The "birdcage". 3/4" PVC pipe and fittings, green laminated chicken wire, weed cloth, pea stone, 1/2" hardware cloth and automotive zip ties. All joints drilled and zipped together for easy reuse. Overall size 5' x 5' square, 7.5' high, interior soil to ceiling 6' +-, self supporting. Currently sprouting 2 types cucumber, 2 types squash and Swiss chard. Soil prep Canadian peat, dolomite, perlite and organic fertilizers, approximately 20" deep. Soil prep typical of all containers.

Protection from squirrels, peacocks and Cuban Iguana. Fashioned from 3/4" pvc pipe and fittings, 1/2" hardware cloth and automotive zip ties. No glue used, only pressure and wire. Pipes and fittings can be recycled. Overall length 15', inside height from soil to ceiling 35". encloses 12 crates currently sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts and peppers.

Caged Milk Crates lined with weed cloth and 1/2" hardware cloth.

Found Milk Crates, ( see enclosures above )

In Honor of Lunatics & Petty Thieves Everywhere

Geese

When I realized I wanted to grow an edible garden I was excited and dismayed. Thinking I would need a plot of land for a garden I wasn’t sure what to do. I looked around the neighborhood for empty lots, and everything seemed like way too much work.

Then I remembered a saying my partner often uses; "Coucher Avec Le Oiles" otherwise translated as Sleeping with the Geese. His grandmother used this to describe making do with what you got. Since I didn’t have land for a garden I decided to create a garden above, attached and within the space I have, and in keeping with Geese, decided to build everything out of thrown away junk. I started scavenging and everything here was build with junk I found, and bamboo I cut out of the way to make room for planting...

This is my first edible garden – in, on, and throughout our urban property. Later tonight I’m going back out to scavenge more milk crates to screw to the southern fence.

Thanks go out to a special niece for inspiration!

"Coucher Avec Le Oiles" Thanks Val! This make more sense than most anything I've learned so far!

"My first scavenged material planter

Potato Box with Caged Tomato Boxes

HighRise Planter with Big Silver Trash Can to hold it steady

Tomato Boxes

Cucumber & Squash Box

Scrap & Junk Box

View of a Gecko

At Night

Mellon Bucket

View of a Sparrow

Another view of my favorite junk box

Broken Pot for Sweet Peppers!

Mulch & Compost and maybe Sweet Potatoes in brick stack

For Bush & Pole Beans

Old Wood & Staples

Our Outdoor Shower

Knots

Our Back Yard

Sugar721

Quote

"To use modern terminology, the world we live in is "virtual reality", created by the technology of consciousness. In the course of this century, quantum-relativistic physics has seriously undermined the belief in the tangible and unambiguous nature of our material reality.

It has thrown a new light on the ancient Buddhist idea that form is emptiness and emptiness is form. In the subatomic analysis, matter in the usual sense of the word, disappears and what remains is pattern, relation, mathematical order -- elements which we would certainly associate with consciousness rather than matter."

Stanislav Grof M.D.

Discrimination

The Nature of Turning Your Back on Discrimination

“MARRIAGE IS SO GAY” A response.

Forgive me if I lack a sense of humor when it comes to marriage and being gay.

Many of our close friends and acquaintances having lost life partners have also lost homes, investments and possessions. In a form of De Facto discrimination same sex partners are forced to expect and even tolerate inequality, legal discrimination, and humiliation.

For same sex couples, legal protection is costly, complex and treacherous. Understanding and acquiring legal protection requires time, education, honest, often hard to come by legal advice, and disposable income. Contrary to popular myths regarding affluence, education and privilege in gay culture, similarities to heterosexual culture is more similar than not. Gay and Straight alike cover the entire socio-economic spectrum with near identical, scalable percentages of success, privilege, affluence and education, as well as inner-cultural, racial and gender discrimination. Yet same-sex oriented people have to endure additional hardships of legal discrimination, hate crimes and bad humor. AND, have to pay for it with extraordinary vigilance and money!

An extreme, easily debunk-able myth is that gay individuals / couples live superficially uncommitted lives, treating each other with caviler indifference. However, many maintain lifelong commitments to single partners, and families, adopted or otherwise. Many are in relationships far longer than hetero couples. Their concerns for security, safety, health, family stability and well-being are just like hetero counterparts. Yet, at any minute everything can be lost simply because they are gay. Current law supports this and unless highly tailored legal documents are in place gay couples and surviving individuals can loose everything. Imagine your mother or father being homeless at the age of 80, simply because of a difference that as slight as to barely make a difference, and perhaps you’ll understand the gravity of the gay situation.

Every form of gay bashing, supposedly innocent or otherwise, within or from outside the gay community should be seen as reprehensible and intolerable. No, Marriage is not "So Gay", as if to suggest in contemporary terms that marriage is a silly concept - marriage is fundamental to human happiness. The facts are simple: laws governing marriage are discriminatory, unjust and serve only those who insist gay people are inferior human beings.

If we support, or ignore current marriage law, we’re directly or indirectly supporting discrimination. In this regard, just as those who stood by while so many people of different race and creed suffered over history, we, too are guilty of inhumanity to humanity. It is not our place to judge [any] other human beings but to insist, for the sake of all human beings, that each and every person is treated with respect and fairness. Only in doing this will we protect our families, communities and society from the peril of discrimination, that can, and will eventually strike everyone sooner or later. In this regard the fair treatment of same sex oriented human beings provides, and matter-of-factly-is, a clear example of our relationship to humanity itself, and an indictment of our hidden sins against ourselves.

Faith

Michael

Michael and the Looking-Glass, 0r how we see ourselves if we look closely.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of Michael Jackson’s death is not so much how he died but how through him we lived and how through his death we loose something of ourselves, something illusive, something that except in our imagination never existed. Through his death we’re faced with illusions that can’t be denied. No matter how we coddle our so-called sorrow, in condolences for “him”, it is, as it always is, for us we mourn, but why and for what?

Michael Jackson was modern miracle, a super star of mega-media proportions and market exploitation. His talent unquestionable; a unique voice, mercurial musicality, unbounded creative aptitude, charismatically childlike - for our sake, a distracting savior. We made sure he would rise, and inevitably, at a time of searing, global emotional uncertainty die that we might feel something, even if it was grief and loss. Ours is a pathetic age, self indulgent, cowardly chock-a-block filled and disposable saviors hovering against dreary, self-determining, barely lit horizons lacking any true sense of self or the human soul. Michael Jackson as Christ - rises and falls, replaced and forgotten. Ours is a shallow salvation.

It cannot be over-looked that Michael Jackson was as much an abusive, egotistical, drug addled, self involved, indulgent pedophile as much as he was a thriller. In the wake of his life he leaves unsatisfied debt in excess of 400 millions dollars, for others to pay, a legacy of abuse, broken relationships and abandoned children. His physical appearance was of greater importance than the welfare of the playmate-children he adopted. Michael Jackson was as much a culprit in his demise as source of his success. Yet we see only his fame, and poverty, and through it the infamy of our own short sighted adoration. We idolize in Michael Jackson what we would despise in someone whose talent is not broad enough to overwhelm our attention to detail.

How is it in a world where over 100,000 Iraqi people have been slaughtered, leaving an entire culture in insurmountable devastation, where millions Somali children are routinely hacked into pieces, where Sudanese gorillas freely kidnap, train and turn loose children with guns to kill their parents, where Rwandan militia over a period of mere months slaughter between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people? Let us not forget AIDS, Starvation, Poverty, lack of water, homelessness, greed - tragedies over which we should cry until we can no longer walk, think and even breath. Our shame should be so great for letting these tragedies come and go, as if nothing more than the latest instalment in a favorite video game, that our shame by sheer magnitude would forever alter the world mind. But it is not so. Michael Jackson is more important. His poor, disheveled, miserably sad, surgically lonely life…



Mourn Michael’s death if you must. I will as well – he was, after all, a human being, just like you and I, faced with difficult choices and impossible expectations. Like you and I, he failed some of the time, and succeeded at others. He brought joy and happiness, sorrow and insult. He was talented, like most of us, and it’s just as likely we would have done the same as he, had it been us on stage. It is facing unavoidable, undeniable weakness that we lament, whether we know it or not. It repulses us. Through his death we glimpse our own inevitable death - through his illusions, our own illusions, this unsustainable fidelity, weakens as we age.

Like Ivan Ilych, if we calm down enough to listen, some will ask what was so important about life. What mattered? Perhaps we’ll never know, or even catch a glimpse of how we lived, what we valued, who we hurt or helped, opportunities lost over and over, or whether anything we did mattered to anyone at all, even ourselves. Did Michael? Will you?

Everyone strives to make sense out of life, out of who we are and what we’re doing here. Through work, hobbies, politics, religion, education, sex, relationships, money, prestige, popularity and fame we learn, study, earn, save, invest, calculate, defend, define, exclude… And then, with shock and surprise, we catch ourselves on the edge of a grave of a person we never knew, weeping, while we neglect the people closest to us, who need us most.

We think there’s plenty of time for everything, and looking elsewhere the only time that matters, in front of us, slips away. In an instant people are gone, we’re too old to start a new job, find a new lover, loose weight, buy a new car…

No matter how we try convincing ourselves otherwise, there are no absolute answers to life’s great questions. Our Gods, like popular idols, fall from grace, eventually die and vanish. There are no absolute saviours, no final technological, quantum fix-it-all. If this were not so our constant search would have ended long ago, but has not, nor has it ever, for anyone.

Life is so tentative that without idols, heroes, gods and demons most of us would fly to pieces – unable to face our own phenomenology, our own absolute, almost freakishly impossible greatness. Perhaps the price of self awareness is so great we, as a species have not evolved enough to support its weight?

We look elsewhere. Anywhere. When the objects of our affection dies, we mourn and bury ourselves – a self rarely encountered except through the illusive greatness of others. This is the nature and meaning of gods and addictions – something upon which we hang the stuff of ourselves all to unbelievably wonderful to accept and too heavy to carry…

Into Michael Jackson grave we throw pieces of ourselves, and wait at the mouth of death’s cave for the next great looking-glass to come along through which we willingly pass, and party, and celebrate and dance our lives away.

The meaning of life is never found in love for the world, but love for the self, and through this love, the world and all those who pass through. If not this, there is no meaning in anything we do, for we ourselves are bits and pieces of everyone else, and only bits and pieces. In everyone great and small, wicked and saintly we see ourselves, who and what we are. With their death we mourn the loss of self, and all the inherent hope so close to the heart of life. Unless we really see who we are we will always rely on others to give us meaning, and giving, and taking we will never know the meaning of being at all. There will always be another god or hero, enemy or disappointment on which to cling or lay blame...unless we stop and listen...

You can figure it out if you want, or like true believes, turn back to familiar banquets, chatter of right and wrong, and drink full of everything known and safe. And then, one by one, stand alone, at the same open gate. Better to look now, even if the view is distant and covered in clouds.

Ducati

Jim,
Let me know if you want an unmarked copy. My complments.

TED

A Treat for you: Click "TED"

Happiness

The greatest joy of our own happiness
Is in how it makes other people feel.

Take your happiness, and knowledge of the great
Love we have for you,
and let it radiate in everything you do.



Your Joy adds to the joy of
others.

This is the greatest gift you’ll ever give the
world!

Do you understand the importance of your own Happiness?

Integration

In meditation we’re taught to observe our thoughts come, and without clinging or fascination, go. Without struggle or resistance, we’re encouraged to observe yet remain detached. In this way our experience is invariably relaxed and peaceful, absent the activity of our everyday mind. There is Samsara, and Nirvana, one with, the other without the clamor and clang of mind clutter and noise.

What would the outcome be if we applied the practice of detached observation to our career, profession, relationships, or art? What would result if we permitted our interests, our responsibilities, even our meditation to evolve while viewing ourselves as other than the practice, the art, the profession? What if we engaged with our work, or any activity, while remaining cognizant that what we’re doing is not who we are, but rather something that manifests in our day-to-day life, like our thoughts?

Although most human-beings believe success, failure, mediocrity, excellence, boredom, frustration, issues of justice, race, gender, education, right and wrong, anger, etc define who and what we are, we are mistaken. These strange, fluctuating, belief-based qualities of feeling and thought, when denied sustained attention simply vanish. No longer being reference points of personal value and meaning they are replaced by something new, another thought, another possibility. Our thoughts are essentially, meaningless, and all too often the ground upon which we based our lives and who we think we are.

Becoming aware of the distinctions between what we do and think from what we are gently supports the environment needed for personal discovery and insight. Our activities, possessions and desires no longer burdened with providing personal value become truly meaningful in-so-far as they become opportunities through which to gain insight and experience of our true selves.

For most of us it is easy to understand the importance of removing cloudy thoughts of who we think we are or should become. Even the desire for enlightenment, for a long time, perhaps for a lifetime can be such a thought. Our difficulty is not understanding this, but in finding a way of allowing this understanding to become practical and actual, replacing conceptual thinking, belief and intention.

In the end even our noblest beliefs, as well as what we do will not matter if we’re unable to see them for what they truly are. At best, these serve as road-signs along a way, pointing to an ultimate destination. They are not the destination we instinctively seek, and know is real. This destination can only be reached by letting go of certainty and falling through the gap-filled, make-believe floor of belief we create to uphold delusions of truth in the form of so-called knowledge.

We are and will always be more than what we do, think, desire, have, achieve and certainly much more than our failures and disappointments. If we spend every minute of every day of our lives learning about ourselves we will never fully mine the depth of what we are. In this regard the only questions worth answering might be “Who am I”, and, “What does being alive mean?” These may be the only questions to which answers are deeply satisfying, providing life-affirming, loving reasons for all we do, and have ever hoped to accomplish.

Life plays tricks on us all. One day everything is going well, your job is safe, money is good, your friends and family are peaceful, the washer and dryer whirl along without a hitch. You’re confident, life is good, you know what you’re doing, and you feel generous, compassionate and understanding. You sleep well at night. One morning, things begin to change. You loose a job, worry about your rent, your partner grows cold, the car develops problems, the lawn mower is stolen, a new neighbor move in next door that won’t clean up after their dog. You begin to loose sleep, your sense of generosity, compassion and understanding shift. Life pours in, and there you are, in the swirl, scrambling to figure out what happened, and what to do next.

Everything changes. Life slips past. It is as if we’re on a moving train, sitting near a window – landscapes changing from field to mountain to sea side, city side, play ground, war ground, old age, death, a new field, more, and then, again, more. Now and then the train slows, appearing to stand still, just long enough for a glimpse of the world that we mistake for OUR life. The train moves on, the landscape changes, everything morphs, and the train keeps moving. We look back.

Throughout life we scramble, day to day, looking for secrets of success, laws of attraction, quantum resolutions to manifesting reality, mystical encounters, believing, thinking, if we learn enough, know enough, apply enough intellectual pressure (on ourselves and everyone on the way) , memorize a few more “secrets”, chant reliable soul-satisfying slogans, loose a little weight, and learn to Belly-dance, or some such thing, that everything will be fine, that we can bend the world into a form matching our specifications. Everything becomes a Popular-Madhouse-Rave, the new Lounge, the New Age, the house rocks, swaying side to side with wave after wave of what-to-try-next!

With any luck it slowly becomes clear; there are too many secrets to uncover and Belly-dancing for most of us, well, just isn’t flattering. We can’t keep up with all this stuff, it’s just too much! Many of us grow weary, cynical, tired, and claiming the smallest corner of life, hunker down for the long run, sort of angry, sort of trying to be hopeful, sort of giving up, but knowing we should not.

Then, sooner than we’d like, we face the moment, when the curtain is drawn on life. The lights dim. We stand, alone. After all the changing and uncertainties, this is certain. If we’re lucky, we won’t be frightened; it’ll be peaceful and easy. If we’re really lucky, it’ll be a moment of great enlightenment.

Our life’s final experience won’t have anything to do with where we lived, our profession, bank account, hobbies, how we suffered, who we loved, what we did or did not accomplish. Concepts of right and wrong will vanish. All arguments will end. There will be nothing to defend or prove. We’ll have in hand the one thing that mattered the whole time, the one thing upon which everything rested, the one from which everything sprang, the relationship we had with our self. The train will stop, we will disembark, self in hand, our only offering.
Although none of us know when, or what will happen when we arrive at the end, I have a sense that we’ll stand there with every recollection, a clear view of when, and where life sought to meet us, to hold and help us, to love and support us. I believe Life is compassionate, loving, knows no grudge, cynicism or judgment. We will find ourselves at our destination, no need for ideas, a change of clothing, extra shoes or traveler’s checks.

On close analysis it might become clear each of us faces the same challenge; of learning to live with an open, loving heart, of being forgiving, especially to ourselves. Life isn’t about achievement, and it isn’t about failure. It isn’t about possessions or about poverty; one is not more noble or worthy than the other. Life isn’t about right and wrong, but about being open to every change, every new vista, being alive wherever you find yourself, and entering as completely as possible into the partnership that comes with being born. It is a partnership, not a competition. We are fully supported, and loved.

I remember the first time my father told me he always looked for the path of least resistance. I was about 8 or 9. At the time I thought it was an insane thought that wouldn’t get him very far in life. Although it doesn’t matter what he accomplished, the path he referred to does. Perhaps he didn’t realize that nearly fifty years later I’d remember, and understand he was talking about a path you’re best suited for. It wasn’t about the easy way, but the natural way. Now I think he was right all along, even if he didn’t know exactly what he meant. Know yourself. Find your path.

Everything changes. Life plays tricks on us. If we consider, from time to time, that life has a mind of it’s own, that the tricks are designed to get our attention, to help us along the way, we may be able to enter more deeply into the relationship life has to offer. We may still loose our jobs, and the car will break down. However, it won’t matter as much, in fact it may not matter all, and we might find ourselves being much, much happier.

Our only task is to calm down and listen, trusting if we do, we will not be left alone. In this way we may accomplish the greatest thing possible; self awareness, the opening gate to enlightenment and understanding.