The Turning Point~ Which Way is it Tipping you?

 

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

~ Richard Buckminster Fuller ~

Upon my bookshelves are many books written by Gregg Braden, I have always found his  wisdom and logic have resonated deep within my own inner beliefs.. He manages to explain and speak from his heart in words we all understand. Explaining many Scientifically based facts. His Books never disappoint..  He states in his latest book ..

““There’s a time when every crisis can become transformation; when simply surviving can become joyous thriving. In our lives that time is The Turning Point. In our world that time is now!”

The Turning Point is Gregg Braden’s Latest Book. I urge you to listen to his words in the Video below .  Are you waiting for the the world to right itself ?  Is your world falling apart?  How can you fix it?   And are you changing the way we now Live in our world.? Or are you burying your head in the sand?  What are you doing to Change your world  for the better?.. 

What footprints are you leaving?

We came here to be the Change..

We are the Change

And we have to start and see how we can help bring Positive Changes into our world..  Be that from consuming Less, re-cycling and  conserving energy to growing your own food and being more self-sufficient. To embracing each other in kindness and giving of one’s self instead of always taking. 

If you have Five minutes then listen to this short Video, And ask yourself Have you reached the Turning Point of Change?

And if you have How do you see yourself creating the changes we all need to embrace in the world for it to Change for the Better?

Blessings

and thank you for reading

~Sue~

 

Hanging by a Thread

Life hangs on a thread in the web we weave

Open up your eyes do not be deceived

Our World, our Rock, our Ocean of Life

Is in dire need, facing great strife

~~

Look around you, can you not see?

The pollution, the extinctions, it’s not just me

Who cries for the Forests, the Oceans, and Birds

And laments for the wild beasts long lost herds

~~

Look Up! Be aware, please wake up

Stop burying your heads in your coffee cups

It’s time to STOP! Take stock and account

For our actions of choice is paramount

~~

We worried about ‘The End’ in 2012

We have witnessed nothing yet as we destroy ourselves

Fukushima a time-bomb ticking

The calendar for the future, is our conscience pricking?

~~

What mess are we leaving our Children to come?

Who would have thought Man could be so dumb

His desire of Greed will be the end of the line

As his species too will shrivel and decline.

~~

What goes around comes around, So True

Do you think this Cycle does not apply to you?

Well listen well and think on this

As the Oceans Boil and the Mountains Hiss

~~

Because all is a cycle and all do connect

What we do unto others the World too reflects

So clean up your act, conserve and retrain

The way that you live, honour your domain

~~

Pick up your litter, recycle your waste

Honour our Mother-Gaia awaits

Show her respect; get rid of your sprays

Lengthen your lives by altering your ways

~~

The scales now tip as we hang by a thread

Please heed my words of what I’ve just said

The time is right NOW! You can no longer ignore

That Nature’s Power will devour Man’s flaws

~~

He thinks he’s so mighty, he travels in Space

Yet he destroys his own planet and the Human Race

Nature is patient, and Nature will renew

The poison man brought that killed him off too

~~

And the Cycle begins for another Billion years

As the Earth starts anew forgetting Mans tears

Is this what you want, Is this what you seek?

Then be responsible for your actions

OR THE FUTURE IS BLEAK!

By Sue

© Sue Dreamwalker – 2013 All rights reserved.

While I try to remain positive, sometimes you have to shout out at the world to wake up to what we are doing to ourselves,

Fukushima has been on my mind recently and with good reason. as the Government in the U.K. gave permission for the go ahead of building of a Massive Nuclear Plant in Hinkley Point. Protests are underway!and they have my support. 

My poem speaks my Heart.

Wake Up People and help wake up your neighbours to what we are doing to our Planet of Choice!

Thank you for reading, and I leave you with these Two Videos. The longer one has more disturbing information. 

Beyond Tragic and Beyond Urgent !

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.”

Hobbit Round House Due to be demolished~Friday Facts

Sometimes you just have to speak out against Rules.. And While I so understand the need to have planning permission, Can any of you reading this see the need to demolish this perfectly blending home built of natural materials on privately owned land. In Pembrokeshire Wales UK,  Hand built by the couple living in it? 

Have you taken a look around your towns and cities in the UK or your area and seen the monstrosities that are built, do they blend in with the countryside, do they take into account an eco friendly environment? Just take a look inside this fabulous place built with natural woods

I  know I seem to be posting a few petitions recently and received this one from Change.org . I only got around to reading today having sat in my overcrowded email box for 8 days. So I am appealing to you to click the links and ask if you would sign this petition…  We are being squeezed left right and Centre and this piece of architecture should be given a prize for its innovation not be condemned to be pulled down, this would benefit no one .

The petition has gone world wide, so I am asking you to spread it a little further by signing and passing it on..  Many thanks in anticipation of your support for this couple. 

Below is the wording on the petition email and the links to press to join the petition ..  Love and Blessings and Thank you Sue

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Locals call it the Hobbit House, for Charlie, Meg and one-year old Eli, it is their family home.

Charlie and Meg built their home entirely by hand using all natural materials on Charlie’s parents’ private land in North Pembrokeshire. The unique, environmentally friendly house has become well known in the local area.

However Charlie and Meg built their home without planning permission and now the Council have told the couple that they must return the land to its previous condition. This means destroying the house that they took a year to build.

The couple have applied for retrospective planning permission and Meg has started a petition on Change.org to try and save her home.

“We have built a home on private land in the area that we both grew up in. It is built out of low impact, natural and recycled materials. In building the house we have not caused any negative effects on the surrounding area or its population, we have simply created shelter as is our human right. We understand that the planning system is there for a reason, however we feel that big steps need to be taken in order to make low impact living more achievable and accessible to the population. Our application contains a One Planet Development management plan which sets out our plans for living lightly on the land. This management plan follows One Planet Development Practical Guidance Technical Advice Note 6 dated October 2012 guidelines set out by the Welsh Assembly and therefore our home is in accordance with these targets.”

Over 75,000 people are supporting Meg’s petition. What do you think? To help the family defend their home sign Meg’s petition.

Thank you,
Katherine and the UK Change.org team”

Update… Here is the link to the One Planet Development Practical Guide Technical Advice Note 6 guidlines which this couple complied with 

 http://wales.gov.uk/topics/planning/policy/tans/tan6/?lang=en

 

photo credits below

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/hobbit-house-global-support-grows-5692848

Connecting to Earth~Grow your Own

Honour the sacred.

Honour the Earth, our Mother.

Honour the Elders.

Honour all with whom we share the Earth:-

Four-legged, two-legged, winged ones,

Swimmers, crawlers, plant and rock people.

Walk in balance and beauty.

~ Native American Elder ~

Just where have the last few days flown too? These last few days seem to have been hectic with my day job, harvesting, and granny sitting which I just love.  Above you can see how my little granddaughter not yet 3 loves to interact with nature… I am trying to teach her not to be afraid of the creepy crawlies and she had this little fellow crawling up over her arms for over 20 mins as she helped us in the allotments…The caterpillar got safely put back in the grass as she gently lifted him, and now knows that caterpillars poo too as she discovered . 

I seem to have discovered my love of cooking all over again too, and even Hubby who is usually the head cook, has opened his eyes wide at my new found urge to bake more often.. Maybe its the changes in energies as my creative mood seems to have had another boost… So  I will share a couple of recipes with you later in the post.

Ok so remember those Lovely butterflies we have had over Summer?

Peacock Butterfly in our Garden

well we also have had our share of the caterpillars and while some in the allotments have sprayed chemicals to get rid of them, we do not use anything like that so its been a case of share and share alike!.

Devoured by Caterpillars

Remember this when I showed you the lattice leaves on the Brussels sprouts ?

Caterpillar Heaven. Herbert the scare-crow, couldn’t scare the caterpillar’s 🙂 The sprouts are just visible below

Well my hubby set two and stripped off the leaves which were covered in our little friends and then I went and did the same along the cabbage row.

The potatoes are now all dug up, we had  around 10 rows, and some are still drying out in the shed awaiting to be sorted, but we should have around 8 large sacks full.. These sacks hold up to 25kl and have only been filled half way or we would not be able to lift them ..

Potatoes Drying

5 sacks of potatoes, onions and Apples in store

Yesterday we gathered the last of the sweetcorn in, and that is now all safely frozen. we cleared weeds and hoed where the onions were and potatoes were harvested from

Below you can see the sweetcorn patch along with the Leeks and spring onions we set between them. 

Harvest clearance … Sweet corn Patch and leeks in background- Beets in foreground 

 

We are lucky in the fact that we have some wonderful Blackberry brambles around the back of our Allotment shed and have had an abundance of Berries we have picked this year.. In fact upon my travels I have seen many brambles in hedgerows, but would not fancy picking them from the roadside with all of those exhaust fumes which are deposited upon them.

So I made a wonderful Blackberry and Apple Chutney, the recipe you can find HERE. as I added it to my recipe pages you can find on the top bar under Home Cooked Recipes

Then as we have had an abundance of Beetroot my daughter has been adding them to her smoothies and I tried out the Potato and Beetroot gratin which I had never tried before, and we loved it, and I will be making it again..  You can find this recipe HERE upon my Recipe Page.

On the home front in the green house the tomatoes are coming along now nicely as they are ripening, so that green chutney may not be needed. 

Green house Tomatoes

Ripening Tomatoes

I may be quiet again for a time as another busy couple of days coming up again.. I hope you give those recipes a try I was amazed how easy they were to make and they both add that little extra something special to a meal.

Until next time take care and be good to each other..Oh and I am still wading thought the back log of all of your posts 

~Sue~

A Big Thank You to you ALL.

 This is just a short post to say a Big thank you to all of my readers and to those who visit regular and comment upon my posts. You Bring with you such light and encouragement, and I often at a loss to say how much your kind support means.

I logged onto my Blog today and discover that my readership has swelled to 400 followers and so I just want to say a Big thank you for all of my oldest friends who have been with me since my beginnings of Windows Live Spaces days when I started in 2007, My first real post after transferring was called Finding Answers  here on WordPress.  And I remember well spending the best part of a Day getting to know and personalise my header  and  Blog back then as everything was alien that day was in Oct 2010.  A move I am so pleased to have made, as I just love the W.P. Community of friends we have gathered here and whom I have got to know and love. 

And I just want to say a big thank you to all of my newest arrivals who have clicked the follow button.. I hope to get around to discovering your blogs as soon as time allows.And to say thank you to my email subscribers also.. And Welcome, I hope you enjoy my thoughts and if not please don’t be shy to air your opinions for that’s how we grow and learn by sharing knowledge and understanding.

Today I just want to post what I have been up to in recent days besides  the ‘Day-job’ in picture format.. So if you click the photos, you should be able to read more in the caption headings..

Take care all of you and I have a busy week a head in my Day Job, so I will catch you when I can…

Love and Blessings

~Sue~

Half finished, in Pastel

Busy in the allotments still, these are the Leeks and Spring onions,

Devoured by Caterpillars

Caterpillar Heaven.

All finished with buttons now sewn in place.

hat and scarf set to match the cardigan.

Safely Gathering In

“Don’t judge each day by the Harvest you Reap, but by the Seeds you Plant”

~Robert Louis Stevenson~

Above you can see what is behind our Garden shed, as the onions and shallots were hanging out to dry. The barrels collect the rainwater from the roof, nothing is wasted. A roof which needs more tarpaulin to see it through the winter, another job still waiting to be done, but that’s one for Hubby. 

Our days always fly by with speed as we are always finding something or other to keep us busy.. This week we brought the Onions back from the allotments to finish off drying and to clean up,

This was the job I elected to do with the shallots as they were fiddly, you allow them to dry off for a few weeks as you see them above and then you clean them up by peeling a few thin layers of skins back until you get to the cleaner layers ensuring there are no bad ones, keeping the long stalks in tact. These damaged ones are put to one side to be used up sooner or if too bad discarded to the compost heap.

Shallots outer skins removed, polished and now drying

I then us a clean duster and dry and shine them off and again these are left to air dry to allow the skins to harden and turn to that onion colour again.

Then after a few more days its time to hang them… I expect every gardener has their own ways of hanging onions, But this was how I saw both my Grandparents and Parents preserve their onions…

Onions that are cleaned off and drying before hanging for final storage

I got a long length of strong string and doubled it up into four with the loops at the bottom and tying a knot at the top, suspended from a hook.. You then work from the bottom to the top twisting the onions dried stalks in-between the string until it looks like this , Leaving the long ends for later.

Shallots hung on string for storage

Once you have done the whole string with your onions you then can trim back the dried stalks. Above you can see the ones I have hung on strings that will continue to dry off for storage 

Behind the shed  also is a huge rambling Blackberry Bush so we have been gathering in these wonderful Berries also and Freezing them after cleaning them. Also made some Apple and Blackberry crumble for desert on Sunday.

These Blackberries were picked from behind our Allotment Shed,

I have made more broccoli soup, and baking Fruit Scones too. Recipe can be found here as I followed a Mary Berry recipe, they are Light and delicious.

Fruit Scones with added cherries

The Tomatoes in the Green house are still ripening and I hope they do soon or else there will be a lot of Green Tomato Chutney made 

Green House Tomatoes, still waiting for them to ripen

I still have one other project still waiting to do and that is to paint a mandala, You can see Here on Heartsong Blog I chose one from Shree’s selection that she has created and generously offered to share which can be found Here  Shree, if your reading, its now half way done painting in watercolour paints. I set up my easel outside in the sun and low and behold a Butterfly landed on the corner of my painting as if giving me its blessing and stayed there for at least 3 minutes until I moved, as I am sure I held my breath as I examined the Peacock Butterfly in detail. Such a Delight   .

Mandala half completed. Click to find out more

Please click onto the pictures to enlarge and to see more details And I will leave you with some more Wonderful Butterflies which visited us over the past few days too.. Our Buddleia Bush is still in flower and seems to be attracting many as they stop off for a drink… And here are some of our flowers in bloom I thought I would share.. I hope you enjoyed what I have been up to.

 Love and Light ~Sue 

Peacock butterfly in our allotments

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Tortoiseshell underside sat on my dragonfly solar light

A small white and Peacock sharing

 

Seeds of Truth~ I am sowing

Our Sweetcorn is almost ready for harvesting in another couple of weeks , as the cobs are filling out nicely,.. Here is me a little windswept among the corn. You can see how high it now is.   Hello everyone!

I felt like I was dancing in the wind as the corn swayed back and forth reminding me of the Native American Indian’s Corn Dance Native ceremonies help people to remember their responsibilities to nature around them and to the Universe. 

In Australia the Aboriginal people speak of ‘Dreaming’ and again these stories are passed down word of mouth through generations. When Western science meets the stories of the indigenous peoples of both cultures, the Western approach fails to understand that native stories are stories of origin, which are a creative interpretation of the experiences of peoples within places, which are interwoven with metaphoric meaning.

We tend to not understand, because many refuse to open their minds as to any other possibilities than their own meanings of man’s origin. It is time we opened our Minds again to the Truth of what is happening in our world.

To the Native everything is considered to be “alive”, and imbued with ‘Spirit Energy’ even the pebble has its own form and energy. And everything is interrelated to everything around us.  They understand the relationship of Time and Space between living and none living things. Understanding not only the physical, but the psychological and Spiritual , which involves ‘Dreams’,‘Visions’ and that ‘Knowing’. And they Know that life is a circle of learning. And to help remember and create harmony, between Earth, Sky, and its peoples, many ceremonies and  blessings of gratitude took place and one of these is the Corn Dance .. 

 

The Corn Dance rituals were performed at particular times of the year during various growing cycles, bringing their community together to celebrate and remember the sacredness of Corn and all plant life upon which they depended.. In which we all depend upon today..  The indigenous not only expressed the relationship between plant and animal world, but they built great canals.. The Hohokam people built these canals in the Tuscan Valley, long before the arrival of Europeans. The Hohokam systems were able to supply the irrigation needs of over fourteen thousand acres of cropland.   They understood agriculture and how to maintain key plants such as corn. The ceremony associated with Corn showed the community how important it was for all to work together in order for survival. Native People loved their gardens and grew Corn, Tobacco Aramanth and Quinoa and were spiritually symbolic of  Native myths and cosmologies.

The Following Story is of the Tuscarora Corn Spirit.

In a time long ago, in a village that was well known for its plentiful corn harvest, became negligent of respecting the Corn Spirit. The people had become so used to the bountiful harvests they took them for granted. And they let the weeds grow  in their gardens, and didn’t store their seeds correctly, nor did they give thanks for their harvest to the Corn Spirit.

They soon found that the mice ate the Corn they had carelessly stored. So the men began to hunt, but found they could find no game, and so soon the people began to starve.

There was only one man who kept the covenant of respect to the Corn Spirit, his name was Dayohagwenda , and his garden produced rich harvests of corn.  One day when Dayohagwenda was picking herbs, he came upon an old man dressed in rags and weeping. He asked the old man what was wrong. The old man said.” Your people have forgotten me, I am the Corn Spirit and I will soon die”

Dayohagwenda returned to his village and told them that the Corn Spirit would soon die if they didn’t return to their ways of honouring him, through careful planting, weeding and harvesting and storing their corn. So they immediately began to do this and their corn once again thrived in abundance, as they gave thanks to the Corn Spirit for blessing their food..

  Morden Native peoples and farmers are today under threat by huge corporations that are genetically altering seeds  This move is to gain control over the Worlds Food supplies.. You can see one such Farmers Fight here….. And Here  and how another 75 year old farmer lost his fight in the high court… HERE   Below is an interesting Fact on some of todays Sweetcorn on the cob..This Genetically Modified Corn modified by Monsanto which has the substance Bt-Toxin, This toxin is a pesticide designed to break down the stomach of insects eating the crops.  Now this  Dangerous Toxin has been found in the blood of Pregnant Women  Listen to this Two minute Video which is informing us of its sale as Corn on the cob in Walmart which is Asada here in the UK.. 

To see what Bt-Toxin has done in India to the Cotton Crops which this Toxin is in, then I urge you to look at this Video Below just over 3 minutes long which will make you THINK  what effects Monsanto is having around the world.. Here in India the farmers and pickers of the crops are suffering flu like symptoms and are experiencing sores and itching and their animals are dying from eating the crops after harvest.. And where farmers who have bought the seeds and failed crops and lost their herds the Suicide rate among farmers is extremely high as they can not pay back their debts.

  If we do not start and open our eyes now to the Seeds of Truth there will be no more seeds to sow left worth sowing… Please look at what you are Eating, and look at your processed Corn products. In fact please Look into the facts for yourselves .. Thank you for reading Sue ~Dreamwalker  

Friday Facts~ My Hobbies

I have taken a few days  annual leave off from work this last week to enjoy some more ME time, and apart from catching up with some much needed chores I have also had the pleasure of sitting in the sun and relaxing with one of my hobbies.. ~Knitting.~ Below is one nearly completed except for the sewing on of 4 buttons I finished this morning.

So for my Friday Fact I thought I would look up how knitting began, I am sure you can find out more facts for yourselves and to be honest I didn’t know that much of its origin’s either until I started to click on the Net.

So when did knitting proper begin, Well I found out it dates back to the Middle ages and the Middle East, dating to the 11th century in Egypt where the yarn used for knitting would have been cotton or silk, not wool that we mainly knit with today ..

It later crossed over into Europe where between the 14th and 16th centuries its popularity spread, but still wool was not being used.. Most items were knitted using imported cotton and silks .. Fine gauges were very expensive, so knitting was done for the wealthy as stockings, shirts and jackets were made.. In Sweden it is said that King Eric owned 27 pairs of knitted stockings made from silk imported from Spain in 1566 each cost the same as his valets annual salary…Image that in todays monetary value!.

All the needles then were still often made of materials such as Ivory or Walrus tusk and were still at the time double pointed.. It wasn’t until the middle of the 16th Century that the Purl stitch was invented, apparently until then only garter stitch was used. Stocking stitch was created by knitting on the round then cutting the garment open to make it flat.

Ordinary working class people began to learn how to knit for themselves using Wool, and Cottage industries sprang up. In the Renaissance period in Europe men knitted as well as women, in fact only men were allowed to join the knitting craft guilds..

Shepherds would knit while tending their flocks, and Sailors would knit on their long voyages.. But it was in Britain’s Fishing villages where women knitted the now famous ‘Ganseys’ or Guernsey’s for their husbands using patterns handed down from generation to generation.

 

 

 

 

In the 19th century knitting ‘Pins’ the long bobble ended type we know of today for flat knitting were first invented, and the old English needles sizes from 1 to 26 were introduced. The higher the number the thinner the needle..

The other day  I was knitting as my granddaughter came to visit, She picked up some yarn and I allowed her to use my crocheting hook, (( Under my supervision)) as she wanted to knit too..She only wrapped the wool around and around, but it kept her quite for half and hour. Give her a few more years as she is only yet just a little over 2 and a half she will soon be picking up the skill as I did from my Grandmother ..

Many more are finding themselves drawn to knitting and its becoming again more popular to learn how to knit.. And who knows when we may need these basic skills again in the future?

If you are new to my site you may like to see more of my knitted items Here on my Hobbies Page links..

And may I take this opportunity for all those who have clicked the follow button recently.. Welcome,Lovely to have you here..  

Below are simple steps on how to start knitting..

Casting On stitches

Knitting Stitches

Purling Stitches

For more Instructions on how to knit and cast off and various stitches Go Here

To find some Free Knitting Patterns, then Go Here

I hope you enjoyed some of these facts about Knitting, And Do you Knit? and have you ever tried? and if you have what have been your favourite knits or failures?

I once spent a whole winter knitting a long sleeve jumper for my hubby when we first got married,He never wore it Lol as the sleeves were too long and the length too short… It took a day to unravel it, It then made my daughter and my Son two school jumpers as it was in Navy.. They did fit! We live and learn that not all patterns fit our hubbies, since those days I have learnt to use my tape measure more often!!!

Thank you for sharing one of my hobbies with me today I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I hope to now get around to returning your kind comments upon my last post

~Sue Dreamwalker~

Please Click the links below and also the pictures will take you to the original sources.

Sources:

http://www.allaboutyou.com/craft/knitting/knitting-how-it-all-began-52451

http://www.allaboutyou.com/knitting-patterns/

http://www.allaboutyou.com/knitting-patterns/knitting-techniques/how-to-knit-step-by-step-47925

http://www.flamboroughmanor.co.uk/fm/guernseys.htm

http://reshistorica.historyboard.net/t357-the-history-of-knitting