Backcountry Almanac
November 1, 2007
It is incredible how as soon as a people become subject, it promptly falls into such complete forgetfulness of its freedom that it can hardly be roused to the point of regaining it, obeying so easily and willingly that one is led to say that this people has not so much lost its liberty as won its enslavement.
Étienne de La Boétie
November Backcountry Almanac 2007
Topaz – fidelity Tree - Reed
Now we remember.
Now we reawaken,
Now we become who we really are.
For now is the time to do so.
1 All Hallow’s Day
2 El Dia de los Muertos make a soul cake
3 1957 death of Wilhelm Reich. US gov’t confiscated his writings and jailed him. He
died in federal penitentiary in PA. Why?
4 Will Rogers b. 1879 in Oklahoma// Walter Cronkite b. 1916
5 Ida M. Tarbell b.1857, investigative journalist
6 Selection Day // Feast of St. Atticus
7 Joni Mitchell b.1943 // Lewis & Clark reach the Pacific Coast in Oregon 1805
8 Taurids meteor showers (Nov 3-13)
9 New Moon in Scorpio @ 3:03 pm
10 Reason Day (International Day of Rational Thought) // Richard Burton b.1925// Ken Kesey d.2001
11 Armistice Day, Pray for healing// Feast of St. Martin of Tours, patron saint of conscientious objectors
12 Paracelsus b.1493, great Swiss alchemist// Elizabeth Cady Stanton b.1815// Neil Young b.1945
13 Karen Silkwood dies, 1974// Jack Elam b.1916// Robert Lewis Stevenson b.1850
15 1848, California Gold Rush began // Georgia O’Keeffe b.1887// 1969, 500,000 demonstrate in D.C. against the War in Vietnam
16 Night of Hecate, Greek goddess of the Underworld// Internat’l Day of Tolerance
18 Sojourner Truth b. 1797
20 Nuremberg Trials began
22 Thanksgiving
24 Full Moon in Gemini @ 6:30 am
25 Day of Oya
27 Jimi Hendrix b. 1942
28 William Blake b. 1757
29 Petra Kelly b.1947, German Green Party
30 Mark Twain b. 1835- anti-war, anti-imperialist, novelist// Abbie Hoffman b.1936
1895 The Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth (called the Equality Colony) founded near Blanchard, WA. By 1900, 500 people had planted crops and built cabins, apartment houses, barns and a sawmill at their new colony near the Skagit River.
November planting days
Above ground crops - 10,13,14,15,18,19,22,23
Root crops & perennials - 6,7,8,9,26,27
Planets visible in the morning sky: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn
Planets visible in the evening sky: Jupiter
Gratitude
Our late autumn, post-harvest sensibilities of gratitude and abundance certainly embrace the remembrance of ancestors. Those who came before and opened the way for us in this life deserve our thanks and ceremonies of respect. So too, friends who help and encourage us and “noble adversaries” who offer contrast that clarifies desires. Often times we don’t know what we really want until we experience the opposite thing. Acknowledging that what we know and think, what we have, and who we are, come from a foundation of other people’s lives and works enriches us further. Even if those foundations have since crumbled and transformed into a new thing, appreciation of ‘what was’ is expanding for the consciousness of now. Gestures of gratitude and words of thanks open the heart and lighten our spirits. They can work like an “on” switch, allowing joy and feelings of kinship with other Beings. Take a look at your life and trace back to how you came to be where you are now. Rejoice in the kaleidoscope of your meetings and experience, give thanks for who you have been and the person you now are. We are the creators of our own lives. What a marvel!
HANDS THAT HARVESTED YOUR FOOD
“Strawberries are too delicate to be picked by machine. The perfectly ripe
ones bruise even at too heavy a human touch. Every strawberry you have
ever eaten has been picked by callused human hands. Every piece of toast
with jelly represents someone’s knees, someone’s aching backs and hips,
someone with a bandanna on her wrist to wipe away the sweat.”
—Alison Luterman, quoted in *After the Ecstasy, the Laundry,* by Jack
Kornfield
Gardening will slow a bit this month if we allow ourselves time for rest and reflection on the season just completed. Insect pests disappear in cold weather while water needs of plants lessen.
This is a good month to transplant trees and perennials, sow wildflower, poppy, and delphinium seeds, and start a new compost pile. Putting a winter cover crop on unused garden space protects the soil from erosion and frosts while adding nutrients. A crop of weeds, however, is preferable to bare soil. Tend to your garlic crop by keeping it free of weeds and watered regularly. Start onions, broccoli, and cabbage from seed in flats, place them indoors or in a cold frame with plenty of light and protect them from insects and mice.
Greens of all kinds: turnips, chard, spinach, hardy lettuces, oriental greens, beets & carrots can be grown here all winter. It will be slower going with the colder weather and short days, but one can have a garden all year. Floating row cover can be helpful for protecting young plants on cold nights.
This holiday season try incorporating local wild and native foods into the menu. Mesquite flour is a tasty addition to bread products, prickly pear syrup or juice is vibrantly colorful and sweet as are the various native corns. Vary the menu with high fiber and protein packed beans in a multitude of earthy shades from maroon to yellow to brown. If you have yet to try javelina burgers, this year could be the time to do it.
Long life, honey in the heart, no evil, 13 thank yous.
Imagination is the only key to the future. Without it none exists - with it all things are possible.
-Ida M. Tarbell, American journalist
Copyright 2007 Meg Keoppen
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