Ready Set to Go!!!! Canada Here I come!!!

Sunday morning I woke with the word "TIME!" yelling me out of bed, well I guess it was time to get up (6:00 am) but it is also TIME… I have really been spinning and reeling with not just leaving town, and trying to take care of all I can before I go, but with the shifts of the Ninth Wave for those of you that have been following the Mayan Calendar. Which is also another reason for me going to do this work with Earth Activist Training now, instead of last year when I had planned. And a lot of reasons why I have been interested in what Permaculture gives us as we move into the future. I have been studying this for years and 2012 is right before us, actually happening now and we have chosen to live in this time to do or be a part of the change. I will refer you to one website and encourage you to google from there. We are in the Ninth and Final Wave of the Mayan, in Night 3. I will be at Heartroot Farm in Quebec during Day 4 which is the leaf formation as well as reveals.
If you don’t understand all this, it is OK, it is time to at least be right with yourself in your life because things are changing not just in our physical world but on all levels and it is happening fast. Here are some websites:

Friday night we just had our beautiful Summer Solstice Ritual on the beach at Mashes Sands, I love that place, reminds me of growing up on Alligator Point. We walked on the sand bar and built a fire on the beach and told stories in the form of our personal Faery Tales. We ate cold chicken and laughed as the sun set and the crescent moon lite the beach. What a way for four women to enjoy the shift of mid-summer than to spend an evening sitting in the sand with best friends and circle sisters. Tis the life!
I will be touching down in Halifax tomorrow night. The first week I am going to be really busy with my old friend Bonnie Foster and her family. Saturday we are off to the farmers market then she has my first reading scheduled on the way back in her little town. On Sunday I am doing a public Platform Demonstration as a fundraiser for the school, she says the flyer she sent out is getting a lot if interest, I hope it is of the positive kind. I do draw all kinds on energy….. and Summer Solstice and time with the kids and Bonnie showing me the sights of Nova Scotia. I am really excited about checking out her land and the Faery energy there, last summer she sent me a photo of her stream and I found a wee fae hiding under a log near the water. Nova Scotia means New Scotland ya know..A
Send Energy Please
And I am not nervous about the trip, it is leaving Noah and the farm. I will just say everything else is working out, even the travel money and such. I am not taking a lot of stuff but I will have what I need.
I am going to ask all my friends and family to send some positive energy to Noah while I am gone and a little extra for prosperity and health.
Also send some healing energy to my beloved Barbara Reis, long time Client and friend and her awesome family. She has been very sick and in the hospital, on my way to visit today. And for little Kam kam my monkey boy Faery Goddess child which has been sick this week.
On the Farm
Spent Sunday morning putting up Dill pickles with Leslie and I used lime for the first time instead of salt. . Wednesday I pickled more bread and butter pickles using lime again, it really makes the pickles crunchy but makes the clear. I burned myself with boiling water, Noah got to doctor me with silvadine. We actually got Leslie out in the garden and Noah dug the rest of his potatoes this weekend The squash is gone, the really sad tomatoes were not worth all the trouble after I tied and trimmed them all up last week. But I have a feeling there are going to be lots of egg plants… and Ken’s corn is just the prettiest Thing in my garden, it is as tall as I am and if we get moor rain it will be another foot or so. Thick dark green stalks and healthy support system, the pole beans are coming in and they will soon wrap the stalk.

Last night there were fire trucks on 59 and this morning I woke to smoke choking me. I do not know where it is coming from but the air is think even though we had a nice breeze and the air was cool and damp with last nights rain. It is the Full Moon and I put out my Faery Oil, this morning one of the three bottles was gone. I looked and found myself in poison ivy under the picnic table but never found it. If it were the puppies u will or Noah will have some wild little dogs on his hands. As I have posted about Faery oil before it is really strong stuff and only comes out on the full moon to charge. And if the Fae got it….let’s just say//oh shit…..as I was typing my whole document disappeared……say no more….
So I off on my adventure tomorrow. Ken came down to work in the garden and inspect the corn project,, I have to pick up my pay check, visit Barbara in the hospital and pack. Last minute stuff. Jamie and Noah are taking me to Jacksonville early in the morning. My plane leaves at noon and I will be in Halifax by 9pm.
So my next post will be from the road… and I really hope my whole computer blogging works the way I want it to. I really want to share this journey and stay in touch, there is aplace to comment on the blog so please feel free to use it. If qaanyone wants to personally e-mail me my e-mail address is
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SO……here we go!!!!!
www.thetreeoflifecelebration.com and www.mayanninthwave.com which is a blogspot like minedragonwing56@aol.com and I will have no cell phone service through out my trip..

It is JUNE!!!

June 6, 2011
Yes, I know I have really been behind and I have a bunch of photos I want to post. I am just hanging out in the AC at Crystal Connection on my computer today. Trying to catch up with my blogging and life! Putting my foot down on the ground because my head is spinning........

I am so excited that we have had some rain these past few days, the garden might actually make it, and I have my kitchen counter set up to start pickling tomorrow. The okra is coming in strong and I have silly pumpkins popping up where I used the compost, remember in your compost, do not toss your pumpkin seeds unless you want them everywhere….
Noah and I spent several hours working on his Oak Garden yesterday, clearing most of the land by hand and using the natural plants and filling in with some shade loving plants and shrubs as well as trees. The work is hot and tiring but it will be beautiful. He has grand plans of making it a really nice sitting area. My herb garden is right next to it and yesterday we opened up a place to walk between.
So, the raffle (one hour reading with me) at Crystal Connection was won by Deborah Cone and I raised $130, not much but every bit helps, thank you to those that bought a raffle ticket. I am still a little nervous about traveling light on money but I have friends helping me and I will be making a little money along the way. In 11 days I will be in Nova Scotia and then off to Quebec. I will NOT have cell phone at all and limited internet but hopeful enough to keep up with my blog and my family at home. I will be working in the kitchen and other assorted chores while there. It seems they keep us working and in class from 9am-10pm everyday and one day off during the two weeks to do other things.
More Down on the farm….
I know for sure that both goats are pregnant, and we got a new little 4 month old billy goat and mean old Johnson has gone to another farm for breeding. The chickens are laying better and the blueberries are coming in. Just a few weeks and they will be full, if we continue to get rain. The deer are eating most of the ripe ones that are near the trails but there are plenty for all us critters. They are also eating our pear trees, the leaves, they wait till the pares are ripe which will not be till August or so. I guess since the weather has been so hot and lots of stuff dying the deer are seeking out what is green. They ate my only two little nectarines, and that is right in front of the dogs. They are very brave but I don’t feel too bad, everything is so dry and food scares. I will probably miss the blueberry harvest since they will be ready to pick while I am gone, and I’ll have to leave the harvest up to the family.
Getting fit for the trip
The ticks, yellow flies and horse flies are really bad. It takes a tough hide or DEET to stay out there long and with the heat, making short trips into the woods and garden at anytime other than early morning can be rough. I am really glad I have been doing a little extra exersise in the early mornings. Speaking of which, every morning I play my flute for about 30 minutes as the sun is coming up and then I go on a two and a half mile run. This has been conditioning for me to get ready for this trip and helping relieve some of the stress over the past few weeks. I have really been trying to focus on the energy of our shifting world and feeling some things fall into place. I really feel our world preparing for changes in nature. As I have said before the animals are acting different. I have noticed lots of Crows and was gifted with a feather a few days ago. Last week Noah, Trent and I went for a long boat trip on the Wacissa, I saw birds I have never seen before and only one turtle, which was strange. There were lots of fish but we did not catch any, but we tried. Trent had his very first snorkeling experience at Big Blue and this kid is afraid of water. If you have never swam in Big Blue in the Wacissa River it is breath taking and crystal clear. Well worth the trip. But there was something different about the river.
I am sure there is plenty more I could blog today but I want to post some photos since I am on the CC WiFi and it only takes seconds to do so here are some to share.
　

LOOK CLOSE! I have never seen this before Locus leaving shell

Gardenia Tree!

Corn before the rain

 SEE There was fruit on this tree, Mr.Scruffy & Blue did not do it!

 Wacissa River

Swallow Tail Kite

　
　

Yes, it has been a while....sorry

May 26, 2011 (OK I know this is a little late but I am posting it any way)
I know it has been several weeks since I have posted to my blog, and I feel somewhat guilty to not be keeping up with it. When I started it I made a commitment that I would keep it up but…… sometimes I just slip into a place where computers and technology is the farthest thing from my mind and that is where I have been.
Water, water everywhere,
water, water none to spare,
And the chant goes on……………..but I will not share the rest.

The farm is suffering from the heat and the lack of rain, yes I feel we are in a drought. We have already burned up one pump and used our reserves that are due to be rebuilt. Noah had to buy a new one and it is just not putting out the volume we need. Water is a concern with us between watering all the horses and other farm animals. We have plans in the future for a solar powered pump and tank set high enough on a platform to get enough pressure to water the vegetable garden, the green house and the herb garden. Right now it is several hours a day of switching sprinklers off and on, timers off and on and watering all the plants and fruit trees. We are more that 10 inches below normal for rainfall. And with the cool nights up till a few weeks ago when we got down to the 40’s in May, which is unheard of in north Florida, it has been a hard growing season already.
But look at the changes in the world, just this year, floods, earth quakes, tsunami and killer tornadoes. And once again I will say, the animals are acting strange. Our chickens are laying half what they were a few months ago, horses and goats are dropping off weight and we are feeding more. I saw another bear last week and a huge coyote yesterday morning on the edge of our land, he was as big as my beloved Zeus. It makes me uneasy and I guess since I am very attuned to the Earth and the Spirits of the land, I feel the changes, I feel helpless and want to help if I can. I know the transitions are happening and we are all changing but I still find it hard understand. Next weeks starts hurricane season, and it has been several years since we have had one in the Florida panhandle. Each year it seems that the winds take them out to sea but with the heat and changing currents…well, it is coming. But at least you know when a hurricane is coming. It doesn’t just sneak up on you while your at the Home Depot in Joplin Missouri at 5:00 in the afternoon. At least we have time to prepare and or get the hell out of the way. I guess you can tell I am a true Floridian and I take storms and hurricanes pretty seriously.
When I was a kid my family owned a beach house at Alligator Point, in the years maybe 7 or 8, they put in three seawalls and in 1972 sold the house. The following summer it was on the front page of the Tallahassee Democrat with one wall standing in the sand and the gulf lapping where the house once stood.
Back to the Garden…
You would think with all the work I did in the garden to put in permanent beds and drip irrigation, sheet mulching and tending these 12 rows tenderly, they would be thriving, but they are not. But all is not lost, I am still observing and recording my results. And even though my heart sinks when I see curled up leaves and small fruit, most all the plants are green. And Ken’s Corn is just about as happy as corn can be growing in horse manure, and the control that has nothing but sand and water is a real test. I will post photos so you can see for yourself. I will plant the heirloom pole beans on the new moon next week. I also think I need to start some more tomatoes in the green house and set up the misters, these are just not going to make it.
We are getting squash, okra and cucumbers, the few tomatoes we have gotten out of the garden taste like chemicals which we do not use in the garden at all. But the container tomatoes were very good. Also we had little white egg plants from the containers, I just still can’t wrap my head around these cute little egg plants but they were good peeled and fried in strips. Noah’s peppers seem to love the drought, and they are getting watered everyday, but he likes them hot, I just like the big ones I can stuff and cook.
But you know it is summer when you can stand in your yard and eat breakfast under the plum tree. This year we had a bumper crop of plums. This past weekend we had the grandkids and Leslie spread sheets under the tree and shook it till we filled two buckets full. I started jelly but decided to freeze the juice till I could boil down more to juice in the next few days. I have never had enough to make plum jelly. But our Blue berries bushes are loaded with green berries, if we do not get rain in the next few weeks we will lose them all, since our bushes are out in the woods we have no way to water them. Our pear trees are full and the fig trees look like they are also going to be plentiful. The grapes are just now starting to show and I have two nectarines on my tree I just planted this year. So we will have fruit if nothing else. I give thanks to the Bees for that. We have already collected 8 gallons of honey this year and our bees are happy and busy.
So this weekend is Memorial Day weekend, the yellow flies are really bad and the horse flies are coming. Oh, to be a horse in the chicken yard. I just had a good laugh watching the chickens run around catching horse flies buzzing our miniature horse, Stoney and the Zebus. Every Memorial Day since I have lived here on the farm, 25 years now, our Gardenia Bush blooms. I call it a tree, since it is at least 15-20 feet high and maybe 30 feet around or more, it is huge. When we were first starting our horse farm we had the horses in the yard for a while and they ate the bush/tree down to the nub. Even though gardenias are said to be poisonous to horses, it did not kill a single horse, but came back strong. The scent is so heavenly and it fills the air, I just love them. I remember taking them to a weekend getaway with Noah at Wakulla Springs in 2000, the scent filled our room and collecting them and drying gallons for Jamie’s wedding. Taking them to everyone I know when they are in bloom. And to have your own bush you just take the cuttings and stick them in sandy soil near a dripping facet and next year you have your own gardenia bush. But a warning when you bring them inside, those pesky little fruit k
gnats that are in full force right now just love them too. I just had to toss mine out of the kitchen.

And my trip to Canada is coming up fast!!! Jump up and down excited!!! I am almost ready, last week I wrote my friend Bonnie in Nova Scotia and asked, "So what the hell does a Florida Girls wear to Canada?" Then we spent 1 ½ hours on the phone Sunday night. I am so excited to see her and her family it has been two years since they moved there and I miss her so. But I got busy and as I do, and hit Goodwill and the Thrift shops, found everything I needed for a minimal cost, a Samsonite Carry On in mint condition for $9.99 and a brand new pair of tennis shoes for $9.99. And some clothes from the thrift store. Then did a little GOOGLE travel research, it has been since 2004 when I last traveled out of the country and 2006 since I have flown, so I needed to catch up on all the TSA stuff. Check, done, everything paid for, just waiting for final instructions from Earth Activist Training and off I go. My first week I will be in Lunenburg Nova Scotia with Bonnie. I will be working there too. She has booked readings and a public demonstration at the kids school as a fundraiser. Platform Mediumship can be a lot of fun and I enjoy it if the people attending have some idea what you are doing up there, if not it can be difficult to give messages from people that don’t understand you are communicating with their loved ones that have passed over. But it will be great and I am looking forward to it. The On Friday June 24^th I will be taking a 21 hour train ride to Montreal Quebec the last link will be worked out to Audet, Quebec where I start class on June 25. I am nervous but not about my travel or my trip, I am nervous about the farm and leaving for a month. I have a full time job here and it takes me working hard everyday to take care of critters and tend the garden, I am going to be gone for almost a month. I hate leaving all that with Noah and I worry about him too, that is too much work alone. But he is supportive of me making this trip, seeing Bonnie and going to EAT, he is excited for me too. But I am still worried, also I am wondering about communication too, cell phones and computers work everywhere but will they work at HEARTROOT FARMS?
So even though it is memorial Day weekend, I miss Starfest at Star Bridge in North g
Georgia. We haven’t been in two years now and they didn’t have the festival this year. For those of you that don’t know about Starfest, it is a private festival and four day weekend with the Beloved Emerald Rose a pagan rock band and just the coolest guys you could every meet and the place where they have it is equally awesome. But for now, I will just have to send the LOVE! aNd maybe see them in the near future.

Thank you Rain Goddess!

It was a long time coming but the rain Friday night and Saturday really helped the garden, the corn and green beans just jumped up about 2-4 inches over night. Ken's Corn project is doing well and growing, the next step will be to plant pole beans in the beds to grow with the corn. The garden is actually starting to produce. I know all the neighbors are already eating their vegetables but ours are slow coming on. I am grateful to say I don't have but a few bugs and everything is green.Cucumbers and squash for dinner tonight and a few tomatoes and stuffed peppers.

Last week a neighbor gave us his last few chickens and an Aracona rooster, that is really very pretty but also laid back. We found an oak snake in the chicken house last week that escaped before we could relocate her and we haven't seen her again. I am sure one of us will find her while collecting eggs in the near future. So the chickens have been producing lots of eggs and our rooster Rodger has been strutting around like roosters do, now that he has a little competition. He has gone after Trent (our grandson) and Noah but until this morning never even acted like he was going to spur me. I was feeding and he snuck up behind me and jumped on my leg and spurred me but good. A picked up the shovel and chased him around enough to let him know I was not going to put up with his aggression and told him, "I'll have myself some Rooster Stew". His replacement may just be what we need and the hens lay green eggs.

This morning I was coming into work listening to NPR and heard a awesome broadcast on Dark Green Religion, a book written by Bron Taylor from the University of Florida. I read a little about it on Amazon and it sounds very interesting, I will have to put it on my reading list and in the stack of "To Read" books by my chair, I am sure you all have one of those. This time of year reading is not on the top of my list, too much to do outside. But I did buy a book on Heirloom Vegetables and looked at Perennial Peanuts as a possible crop. Always planning the next step.

Lyme's Disease Warning: I just want to let you know our next door neighbor was just diagnosed with Lyme's as well as a friend's significant other (they live in Quincy), that was all in one week. If you ask any doctor in the area they will tell you there is no Lyme's disease around here, do NOT  believe it. I have known several people over the years that have had Lyme's here in the Tallahassee area. Years ago we use to have rituals at our farm twice a year until the ticks got so bad that you could not walk to the barn without getting one on you and they have been pretty bad this year already. I wear bike shorts and sports bras because they are tight and I can feel them crawling on my legs. Noah always wears tall rubber boots and we get one off each other from time to time, but we watch out for them and do regular tick checks. Look up the symptoms if you find a tick on you. Both the cases I just mentioned had the bull's eye rash, but sometimes people don't. Please be careful this is a really nasty disease if not treated can cause major health problems.As I always tell people coming to the farm, "If you feel something crawling on you, always check, because it probably is a tick".

Full Moon coming up on Tuesday Night. I call to the Goddess Artemis, this is the Flower Moon and I hear there is also a lunar eclipse but I don't know the details. Powerful Moon Magic! Time to dance in the garden with the Faery!
       

Wacissa River and Say No to Nestle

Those of you that know me know I am very passionate about water. And the Wacissa River is not just our water source but a huge part of our family history. I sat in the County Commisioners meeting Thursday morning and was proud to hear the Board vote for the resolution. Please read below.
savethewacissa.com

Jefferson takes stand against pumping from Wacissa River 
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER By Jennifer Portman 

MONTICELLO - The Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Thursday that asks the Suwannee River Water Management Dis­trict to deny any requests to pump water in the county and transport it elsewhere.

The resolution comes in wake of speculative plans by Nestle Waters North America to pump water from near the head­waters of the spring-fed Wacissa River for use at its Madison County bot­tling plant. "It makes it clear that we are asking the (water management district) to help us control this," said Commissioner Danny Monroe.

Nestle has not yet applied for a consump­tive use permit for the area, but has been moni­toring water quality and quantity at four test wells drilled last summer near the river. Last fall, area residents and outdoor enthusiasts joined togeth­er to oppose the compa­ny's preliminary plans for up to 70 tanker-trucks a day, for limited periods, to haul water from the satel­lite source to supplement its bottling operation at Madison Blue Springs. 

Since then, the Friends of the Wacissa have waged a grass roots informational campaign to protect the river, which is fed by at least 13 springs that together discharge an average of about 250 million gallons a day, making it one of Florida's 33 first-magnitude springs. 

The group also has teamed up with the nonprofit Corporate Accountability International, which has assisted other small communities that have tried to stand up to North America's largest water bottler. Thousands of people have signed a petition against any plan to tap the river. 

Wacissa resident Kim Gilmore welcomed the commission's resolution aimed at stopping Nestle's plans. 

"We think that is one step closer," Gilmore said. 

David Still, executive director of the water management district, said water management board members would take the commission's recommendations seriously. 

"Any time a local entity of government asks, I think the board is more than able to sit up and listen," he said. 

The board's resolution also calls on the water management district to establish minimum flow and water level standards for the Wacissa and nearby Aucilla River as soon as possible. 

In a letter to commissioners, Nestle's Southeast Region Natural Resources Manager Kent Koptiuch said the company supports establishing minimum flow levels and would be willing to share the information it collects about the Wacissa spring area with the water management district. 

"Any data that we can get is always useful in setting minimum flows," Still said. 

Koptiuch's letter also stressed that any application to withdraw water should be "fairly evaluated and based upon sound science." 

At Thursday's meeting, Ryan Duffy of Ron Sachs Communications, which has been hired by Nestle to help handle public relations, said testing of the potential water source is not yet complete. 

Last year, literature distributed by company officials said Nestle would not go ahead with any pumping plans without community support. 

"It's going to come down to the science, if it is viable," Duffy said. "Ultimately, we want what everybody in the community wants, clean water." 

Mother's Day Blessings

I spent the day in Panama City with my Daughters that are now both Mothers and with our Grand children yesterday and I am working today on Mother's Day. I told Noah this morning in a way we are all mothers and we mother many things in life. Blessed are the Mothers! Both mine and Noah's Mothers are passed from this Earth. At work today I was thinking of My Mother as the Earth, Mother of all living things and we must care for her. I feel the work we do in making changes in the world at all levels has such a powerful impact on our place on Earth, it doesn't matter if we knew or had a wonderful relationship with our biological Mothers the Earth is still our true Biological Mother, just like with our birth mother without her we would NOT exist. So take a moment today to go outside touch the Earth and be grateful for our existence.

Reclaiming Chant from a Rumi Poem
Let the Beauty we love,
Be what we do,
There are hundreds of ways,
To kneel and kiss the ground.

Happy Mothers Day to us all,
Sissy

  

May Shower PLEASE

May 4, 2011
Last week and the beginning of this week was busy in the garden and the bees swarmed again yesterday. Ken Gambill and I set up a new corn project and started heirloom corn in permaculture beds with horse manure as a growing base and the white feed bags to trap water. We also planted 4 rows of control to see the difference. I planted heirloom bush beans and zucchini so I am wishing for rain and have the sprinklers going to get a good start.

The new moon on Monday after Beltane means that the summer growing season is coming on strong and I took advantage of the energy to plant. The plants in my test beds are taking off but still slowly since the nights are still cool, which I am somewhat thankful for.

My husband, friends and I had a wonderful time at the Beltane Ball Saturday night and danced and visited with old friends. Sunday morning we were up early to attend the Beltane ritual sponsored by RHPC at Railroad square, I did not stay for the May Pole dance since I had to go to work. I am posting a few photos tonight and will follow up in the next few days with some of my permaculture projects and their progress.
　

 Some times I put on heels and dress up, rare event, but thats me and my frined and Circle Sister Wyndance. 

Raising the May Pole at Rail Road Square RHPC Beltane 2011