A View from Sierra County

Blessed Gifts

First, I want to thank and gratefully acknowledge all the friends from my virtual community who have responded and helped me along in my quest to obtain my permaculture design certification.  As you can see, I am getting very close to the goal, in fact it is definitely in sight.  I was able to send my deposit through Paypal yesterday holding my place, and on Monday, after I had launched my quest, learned that the price had been reduced by attaining 15 enrolled students!  I am very heartened to think that this dearly-held goal is close to achievable!  Special thanks to those who helped to spread the word for me:)

I have much more to be thankful for, in the dear friendship of fellow fiber-loving earth goddess, Ruinwin.  Way back a year and a half ago, she and I decided to enter into a gift-it-forward exchange, and she recently sent me her package... which led me to think this gifting forward will need to continue for me to attempt to thank her for her largess.  The first gift in my package was this lush and lovely cowl, which is she describes in greater detail here.

 The pattern is in The Knitting Goddess, a book I have enjoyed and kept for over a decade... not so much for the patterns, but for the lovely back stories of womens' mysteries.

This lovely item is called the Athena Smoke Ring, in honor of the goddess of hunting and spinning!  And a few dozen other things.  It was so warm and snuggly, that I was afraid I would need to tuck it away until next fall.... the weather goddess has provided me with an opportunity to make good use of my new cowl today, as the blustery March winds have brought wind, rain, sleet, hail, and even thunderclaps.  As we say here in the Sierras, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes"!

Of course a warm and wonderful cowl would certainly have been exchange enough, but Ruinwin knows that I like to consult with my tarot regularly, and crocheted a beautiful bag, decorated with a beaded and cross-stitched motif, and buttoned up with a rune button, to hold my cards, or whatever else sacred I felt a need to tuck into a safe place.

This bag is truly a masterpiece!  She included some beautiful Celtic knotwork, which is a sweet tribute to the heritage I carry from my father's side of the family, and the rune is pronounced 'geh', and means "gift, partnership, marriage", basically all things good.  I have a hand-painted set of runes that I made back in days of some of my deepest poverty, by foraging small pure white quartz pebbles from the creek near my high country home and painting the letters with red fingernail polish (which I used to wear when I was in a sparkley mood).  You can see that set, and the little crocheted drawstring bag I made to keep them in, at this post from earlier in the year.

Ruinwin also sent along a sweet knitted washcloth with lovely knitted-around edging, and I am hoping to coax her into revealing the brand of Egyptian cotton and the source of the pattern in the comments, since I have already been using it with the rose-lavender Faerie-Made soap she sent, and want to add an edging from now on to my favorite Grandma's washcloth pattern.  Those who have been with me a long while probably realize I must have made somewhere over 50 washcloths in my life time (no, probably more) but this is my new favorite and I will probably take the time to add edgings from now on, as I like the feel it gives to the product-in-use.

Feeling very pampered indeed, I was surprised that there was also the gift of yarn for my stash in the box.... the yarns didn't wait long to find their inspiration... I had three meetings to attend last week and got all the way through the garter stitch portion and now am on the border of the Old Shale shoulder shawl by Evelyn Clark featured in Interweave's latest compilation, called Knitting Traditions 2010.   This special edition is chock-full of traditional styles including lace knitting and mittens, and I will treasure it!

The yarn is Araucania Ranco (I think, I can't locate the tag!), a fingering weight blend of wool/nylon that was probably originally designed with sock knitters in mind, but the colors were so rich that I knew I needed to wear it around my shoulders instead of hidden inside my shoes.  I had also just picked up the magazine while teaching at the LYS, and wanted to make myself this shawl... it certainly helped that Ulmus had gotten to the border and has to stay home for any attention, since the border requires more concentration than I can give while listening in at meetings:)  Ruinwin also sent an un-named yarn that is deep maroony-purple, with tiny sequins, which will be added to the border of Old Shale when I run out of reds.  Both shawls should be finished fairly quickly, and worn throughout the spring and on summer nights.

As I promised, this Sunday will be the beginning of a series of Sustainable Sunday posts, so hope that spring weather returns here in time for Easter, and come on back to see what I have in store for you!

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends....

Hopefully, you all won't be mad at me for having that lovely Beatles song stuck in your head for awhile, because I am writing to ask for help.  This is not something I do lightly; in fact, I have always been a ‘go it alone’ sort, even going hungry in college rather than asking my parents to send me money.

So, what makes it possible this time to reach out to my community now?  I have unexpectedly come upon an opportunity to serve the planet and its people in a way that I know in my heart cannot be passed up.  A Cooperative Permaculture Design Course is being offered here in my home place, this spring, at roughly half of the usual price.  I will not need to travel far away, but can commute from my home, reducing the cost significantly.  This opportunity will allow me to complete work that I started over a decade ago, and to be a much better resource for both the non-profit, community-based organization where I work, and for the larger community of people that are associated with me.  I don’t have time to plan, save, work an extra job - the sorts of steps I usually take when I am inspired to expand my view of life in some way.  I have only about a third of the funds I need and less than a month in which to gather the rest.  I need to trust in the universe and my dearest friends to help me pull this together.

 Now why should you support me?

 First, those who are regular readers have seen a lot of writing about sustainability over the years here, and know that I walk my talk.  I live a life that involves walking to work, growing part of my own food, supporting my local food cooperative and CSA, crafting many of the items we use in daily life and finding much of the rest secondhand, keeping it out of the waste stream.  Though none of us in the US can claim to live the low-carbon-footprint lifestyle that people in the third world live, DH and I manage to live much more lightly than many of our counterparts.

Some of you have even known me since back when I took the Permaculture Design Course training online while obtaining my MA in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community in 1999-2000 from New College of California.  As part of my MA thesis, I hosted a design workshop, taught by Dan Hemenway, that created a permaculture design for our land, Slate Range Camp, much of which we have been able to implement here over the past decade.  I want to obtain my own certification so that I can go out and help other people learn to achieve their sustainability goals.  I have learned the hard way over the years that it takes credentials to get people to let you do the work you know how to do.

Additionally, I have spent most of my adult working life building social capital, rather than a large pension fund or stock portfolio.  Profit has never been my bottom life; people have.  DH and I both chose to work in professions that sought to better life for all of us… in my case I have worked as a nurse, a teacher, for county government and for non-profits in the early childhood and medical fields.  None of these jobs pay what they should, but I have been happy to do my part in making the world a bit better place.  There have been times when I have been pretty well off, but overall I have lived that was “spiritually rich” (to quote Jimmy Clif) but haven’t much money to show for it. 

Therefore, I have decided to ask those I know to invest $5 or $10 in me, and I will give it back, maybe not directly to you, but to the planet and the people.  The three primary tenets of permaculture are “Care for the Earth, Care for the People, Share the Abundance”.  I will be doing all three, and will be sharing what I learn with all of you through a series of “Sustainable Sunday” columns that will appear almost-weekly on my blog for the coming year (I do plan to take a few holidays off).

I need to raise these funds by the end of April, so have put both a Paypal "Donate" button and a ticker on my blog... neither of which appeared in the pretty way I wanted.  These will come down as soon as I am done, and I will also be posting 'windows' into my course process, so stay tuned.  And help me spread the word!  Thanks from the bottom of my soul!

*** Breaking news - On Munday morning, I learned that the cooperative class fee has been reduced to $1000, and that I had already received a significant amount of donations.... thanks to all!!

Comfort Knitting

Sometimes knitting is purely, simply a comfort for me, and other times I can give it as a comfort to others.  My March knitting has included three such examples.  First, I finished up a prayer shawl for a friend who suddenly lost her husband about a month ago... the fanciest thing about this shawl is the way it wraps around you and tucks in on itself.

In fact, it is so curvy, that it would not cooperate well in getting photographed!

Sometimes the simplest things can serve their purpose the best.

I cannot imagine losing my DH, and it has been a hard process, watching yet another friend go through this period.  In fact, the older I get and the more deaths I experience, the less I feel like I know about it at all....

I do know a bit more about births and babies.  One thing I know for certain is that they need hats.  Hand-knitted hats to keep them from losing their body warmth, cuddly hats to help them feel cushioned in this much-too-big world they have suddenly entered from the comfort of a warm, snug womb.

These two baby hats were made for Sasha, who arrived March 4th... her mama and siblings have been a part of the early childhood program I manage for several years.  

The hat on the left is made from Mango Moon recycled sari silk, and will probably be for 'later', as in next fall, when she is closer to six months old, while the one on the right, from Berroco Touche, is for right now and on into spring in our cool mountain climate.

It comforts me to be able to help friends and neighbors, in the good times and the bad.

 

Loving Sundays

This past Sunday found DH and I on our cute little vintage Dutch fold-up bicycles, riding the levees that surround the twin towns of Marysville and Yuba City to the west of us... it is flat, mostly, the views are expansive, and the weather much warmer down there in the great valley!

Here's DH, trying to look really serious about his cycling!

In the background is one of two historic cemeteries that we 'discovered', on either side of the main, old road out of Marysville, and also on either side of the levee!

We couldn't help but wonder if anyone got displaced when the levee was built, much later than the earliest burials!  Unfortunately, because of past instances of vandalism, both cemeteries were locked and heavily fenced.  We will be planning to make an appointment to get a tour on a weekday (Steph - maybe you and Liam want to join us?)

If you are wondering if there has been any knitting.. yes, there has, which means I should be able to put together another post sooner than it took to get this one up:)

In the meantime, I want to remind my knitting students that the last February Lady class is this coming Friday, and so it my Gaia Shoulder Hug class, both at Fibers Grass Valley.

  

I am enjoying the teaching as much as the knitting, but also needing to work hard at my day job, so will leave you with good wishes for the road to rise up to meet you, especially tomorrow, St. Paddy's Day.

P.S.  Typepad just ate the first part of this post, much longer and featuring Dye Day and family photos from the Sunday before... I don't have time to re-create since I am going to yoga class, where I will need to de-stress.  I honestly am contemplating going back to Blogger this second, since I didn't have that happen, ever, with Blogger, but certainly have experienced it more than once here on Typepad (you wonder why I don't blog more often?  do you want to hear about old, boring, lost work?)  If anyone can explain how to recapture material, when there is no apparent undo feature, I would love to hear and will send up your praises.  Sad...