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There are two reasons that my blogs only link to certain things. I pretty much stopped blogging at paganspace.net because hypertext links within my posts were taking people to the very things that I was encouraging people not to do in my posts. The things I wrote there as Saladman were, perhaps some of my favorite things to write, but once corrupted, I wanted nothing to do with them. I think that I can blog "there" now, without the intrusive ads, but I moved on and until I find someone with like Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Motors or Rudolph Steiner's devotees, biodynamic farming folks or perhaps whoever is willing to reshuffle the deck and give little guys, like you and I, a fair shake. Let the advertisers eat their money. I learned that you can get a hybrid minivan, in Japan! It is funny that in a place like the U.S. of A., where "free markets" are supposedly the economic holy grail, you can't buy some products. remember the original Mini Cooper? Done in by the fact that their bumpers were too close to the ground, regulated market killed them in this country.

No matter what "product or service" one allows to be advertized, when money enters into the picture, commercial endeavors skew perspective. I could tell you of a foundry, local to Wisconsin, USA at which you could purchase a broadfork. This simple tool with no moving parts is inserted in the Earth, gently rocked back and forth and breaks the soil somewhat deeply to allow air and water to penetrate. Even marginal soils benefit greatly from this process. It is more important that you know that both air and water are relatively abundant in healthy soils. Using a broadfork, integrating compost and biochar and protecting the surface of the soil from UV sterilization/dehydration are key to maintaining soil health. Agriculturalists who have committed to the highly mechanized and fossil energy heavy-handed approach to agriculture just stare and blink when you begin to talk about soil health. They have grown up on a heavy dose of advertizing themselves. Doing the right thing often makes the biggest players in industry the least money and the oligarchs hate that.

I read a book when I was first out on my own. It was called, How to Live On Nothing. I can put in a plug for it and say that it was the best book ever. Anyone just moving out on your own, find this book. If you have had the luxury of having whatever you want, it is still a good book, just for perspective. I almost put it back down at the bookstore, but I felt compelled to at least read the first few words. "First, steal this book." is what I read when my eyes fell on the page. The reason that human beings can do it is because fifty percent of the food we produce ends up as waste. We have large portions of our brain that can reflect on and plan complicated processes for survival. Soil microbes need food, shelter, moisture and a habitat that is conducive to life. What soil microbes "get", in many agricultural soils is tilled a few times each year, dosed with chemicals, little if any mulch, and the occasional cow pie if you live near dairy operations.

Microscopy reveals carbon tubules for water adsorption and potential homes for billions of organisms. Char has been made since the first fire, learning to make it efficiently and use it wisely and then, doing just that, can double agricultural output.

I have had numerous farmers tell me that their land is especially rich because their property has been in hay for a generation. In my soil centric mind, I think three cuttings each year, for twenty years, harvesting those amounts of energy and nutrients has stretched available resources and nutrients needed for hay production to the breaking point. If we render ourselves as fodder to be advertized to, without at least understanding the responsibility we have to filter and critically understand the process, we are dead in the water, adrift upon the ocean of chaos that capitalism has become. The ship of state has foundered under the onslaught of big money. We are amid a tumult created by having 1% of the population controlling over half the wealth. What they do not have, or have exclusive access to, they want. I encourage those who are finding it difficult to make ends meet, grow more of your own food and give away your overproduction equitably.

Since this whole page is like a free ad for me,  I'm gonna lay it straight for you. I have spoken repeatedly about the three-legged stool that supports sustainable agriculture. It must be good for people, good for the planet and profitable. I urge you to try the trifecta of gardening. Utilize biochar, aerate soils and conserve microbes and moisture through mulching. I have never been disappointed with the results of such activities and neither will you be. I am now offering three hour classes in making biochar. Please let me know if you are interested in hosting a class or joining in one nearby.

In the future, this may be the most important thing that humankind needs to know.

In The Wind

Many have said that there is a deeply troubling aspect of our culture. We are addicted to the crime drama. Remember, like historical fiction, it is not substitute for what actually happens. Oddly enough, I have several friends who have had murders perpetrated on their young daughters. There was no special victims unit or elaborate team of sleuths ferreting out the circumstances, much less the killers of these young women. I will go so far as to say that in all the cases that I have heard about from the victim's side, ineffectual police work stems from several legitimate sources. Underfunding restricts the numbers of good people and the extremely high costs of testing create bottle-necks in the system, I get that. On tee vee, we find that the only time a criminal is not caught, is when they are written in to a two-part plot development. In real life there are more unsolved cases than solved ones.

I mention this only because there is a saying in cop shows, when a suspect, or someone who was supposed to be under surveillance or protection escapes, they are deemed to be "in the wind". Well, fortunately, all the crime drama geeks will be with me on this, but the term is so very much more than that.

It is my wholehearted belief and experience that there is a resurgent paganism that is taking place not just in my neck of the woods, but worldwide. Who has not felt the empathic crushing of their spirit as we hear, from scientific quarters, that we are on the brink, and helping to usher in the sixth mass extinction. All of our fossil energy, which took millions of years to lay down over geologic time (like a solar battery being charged, after all, that energy came from the Sun) might only last a generation or two if we keep burning it at the current rate. Who has not felt and been surprised by the changing climate? Now that we are learning about power and control, and the social chaos that it breeds, or the sources and purity of our water. The spirits of the land have been calling out for a long time, but more and more there is a growing sense of the importance of nature. We are beginning to hear the messages that the wind is carrying; just now  we seem to be admitting that we could lose our water entirely if we do not take drastic action and take strong steps toward more responsible use of that precious resource.

The Earth has been talked about as Mother since the dawn of time. Our species is coming out of a deep delusion that was boastful and claimed independence from the womb of Mother Earth. Look where it has landed us. Returning with great humility are pagans from around the globe, the peaceful loving people as I call  native people from every corner of the planet. Some refer to them as Rainbow, hippies, whatever name you choose, choose wisely, there are more and more each day.

The very air we breathe is sacred, yet we allow ourselves to be lulled into a great cataclysmic exhaling of carbon monoxide fumes whenever we turn the key of our fossil fuel burning vehicles. More and more of these neo-tribals as I sometimes call them is to bike commute, gear up and bike holiday or, as we did, invest in the carrier for children/groceries. Learn what constitutes a walkable city and move there, or utilize friends to develop one where you live. The co-op movement is not dead, they just don't get on the nightly news, nothing they do is bad enough to seem like a crime drama.

A dear, friend who has passed the veil used to say, "The demise of civilization began when we no longer sat at the hearth." In his way, he inspired me to occasionally sit by the fire and chat with friends via the internet. they may not get to see the flickering flames, but the camaraderie is there. as my friend put it, by sequestering the heat in boxes, away from the center of the home, a schism developed that was not possible before the advent of electric stoves and efficient furnaces. Heck, using electricity, you can make toast with a fire burning dozens of miles away. Fire-pit parties are on the rise, as are rites during full and new moon phases, leading from fire to water in two rites or less!

We have many shared awarenesses and to deny that they are in the wind would be to discredit our ancestors for giving us our strong base in paganism. We never wiped out the "witches" we never eliminated the wisdom of the shamen, how could any conqueror expect to take away the most essential part of each of us, the unbroken bridge of genetics that leads back to the ages when the ancestors ascended to the stars, where their bones and flesh nourished the soils after their parting of ways with the physical realm. Their deaths upon the bosom of Mother Earth is what has led to us being given the chance to live!

The messages that I share in these posts is not just the ravings of an individual. I am of a race of people that cannot be vanquished from the Earth, one that humbly submits to the outdated idea that giving back is the only thing that can enrich us. My recent offer to share as much as I know about bio-char stands testament to that. It sounds so primal, so "primitive", but perhaps breathing life into the soil is the only chance we have for a new way forward. I am not willing to sit back and use this miracle substance for only my own benefit. I want as many people as possible to learn to make and to make and teach others to make it as well. It is the only way I know of to efficiently put carbon into the soils. removing it from the atmosphere for many thousands of years.

Char particle close up. 

I want all of you to put this out there, in the wind so to speak. Talk about a miracle substance that could help reverse carbon dioxide build up in th atmosphere and oceans, reduce ocean acidification, stabilize soil moisture (char holds six times its weight in water, even more when microbes inhabit it) I am also working to raise enough capital through ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. to produce a short film that teaches the same process that I discuss in my classes.

The spirit of the giving person cannot be held captive, it will always remain "in the wind" but for this brief moment, we have communicated and that keeps the messages flowing!

Bio-char for Soil Heath

Normally I would post this on one of my environmental blogs, but the impact needed for this effort is truly of global importance. Since this blog is more widely read than my ecologically focused ones, this makes sense as a platform for wider knowledge and application of sound principles for building soil, countering atmospheric carbon build up and rehabilitating soils that have come under attack since the advent of mechanized agriculture. Imagine for a moment a scaffolding. Imagine it microscopic.

Imagine that this scaffold can be saturated with nutrients and food for microbes and soil organisms. In fact, just imagine the water holding capacity of this material. 6X the weight of the char in water. It acts as a sponge that only we know how to use. That is huge! A pint is a pound the world 'round, they say! The moisture holding capacity of soil can be increased exponentially by the addition of this impressive material.

I teach a three hour class on how to make the stuff, but the process includes nutrification and inoculation methods as well as how to make char. Do not be fooled, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of folks who will try to sell you biochar. I will only charge you if you cannot find time or resources to make your own. I would much rather teach folks who are willing to make more of this miracle material.

If you can find a dozen people, who would like a class, I'm willing to take you through the process completely from concept to practice. The charge is twenty dollars for each participant and for those who gather a dozen paying students, I include a class for the host. If you are interested in hosting, please contact ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. or me directly at (ninetwenty) double eight four, triple two four. some additional costs may be required if travel is necessary, but I am planning a trip this fall to get to as many places that want classes as possible.

Thinking Like A Woman

Before I get misinterpreted, let me first make clear that I was raised by women in a man's world. What I say, and how it may be colored, has been shaped by two things. A cultural bias toward men, which once realized, led to the heartbreaking task of trying to change a misogynistic society that is hundreds of yeas old. This combined with an understanding and will to help others, especially the aged, women, children and those who are on the margins of society. this desire in me that nearly pathological but for the fact that I was raised to think like a woman. Coming to terms with our true nature requires that we understand the range of sexuality, mental competence and create ways to involve and nurture our entire being, not just the stereotypes that we may have ascribed to us.

Many nations have already taken great steps forward in this regard. It is not important for women to think like men to get ahead. In fact, those who do, and you know who you are, often hit a glass ceiling because they are eventually found to be doing so and that their contributions may as well be male, since they have to abandon their "softer side" to rise through the cut-throat stages of their professional development. I'm sure that worldwide, we can all see examples of women acting like men in the professional world all the time, but acting like the privileged sex can only get you so far. To succeed, we need to cultivate a new order that allows women to function in ways that are true to themselves. That, more than any single thing can turn the tide on many humanitarian issues, inform our understanding of most social strife and economic silliness and perhaps, more importantly, end war between nations and against nature. Learning to nurture comes from a different segment of society than the one that most of our "leaders" come from.

This begins early and is endemic to the language we use for all manner of interactions. Where there is no war, we inject it through language, thought and habit. In "America", we relish our sports metaphors and here too, we use war terminology to describe what have come to be core concepts within our political, economic and cultural world and these warlike terms poison how we understand everything from personal development to dating and from our vision of success to the ultimate goals that we set for ourselves and our children. Why is it that when someone screws something up, we call it a hack job? Well, don't you know, the clinical single bullet through heart and lungs is so much better.

It seems that each time we want to "mobilize" "resources", it is first necessary to declare war on something. In the U.S. of A., we have had wars on hunger, poverty, drugs, illiteracy, crime, etc. What we have lacked, every step of the way is a loving and compassionate approach to making sure that everyone has enough, including a place at the table. I could describe what I mean by "thinking like a woman", but how many of us have heard the results already? I recall the number of times that I have heard the words, "Put another cup of water in the soup.", it is no accident that they have never come from a man. Typically, these words are spoken when unexpected guests arrive, but the meaning is something that is more than just watering down the soup (as a man typically deciphers them). What the real meaning is relates more to the predisposition to make sure that the needs of others are met as well as our own.

Life is not as straight-forward as the male brain likes to think it is. Believe me, my brain is as strung out on testosterone as any male around, but luckily I had nearly fifteen years to think about these things before my body started to change. As much as most men want to think that the world is only about "security", food, sex and conquest (certainly not in that order) many examples prove otherwise. Even the lowest creature and all plants on the planet needs air (or in the case of a few bacteria at the bottom of the ocean, sulfur), water, secure shelter, food/fuel and fun. In my young adulthood, to keep honesty and truth in the mix, I used to refer to procreation or sex generally as "serious fun". In fact, there are only four true needs for organisms to flourish and these are: exchanging gasses, a place to rest safe from predators, food/water, and sex which allows the species to continue.

The problem that comes about through male brain dominance and female brain repression is that nurturing does not fit well into that paradigm. There seems to be a disconnect in men that forgets that neglect and abuse are not part of the hierarchy of needs. We actually raise better children if we nurture them and treat them well. Reams of paper have been squandered explaining and describing the existence and function of nurturing behaviors, not just in humans but in many creatures as well. Even a mother tree provides shelter, and stability for her seedlings. Many humans have convinced themselves that what does not kill you makes you stronger. I cannot count the number of times I have heard males say suck it up, play through the pain and/or it will build character. I am here to say, no, it does not.

Humanity demands that we think more like women. Native cultures that have survived in spite of the colonizing forces of male-dominated societies understand that the elders and children, as well as womyn growing babies eat first and are treated with deference, because without them we would not exist and as men, we would have no purpose. The men, in actuality, are the most expendable sex. If needed, a handful of lucky men could impregnate all receptive females and bring our species back from extinction. If we ever got down to the point of only having a few females, we would be in serious trouble. The age-old practice of raping the women who happen to be caught up in war torn areas has gone beyond the primitive urge to spread men's genetic information far and wide and become a highly charged rite of humiliation and subjugation. This psychology is given no quarter in the female brain.

There are more questions to ask beyond, "Can I Fuck it (how soon?), can I eat it (how soon?), is it a threat (how quickly can I eliminate it?)?" The male brain has little time or consideration for the subtleties that follow after that initial intercourse with our surroundings. Many men learn over time that these primary urges are easier to fulfill with the help and good favor of women, but sublimating thought and desire to appear civil are certainly not required for most men to achieve satisfaction.

Thinking like a woman requires deeper levels of thought. How might we make due with the soup we have, considering that the guests may well be hungry. In the female brain, there is refuge, with even room for the thoughts and consideration of others.  This is not in opposition to or in reference to thinking like a man. Thinking like a woman is a completely different type and kind of thought, which stands alone, not needing to be driven so desperately by testosterone. Like truth and fiction, fiction needs constant propping up and truth stands alone. Please, wherever you are on the face of the Earth, discuss openly the three words, How might we? How soon has not ever worked. When we forego consideration of others and the consequences of so doing, we miss the true point of being human. Estrogen and progesterone feminize the adolescent women to think with different parts of the brain, to problem solve and deliberate in extraordinarily and often startlingly different ways.

Some of the most enduring legacies we have carried as a burden come from the "get it now" philosophy that develops from having gonads. Ask any woman, they will tell you the reason that the XY chromosome pair exist at all is because women (notoriously XX) are constantly asking "Why?" I would like to thank my wonderful wife for her wisdom in this matter. When my thinking goes awry, she often leads me back to sense and sensibility, with the good of all at our center. In will and deed, we must see the entire human family and the ecosphere on which we depend as community, family and honor them as us. After all, we are all one.

Awesome Sneaks

Hand-painted canvas sneakers available by request.

South Carolina Finally Does The "Right" Thing

The Confederate flag finally came down from the statehouse in South Carolina. How anyone could have thought it was a good idea to put it up, I cannot understand. At the end of most wars, there are negotiations regarding unconditional surrender. Typically, any symbols of the vanquished regime are no longer allowed to be displayed in public. Especially in a state that receives federal dollars from the U. S. government, flying the rebel flag is treasonous. Encouraging citizens to take up arms against our nation is still a crime, but for some reason, we allowed that to be sanctioned and supported by the state government who, just this week, voted to not only take it down, but to remove even the flag pole on which it flew. Interesting that about a week ago, the woman who scaled the pole and physically removed the traitorous display was taken into custody and faces fines and jail time for her actions.

The founders of our nation believed that the Constitution would be updated and changed to keep pace with the changing needs and awareness of humanity, but they also could not have imagined that some turn-coats would betray our nation like some did during the Civil War. Rather than be bullied by the ideas of men who lived over two centuries ago, the founders believed that as humanity learned more and grew, we would accept new truths and hold new causes dear. Thomas Jefferson, actually referred to this concept when he stated "Lord help this nation if it should go another twenty years without another revolution of this kind." Back then he was referring to the Revolution, which we used to be taught was fought against the oligarchs in England who taxed us without offering representation in Parliament.

It seems hard to believe that we could be still be holding on to ideas, images and beliefs that are wrapped up in that flag, but there you have it. More than a century after the south gave terms of unconditional surrender, there are those who still believe that the south will "rise again." Interestingly, not even most southerners would want to see that occur. It took until the Vietnam War for the number of war dead in all conflicts engaged in by the U.S.A. to eclipse those lost in the Civil War, but the dislocation and strife during reconstruction, as well as the hatred toward our fellow Americans has been almost as bad as erasing a generation of young men from our society.

Honoring our war dead has far more to do with not making those same mistakes again than holding on to the confused motivations and blind following that they did that led them to the battlefield. We owe the dead more than rebellion. We owe them more than seething hatred toward others. We owe them more than false respect for their treason and we certainly owe them more than falling into the same traps laid by the ultra-wealthy to ensnare our nation and her people. I say, the flag ought never have been put up in the first place. When it was taken down by a woman willing to climb the pole to do so, the statehouse employees should not have put it back up. Finally, a little good sense has come to South Carolina, let us hope it is there to stay.

Four Missing Posts

Although it is true that some things are better left unsaid, I have been writing seven posts a month I made that commitment nearly six years ago and have kept writing at that pace ever since. The four missing posts last month were a combination of several things. First and foremost, I had my own break down of sorts, although I may have been able to write in spite of my own issues, trying to get my body to come back to a healthy state took a great deal of time. I also have been exquisitely feeling the stress of very little income. Although my injuries were sustained at work, at the time I thought nothing of it. Walking around on concrete for a week always makes my feet hurt badly. I thought it was just another bout with sore feet. I waited a few days and it did not get better, so I thought that perhaps I got a slight sprain in my ankle. By the time I realized that it was more than that, it was too late to make a workman's compensation claim. "Luckily", I am in the group of people "forced" to purchase health insurance, so my out of pocket costs have so far been about ten percent of what I made the week of the injury. However, it has been more than a month since then and the difficulty and pain is with me still. The latest prognosis is that it could be three to six months before I get back to "normal". Posterior tibialis injury is what the specialist calls it. Major ouch is what it means to me!

One might think that with having to sit more and put my foot up, or "take it easy", that there would be more time to write, but there has also been a crush to get many things accomplished and moving about is slow and at times painful. I hobbled through mowing the lawn once, but it took nearly all day. I have spent another 10% of that week's pay on having the lawn mowed. The repairs on our rental have been extensive and because I am only able to work there in a limited fashion, no ladders for over a month, there has been a sort of crush time and we are hiring out work that is to be done today. I have been finishing up prep for plasterers, making sure the electrical system is ready to be closed in behind plaster, finishing the parts of the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system and clearing out every tool and material that had been in there during construction. Again, with limited mobility, I had to hire help even to accomplish that!

However, added to my physical limitation, four recent events, that took place near the end of last month, took my "feet" completely out from under me. My healing process would have been a minor annoyance if it had not been paired with these four extremely disturbing events. Learning about he nine victims of the church shooting in South Carolina took my heart and bruised and battered it. Many of my readers know that I have little regard for most religious institutions, but the folks gathered for Bible study were trying to find their way just as we all are. Their lives ended because of an ignorant and misguided young man, bent on wreaking havoc in his community. These events, as heinous as they were, only made my heart grow sore and cold for there were other assaults and domestic terrorism that ramped up after that.

Seven "black" South Carolina churches have been burned in the weeks following the shooting and again, although I have strong feelings about the abuse of religion, everyone is entitled to their own myths as long as they do not harm others or destroy property. The soul crushingly stupid among us seem preoccupied with bringing on the Apocalypse. To them, it signals an end to the veil of tears that we must face here on Earth. Their short-sightedness circumscribes their reality so effectively that truth has no room in their hearts or minds. The racism and hatred that are seething just below the surface in our nation disgust and humiliate me. As I have mentioned before, I almost feel guilty because of their wantonly deceitful, demonic and desecrating associations with humanity itself. As a teacher, it confounds me that such vile ignorance can survive in our culture.

This brings me to one of the most heinous realizations that I have had over the past couple weeks. Racism is alive and well. That seems terrible enough, but nationalism, fascism, sexism, ageism and the stakes of the class war are equally on the rise. A cursory look a the band of retarded brothers that can collectively be known as the Rethuglican candidates for President of the United States is a sickening array of idiots, dolts and violent advocates for inhumanity. Between them, they do not share a single idea worthy of a term paper in high school.

Perhaps the tide is turning. Yesterday, I was speaking with a pathologist friend of mine who recounted the fact that they have been a Republican since the early 1980s and that the only candidate that she could vote for in good conscience is Bernie Sanders. This was the first event in the last two weeks that actually soothed my soul. Perhaps we are turning a corner. It is well for each of us to realize that the majority of people do not subscribe to the belief in hate, or share the vitriolic perspective of the haters. Even though the Teathuglicans can put up a couple dozen ingrates to run for office, not one has a shred of validity. In their competition for thew dollars that billionaires will throw them when they get nominated, they seem willing to say anything, as long as it stirs up the reeking cesspool of hate that inspires their beliefs.

On a more personal part of my recent experience, I had to work for the better part of a week on a "show" that paired vague X-tian beliefs with wanton greed and a "network" marketing organization known as Life Leadership Corporation. These folks deserve to be talked about, but after the preceding couple weeks, I was in no mood to listen to their anti-christian world view. If you have never been to a multi-level marketing conference, count yourself lucky. It is a mix of self-serving braggarts, insipid greed and power and control rhetoric. The attendees all paid to be told that if they did not succeed, they were not giving enough. I heard the admonition to re-invest "everything" into your business more than a dozen times and the leaders would drop consumerist bombs throughout their presentations. "I drive a Bentley", or "We just had to sell our home, because we are getting older and couldn't take care of our several hundred acres with over a mile long driveway and over a mile of river frontage." etc. Just remember, if you are a failure, it is your fault. We all made it to the top and we barely graduated high School, etc. Pairing religious beliefs with greed and self aggrandizement just put the icing on the cake. I was so blue by the end of last month that I couldn't even put my frustrations into words.

I am sure that I will include some of the events of the last half-moon in future writings, but deciphering the neural network of ideas associated with these things will take time and much introspection. Suffice it to say that I regret not writing, because I feel committed to my readers, however, I also realize that you may not have wanted to read what I had to say either.