Native Seed Search

ByElizabeth

One of the delights of my trip to Tucson, was visiting the Native Seed Search’s shop.  Native Seed Search works to gather, safeguard, and distribute native and adapted seeds to farming and gardening communities, and to educate farmers and gardeners about the uses of those seeds.  When I go to Tucson, I make sure to visit the shop (so much more fun than shopping on-line) to buy unique varieties of peppers and beans for cooking.

The first time I went — three years ago — I did not buy any seeds.  I was not certain that I should be bringing seeds from the southwest to DC for planting.  This year, after the last two years of heat and drought, I bought a few varieties of southwestern greens and some pink green beans to try in containers.  I had a good chat with the workers in the shop about shifting what we plant as the climate changes even as we might otherwise try to avoid bringing new species into the area.

I went small with this experiment.  As long as I do not let the amaranth (to eat as greens not grain) go to seed and pick the beans to eat or replant, nothing will spread.  It will be interesting to observe if these plants require less water or tolerate more heat here than the greens and beans we are more accustomed to planting.

It was also wonderful, on this icy cold day, to take the seed packets out of my bag in anticipation of spring.  Planting season for cool weather greens, etc (etc meaning beets, turnips, and radishes) is only a couple of weeks away.

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    Yes, I Knew Him (and the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra)

    ByElizabeth

    When my students arrived at William Penn House last night for class, I said, “yes, I knew him; they are both my co-workers.”  I didn’t need to say anything else.  All of them read the Washington Post and know that I work for the Department of Labor in the area of pension benefits.  I said that I was shaken by the news, and I would offer the best practice I could.  At my invitation, we worked on grounding, being heavy in the best meaning of heavy so that we would feel the stability to rise and to stay graceful and open as we practiced some challenging standing poses and backbends, leading to a modified version of natarajasana (dancing in the cosmic fire).

    One co-worker is dead (either suicide or murder in his jail cell) after having severely injured another.  Yes, we all worked in the same office for three years when I first started at the Department in 1991 and episodically have worked on common projects for almost 22 years, most recently just three weeks ago. Had it been a fatal accident or a heart attack, a few dozen of us would have been at the funeral and spoken of what we liked about him.  It wouldn’t have been the horrified questioning ourselves and each other of what possibly could have gone so terribly, shockingly wrong.  The grieving and sense of loss are no less present and real, though, for the recoiling from his last acts and the salacious and rapacious local media coverage.

    Quaker practice has me holding those affected in the light–he and his family and she and hers, and our co-workers.  On hearing yesterday that he had died in jail, I was moved to chant the maha mrityunjaya mantra.  I was taught that chanting this mantra every day for 30 days can help a spirit cross-over.  What is spirit and to where it might be crossing was not really explained because how could it be?  But I do think chanting with such an intention can be a useful tool to help focus one’s own emotional process and healing in connection with a death.

    For some background on the mantra, you might want to start with this overview with useful links published by the Himalayan Institute (be advised that though citing to the YI because of the breadth of coverage, to get to the basic details, I needed to ignore the cheesy graphics and the use of the term “Lord” before Shiva in the linked article on what the author says are appropriate uses of the mantra).

    oakleaf hydrangeaMy co-worker gave me this oakleaf hydrangea about 10-12 years ago; his brother had pulled an extra seedling that was an offshoot  from a larger plant in his yard.  It did not start thriving until two seasons ago when I moved it to a different corner of my front garden.

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    White Heat

    ByElizabeth

    By 8:30 this morning, the sky was already an engorged white, thick with heat and humidity. There is no prospect of a thunderstorm for relief. If any come, they will be to the south and east or north and west of the space inside the Beltway. (I am convinced that the pattern of storms parting and dissipating within the Beltway is due to the hot air generated within the Dome).

    I walked to work earlier than usual this morning and wore a sleeveless dress, sandals, and a sun hat. The co-worker who shared the elevator was wearing a suit, tie, dark socks, and heavy shoes. A few of the men are brave enough to wear short sleeves or go without the tie, but all are wearing long pants, close-toed shoes, and dark socks. In the cafeteria, people are picking out foods heavy with meat, fat, and sugar. The building is air-conditioned to a temperature for the comfort of those who neither dress nor eat for the weather. In the building, I am wearing a wool cardigan over my weather appropriate dress.

    Last year, in response to a call to government workers from the White House for ideas to save money, I suggested that the dress code be changed from “business” attire to seasonally appropriate attire (my sleeveless dress is long and plain and does not expose anything other than my arms; it is perfectly “appropriate” and not beach wear). That way, the temperature in government buildings could be raised a few degrees in summer and lowered in winter, saving millions of dollars in heating and cooling expenses, as well as helping the environment.

    It needs to be a policy to wear clothing right for the weather. If it is not policy, those who want to get ahead will continue to believe that there is no possibility of succeeding without wearing the suit and tie/lined skirt and jacket, pantyhose and heels. (Why is it that people believe that our brains focus better when our clothing is uncomfortable?)

    I did not get a response. The winner was someone who suggested storing their office’s records electronically–something that is gradually happening every where in any event.

    Being seasonally appropriate in our dress and diet can make an enormous difference in our comfort and in our impact on the environment. Same, too, for how we exercise. When it is over 90F, please do not crank up the air conditioning so that you can do a fiery practice. Instead, practice quieter poses. Concentrate on seated poses, cooling pranayama practices, and meditation. Enjoy the invitation to stillness and the fact that by virtue of the heat, you are already warmed up.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Gardening, Cleaning, Cooking (and Vinyasa Krama and Kali)

    ByElizabeth

    Vinyasa krama is the art of sequencing.  How a yoga practice or flow is sequenced can determine whether it is uplifting or inward going, exhilarating or calming.  When we are trained and attentive, we start to know the most optimal order to open our bodies and our focus to align with the time of day, the season, the weather, our mood, and our health.  This incredible art helps us be positioned and aligned in a way that we feel free in time and space, rather than being constrained by time and space.

    This morning while I was out in the garden, I was thinking a lot about vinyasa krama and the goddess Kali — goddess of, among other things, time and change, and thus, of sequencing.  I woke very early, brought to consciousness by the long light of the solstice even through closed curtains.  As I went about my morning, rinsing the sprouts while heating the water for my morning coffee; cutting back the greens and herbs before starting breakfast; doing the major pruning and clean-up before doing more decorative garden work; finishing cooking before taking out the recycling; applying a facial mask before starting to vacuum; never walking up or down the stairs empty-handed; waiting to gather the bills until after I was clean and waiting for friends to arrive, etc., I realized how important sequencing is to the richness of my days.  By knowing the best way to order tasks for my needs, my day is simultaneously productive, unhurried, and enjoyable.

    By the time my friends arrived around noon, I had meditated, taken care of the garden, gathered food for my own breakfast and to share with friends, talked to neighbors, cleaned the house and myself, done a little asana, written in my journal, and sorted the mail.  Had I not known from long experience and conscious attention how to sequence all the different elements, knowing which ones went together, which took longest, which ones if done earlier or later would create double clean up, etc, I would have been tired and the tasks unfinished.  Instead, after brunch, I came home to a tended garden, a freshly made bed, and time to enjoy a quiet evening.

    These sequencing principles also apply for me on major projects at work.  If ordered one way, the work is exponentially harder, the deadline a fearsome thing; if ordered another way, everything comes together mostly as it should when it should.  When I order my work with attention (this assumes others cooperate with this endeavor), I have time to do a good, careful job and still take breaks, eat well, and leave the office in time to take or teach yoga class.

    Whether you are doing your home yoga practice or cooking or working, choose to sequence the elements of your practice, your activities, or your day, with attentiveness, reverence, love, and respect, and Kali will support you and not show you her most fearsome face.

One Comment

  1. You write: “I had a good chat with the workers in the shop about shifting what we plant as the climate changes even as we might otherwise try to avoid bringing new species into the area.”

    Tough moral dilemma, since as the climate shifts we may find we have to bring new species into an area, because they can no longer grow in their original range….

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