Alchemy of Resilience ... boiling down the bones

If you are a regular here at VardoForTwo, you may have a sense for the diverse nature of our story. The banner photo here of Kolea Nani (our vardo) taken from the trail below the Ledge in the Woods, captures the essence of our lives during this first season of a reassembled life. To me, the photo reminds me of the large, wild nature that is teaching Pete and me how deep and powerful NATURE is. From that vantage point, the golden caravan of a vardo is small. The details and the daily swoops and slips that are our journey through an imploding society are recounted in part on this blog and the blog families that connect to this caravan.

The fullness of our journey could not be replicated here, some of it is unprintable and other parts of it are private and personal. Blogging allows so much disclosure, and then the author (me, and Pete) must set a limit, or create an illusion. Cosmic influences and teachers step in as well, and do things like tinker with the machinery whether the software or the hardware, the affect is clear. Saturn and Pluto, Mercury and Neptune have had their way with my life (and the lives of all here on the Planet). As relates to this blog, the limit of visual disclosure here on VardoForTwo and the other blogs at least for the while, means "No! No more pictures of your true life here." So, again, if you've been a visitor here, you'll notice no photos of our life appear on the blogs. They simply will not come.

Earlier in the week, I wrote a post linking to opinions of others who view the life of VardoForTwo. In that post I leaked some of my emotions that come from negative and hurtful opinions from strangers who know nothing about the real people. Most of the virtual relationships grown through internet communities and blogs are anonymous and stay that way. With the internet, the world of letters once reserved for those who wrote (true) letters using marking tools .... a pen, lead pencil, char sticks; and then books and novels bound and sold or borrowed from shelved housings in libraries became a singular dimensional sphere inviting a new platform for storytellers.

From these platforms called blogs/sites/twitters/facebook opinions, minutia, lies, truths, and threads fill virtual space. My innate curiosity and need to investigate (Scorpio and Mercury conjunct in the 10th house) steers me to seek things out. Combined with Pete's wandering mind and restlessness (Gemini Mars/Mercury) we look at a big parcel of information. That post linking to opinions about our encampment style life shook us awake. Sometimes, when life becomes a near constant diaspora, a layer or web encases you against allowing too much emotion at one time, and we hope the worst won't come. We've been woken to the truth ... there are more solutions to come up with and the existing codes and land use provisions will challenge our way of life.

We are elders, we have lifetimes of being here on Earth and there is alchemy of resilience that amounts to a boiling down the bones and drinking of the broth capacity that fuels our lives. Our search for a winter space in a whirl/world of polarized opposition shines a light on these two old dears. Our search has revealed the land use codes and laws based on protecting the rights of land-ownership. For me, a Hawaiian woman with roots based on traditional and ancient malama the aina and not own the aina principles, ownership has been on on-going reassembling process. Yes, I have been part-owner of two places on Earth in my life. Both experiences have been chaotic and opportunities for becoming who I was meant to be. I 'own' neither of those places on Earth, have benefited from their sales and learned countless lessons about what happens when Earth becomes real estate valued in money. Maybe there is room for another article/post about that at some other time.

Fall squalls are moving in and out of the Pacific Northwest. The light is muted today making this a perfect rest, recoup and reconnoiter day. I'm writing to add to my body of work here, and have eaten three servings of Bone Soup for breakfast and lunch. I'll wrap this one up with a quote from a book that I have not read, rather, I found an article on one of those virtual book shelves. The Weston A. Price Foundation site. Not too long ago, I was experimenting with raw and vegan eating and even taught raw food classes with Pete to a small number of heath-seekers in Hawaii. I was searching for an alternative to removing my thyroid gland. For a time, that way of living and eating seemed to work. Bone Soup is neither raw nor vegan. I live with my thyroid and she continues to give me vital information about the condition of my whirl. That's the thing about us, we are elders who are open to being wrong, and open to being right. Perhaps the lesson of polarization and opposition has something to do with recognizing we could be on the left as easily as be on the right. I'm boiling done the bones like my mother used to, when she made stews from beef and mutton serving up the marrow rich broth along with a bowl of poi on the best of days.

Simple Bone Soup Recipe

Here's how I made our Bone Soup:

Go to your local food co-op and ask the butcher if they sell grass-fed (organic best) beef bones. Or, if you live near organic farmers who raise beef, lamb ... ask about soup bones.

With a small bag of grass-fed bones ... I

Plugged in our crock pot.
Put the bones into the pot.
Filled the pot to the top with sweet, well water.
Chopped an organic sweet onion, and put the onions in the crockpot.
Added 2 T. of organic apple cider vinegar. (i muscle-tested the amount of vinegar since the recipe i read said 'a small amount of vinegar to draw the nutrients from the bones. i came up with 2 T.)
Covered the crockpot.
Turned the dial to HIGH.
Covered the top and sides of the crockpot with foil to keep the heat in overnight.
Climbed in the vardo, and went to sleep.
12 hours later I sipped the first dose of Bone Soup.

Ummmm. My old bones need this Bone Soup.


Pete and I need the nutrients of grass-fed animals with nutrients stored in their bones. It's an unlikely place to be for once veggies. Forgive us our zigzagging choices, we have few road maps that take us where we need to get. So, we keep searching. Here's a snippet of a really nice possibility ... I might even buy this book, and put it in a reading bag to be with the print.


Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (with Mary G. Enig, PhD)

"The truth is that every woman in the world experiences a decline in the level of female hormones and a rise in the level of male hormones at menopause. This is nature's way of equipping the female sex for her new role as forager, worker and sage. Like the male youth of eighteen, she experiences hotbloodedness, signalized by hot flashes, as she prepares for a lustier life than the cloistered one she led as a mother of small children. If she falls for the promises of the estrogen-peddlers, she inhibits the forces that push her into the role of activist and extrovert and throws cold water on the fire that her hormones have set to pry her out of her nest and into the brave new world of adventure and challenge."