Try a little PC (permaculture) at AppleseedPermaculture.com

 I like to think of PeaCe when seeing PC which also resonate with my family of origins names (one starting with P on my Dad's side and C on my Mom's). Now this is a post about not only me but everybody on the planet starting with the lucky folks who hear about the efforts of www.AppleseedPermaculture.org. Ethan Roland has a new book out, Regenerative Landscape I just saw when signing up for his newsletter.

These folks are unstoppable (and unfortunately so is climate change). I was fortunate to take a basic Permaculture (72-hour) class with Ethan and his trusty team of permie teachers in High Falls NY at a great location, Camp Epworth. They have given many more sessions since mine back around 2008 but not at the camp recently due to changes there, boo hoo. But we have the good memories and even helped with a hay bale and sustainable home that was a great undertaking for a couple who were ready to help blaze that trail from the ground up.

There were work parties and ways to introduce people, sometimes during an adjunct gathering such as a sweat lodge or family camp time by Red Fox friends (now Wild Earth) who keep kids in touch with nature. Well, time for rest for this ol' bird and I did see a heron in Sharon CT before venturing to my first camp out which led me to the PC training shortly thereafter. I saw a heron when I got to the mountain top and that bird's image and ways (such as described more fully in www.wisdom-magazine.com in the Animal Totems section) have helped me journey in the real world with inspiration to stretch my wings and fly to where I'm going whether riding in a car, on a train or in a plane. Only after about 15 years of being a home body did I brave a flight to North Carolina to see an old college friend.

I got to see Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Orion and was just listening to their melodious rock and roll while dancing with a young un tonight. Then I managed to take flight to Dallas and see folks who were close to our son Kaelan who journeyed to the Great Blue Beyond, which I imagined him doing on a big bird as his spirit ascended when he was caught in the waters of the Housatonic River Great Falls. Overall, our teen Kaelan was a great fellow and heroically likely saved a friend who was caught in a hard spot at the base of strong waterfalls. He was rescued moments later and that is covered in other posts (and on youtube in Kaelan's Memorial Service).

Had Kaelan stayed on shore and lived to pursue more ecological goals along with being vegetarian and into sports and the outdoors with lots of cool friends, his friend may not have made it. No one knows for sure the extent to which Kaelan knew his final act of courage and skill would be his last. The odds are professionals have told me, he knew the risk, like the river that day, was mighty high.

Kaelan believed in God as a kid and though he had joked that maybe I had brainwashed him, he had a huge ethic of love for all humankind and was gentle toward animals and a fair team player in life overall. I have come to view his passing as a wake-up call for US All to think, about how we would live intentionally using our collective skills and energy to pull us out of a tough situation were we in one.

Climate change and even the challeng to make ends meet spell hard times for most. So why not honor the gift of life and time and pull together in learning and living gently upon the earth and peacably with each other. Ethan Roland and his friends do this with gusto and talent. Let's join in their efforts and appreciate all that they and efforts such as www.gaia.org have to offer the world.