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.
Saturday, 8th Chayt (Samvat 541 Nanakshahi) (Page: 707)
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