What's-Up Hivers! It's been another busy week and as always the ecoTrain community have been posting fantastic articles on a wide range of topics from mushroom foraging to pesticides toxicity, ecoVillages, reflections on meditation and more. If you haven't seen our community before please do stop by and subscribe so you can see more great posts in your feeds.
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Wishing you all a beautiful remainder of the week wherever you are, and whatever you are doing.
I leave you with a quote a wise man once said,
"Don't do what you like, Like What you do.."
Environmental Systems Resilience | In the framework of the World Recycling Day
I share today the theme of the Resilience of Environmental Systems because it is closely related to the cycling of nutrients and of course to the management of organic and inorganic waste. The Environmental System that I am going to highlight is Lake Valencia, a body of surface water totally contaminated by anthropic action related to the management of waste of organic and inorganic origin.
Management of our solid waste, whether of organic or inorganic origin. When we make classification in the origin, reuse of materials, cycling of nutrients in the case of organic waste management we are optimizing the energetic use of each material. To recycle is to transform the energy present in it. We must optimize the treatment of our waste once it has been reduced since this action will positively impact our environmental systems, our #pachamama.
ecoVillages Journal #24: $6,000 Euro donation received to initiate Phase 1 of ecoVillages ;-)
What a journey this is! Things are unfolding day by day, and as each day passes things get a little easier, and much more interesting... If you haven't been following the ecoVillage story, I am currently in Portugal after being locked out of my earthship home in India. As a result i have been pushed into manifesting ecoVillages way quicker than i had anticipated.. but of course, just at the right time! It's never easy setting up a new life, from scratch, with almost no money, and in a country that in lockdown with no ability to communicate with any locals! Nevertheless, things are looking very promising right now! Not least because yesterday I received a 6,000 Euro donation to start the entire project that will happen on the land we also have just bought last month from a previous donation. Natural giving was always at the cornerstone of the ecoVillages model, and so far it is working so beautifully.
The Big Green Question: Is Organic Really Necessary?
Organic is on the rise but still hasn't found its way into the average household. "Higher prices, not necessary, you can't trust the labels or not available in my nearest supermarket." There are quite a few reasons why not everyone is into organic fruits and veggies yet - but is this the smartest choice?
A study from 2014 tested four American families that usually consumed only conventionally grown foods. Some of the pesticides detected in their bodies were linked to an increased risk for serious health conditions such as cancer, infertility, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, autism, learning disabilities and more.
Since there are nowadays so many toxins in our environment - does it really make a difference what we eat?
This study also showed that most of the pesticides we are exposed to come from our food. So this is something we can take charge of, we can make the right choices towards more health.
The BEST Gardening Skill for SELF SUFFICIENCY
Having this one simple skill in your gardening or homesteading skillset will revolutionize your gardening game and exponentially increase your self-sufficiency level. We've been practicing it for years now, and in this video I go over some of the basics of seed saving.
the BEST Gardening Skill for SELF SUFFICIENCY - VIDEO
A Slow Mover in a Fast Paced World.
I'm a bit slower than other people. This goes for both my cognitive and motor skills. Throughout my life I've often been made painfully aware of it.
In school, tests and exams are timed and I was always worried about whether I'd finish on time. With mental arithmetic, my teacher was thankfully fairly easy on me, but the goal was to try and get faster. I could always solve the problem, but it took me longer than most of the others who could manage to. It's never been that I'm incapable of doing things, just that it was always noted that I needed to do it faster. Not surprisingly, I took that as a negative and labeled myself as “not good enough.”
I worked for a while at a garment manufacturer sewing swimwear and lingerie. You received a basic wage, but it was piecework, which meant that they expected a minimum amount of work done in a day to make that pay break even. It was accepted that when a new line started there would be a learning curve and you probably wouldn't make the minimum, but once all the kinks were ironed out, the minimum was expected and more. I used to reach the minimum production speed, often a little later than others and I would eventually even make a bit above that which would earn me a few more pennies on top of my basic. A nice incentive, I thought, but my supervisor would still keep telling me that they wanted me to get through more. Unfortunately, when I rushed I made quality mistakes or broke a needle, then I'd get the work back and lose all the gain plus more un-picking and re-working. So I'd just keep plodding along and slowly picking up the pace without losing the quality and try not to let the supervisors get to me.
Meditative Reflections - Intermittent fasting knock on benefits
I'm intermittent fasting today, which means I'm currently hungry as I'm skipping breakfast, which I'd usually be eating round about now (8.25 a.m).
My base motivation for fasting really is quite base - I'm having a few days off running due a slight injury and I don't want to gain weight.
However, - I'm also finding there are other benefits too:
Now I've disciplined myself to give up one thing, eating for a while, it makes giving up other 'habits' easier too - so while I maybe hungry, I'm also in 'self-discipline' mode which means I'm find it much easier ATM to control my urge to give into my usual varied distractions such as:
- Splinterlands
- Checking email and other social media
- Playing around on the exchanges
- Generally just idling about on Hive
- Getting up to make a cup of tea (although I'm sure that will come).
As a result I'm crunching through my daily chores list much faster than usual, and I'm not even minding being hungry, in fact I can feel that my stomach is appreciating the break.
Countryside adventures, traveling and forest shelter building [+ new wild mushroom pics
Life in the countryside moves at a slow pace. The constant rain and the cold weather forces us to stay close to the fireplace and take care of related tasks, such as chopping firewood and such.
When things get too slow, I like to go out and stay outside. To stay warm outdoors it's important to be on the move, keep the blood pumping to bring in the heat.
Last week it was pretty easy to get by as I was visited by Elizabeth, my friend and partner, along with her twin daughters. We went out for some nice walks, including a crazy afternoon in the marshlands where we got muddy up to our necks and they would dance around singing:
"Nothing worries me! Nothing worries me!"
Then they would shout:
"THE POWER OF NATURE!!!"
I know these days can be challenging and some of us have committed to developing habits and skills that can help us thrive and shine moving forward. Some of us could really use a helping hand.
In response to these situations I have decided to make the pdf copies of 13 Weeks available for free for the foreseeable future.
This book is based on the early days of my shift and can help to kindly, constructively discover yourself, discover your areas of need and commit to yourself (with plenty of templates and support) by creating your own customised and balanced system that fits your life.
You can get more information and download it from this page:
http://mindfulness2life.org/13weekstoawakening/
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