throw back to the past 20th century-

  Buckeye also contained an interesting masculinity as well as equal femininity. But the more interesting being the masculine. There seemed to be this niche filled by actual (or mostly actual, maybe more modern version) of the mountain man, frontiers fur trader, trappers, and even stone aged living. 

  I remember those 1940's and 1950's nature and national parks documentaries that Disney used to re-run all the time when i was a kid. I used to think how cool that might have been to live like that. One of those childhood fantasies. Even Tom Brown Jr. the Tracker sat on my mothers book shelf, and i used to read her outdoor survival skills books she used to have as well. But where now does that man stand in this global modern world? what does James "Grizzly" Adams possibly do in 2012? What about the famed John Colter who was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and thought to be the very first of European descent to make it into whats now Yellow Stone national park and see the Tetons? Where do they all fit into this culture that has sprung into these modern gatherings?

The 3,000+ men that used to run the Rockies, cascades, and wind river ranges, and the south west have long been dead and their profession killed by over trapping, cheaper Canadian furs, fashion trends gone south, and the quick expansion west. Many where forced south or north, and for the most part the profession and land which kept those wild men and woman dissipated into development. Nature was claimed by civilization. 

but...

who is the modern every man?

There was the Mountain Man at Buckeye. but what about the character? what about this ultimate frontiers persona that is creating a great modern puzzle? 

What if we could reclaim and protect and tend the wild to bring back a wilderness living and adventurer? 

It is possible.

Time and history don't have to exactly be linear.  It very well may be that the best relationship man had with him self and the earth might have already been in our past. 

 That man had understood his ways and means, and knew that greater respect and prayer for mother earth and her kin. 

The very philosophy that went with it has appeared now to me in the very place we once figured it was just long ago adventure stories in the wild frontiers of the west.

 What about the modern Masculinity/Femininity?

Does being empowered by your masculine or Feminine mean understanding why those men and woman adventured and longed for the wilderness? That they understood nature on the most full level,  respected and adored it.

My whole point here is the very fact that i suddenly appreciated the old ways and the skills, talents and artisans that lived this life and where we ultimately came from long long long ago. 

That even today seeing people live like this, and master these skills is a Honor. 

It showed how much 

 knowledge and harmony we once lived in thousands of years ago.

That humans once had everything they needed.

They understood their rolls in every fashion.

And lived naturally by every means necessary in a partnership. 

for some great reading-

 Tend The Wild

the bay area forager  

Well RDNA (thats the 9 month Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness program i'm taking) just retreated from buckeye primitive skills gathering, in Forestville Ca. due to some sickness. but while partaking in 3 out of 5 days of reskilling in primitive skills such as fire making, archery, bow making, animal skin tanning, making things with those skins, and various other symposiums, talks, and classes, something occurred to me- the current model of economics- that is the industrial blitzkrieg  infinite growth model of the 19th and 20th centuries is coming to a close. this festival promoted both cash transactions, trade and barter, and almost everything in terms of materials (not including the huge carbon foot print of all the people getting there) was wild crafted, harvested, hunted, or gathered.

The Era of Growth is over. The non-nature conscience un-natural expansion of the industrial revolution which collided in a break neck pace with the modern and post modern Eras, has now reached the global Era. meaning that- the desires, dreams, and wants of the the select few that have in the western world due to the exploitation of the rest of the world (cheap labor, cheap oil, cheap resources, etc.) will not become true for the "have-nots." (ultimately these eathlings who have been allowing these cheaper resources to be, will want them all the same eventually- this is the rising global middle class such as China and some of the middle east- where people who were the cheap labor and cheap resource givers/workers now desire those very things they were being exploited for)

The Arab Spring was a perfect example of people rising up asking for better lives, jobs, resources, and luxuries, which was sold to them by the west. Powered by mobile phones, internet, and all around western technology (and democracy so to speak) it was a bitter sweet irony that 21st century technology and want for its better living aided and caused such revolution. After all, the great enlightenment not nearly 300 years ago was exactly that- freedom of man for freedom of life.

Well the truth is that the whole world cannot have what its unfortunately  has been sold. Consumer based anything cannot be sustainable unless it is regenerative. one example of this is the production of organically produced food, or sustainable agro-forestry for the continued harvest of food and fuels. The high concentrate carbon fuel century is nearly over, and will be the better parts of history that only post-industrial science fiction writers have been geekily writing about for almost the same amount of time.

side note and tidbit fact-
The combustion engine has stayed unchanged for nearly 100 years-except for a few more modern electronic add-ons that have brought some efficiency but not much- it is still a soon to be dead technology if we dont figure something else out. At least not for the whole global human population.  thermodynamically speaking, the combustion engine is only usually at its golden and ideal state 37% efficient- and on average with all the day to day variables and constant maintenance that would be needed for that 37%, the steel built engine is only around 18-20% efficient.
good thing we have cheap and easily procured fuel for it!!!!


in short the question(s) of the day is:

How long do we have before the line in the sand between the post-modern-industrial era technology and its finite resources come to a tipping point?

What does a globally conscience earthen population do on a whole, when their model of trade and society based on infinite growth suddenly is not so infinite?

Finally, Where do you see your self in this picture? what are your basic needs? how will you meet them? and what skills will you want to have inevitably to deal with this future?

mind you-

this future i am certain will take place in my life time albeit maybe later in my life time....

the picture above is my garden 3 years young. in a 35ft x 68ft plot (it now is fenced in equal to a 5th of an acre, but not fully cultivated. fruit and nut trees, as well as berries, have been added to this new expansion) we grew enough fresh food through the late spring and through to the early fall, to feed around 6 people. granted the work 3 of us put in was maybe 15 or less hours per week. if it were a full time job, we could process, grow and even sell enough food to possibly last us through the winter or even subsidize our bills substantially....

 yes people, it is possible to start and maintain a profitable, locally based, and regenerative designed cottage industry here in America.... go forth and grow! 

Just finished up a one week bird language intensive out here on the west coast at RDI (regenerative design institute). i thought this photo was relevant with my barn swallow and chicken from my garden land back in NY. the week as usual was filled with deep download and of course a lot of community work with the integration of the 9 month RDNA program that i am in, and the 30 or so people who joined our group for just the one week. it was edgy at first- all these outsiders coming in to our very tight nit and close group. but as usual we filled the expectations and more of those who showed, and felt so welcomed into our community and more then contributed with knowledge and community support.

Dan Fontaine  joined our usual RDNA facilitator crew all the way from Santa Barbra, and is executive director of the Wilderness Youth Project (http://www.wyp.org/index.htm) he brought great love of/for birds, as well as shared some great questions about what we most fear. we had a lot to teach each other and after running into him this morning down the street from my place in Point Reyes at the Permaculture Institute of Northern California, he brought back the idea about our culture and society as container, and like any well potted plant- whether its in concrete, a raised bed or even in the confines that competitive mother nature creates- there still needs tending to, transplanting, and sometimes replacement of that "confined and potted plant."

this year has brought me this and so much more- the change that we need to see IS happening- and it is happening through communication and transportation of our words and thoughts in dialogue with one another (how many times did i just mention communication in one sentence? can never have enough words, or can we?)

we must remain in transition with how we communicate as well as what we live by. transparency is clearly a very important word in the "parlance of our times" as the Big Lebowski would say. not only in government, but in relationship, friendship, connection to nature, and the all out being of our being. the greater good is not just of service to one another and our selves, but in service to service. do right by what is already being done right. to honor and give gratitude more to the ever being of "being" (or human being? or animal being?...hmm words words words)

one last thought and questions to keep us ever searching for more:

 when your faced with insecurities, do you move towards them? face them head on? or keep close the fact that without certain emotions and edges we would simply be numb and boring?

when the question arises about whether something is or isn't-"is that a willow thicket? no it doesn't look like it, but its the right place for one... damn! what is it?" it should be just as it is, that it is not the question of willow or not willow, but the thicket as a whole.
the concern around whether or not we are right about something should and can be met with grace and patience and the fear of being wrong is held with gratitude...

Hold close the edge, and fear not that is which is wrong.
after all its about the sum of the parts, and the soil in which the roots take hold to build upon the whole that really matters.

Swedish Candle!

To our right-
The amazing center burning upturned log... no fire pit? no need... this is called a Swedish Candle; by cutting a X down the center of the log, you can start a small twiggy fire at the apex of the X, and it will burn down as far as you made the cut, and put its self out.



Below-
not the most prime example of chainsaw safety protocol, but at least he is wearing glasses right? cut the log, start a small fire, and you have a wonderful instant outdoor fire! you could even bury the log slightly in a pit, combine a few others cut the same, and make a larger or smaller candle!

when we lit it, it was a really nice self controled little fire, and if you cut an X on both bottom and top its a super efficient way to have a small and safe fire, and be efficient with the wood you have.

the X cut in the log allows air to flow through and heat the fire from below with updraft, and when it hits bottom, it smolders out. really cleaver fire making.

i wonder how many other ways you could cut a log, make art, or use this process of burning?

2012

Well here we are folks!

the year has come.... and not a moment too soon! got a computer back to add much much much to the interweb of ever expanding knowledge.

been quite a few months since the past post in september, and the RDNA program at Regenerative Design Institute has been quite a journey. from primitive fire making skills, to natural pigment paint and dye making, we have covered so much in the Permaculture, and cultural mentoring world.

lots of photos (click here) of the Regenerative Design Nature Awareness program, covering tons, although not as many photos as i should be taking there. too busy paying attention and doing! have decided to do my final design project a permaculture design for land Back at Leslie's in Southampton, NY. since i know the land well, and its not fictional, it was the best option to apply a real design with a real client. it will be good for a design portfolio and most of all just practice.



this photo on this post is of the crescent moon over Bolinas lagoon. it sums up the beauty that surrounds us in this world, but especially out here on the Pt Reyes Sea shore.

oiled_1

oiled_1, a photo by jgreenphotos on Flickr.

While down near the Channel Islands this past December, i got to go to Rincon on a very special christmas eve. in our times of peak oil and environmental collapse, these oil platforms, some of the oldest in the country, seemed to set a nice back drop to surfers who are so deeply connected to the ocean and nature... has surfing here every day amongst these old rigs caused a numbness to our impact on nature and the planet? what is the future of these rigs?

45 seconds at night

45 seconds at night, a photo by jgreenphotos on Flickr.

looking south from the Tomales bay estuary preserve. 8 pm on a november night. thanks moon