Shifts and Changes at Vardo For Two ... tell me something new

We're making some changes here. 

The focus of the blog and the writing will evolve. Pete will be doing more and more of the writing, and posting of photos (he's working on the camera and computer) . I'll keep my Al-Anon posts-journal newly begun, as a way to work my program of recovery as a way to 'be in the Rooms.' My Astrology posts will continue, too. These two forms of 'superpower' save my life over the long haul, so I'll keep coming back to writing these types of posts/articles.


More of my attention will shift to writing and creating fertile ground over at my writer's blog It's All Compost. Thanks to the process of blogging, living and learning here at VardoForTwo, I have fueled myself with enough healing to focus on writing for a living, again. In a new and composted version of myself, It's All Compost will take the fertile ground made here to plant new seeds of writing and sharing.

To read the whole story about our Shifts and Changes please go to the side-bar "Shifts and Changes"

Tell us, is there something new and exciting in your life today?
 

Waking

http://www.wunderground.com/

I am healing from the fall to the sidewalk just across the street from our vardo.  Two weeks, and oh so many moments and emotings.  I feel the healing take place ... where there was gut-bending pain, there is ache, the bone containing marrow now more sensitive to the cold I wrap her in a wool sock with toe cut off and soothe her.  "There, there old friend.  I care for you."

The storytellers of times long ago, not so long ago, and tellers now awake to the similar sentences that string together in my mind all come to the Waking.  I cry the tears and comfort the painful memories that show up to be acknowledged.  The old ones (memories) entwine with the present and tears make a salty bath salve.

If I could, would I be a woman who does not describe herself as 'living with a chronic condition/living with MCS?"  Probably, though the experiences are teaching the lessons of care for the self like nothing I could imagine.  "If I could be ..." is also the wonderful question and post with delightful comments on my friend Joan Tucker's blog A WILD PATIENCE. Joan lists a long and vivid sort of prayer bead poetry reminiscent of the workshop activity she encourages in her coaching life.  Joan is writing wakened poetry that infused with hope and spring-like joy after visiting her blog; just the emotions I would be "if I were an emotion."  And if I could be an element of nature ... I would be the morning dew.

Here's just a teaser of the list of "If I could be ..." .  Link to read the entire post ... you'll love it!

If I were a gem stone I’d be an emerald


If I were a tree I’d be a maple

If I were a tool I’d be a hammer

If I were a flower I’d be a lady slipper

If I were an element of weather I’d be a spring rain

If I were a musical instrument I’d be an oboe

If I were a color I'd be purple

If I were an emotion I’d be joyful

Another spring inspiration came from my DIY and wild places friend Leslie Richards author of the blog THE OKO BOX.  The inspiration Leslie shares is ongoing, as she dishes up a southern simmered kind of funniness and artistry that is Cajun at the bone, and Leslie unlike others.  Leslie has recently moved from one rural world to another.  She is newly home in her Luck Cottage ... in the town of Luck, North Carolina. 

One of her most recent posts included the fabulous photograph now our banner pic here at Vardo For Two.  "Inter-species" trees sang their songs to me when I saw them over at The Oko Box... I live that song my heart said.  So, between my very long time friend Joan and my newer and no less loving newer friend Leslie, this old gal with the sock on her arm gives THANKS, THANKS, THANKS to the kiss of spring wakenings.  Link to Leslie's post about them trees and then stay awhile to visit her blog and read how her new Luck Cottage is becoming home to the Cajun Elfess.

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? and GENETICALLY MODIFIED HAWAII

HOW DOES OUR GARDEN GROW?

Remember those little beauties that we planted and entertained?

See for yourself. Here they are.

The wheatgrass and buckwheat --the sunflowers are hiding behind the buckwheat-- we soaked, began sprouting, planted in organic soil (Black Gold Organic mixed with a sprinkle of crushed glacial rock from B.C. for mineralizing) are doing great.

What will we do with these greens?

I'm sipping on wheatgrass juice as I type away. Wow, that's powerful! The buckwheat greens and sunflower sprouts are wonderful snacks just clipped and washed; delicious in salads/green smoothies; wrapped in a sheet of nori(dried seaweed) with hot basmati rice = veggie sushi.

How tall are the greens today?

Size perspective: There's a quart jar on the right for comparison.

How many days does it take to grow edible, organic greens?

Time perspective: The height of a quart jar in less than a week.

Where did we grow this food?

Growing place: Grown inside with no extra heat, in front of a large window.

How much did it cost to grow this food?

Excluding the time to grow ...

For a full-tray of wheatgrass: $1.00 - $1.50

For a full-tray of sunflower seeds: $ 2.50 (we grew 1/2 tray)

For a full-tray of buckwheat greens: $ 1.00 (we grew 1/2 tray)

Building VARDOFORTWO, both this blog and our home-to-be, is as we've written many times before, a dream come true. The challenges of living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities are just as the 'name' implies multiple and different for each of us. The exposures and the physical affects that tamper with my body's natural abilities or limitations often leave us (both Pete and me) stunned ... like a honey bee zapped into disorientation after sipping on poisoned blossoms. We dream a future based on our today: a dream of a safe home, a dream of safe food, a dream of community. Dreaming without Acting reminds me that a seed can remain dormant for years, centuries even. So, we dream and we act with inspiration.

There are things we can dream and act upon every day ... and we pray for the guidance to do those things in harmony with all that is. Sometimes, and more often than most of us can count, the actions of others can affect me ill. We Canaries of the MCS Tribe now that more than most.

OUR NEWEST POLL

Our newest POLL asks: How do you feed yourself, your family? Is growing your own feed part of your life? If not, would you like it to be? When you vote with your answers, know that you can check more than one answer. Again, we'll keep the poll going for a week.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED HAWAI`I

The final part of this post is a link to a story sent to me by a sister with MCS from O`ahu, Bobby McClintock. I have never met Bobby in person. We have become friends through the internet. When Pete and I lived without safe housing on O`ahu, because of the affects of yet one more pesticide poisoning, it was Bobby who offered me online support and suggestions. This is a story about HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW in very big, bad fashion. The Hawaiian Islands, the Island Home I have fled has become the "GM (genetically modified) Capital of the Earth." This is an outrageous reality. I grieve the facts that support that description. I am stunned by it and activated by the arrogance that justifies "GENETICALLY MODIFIED HAWAII". Read the entire article for yourself. Those of us who know, love and grieve the hewa (wrong-doings) that happen on the Islands are not unfamiliar with acts such as these. Others, visitors or would-be visitors to Hawaii may be unaware of the Islands history of occupation, genetic modification of her food source is just too much! It's an issue close to my heart. I pray that my inspired action finds like actors, and at the very least I have put the story HERE. Read and then grow a little of your own food.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=genetically-modified-hawaii&print=true