Back from Kripalu - Garlic Season

Courtesy of thegardenerseden.com

The first part of Foundations of Ayurveda was INCREDIBLE.

I have so much to say, and it will slowly come out is a series of millions of blog posts. In fact, I think it's really going to shape the direction of this blog.  Awarenivore meet Ayurveda.

Courtesy of itztours.com

While I was away, Autumn came to Old Pump Road.
Actually, I was able to usher it in while at the Kripalu Center, with a swim in the lake during the full moon. Our red maple is already naked, and it's about time for raking. I've dug up all of our potatoes, and we're starting to work on the delicata! It's a good thing the garden was a bit bigger, Jamie and I are tighter than ever this Fall, and eating from the garden is not only a nicety, it's become sort of a necessity for now...here's to voluntarily becoming unemployed.



Side note ~ As I write this, on the local ABC news there is a feature on the commonality of backyard chickens in cities around the country.  Yahoo! This is the kind of news we need.  It might be informative to know which priest may or may not have slept with young boys, or which violent offender is running loose in the next state, but at least intersperse those redundant horrors with more NPR like stories. I'm ok with 'boring' sometimes. ~

On that note, one of the strongest themes of the weeks and Ayurveda itself is redefining what it means to take in, to ingest our world.  Of course we mean good foods - organic, healthy and nourishing - but also what we see and hear - it's just as important.  We know our bodies to be resilient, and we push them to the limit working long hours, and stuffing our guts with whatever we can to keep going. In fact, we have a lot of guilt (myself included in all of this!) when we don't feel as if we're working as hard as we should/could be.  We need to work well to be human, and to survive in the world that we've set up for ourselves, so I'm not against work (completely ;) ), but shouldn't we also have time to keep ourselves healthy and live in a way we really believe in? I am sure the ideal is different for everyone, ans I'm interested to hear about yours...

Dr. John Doulliard proposed a question to us: "Which do you think is the most important? How, when or what we eat?"

The answer he gave us was a resounding HOW.  Give thanks (even a moment of silence.) Chew many times and slowly (80% of carbohydrates are broken down by saliva only, and if you don't chew long enough, you won't get the nutrients.)  Eat a reasonable amount, at regular intervals everyday (Only 3 meals a day - snacking makes our blood sugar fluctuate, giving us cravings for sugar or coffee or needing naps in the afternoon.)  Eat in silence, or at least sitting down in a quiet atmosphere (or in good company :).)  Even tonight I broke the rules, eating in front of the television, though I did have my back turned to it as I sat at the table. Does that count, John!?!?  Help me.  At least I made the pizza dough myself.

"Eat standing up and death watches over your shoulder." Another of Dr. Doulliard's mantras that will stick with me forever.  I felt for the few New Yorkers in the group, since that city was used as the poster child for everything that is wrong with our modern culture.  There is nothing 'wrong' with cities, they show our passion and ambition as a human race.  I just truly believe we're smarter than we seem...and we're not using our full potential. 

Ugh, I am letting cliche take over. Apologies. I am getting sucked into the gubernatorial debate on television. It's probably wrong to blog while watching television, too ;) Doing two things at once is never conducive to your best work.

I desire to plant garlic this year! I think all that I need to do is get some cloves in before te ground freezes, about mid-October.  Our neighbors did an absolutely amazing job with their garden - they already gave us some tomatoes and potatoes, and yesterday handed off two pumpkins and spaghetti squash to us as we walked by. They promised more potatoes. I'll welcome all they've got!  I'm already brainstorming the herbs I want to plant come Spring - and speaking of herbs, I think our front steps are a wild herbal garden of their own. I hope by the next time they gorw, I'll know how to utilized them!

Wish me luck...I'll write more about this  later, but when I was at Kripalu I realized that I was right int he middle of where I was supposed to be - in school....and I hope to continue and be able to do the full, year long program. Hire me?