March 22, 2009 A few weeks have passed since my last entry. I have been focusing on my website both morning and evenings, putting up new experiences as well as excerpts from childhood diaries.
Yesterday it was time to take a break. I had received an email forwarded by our local Garden Club indirectly from a member of the New Mexico Sustainable Agriculture Science Center with this announcement:
Seed exchange in Espanola at Northern NM College this Saturday:
Really Great Seed blessing and Exchange this Saturday. We went last year and it was one of my favorite days ever in Espanola, plus we got lots of seeds.
There is lunch, dancers from the pueblos, speakers on a variety of topics, plus great commmunity spirit.
Bring seeds if you have them, $10 donation if you can, 10:00--late afternoon at the gym of Northern New Mexico College in Espanola.
Joan Logghe
The event caught our Garden Club by surprise. One member emailed everyone saying,
“I can't believe none of us heard of this or if someone had that no one has said anything about it yet. I think this is something that would interest us all and, in fairness to ourselves, we should all make an effort to attend at least some portion of this. FREE LOCAL SEEDS!!! Woo Hoo!
Good things have come from being on the Santa Fe Ultimate Frisbee email list, apart from the logistics of when and where to play frisbee in SF.
-Hari
I downloaded the attached flyer to post at my daycare, it is beautiful and brimming with life. The central focus of the flyer is a native handwoven basket cradling a colorful, rich mixture of seeds. The flyer’s wording was equally enticing:
Owingeh Ta Pueblos y Semillas
Celebrating Communities and Seeds
The 4th Annual Land, Water and Cultural Gathering and Seed Exchange Saturday, March 21, 2009 10am - Late Afternoon/Early Evening Lunch served around 1pm Northern New Mexico College Eagle Gymnasium in Espanola
Dances, Ceremony, Seeds, Food, Music, Friends, Family
For more information, go to www.lasacequias.org
Everyone is welcome. Donations will be accepted at the door but are not required to participate.
Sponsored
by New Mexico Food and Seed Sovereignty Alliance, Northern New Mexico
College, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, Tewa Women United, New Mexico
Acequia Association, Traditional Native American Farmers Association,
Taos County Economic Development Corporation, Sangre de Cristo Growers
Cooperative and the NMSU Sustainable Agriculture Research Station at
Alcalde.
It would be
awesome, mainstream New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. I went with no
further prompting, other than the daycare’s straw, litter and
feather-mulched garden waiting to be tilled and seeded! From 10:15 am
to 3:40pm—for over five hours, I merged with folks from surrounding
small and large communities from across the state “Celebrating
Communities and Seeds.”
We
celebrated eachother, the four directions of our origins, Mother Earth
and Father Sky, meditated, made new friends, shared insights and
resonated as one to the powerful drumbeat of native dances blessing
seeds of the earth and our body husks, containing seeds of divine
awareness.
As
I sat or stood in the sacred circle with others viewing the ceremonies,
none of us were observers—we were all participants in a very holy
undertaking. Sensing the significance of the moment, my heart went
deeper to understand, breathing “We are you, you are Us,” inhaling
Spirit into all of us, exhaling all of us into Spirit, as drummed foot
beats vibrated the floor, vibrated the heavens.
Luis
Garcia, the spokesman for the Aztec dancers, stepped to the microphone
between dances to exclaim, “We are blessing the seeds, as we blessed
seeds for Aztec crops in Mexico, where an encroaching invasion of GMOs
has been found. We bless the seeds to protect them, to preserve them as
they were meant to be, by the Creator over time. The giver of life
gifted these seeds to the people for sustenance on our Mother Earth.
Therefore, in honoring the seeds, we show our appreciation to the Giver
of Life for the abundance we have today.
Other
speakers spoke out for the need to preserve native customs that
encourage care of Mother Earth with a soft touch, thanking Mother Earth
as we till, seed and harvest, and to share ancient native, (non GMO!)
seeds with each other as communities did centuries ago—to know the joy
of seeing five beans multiply through one planting to 7000 beans and to
enjoy friendships deepened with gratitude through the sharing.
I
left the celebration filled with heartfelt resourceful ideas for
protecting and nurturing my crops and a purse stuffed with seeds,
rooting garlic bulbs and potatoes, enough to fully plant a lush daycare
garden and share with the children’s families.
Today’s Hukam:
SHALOK from Raag Jaitsree, Fifth Guru, Vaar With Shaloks:
One
who loves the Lord’s lotus feet searches for Him in the ten directions.
He renounces the deceptive illusion of Maya, and joins the blissful
form of the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy.
The Lord is
in my mind, and with my mouth I chant His Name; I seek Him in all the
lands of the world. O Nanak, all ostentatious displays are false;
hearing the Praises of the True Lord, I live.
PAUREE: He dwells
in a broken-down shack, in tattered clothes, with no social status, no
honor and no respect; he wanders in the wilderness, with no friend or
lover, without wealth, beauty, relatives or relations. Even so, he is
the king of the whole world, if his mind is imbued with the Lord’s
Name. With the dust of his feet, men are redeemed, because God is very
pleased with him.
