A Simple Life

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The Testimony of Simplicity was one of the things that attracted me to Quakers 30 years ago.

What is a testimony? Well, Quaker’s have used the term “testimonies” since the 17th century to mean a public profession of religious experience, and understanding of the truth. In other words: A testimony is a spiritual leading to action, where spirit and action come together. 

Now as I become more active in climate justice, my calling to simplicity has become more central to my life. I lead a simple life in order to do what I can to save the planet!

Agenda this week:

1. Journal queries
2. Set priorities
3. Simplify my studio
4. Simplify my diet
5. Maintain hope

Pea Planting Day

Pea Planting Day is a special anniversary for us. 

W surprised me with a bottle of quince liquor today.

February 22 is listed on my planting calendar as the first day to plant peas in the Willamette Valley; it also happens that this is the day W and I got engaged to each other, 43 years ago!

Peas are traditionally the first vegetable sown outside in the spring because they will germinate and grow in very cool soil. We plant peas today to ceremonially kick off the start of the planting season, and also to remind ourselves of the beginnings of our relationship; the day we decided to be together forever.

Agenda Today:
1. Prepare to plant
2. Pea planting ceremony
3. Permaculture pea tips

Full Snow Moon and Lantern Festival

Darcy's first snow day!

Tonight is the full moon called the Snow Moon. We've been having low enough temperatures for snow, but no more than a dusting here in town. Plenty of snow in the nearby hills though!

Tonight is also Yuan Xiao, the 15th and last day of the Chinese New Year Festival. This is the night that the full moon rises in China; yuan xiao means "first night", meaning the first time that the full moon is seen in the New Year.

This festival's other name is the Lantern Festival, because on this night folks make or buy lanterns of all kinds: shaped like flowers, or boats, or birds; made of bamboo, silk or paper; decorated with paintings, embroidery, paper cuts, tassels, and fringe.

Everyone takes to the streets to display their lanterns. It’s like a carnival: Children dress in costumes and watch parades with lighted floats, fireworks displays, puppet shows, and dances.

Agenda for today:

1. Journal queries
2. Altar
3. Practice strength against the storm
4. Awareness Walk
5. Make tang yuan, sweet dumplings
6. Hang a lantern
7. Riddle guessing

Nirvana Day

Today is Nirvana Day, the celebration of Buddha's death at the age of 80, at around 487 BCE. It's celebrated in East Asia on February 15th, or on February 8th by some.

Buddhists celebrate the date of the death of the Buddha, because death is when the soul is released from the body to experience Nirvana. The word Nirvana means "to extinguish", but it's really more of a transformation to a new kind of existence. 

Nirvana is usually described as a state of bliss or peace, and a release from all physical suffering. The Buddha taught that Nirvana was beyond human imagination, and so speculation about what Nirvana is like is considered by some to be foolish.

Agenda for today:

1. Read the Buddha's teachings
2. Open to uncertainty
3. Bodhisattva practices
4. Eat a Buddha bowl

St. Valentines Day

Saint Valentine was a third-century Roman Christian who died on February 14. The poet Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle probably invented many of the romantic legends about Saint Valentine, in the fourteenth century. 

Valentine made by a student of mine.

It became a custom after that for a man to write a romantic poem to send to his beloved on St. Valentine's Day. Very fancy paper cards, with lace and ribbons, became popular in the 1840's, and that custom expanded into sending cards to Mom and Dad, and friends of all kinds.

Agenda today:
1. Journal
2. Make Valentines
3. Practice optimism

Vasant Panchami

Today is the first day of spring in India; Vasant means "spring" and Panch means "fifth", and it’s celebrated on the fifth day after the new moon in January or February.

Vasant Panchami is also the birthday of Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of education, learning, and the fine arts. Folks all over India take part in art and painting competitions, poetry recitations, and music festivals today.

 Students will take a break from studying, and put their books on the altar to be blessed.

Agenda today:
1. Look for signs of spring
2. Make a rangoli
3. Start a new project
4. Make moong dal (yellow lentils)

Thorrablót

Winter- acrylic on canvas (see it on Etsy)

Thorrablót (pronounced THORR-a-blote) is a mid-winter festival celebrated in Iceland and Norway. Thorri is the name of the fourth month of winter in the old Icelandic calendar, and a blót is a feast.

Thorri might have been named for Thor, the Norse god of thunder, or for a legendary King of Norway. Now in Iceland Thorri is known as "King Winter", and is depicted as an old grey man, kind to some and harsh to others. All of wintertime is referred to as "King Winter" in Iceland and in Norway... I guess with a winter as exceptional as theirs it’s not surprising that it has a personality!

The Thorrablót can happen any time in the next several weeks. In Iceland and Norway this is the coldest part of winter- no thaw yet in sight. Here in our valley we are also experiencing a cold spell, with snow predicted, so this is a good time for a King Winter Feast!

Agenda:
1. Gather friends and family and make a toast
2. Have a pickle feast
3. Play Kubb
4. Help those with no homes

St. Dorothy's Day

St. Dorothy lived in Caesarea in central Turkey, around the year 313 AD. She was tried for refusing to worship idols, and a mocking lawyer asked her to send him fruit from the garden of Paradise. In response to her prayer, an angel appeared and presented three roses and three apples. 

She wrote: 

"And then said the holy virgin with a glad semblant: Do to me what torment thou wilt, for I am all ready to suffer it for the love of my spouse Jesu Christ, in whose garden full of delices I have gathered roses, spices, and apples."

Because of this, she is the patron of gardeners. Also of brides, and brewers.

Agenda Today:
1. Make Persian Spiced Apples
2. Garden journal queries
3. Research permaculture
4. Garden visualization & plan
5. Make garden markers
6. Work outside!
7. Housework

Chinese New Year of the Pig

This first day of the Chinese New Year is called Yüan-tan, the "Day of Origin". This one day determines the luck for the entire year, so Chinese people are careful to use their best manners and to remain honest and peaceful. 

They spend the first days of the year making visits to friends and relatives: Parents and grandparents receive the first visits, and so on, until by the fourth day very casual friends may drop in. The fifth day is reserved for visits to people who live further away.

Visitors greet each other with kind words to help encourage a year of prosperity. The most common greeting is:

Gung hay fat choy 

(Pronounced "Goong Heyy Faat Choy")

Congratulations, may you be prosperous!

2019 is the year of the Pig. People born in the year of the pig are kind, generous, and warm-hearted, and have initiative, energy, and leadership skills.

Agenda for today:

1. Eat jai for breakfast
2. Give gifts
3. Make and give hóngbāo (money packets)

Chinese New Year's Eve and New Holiday Moon

Tonight is Chinese New Year's Eve. In China, New Year's evening is called Ch’u-yeh, the "evening of discarding", because we can finally be done with the old year, and with winter. 

This last day of the year is busy, because it’s the last chance to complete preparations and be ready to start the year fresh. When the running around is done, the family spends the rest of the day at home together-- family connections are the big theme for this holiday. 

AND tonight is also the new moon; this moon is called the Holiday Moon in China, because of the New Year Festival. In China the new moon is on the first day of the New Year, but because the moon is new tomorrow in China, we celebrate a day late here in the U.S.

Agenda for today:
1. Journal queries
2. Thanksgiving ceremony
2. Welcoming ceremony
3. Make a prosperity tree
4. Prepare a family feast

Imbalc

Me, adding greens to the Imbalc fire a few years ago.

Imbalc (pronounced Im-molc) is the Celtic Sabbat that falls between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. At this time we celebrate the "beginning of the end" of winter.

Imbalc means surrounding belly- the Earth Mother’s womb; soon the seeds in the womb of the earth will begin to swell and creative forces will begin to come alive in the world.

Agenda for today: 
1. Creativity Altar
2. Journal queries
3. Seed blessing ceremony
4. Make a Brigid's Cross
5. Make Irish seed cake
6. Housework
7. Have a fire