Sunday Story...A Walk on the Wild Side

Sunday Story…A walk on the wild side
A good friend and teacher of mine, Tom Callos, inspired today’s story with a recent post on Self Defense. Spending time in nature is self defense. It touches us spiritually, physically and mentally. Being balanced and aware is just good self defense as well as keeping us in touch with our own humanity.

When I was growing up we pretty much got kicked out of the house and spent most of the day outside playing and inventing and just doing stuff. We learned how to play with each other, sometimes nicely and other times not so nicely. We learned about ourselves, we learned about others and we learned about the world around us. We had to draw conclusions and draw up plans.

We learned which tomatoes made the biggest mess when they hit the target and which ones hurt the most. Dirt clod wars happened, forts got built, trees climbed, and, most of the time, no one got hurt (too badly). We came home when called and left after the chores got done.

Almost everyone grew something in their backyards. Gardens and small farm animals kept us in touch with the “cycle of life.” Things grew, got eaten, had to be fed and watered, cared for and then died. They did not come back after death. There was no re-set button. Maybe next year we would re-plant or get some more lambs (most of which died before the end of the week) so we could repeat the process. It was the way life worked.

Actually it is the way life still works. We are just further away from the process. As many of you know, I am in the 2nd year of a community garden project. This project is a two pronged project for me.
On one hand we grow and produce produce for the community. Some of it goes to the families here at the studio and other people we know. But most of the produce gets donated to the community food pantry. Last year we produced approximately 500 pounds of food. This year we are little behind and have produced a little over 100 pounds---mainly because the squash is a little slow and no cucumbers!
The other hand is the really exciting part. In my work with children of all ages and types I have noticed that they really are disconnected to nature. What Richard Louv calls “Nature-Deficit Disorder”. So in the spring my after school martial arts kids come to the garden to clean up and ready the beds for planting. We have a bon fire sometimes for the excess old material and turn the ash into the soil. We move the humus out of the compost bin and into the beds, set up the water system and plant when the time is right. All summer long the summer camp martial artists weed, water, plant more and harvest. And yes eat off the vines for tomatoes, peas and beans. Many of these children did not know you could pick and eat things. Most Friday afternoons we harvest and prepare a meal using the bounty we just reaped. In the fall the harvest will continue along with the gradual death of the garden and the after school martial artists will be there for that as well.

This activity puts everyone into the cycle of life. The seasonality and the rhythm of life goes on and on and on. Last week the children found a frog in the garden. Lady bugs and praying mantises reside as well along with spiders and lots of creepy crawlies. The bee hive is continually droning with activity. No longer do we feel the need to smash every bug and swat at bees and wasps. These creatures work in our ecosystem in this mini-world. We understand how the process of composting puts nutrition back into the soil just like good food puts nutrition back into our bodies.

When I saw this video (thanks Tom):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ3J0szCGqk&feature=player_embedded

I was amazed at how little time people are spending outdoors. Part of spending time in the garden or the park or the forest is realizing with wonder the world around us. And a large part of that realization is our connection to the divine source that resides within us all. The further we get from nature the farther we travel from our original face.

When we get so far away from nature we become afraid; afraid of wet and cold, dry and hot, afraid of creatures we don’t understand, afraid of trying something outside our comfort zone, afraid of stepping out of our little box and into the unknown. Remember the stories of the ancient sea-farers afraid of falling off the edge of the earth? Now we are afraid of stepping into the garden with all the terrors that await us. Our food is sanitized and homogenized and pasteurized and sterilized. It has lost all connection with the source that created it. The dirt is depleted and in some cases we are radiating the food to make is last longer and to remove any connection it may have to the earth. Folks this is just plain wrong. This is the ultimate kick in the teeth to the divine. This over reliance on technology and science to produce more, faster, and “safer” disconnects us from the world around us, from the life and death struggle that is happening each and every moment in the world, in your life and even in your body.

There is nothing quite like picking a red ripe tomato off the vine. One that you planted yourself nurtured and saw to fruition. Plucking it and biting into the tensile skin, your teeth breaking into the hidden summer sun within. And the slightly acidic bite hitting your tongue, the sweetness that follows as a bit of red juice runs down your chin. This is divinity and you are part of the process of bringing divinity down into the everyday world to be experienced on a most visceral level.

Why would anyone want to deny you of that experience? Why would we want to eliminate that amazing knowledge from our children’s understanding? Are we that afraid? And what are we afraid of? A bee sting? A spider bite? Warts from a frog? Really? All of these things have been going on for a very long time. And I hope they will continue for a very long time in the future. We cannot and should not allow corporate food and corporate TV and corporate production to take over our lives. The corporation is not nature.

Rocks move. Leaves sing. Bees drone. Plants grow, produce and die. We get to participate in the process if we choose. It isn’t scary, it isn’t strange or weird. It is wondrous and amazing and, if we let it, it will nourish our bodies and souls. Today my summer camp martial artists are at the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge learning even more about eco-systems and playing in the dirt and the mud and chasing lizards and fingerlings and just experiencing the natural wonder of the world. How about you?

And speaking of fresh tomatoes:
Harvest some fresh tomatoes and cut in to chunks
Harvest some fresh basil and chop.
Put both into a bowl, sprinkle a small amount of good olive oil and toss.
Then sprinkle with a bit more balsamic vinegar.
Salt and pepper (if you must) to taste.
Divine…

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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