— thanks to the fire, which will keep first the seeds, then the seedlings, equipped with a heat mat underneath, all night long if needed.
Photos by Gabrielle. Solan and Josh, directors of the project, with podmates Gabrielle, Justin, Andreas, and Dan.
Lots of varieties of tomato seed. Also planted a few peppers and eggplant.
Andreas concentrates on coaxing down each itsy bitsy tomato seed . . .
Egglplant
A VERY hot pepper.
Dan takes time off to wrestle with Hank (otherwise known as “Satan,” or “Demon Dog”).
BTW: Justin wants to grow avocados . . .
(What? In this climate, this zone?) So he filled five planters and planted the pits. Hmmm. I just looked it up, avos thrive in cold-intolerant zone 8, and I think we’re zone 4 now here in south central Indiana. Oh well! We learn by doing.
The seeds all into the soil blocks, Josh sprays to water them, so as not to disturb them from their tiny holes on top of the soil of the soil blocks. Notice the heat mat underneath.
We needed a break during the holidays; many of us were hibernating and some of us were traveling, and, after all, it was deep winter, when the Sun reaches its nadir in the northern hemisphere and everything is supposed to come to a stop — except that it’s Christmas in the western world, and the opposite occurs . . . So, somehow navigating that contradiction, we return, with gusto! The first weekly dinner of 2019 was held at Overhill, on January 10, the second at DeKist 2, our newest dwelling, on January 17th, and the second one at DeKist 1 (otherwise known as Maple House), on January 24th. Here goes, photos, of the second and third dinners:
Dinner at DeKist 2, January 17, 2019
Left to right, Mariella about to head out the door, Alex, Dan, Wanda
Dear friends Mariella and Eva
Visible: Wanda, Devin, Rebecca, Solan
Mariella’s kids Asiri and Juakim, with Roberto and Mariella
Visible: Solan, Sophia, with Sola
Wanda, her sister Sophie, and Devin
Alex, Dan, Wanda, Justin in kitchen, Sophie, Devin, Solan
One very sudden and surprising note: On the Sunday after our Dinner, beautiful, gentle, gracious Sola, the large white “Doodle” shown above, after only twice accompanying his owner Roberto, suddenly died. A difficult death, with vomiting and I’m not sure what else. In any case, they did a post-morten, and the diagnosis was sudden onset (I presume) Addison’s Disease. So sad, and we are glad that we did get one photo of the full Sola presence:
Sola, communing with Sophia, Wanda Rebecca and Dan in background, Annie front right.
Note also above: the fake fire coming from the screen. As somebody mentioned: it’s surprising how it warms us, anyhow!
Dinner at DeKist 1, January 24, 2019
The three houses of the Green Acres Permaculture Village offer three different ambiances. That at DeKist 1 tends to be warm and cozy, since it’s public space is the smallest.
Hugh, in yellow jacket, arrived bearing news: He has ordered 600 young trees, to arrive in Bloomington not sure when, but we’d better get ready for our Green Acres Neighbors to know about this gift! Annie notes it on her phone. Gabby in back, Dan to right with puppy Shadow, and Jim, a friend of Alex, with us for the first time.
Rebecca, with Dan and Wanda. Note all the wine! Much more than usual.
Dan with Sophie, Wanda’s sister. Sophie is due to return to Canada for part of the year soon. We’ll miss her!
Max, Rebecca’s Maine coon cat, decided to lie down in the very middle of the traffic pattern between kitchen and living room. We all know, and furthermore, all the dogs know: Max rules!
Alex, with Shadow and Dan
I couldn’t resist taking pics of some of Mia’s astonishing tattoos, truly an art form on her. She tells us that the Indianapolis woman who does them adheres exactly to Mia’s specifications, with each one taking only one to two hours!
Here’s what Mia (Hugh’s partner) actually looks like, here with Devin and Wanda.
Quite an evening. As usual.
Next Thursday? Probably here, at the Overhill House — or should we call it Tulip Tree, or Cedar — both of which grow out front. Our problem with renaming the DeKist 2 house, there are no real trees in that front yard. The renaming idea is Solan’s — a good one, except for times when strangers don’t know what we mean and so translation needed. Oh well! We keep experimenting, keep learning, keep growing, through thick and thin.
Lee Barnes, (Ph.D. Environmental Horticulture, 1985, UF) has been a professional Water Well Dowser for twenty years locating over 450 well sites in Western North Carolina from Murphy to Boone and east to Raleigh/Middlesex area. He has a better than a 90% success rate with his best drillers, averaging 85-95% rates with a variety of different drilling companies. Lee specializes in Land Stewardship Consulting to aid landowners with more environmentally sensitive land protection and development all over WNC.
Lee has been interested in developing psychic abilities (“sensing the unseen”) since being a teenager and was introduced to the term “dowsing” 25 years ago at the Southeastern Permaculture Gathering. He has taken Basic, Intermediate, and Water Well dowsing at 4 National American Society of Dowsers (ASD) Annual Conferences in Vermont, as well as, at the 2005 British Society of Dowsers Congress in Manchester, England.
He is widely read in dowsing and Intuition techniques and has studied nearly 4000 pages on regional and crystalline bedrock hydrogeology combining experience on a diverse variety of properties with common sense, scientific knowledge, and focused intuition to locate successful water wells even near dry wells. He has been teaching workshops in Applied Intuition for nearly 20 years.
Lee has been active with the Appalachian Chapter of the American Society of Dowsers (“Appalachian Dowsers”) for over 20 years serving as President, Vice-President, long term Member-at-Large, and as Tutor of the Introduction to Dowsing classes. He is currently serving as Chapter President.
He is a Life Member in good standing with both the British and American Society of Dowsers, and is a long-term supporter of the Canadian Society of Questers. He has taught dowsing classes over the last 20 years to approximately 1000 people, including intuitive children for many years at the Profound Awareness Institute. He was honored with the 2012 Educator of the Year recognition from the ASD. He coordinated the Dowsing Schools at the Southeastern Dowsing Convention in 2015.
