Yes, I’ve read the articles and listened to the reports and watched the documentaries. I really do believe it’s happening but from my little home in the woods of Vermont I haven’t paid much attention until this year. Suddenly a few things are definitely out of whack.

Dyed-in-the-wool Vermonters tend to be a stubborn lot and I heard a story about one farmer that I found very poignant. “Sugaring off” (tapping Maple trees for sap) has always been a part of his life. Every year he started tapping on the same weekend in the spring as did his parents before him. This year his sister told me “the stupid cuss won’t start until Washington’s birthday and the season will be over before he even starts!!” and it was – just about.

That was February into March. In the spring I took the risk of planting hot peppers and tomatoes mid May thinking I was a fool. My entire life in the North Country, planting has been June 1st for a very good reason. Almost without fail there is a late May frost. This year it wasn’t even close. I probably should have planted my peas earlier – they love the cold and definitely not the warmth.

The next thing I became aware of was my perennials. On a walk one day I noticed Phlox growing wild in the field. This brought back an NPR discussion I heard several years ago about how as climate changes cultivated flowers will start to seed themselves in the wild…hmmmm.

In past blogs I have mentioned how the wood thrush leaving and heading south harbors the arrival of Autumn – albeit not for several weeks. I always take note of this for the thrush is a bird of joy and light and I miss its song dearly. As long as I can remember it has left the first week in August – from the time I was a little girl because my father always mentioned it … “the thrush has gone – time to start winterizing”. This year it didn’t leave until the third week of August. I couldn’t believe it and was both thrilled to have its wonderful song a little longer but definitely puzzled.

Finally the fall colors. Where I live the changing of the leaves is something we all take note of – both for their beauty and the many visitors they bring to our state. Because we notice, this year
is especially odd. Without fail, since I can remember, the leaves have reached their height of color around Oct. 3rd give or take a day or two. This year it is the second week in October and they are just getting close.

I know there are many documented studies about ice caps melting, oceans rising and weather patterns changing. These are real events and we acknowledge them but there is something very frightening about changes in day to day patterns that have been here as long as one can remember. The very foundation of our lives is shifting and the people who have the power to do something about it are too disconnected from the real and living world to see it- or be willing to see it through their haze of greed and ego.

Carolyn Keck lives in West Newbury, Vermont with her tuba playing husband Bill, two newfoundlands and an obnoxious cat. She teaches music and gets great joy from cooking, fly fishing, gardening, quilting and being a grandma.

I love gardening.  I love my hands in the soil and the wonder as each plant peeps up in the spring.  I love watching and nurturing all summer and reaping the bounty in the fall. I love the harvest but it heralds the coming of winter and darkness and cold. Harvest is so very bittersweet.

Carolyn Keck lives in West Newbury, Vermont with her tuba playing husband Bill, two newfoundlands and an obnoxious cat.  She teaches music and gets great joy from cooking, fly fishing, gardening, quilting and being a grandma.

I heard the geese last night.  The air is still and cold.  Getting colder. The last wood thrush has gone – several weeks ago now – and the hummingbirds have left. My father used to say that when the thrush left you knew that fall was not far away..  The first leaves are turning and the sounds are the sounds of autumn- crickets; a few birds – an occasional chickadee or raven- but not the joyous cacophony of spring and early summer with the mating in its full swing.  No, fall is coming and with it the first frost.  Thus, I turn to my garden.

I am a struggling vegetable gardener.  First bad soil, then a herd of cows made me leave it for several years to focus on perennials.  Now, with several raised vegetable beds, new and good soil and a terrible economy that has me wanting to fill my freezer for security, I have thrown myself whole heartedly into my gardening.

My garden has its own personality.  Kale, slow to start has turned into a monster, towering over everything. Where I planned to grow a few small pumpkins, I have 5 giants, so big I can’t lift them.  My cukes and carrots were pathetic, my beans great as were my herbs and peas.  Lettuce was so-so, winter squash incredibly wonderful and zucchinis unpredictable to say the least.  Sadly I planted tomatoes in a garden that had had the tomato blight.  They did really well until one night it looked as if a brutal frost had hit just those plants.  The blight was back!  My other tomatoes in another garden are thriving.  My great triumph, however, was my hot serrano and cayenne peppers.  In past years I have harvested maybe 2 or 3 shriveled up peppers.  This year they are here in abundance – beautiful and lush….so back to the first frost.

It came at the end of a long week of work but the predictions were insistent. The cold deepened as the evening fell and there was just no way I was going to let my peppers get ruined. They were the first to be covered.  Then the pumpkins with grandchildren’s names on them and finally, all my squash, herbs and a few thriving tomatoes.

There is no doubt now that fall is here.  Harvesting has begun in ernest and on my counter in full splendor sit 14 jars of Ba’s Red Hot Pepper Jelly.

Carolyn Keck lives in West Newbury, Vermont with her tuba playing husband Bill, two newfoundlands and an obnoxious cat.  She teaches music and gets great joy from cooking, fly fishing, gardening, quilting and being a grandma.

Photo by Carlos Porto, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

The Law of Pure Potentiality
How can we apply the Law of Pure Potentiality, the field of all possibilities, to our lives? If you want to enjoy the benefits of the field of pure potentiality, if you want to make full use of the creativity which is inherent in pure consciousness, then you have to have access to it. One way to access the field is through the daily practice of silence, meditation, and non-judgment. Spending time in nature will also give you access to the qualities inherent in the field: infinite creativity, freedom, and bliss.
Adapted from The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, by Deepak Chopra (New World Library, 1994).

Green Chi: Potential at Home
Anything you can do to enhance your home’s connection to the land and the bioregion in which you live will enrich your life. Where is the beautiful energy in your community or on your land or nearby? We all have beautiful places where we can commune with nature, even in a city. Is there a beautiful tree on your land that you like to sit under on a hot day? Find these spots and go to them as often as you can.
Adapted from Home Enlightenment, by Annie B. Bond (Rodale, 2007).

Pleasure and the Goals of Life
Human beings, whose lifetime is allotted at one hundred years, should pursue three goals in life: virtue (Dharma), material success (Artha) and desire or pleasure (Kama) each in its own way and its own time, but in harmony so that they do not clash with one another. Childhood should be devoted to religious education: youth and middle age to Artha and Kama; old age to Dharma. In this way one seeks to gain final liberation, or Moksha, to end the cycle of birth and rebirth.
Adapted from Kama Sutra, by Deepak Chopra (Virgin Books, 2006).

Green Chi: Achieving Goals for a Healthy Home
The way to establish a healthy home is quite simple. The most important guideline for choosing safe materials is to follow this basic rule of thumb: Use only materials that have been around so long, and been used by people without harm for so long, that they are “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS for short), otherwise they would have long since been abandoned. Using only GRAS substances will take us back to the time before plastics and forward to new technology using old and safe materials.
Adapted from Better Basics for the Home by Annie B. Bond (Three Rivers Press, 1999).

The More Energy You Devote to Something, The More You Have
Here are a few steps that can cause the channels of energy to expand:

Learn to give. When you feel most like hoarding, turn to someone in need and offer some of what you possess in abundance. This doesn’t have to be money or goods. Time and attention can expand channels of energy more than cash.

Be generous. This means generous in praise and appreciation even more than generous with your money. Most people hunger for praise.

Follow your passion. Some area in your life makes you want to spend all your energy there. For most people, there’s a built-in inhibition about going too far.
Adapted from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra (2004, Harmony Books).

Green Chi: The Truer Your Diet, The More in Tune You Will Be
With the eight steps to a true food diet you can cultivate the connection between plate and planet, and on a most basic cellular level, your body will begin to feel more in tune.
1. Eat local food
2. Eat a variety of food.
3. Aim for organic.
4. Eat lower on the food chain.
5. Eat fresh food.
6. Eat whole foods.
7. Stock your pantry.
8. Green your kitchen.
Adapted from True Food, by Annie B. Bond, Melissa Breyer, and Wendy Gordon (National Geographic, 2009).

“I am Responsible for My Relationships”
Since relationships are two-sided, you can be responsible only for your part. To take responsibility, a few guidelines help:

• Clearly see the difference between past and present.
• Don’t inflict past relationships on present ones.
• Relate on the basis of shared positive values. Avoid relating on the basis of prejudices and shared bias.
• As a leader, try to relate equally and impartially.
• Avoid making the other person wrong.
• Follow the Golden Rule: other people will sense when you are treating them they way you would want to be treated.
• Increase the other person’s self esteem.
Adapted from The Soul of Leadership, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2010).

Green Chi: Your Relationship to Place
Being connected to your community is a mainstay of psychological health. What better way to connect than through food? Really knowing local maple syrup if you live in New England is a matter of pride, as is really knowing a good gumbo in the Gulf South, or wild rice in the Great Lakes areas. Place-based food traditions celebrate diversity and community, while exploring the natural and cultural history of the region. Saving endangered culinary cultures also helps save indigenous plants and animals.
Adapted from True Food, 8 Simple Steps to a Healthier You, by Annie B. Bond, Melissa Breyer, and Wendy Gordon (National Geographic, 2009).

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The Energy to Change
The difference between healthy and unhealthy energy can be summarized as follows:

Healthy energy is flowing, flexible, dynamic, balanced, soft, associated with positive feelings.

Unhealthy energy is stuck, frozen, rigid, brittle, hard, out of balance, associated with negative emotions.

You can bring healing to any aspect of your life by shifting an unhealthy energy state into a healthy one.

If all the qualities of unhealthy energy, from blockages and rigidity to negative emotions, could be healed at once, your body could quickly rebound to its natural state of health.
Adapted from Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2009).

Clear the Air
The ritual of smudging to clear out old energy and cleanse and purify your space is one that has been used by indigenous peoples for millennia.

The herbs used to make smudge sticks are usually white sage, sweetgrass, or cedar, although any dried herb is fine, even lavender. Choose an herb that doesn’t have a woody stem, or if there is such a stem, make the bundle of leaves that you pull off. If you make your own smudge sticks, honor the tradition of honoring the plants with your appreciation for using their leaves.

You want to burn the smudge in a container that will contain the flames, so that you don’t start a fire. Light the dried leaves, and once there is a good flame, blow it out so that the leaves smoke, and waft the smoke around with a feather.
Adapted from Home Enlightenment, by Annie B. Bond (Rodale Press, 2005/2007).

The vision of The Stay Strong Project is to spread a global message of unity and to inspire others to come together in service, celebration, and prayer, and to remain positive in challenging times. The Stay Strong Project also aims at bringing healing to our Mother Earth and
to all who inhabit our beautiful planet!

Stay Strong participants include: David Newman, Mira, Krishna Das, Seane Corn, Jai Uttal, Wah, Sharon Gannon, Snatam Kaur, Sean Johnson, Donna De Lory, Gaura Vani, Dave Stringer, Girish, Shantala, Shyam Das, Govindas and Radha, Suzanne Sterling, Kirtan Rabbi, C.C. White, Saul
David Raye, Bob Wisdom, Prema Hara, Brenda McMorrow, Amy Barnes, Gina Sala, Yvette Om, Zat Baraka, Terra Gold, Philippo Franchini, Tony Khalife, Radhanath Swami, and more…

One hundred percent of the proceeds of Stay Strong go to Global Green USA, a non-profit organization supporting efforts for the Gulf Coast recovery and other environmental and humanitarian concerns! So, when you download the song Stay Strong from iTunes and other digital sites, you will be directly donating to Global Green’s environmental efforts!

To to purchase the Song on iTunes visit the site at http://www.staystrongproject.org

You can also join Stay Strong on Facebook.
ST

The Universe Needs You
It takes a breakthrough to reveal how precious you really are. Almost no one believes that he or she is absolutely necessary in the grand scheme of things. Yet if you are the growing tip of evolution, the universe needs you in a unique way. You fit into a plan that cannot be imagined in advance. It has no rigid guidelines, no fixed boundaries, and no predictable outcome. The plan is made up as it goes along, and it depends on the participation of each and every person.
Adapted from Reinventing The Body, Resurrecting the Soul, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2009).

You Can Transmute Despair to Celebration
The rifts between the earth, corporations, and each other have to be healed. It is time. All we can do is start somewhere. So, where? A friend of mine offered some insight. He was visiting some friends whose land abutted 60 acres that had been clear-cut. The destruction was awesome and the grief of the land and neighbors palpable at the harm that had been done. My friend said that in the midst of so much grief for the loss of such beauty, he realized that his grief wouldn’t do anything but bring more despair, so he walked into the wreckage and slash and found the beauty that was there—in the new tree shoots and in the sun on the horizon. Where there was harm, he found healing by celebrating the beauty that was left.
Adapted from Home Enlightenment, by Annie B. Bond (Rodale Press, 2007).