaking up is hard to do, they say. But it depends. It certainly is if one repeatedly reflects on the appealing qualities of the lost person.



However, if one were to from to time consider and reflect on the unappealing aspects, that clinging and pining would vanish.



One would become disenchanted, disillusioned, dispassionate. And then it would be possible to be freed. There is, of course, a trap. If one pushes away from the pain, that is just as dangerous as clinging to the pleasant in the first place. Aversion is as hard to deal with as undue attraction.

"Garden of Love" (Benny Hill)

Hate quickly replaces love -- without displacing it. One is then attached and angry, hurt and seeking some way of ridding oneself of the pain, the memory, the intrusive thoughts.







Wise reflection (yoniso manasikara) sees things as they truly are -- neither ignoring the bad nor exaggerating the good.



With freedom comes laughter again. Everything is funny. Everything is light. Everything is fine just as it is, because fine/not-fine is all in the mind that judges it so. With a different decision, the world seems to change. There is no out there without an in here.



Laugh, and the whole world laughs with you. Cry, and you can cry alone. (Misery loves company, but the company soon wearies of les contagious miserable).

Be sure to have the number to cancel.

A natural solution without harmful chemical pharmaceuticals? (welltabs.com)

"The Botany of Desire" (video)

(Link)

(PBS) "The Botany of Desire" is an eye opening exploration of the human-plant relationship. Featuring author Michael Pollan and based on his best-selling book, this special takes viewers on a fantastical ride exploring the human and plant worlds -- from the plants' point of view. The program shows how four familiar American favorites evolved to satisfy our yearnings for intoxication (altered consciousness), control, sweetness, and beauty:

1. our favorite weed, marijuana (for medicine)
2. our favorite vegetable, the potato (for chips)
3. our favorite fruit, the apple (for pie), and
4. our favorite flower, the tulip (for tiptoeing).

"Veggin'out" is so in
Tips for starting a vegetable garden
Vegetable and herb gardening is in and studies indicate it will continue to grow in popularity. If you're not growing your own yet it's time to start. Why? The reasons are as varied as the people who garden. Some do it to save money. Others want to ensure their food is chemical-free, and as safe as possible. Still others grow their own vegetables because fresher is just better. Many do it because gardening is good for you and some because it’s still fun to play in the dirt. More

Mr. Natural
Outdoorsman has made life of exploring urban wilderness
Justin Chapman (PasadenaWeekly.com)
Christopher Nyerges has lived the life he’s written so passionately about in numerous books, magazines, and newspapers -- that of a philosopher outdoorsman traversing an increasingly urbanized wilderness, a man able to survive off the land in any given situation. “In a survival situation, you’re either prepared or you’re not... And most people are wholly unprepared. That being said, I look at failure, which most people try to avoid, as a good thing. Failure from the standpoint of character-building means that you have your weaknesses exposed, and if you’re smart, you then do something about it.” More