Nana i ke kumu ... look to the source

Last night, at dusk, the rain dangled like diamonds, soaked the dragon

left puddles for the first time in two moons (two months)

Watering the potted Rose of Sharon, the blossoms burst 

Ripples in puddles, reflect what is above

This morning there are clouds and blue sky

This morning on the Prairie Front (South Whidbey Tilth) spider webs catch rain drops

I ask Pete to show me the two trees who have joined hands. I tell him "They know something." 

From the Prairie Front I intended to go straight home; the long ferry 'dump' (cars streaming off the ferry) changed my mind. I headed for the Maxwelton Watershed. Checking on the growth of St. Joan's Wort at this time, I was curious of her availability. Was she still growing since my harvesting shortly after Summer Solstice?
"YES, she said. I am still here."

Many of the flowers had turned from yellow to red, but a few still grow yellow. I was tempted to harvest today. Huna ... the flowers hide. Maybe not today. And, yes, not today because I have no scissors to cut her. 'I won't pull your hair to satisfy my need!" I tell her I'll be back if that's alright with her; with a scissors closer to Hoku the Full Moon which is Friday coming. 

The lei la'i is dried now, but beautiful in our car. Reminding me to braid TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) with the Mundane (the everyday today which is like a wild bean crazy with going places)

My straw hat wears a special flat leaf of Sacred Cedar, a tiny bit from a very special Cedar growing not far from our vardo. She reminds me to remember all the things, people, places that are important.

In the field behind the fence where I have spotted St. Joan's Wort cows munch. What you can't see are the soaring Swallows gliding and diving. Maybe I am too close for their comfort. I don't stay long.

Just before I leave I look up and see the source ... Nana i ke kumu ... is there a promise of water, precious giver of life.

"We give thanks to all of the waters of the world for quenching our thirst, for providing strength and nurturing life for all beings. We know its power in many forms--waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans, snow and ice. We are grateful that the waters are still here and meeting their responsibility to the rest of Creation. Can we agree that water is important to our lives and bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to the Water? Now our minds are one."
- The Words Before All Else The Thanksgiving Address of the Onandaga language

Ku and Lono bring Kane

A Kukahi Moon up high

Lono down low ... blowing

blowing,

blowing

blowing at the same time

The winds have brought a little moisture, waking on this Ku Pau  a sprinkle of 'ua -- Ka Wai Ola, Kane. 

"We give thanks to all the Waters of the world. We are grateful that the waters are still here and doing their duty of sustaining life on Mother Earth. Water is life, quenching our thirst and providing us with strength, making the plants grow and sustaining us all. Let us gather our minds together and with one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Waters.' - Thanksgiving Address from the Haudenosaunee

Muku nei in the sign of Cancer the crab

These pictures from up mauka (in the high lands, where we live)

The sky was muted blue with 'real clouds' But the air is still filled with the ash of fires, old La'au the Tutu trees of Vancouver Island are burning. The climate is changed

Brackens are already turning

Blackberries are ripening

Peaches are growing

The tall grasses have browned, dried in place

Purple plums are beautiful, ripening though not ripe enough to pick and eat ... 

Robins don't wait to eat them.

My Two Sisters tiny garden (squash and beans) with volunteer mizuna and bok choy 

The champagne grapes are clustering nicely.

And then ma kai (to the water) and wetlands on the west side of Whidbey, West Beach facing the Straits of Juan de Fuca less than an hour drive from our place in Langley.

The wetlands across the road from our friends' beach home are already plump and beginning to 'fuzz'

It is nearly noon when I took this. A stretch of pohaku (stones) front our friends' home with a small gully of ocean water between a sandy low lying dune. Across the water and to the left is Vancouver Island where the Tutu burn

Braiding on a Mauli Moon

Tonight as the sun starts his journey over the horizon Pete and I sat and braided lei la'i for two friends who will marry later in the week. They are old friends to one another; a good place to start a marriage. The strength, give-and-take and add-on's necessary to braid lei with two people ... a nice metaphor for a marriage.

The finished lei are in the frig, will be packed in a cooler, and chilled some more (even better if frozen) until it's time for the little ceremony. Teri is an old friend who has known my 'ohana back in Kuli'ou'ou. What a treat to share the goodness of la'i from an island we both love, on an island we live on now. Mahalo Ke Akua ... you're the best!

Aloha piha Teri and Martin!

Kane Po

We were blessed with Kane's presence yesterday, reminding us to pay attention and remember respectfully. All the giving of our Gods come especially when you remember to remember. It's that malama 'aina (caring for the land, and the beings-other-than human) who give and give, and ask us to remember to ask, "What I can bring and give to you?"

The wind, makani, came and the breeze was cool and lovely.

The sky cleared so blue (the ancient color of love) could be seen for the first time in many weeks.

The clouds returned, creating sky pictures and textures to the heavens about.

The air cleaned.

We gave thanks, breathed deeply, and relaxed with all the gifts.

What can we give to you? We asked. We had the first Safety Pin Cafe Storytelling Sunday to present. It was a time to check in on the progress of the new Lunar Year, The Year of the Green Goat. Was a half-way through.

After such a busy week, our set-up activities were slower, more laid-back. So laid back we forgot to bring the camera. A'ole pictures for now. Everyone at Sunday's Farmers' Market was laid back as well. No one came to sit with us for the first thirty minutes. We waited, Pete and I stretched out and enjoying the cruise time. I was ready for a nap!

But. Then one, and then another, and then a mother and her daughter came to be with us. Then two mothers and their three children joined us at the picnic tables. We welcomed them, we chanted E HO MAI, what do we need to hear today, what stories need to be told? Kane had blessed us with all we needed. We reciprocated and let the words fly in his honor.

Mahalo Kane. 

Good fishing, good planting on a Kaloa Po

We planted good seeds of connection, braided la'i between four hands, fished in the waters among the coral reef to practice He puko'a kani 'aina, and began anew the building of island as HO'OMOKU was birthed. See! (click to witness the kani, and the connections).

'Ole Pau

Mahina is in her 'half-half' light. Early morning with the first birdsong, I am awake with the energy of preparation and anticipation. On the 'Ole Pau, the hesitation, the waiting draws to an end. "Soon," says the Moon, "Soon." 

La'au pau ... good time to harvest healing (plant) medicine

Not long before the birdsong marked first light the sky was dark enough to see the waning shape of Grandmother Moon, Mahina in her La'au Pau dress. No longer full, she was nonetheless big enough to see clearly through the upright lengths of Trees. Later in the morning, today, Sunday, is Farmers' Market Day at South Whidbey TILTH. We left the woods early to help set-up the tables, canopies and sound system for today's entertainment, Sommer Harris. Pacing my outings as the pollen season was quickly followed by high temperatures and lean breezes, it was nice to see that makani (wind) was present ... pleasant.

I was open to conversations and connections with people at TILTH today. I needed to ask one of the vendors a favor. We had amiable conversation about repositioning her herbal(scented) soap stall when we pitch our storytelling tent a week from today. There were personal invitations I wanted to extend to other TILTH members, reminding them of the HO'OMOKU Open House and Potluck. "We'd love to include you in the chant welcoming the Ancestors." "I'll bring the chips," our friend J.C. May said. I was counting of that. He always brings the chips.

Another friend and African foods vendor and farmer, Dorcas Young is a very busy woman. She has another Farmers' Market to set up on the day of the Open House. But. She knows we will have ceremony for blessing the land, and the Ancestors and will try to make it for part of the HO'OMOKU Opening.

Marc Wilson is also a vendor at TILTH, and has a special connection with Hawaii as well. His parents lived in the Islands (Hawaii), and many of those years were spent in the valley of my childhood, Kuli'ou'ou on the island of O'ahu. We talked about the upcoming HO'OMOKU Opening, and the stories were good for both of us. "As much as anything, the teachings and practices will include the fullness and the limits that are real for me (us)," I said. Marc nodded and said he'd have to keep that in mind.

Before the official opening hour of sales for today's market, I sat at the tables that will be the same tables we use for our HO'OMOKU gatherings. Another of the TILTH vendors was sitting with a scone, enjoying a sit-down before sales. "Frank, " I said easily, "Can you tell me a little about how to plant garlic here (on Whidbey) for the first time?" One of the goals Pete and I have for HO'OMOKU is to collaborate with the Whidbey Veterans Service Corps (WVSC), a project of the Whidbey Island Veterans Resource Center (VRC). The Veterans have a pea patch garden on the TILTH campus, and our hope is to prepare a section of their pea patch for garlic come November 1st. 

A bounty of hand-written notes from Frank, with timely injections from the kitchen as Ed chimed in with additions, questions and visual hand-directions made that conversation a wonderful example of harvesting healing plant medicine information. There is time for harvesting wisdom from those who do the practice ... Frank does grow great garlic! He was not shy to point out that I could buy his book and get all this information. I said, "I thought I'd come to the horse instead." Ed added, "... to the horse's mouth, hah." Exactly!

My notes tell me key things:

Planting
Aim for Nov 1st to plant
Plant garlic you know grows well here
Garlic need rich, well-fertilized loose soil
plant 2 inches deep
8 inches apart (garlic has a deep root system)
don't take the bulbs you're planting apart before planting
Water a lot during the greening; not so much as it bulbs(usually through June)
Fertilize again in mid-February w/ a balanced organic side-dressing (this is when Ed stepped from the kitchen and showed me what a 1-2 inch deep side-dressing trench looks like); don't go too deep you'll disturb the roots 

Harvesting
better to harvest early than late; garlic continues to grow when you harvest and hang them
'read' the plant for harvest readiness

* Frank gave me the names of a few garlic varieties that grow well on Whidbey. I told him I'd be back to talk with him (and probably buy the bulbs from him,too). 

Before we left the market more conversations including one with the day's entertainment, Sommer Harris and her parents rounding out a full morning of harvesting healing medicine stories. Back in the woods to pour out the distillation of a Sunday Farmers' Market morning, I am grateful and filled with enough. More than enough. Thank you. Now our minds are one.*

* From the Onondaga language, The Thanksgiving Address or the Words That Come Before All Else. Thanks to the writing of Robin Well Kimmerer, and her book Braiding Sweetgrass.

Mahealani from the beach

Mahealani rising shortly before 9 PM

Seahawks/Osprey hunted dinner

Kayakers had a perfect quiet evening ride

Seahawk in a dive

Sunset before Venus-Jupiter appeared together 

There's a Burn-ban on here. Everything is dry. The water temperature at 9 at night, luscious. Up to mid-calf, I really shoulda jumped in!

Our friend Jude reported that a local farm harvested over 100 POUNDS of zucchini yesterday. Crops are early. The blackberries will be ready to pick soon (usually August). Watering needs high. The question of how and what to cultivate came up. Foraging wild edibles seems timely.