Free trade versus food democracy – The Hill’s Congress Blog

Free trade versus food democracy – The Hill’s Congress Blog.

There has been a quiet revolution going around the world, as communities and nations retake control of their food systems. In the U.S., more people are taking a look at processed foods at the supermarket and opting instead for healthier choices, grown locally with fewer pesticides. People in Cambodia have taken a hard look at what’s happening to their climate, soil and seeds, and figured out a new, low-cost way to produce rice, increasing production

I’d rather be living my life

If we are not working on a creative project, life is that much safer (and that much deader). No messy paints, not messy pages of notes, no messy confusion. This is the choice that would-be artists make (and seasoned artists some of the time), to avoid the chaos of working and gain perfect safety by tabling their ideas, at the mere cost of an unlived life.

from Fearless Creating

The Night Life of Trees – Handmade Book

What a wonderful book, so pretty too! You find all sorts of wonderful things at the public library, now dontcha?  There’s a video here about it:  http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/09/20/the-night-life-of-trees-tara-books/

nightlife of trees

I love this passage from it:

The Marriage of Desire and Intoxication

According to legend, the Ganja plant and teh Mahua tree are husband and wife. They were human beings once, lovers who could not marry because they came from different castes. Refusing to be separated, they went deep into the jungle and took their own lives. They were re-born as plants on the spot where they died. Seeing the beauty of their love, Shankar Bhagwan, the creator, named them Ganja and Mahua, cannabis and alcohol.

This is a great book. And I love how it shows the snake as part of the trees and earth, just as the Germanic tales have Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

yggdrasil