Friday, September 25, 2009
Location: Morro Bay, CA

Back in Morro Bay and about to head off to Avila to do another interview this afternoon but wanted to drop a few lines before I head out.

After my time with Occidental Arts and Ecology it was time to head back down to Petaluma to meet with Trathen Heckman of Daily Acts and Green Sangha. Although I've been talking to Trathen online for weeks, I first met him face to face last week in Cotati, CA where he, the city of Cotati and a bunch of volunteers were taking a suburban park space and converting it into a food forest and medicinal landscape. Grass-covered parks require a tremendous amount of water to sustain, so Trathen and crew have started a project that takes these water hogs and converts them to food low water using food forests.

When I arrived the crew had already sheet-mulched the entire lawn on site and were busy planting fruit trees, medicinal plant ground cover, and sedges indigenous to the local environment. In California where an large amount of the water is imported projects like these make tremendous sense. In time this park space will not only be a place to sit and contemplate nature and natural systems, but will also be a place to gather apples, nuts, and medicinal teas. All while lessening the impact on the hydrological system.

The other benefit of this project is that the volunteers involved can go home and begin to educate others about the benefits of a Food not Lawns mindset. Leaving the site inspired, they now have the tools to begin transitioning their own lawns into food forests or simply low water use spaces of peace and tranquility. A beautiful thing to see the ripples forming.

When I finally got around to visiting Trathen, his home was hard to miss! I drove through the streets of Petaluma and it was lawn, lawn, lawn, lawn, then ZING!! there was Trathen's place a veritable garden of eden bursting forth with an abundance of food, life and love!

Trathen and I had a great dialog about the work he's doing the way to inspire and motivate others, and the importance of restoring the Egosystem as much as the importance of restoring the Ecosystem. We talked about the importance of finding our light in this world, finding the things that light us up and through every individual daily act, leave the world a better place than when we found it.

The question I have for you, is, are you lit up? Do you feel your presence is building resilience and improving the system we are all dependent upon? And if not, why? There is so much for us to do to transition this world into the future and as Trathen and others are demonstrating, it's all so very very possible! Begin to take the steps to be the change you wish to see in the world.

Pics: Trathen in his front yard, Installing drip irrigation system, discussions of plants around sedge, John tests a swale to see if it will Slow, Spread, and Sink the water rather then sending it 'away' to nowhere.
peace,
d
Here's Trathen on Peak Moment TV. ENJOY!