bag garden

Recently I came across this great short film on how to make a “Bag Garden“.

Aside from being a great project for kids, I’m posting video because the person giving the tutorial is a young girl from Uganda, and she is outstanding.  The perfect example of how children can teach us just as we can teach them.  

This film was created by a charity based group for african communities called Send a Cow.  For more of their films and their charity, visit www.sendacow.org.uk

julian’s fire

julian built a fire with dan’s hand crafted fire kit

click to view video

 

Wilderness Youth Project coordinated a volunteer training day in Santa Barbara, which included  

an incredible array and diversity of people living within a 50 mile radius

coming together in a circle of gratitude

going on a stroll climb  jump swing and  exploration

up down through and over the amazing rattle snake canyon

to  watch the sunset and moonrise

sharing in our experience

 

riding the land

this time we went for a ride … it was a blast!  check it out …

 

 

click to view video

 

 

 

for more on this and other adventures, go to www.wyp.org

young at heart

… another short video of our spirit raising outing with Wilderness Youth Project.

 

click on image to view video

in the circle with the birds of prey

 

click to view video

 

 

Here’s a short video with all of us birds of prey … sharing …  i think the clips say it all.

I want to thank WYP for another reminder about the things that make life great!

great write-up in the ‘Star’

The Ventura County Star featured a great article about the Grow Food Party Crew event, written by Rachel McGrath and posted a video by Giselle Velazquez.  It’s a great read.  Nice to see that people are spreading the word about positive action and community building.

 

Click to view article and video

If you want to transform your lawn to an Edible Eden, you can contact Devin Slavin through his website http://www.abundanceinbalance.com

harvesting and eating cat tails…

In the past year I’ve grown increasingly interested in the uses of wild edible plants and often refer to short episodes created by Sunny Savage on wild living.  As I recently had a little adventure with Cat Tails, I did a quick search and found that indeed, they are edible.  Although Sunny’s original website is no longer up, many other sites feature her episodes.  This episode in particular is one that demonstrates harvesting, preparing and eating Cat Tails.  Enjoy!

 

click to watch video

GROW FOOD PARTY

Thank you GROW FOOD PARTY CREW and VENTURA CITY CORPS for organizing the Gardens of Gratitude event and gathering people from Santa Cruz to Santa Paula to participate in this inspiring, fun, community building and food growing experience.

 

grow food party video

i’m especially inspired by devin’s speech on gratitude… that if you take a moment to be thankful about anything big or small, you’ll see that in time you’ll fill your life with gratitude. so the next time you see or meet someone, ask them what they are thankful for and you’ll see that gratitude can spread like wildlfire!

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE …

Santa Barbara Snow with WYP.org

      click to view video

 

I started volunteering yesterday with the Wilderness Youth Project …

“A community-building 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that inspires and guides youth, adults, and families toward finding, expressing, and manifesting their inherent gifts through mentoring and creative nature experiences.”  - WYP.org

WYP has amazing programs that are not only fruitful for kids, but also the adults and teenagers that participate.  For more information on their programs visit www.WYP.org

I’ll be posting more on WYP happenings, so tune in…

butterflies?

we had some questions about butterflies… where do they  start their journey? how long is their individual life? what came first, the caterpillar or the butterfly? where do they migrate?  what are they following?   

i’m not sure if we got all the answers, but we learned about the monarchs and soooooo much more on this outing with WYP … there were ancient damns washed from the highest hills, and hobbit homes camoflauged  in the wind blown hills and secret (light) tunnels eading to the Sacred edges of the universe and dahlia and sara captured it all in pictures.  

and here are some of the things they saw

 

 

you can discover your own fairy tale at the ellwood butterfly preserve

 

powers of 10

click to view video

Recently I was reminded of a film I watched 18 years ago… The Powers of 10.

Created by Charles and Ray Eames ( artists | architects ), the film explores our nature through scale and compares the universe in beyond our skies and within our beings.   

In short, we are all things… enjoy!

wasted food

 

click image to be redirected to the wasted food blog

Did you know that in america we waste 40% of our food?  be it eating out, buying more than we can chew, growing enough food to feed everyone but only harvesting enough to sell … you name it!  Well, Jonathan Bloom has made it his mission to shed light on this issue and find ways to waste less and share more with his blog and book WASTED FOOD.   

 

One thing that really caught my attention was a comment left by seventh grader in response to Jonathans section on Food Rescue programs.  

    “hola my name is kelley and im in the seventh grade. Our class is apart of project citizen, it is where you find a problem in you community and try to fix the problem. I am writing to you today to ask your help. We are trying to find alternative ideas for the use of food waste. Could you please tell me some ideas that are taking place to use up food wastage. Thank you for your time just email me back at the above email adress!”

What drew me to her response was the project she is involved in… Identifying issues within your community and finding solutions.  It’s an amazing thing to teach children.  To start thinking this way at such a young age, I can only imagine that this way of learning develops individuals that strive to help people and communities instead of creating problems.  It’s re-enforcing and harnessing RIGHT ACTION.

Jonathan’s site has a long list of links and food rescue programs, same that are here in California.  Check it out!

russel means (a true revolutionary)

there’s not anything I could add to this post.  listen to russel and see how there is HOPE & we can Change.

 

click to view video

to learn more about The T.R.E.A.T.Y. Total Immersion School click here

to listen & learn more from russell means please visit www.russellmeans.com

“All in this tea” by les blank & gina leibrecht

You’ll never drink tea in the same way.

"all in this tea" trailer

Last night I watched “All In This Tea”,  part of a film series that FOOD FOR THOUGHT (ojai) screens in the fall and spring.   Ten years in the making, the film follows David Lee Hoffman “…to some of the most remote regions of China in search of the finest handmade teas in the world.” 

“Hoffman tries to convince the Chinese that the farmers make better tea and that their craft should be honored and preserved. He drags the reluctant tea factory aficionados up a lush, terraced mountainside in their blue suits and bring them face to face with those “dirty” farmers. In an ironic twist, Hoffman reintroduces them to their own country and one of its oldest traditions.”

In true Les Blank fashion, this film is intriguing, informative and eye opening.  Les has a way of delving deep into the true nature of things by simply showing you the story.  For more information on his other films visit lesblank.com

“The Garden” documentary by Scott Hamilton Kennedy

Just watch the trailer and you’ll see why I say it’s a must see…

click to watch TRAILER

Spread the word about this film!

It’s an incredibly powerful documentary about a community’s rise against injustice and protecting our most primal and vital rights … for more information on Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s documentary visit   http://www.blackvalleyfilms.com