Forest Gardening meets Deep and Personal Ecology

Fire-breathing Lion cooks biscuits

About 2003 I had a great deal of fun helping build my first cob-earth structure and oven at Convergence Gathering so when Rachel and Nick (pictured) came out from England to teach us cob earth building I was keen to see what they would do.

Well they did it in a week and on February 28, 2006 they christened Harmony's first cob oven by baking biscuits in it.

Cobbing in the Fire Bath

In this photo I'm holding the arch of cob, which until we placed more cob handfuls around the straws (see the straws in the cob gap on the right) would fall under its own weight.

Two bundles of about 12 hollow shafts of long grass growing on site and about 80cm long where overlapped at their ends to give about 130cm of straw reinforcing. A handful of cob thumbed into the overlap locked them together and formed the top of the arch. This was held steady while cob was worked in around the rest of the straw. Once all the cob was in place and anchored onto the rocks in the foreground the arch though wet, held itself in place. A weighted stick leaned against the top made sure it dried against the fire bath as closely as possible. The dark cavity is the firebox, and to this day the cob has not leaked smoke around that arch. You can see the stainless steel chimney flue at the rear. The cob has also been marvellous at slowing what is otherwise such a rapid rise in heat that fire baths are well known for being too warm. A small fire warms a bath-full of water in about 45minutes and the cob sustains the heat for about two hours, which is great for me as I love long, long baths in non-chlorinated water!

The Cob Oven gets a Home

Rachel and Nick were emphatic that a cob oven needed to have a roof so in the coming months I took my confidence in hand and built a cob-earth wall to the west of the oven – and that gave us not one but three cob structures without a roof over their heads.

The oven stayed well protected under its tarpaulins, and the cob fire bath had a corrugated iron roof, which protected it well, but the wall was not so easy to keep covered and suffered from considerable erosion in the winter.

So the following summer I added a cob earth wall to the south making the L-shape that stands today, and had considerable fun teaching many volunteers the art of cobbing.

Both of the walls, the oven, and the bath, are built on a foundation of rocks gathered on site and this led to a fascination I have for this subject to this day. A fascination that I continue to teach wherever I can.

From about half-way up all earth walls I embedded logs wrapped in No.8 fencing wire that protruded from the top of the wall and were later stapled to the roof beams locking both together very firmly indeed.

It had been my fascination to build cob-earth wall that would hold up a roof rather than closing in with cob under a roof already built. I must say that I think the latter is the much easier option and after building a free standing west wall that held the roof via its No. 8. a post was set on each side of the oven to hold a roof that protected the oven from the most frequent rain winds from the west.

Perhaps because I didn't really want even these posts holding up a roof that cob could I gave them shallow footings and the wired a foundation of rocks to them upon which I built low cob walls that locked the oven to the post on each side of it.

The south post was also covered with chicken wire and again with No.8 wire it was tied to the cob. So it is the south cob that is really holding it steady.

With these more posts in place on the east side of the oven the roof was extended to completely protect it from the misty easterly winds we occasionally get.


This roof and the earth walls are low to the south and west, high at the central ridge over the oven, and high to the east and north. This means the east half of the roof has a lovely curve to it that can be seen in the photo above.

We named the earth building Danaa and gave her large windows and vertical weatherboards of local macrocarpa treated with natural oils containing traces of the safe anti-fungal copper-8-quinolinate as its preservative. These walls are lined with a variety of insulators. In some places wool jerseys stapled up to stop cold outside air sneaking in around them. In others a clay slurry was mixed 1:9 with untreated wood-shavings to make a type of papercrete in which the curly wood shavings were kept as fluffy as possible, with a minimum of mixing, to minimise shrinkage and maximise the loft and the insulating effect of the air pockets therein. Once this dried it shrunk about 2% and the gaps were closed with natural wood batting.

The objects in the foreground of Danaa are black 200litre and white 1000 litre containers destined to hold water off her roof.

Annual rainfall is about 1000mm and the eaves are 600 – 900mm to protect her from the rain from the west and south. The walls do get wet, but I find that as long as the rain has little driving force behind it the wall does not erode, and then dries out again.

Being in a cloud forest there are many damp and wet days but the cob keeps sufficiently dry and its thermal mass is doing a great job releasing heat back to us snuggled inside in winter.

As Danna is built in a hollow her foundation rocks get wet feet, and the cob we packed between them also gets wet at times then dries again. Drainage gravel and draincoil has been placed on her west side, where the drive is above her floor level and this carries water to a drainage sump near her south-east corner. Above this sump a pond collects excess runoff and its overflow takes the water about 20m away, downhill.

Before all the pond was operational the sump system handled 40cm (400mm) of rain in 24 hours with no noticeable change in foundations.

They always say give cob a good hat and dry feet, and I strongly recommend you do this where you can, but Danaa shows us, that cob, like timber, is tolerant of getting wet temporarily as long as it does no get so wet it slumps under its own weight.

At this stage we have only laid a fine gravel floor of crusher dust, as we know this breathes and dries out again from the top as well as from below. When systems are in place to completely carry away all rain-water (not needed by the tanks) we intend to give her earth floors.

Contact us soon to learn cob earth building with natural eco-friendly materials as eventually we will have all the cob-fire baths, cob walls, cob-stoves, and other cob structures that we need. In the meantime you can learn any of those by subscribing to our free quarterly Harmony e-zine to see when our next workshops are: Subscribe Now.

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David

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Look for the parasites and the hard, black muck from average "healthy" persons gut in the changing images below!

I'm really excited that you can see these parasites on the web, alongside a solution to fat and many health problems. When you can see these critters, like me, you will be keen get them out of your gut. Most of us have them and all of us can get rid of them. In addition to the parasites commonly found in most everyone's intestines, you can also see pics of the plaque that builds up in most every bowel. Shedding this plaque sheds weight from inside. You can have a leaner, more athletic looking tummy by getting rid of the gunk and making you gut too healthy to harbor parasites.

I long remember the opinion of the famous American Iridologist, Dr Bernard Jensen, that most health problems, most diseases, and the solution to being fat, ALL begin in the gut.

Then Hulda Clark published her books "The Cure for All Cancers" and "The Cure for All Diseases" saying that gut parasites proliferate in the body in the presence of propyl alcohol (found in some cereals and in cosmetics) and other toxins causing most of our health problems.

Parasites must eat so they establish in numbers and flourish wherever there is simple refined food to eat and toxic waste to weaken the immune system so that they can become established. Refined foods are the low-fibre, high calorie, nutritition poor, and often additive rich foods made from refined white flour, refined white salt, refined fats, and the additives included with them.

Iridologists have long called white flour "wallpaper paste" as combined with water it becomes a glue that sticks materials to the gut just as it sticks paper to a wall. It then hardens and build layer upon layer of material that hardens as food pushes against it. This hardened layering is very difficult for food to pass through on its way to the bloodstream, so the person eats more in order to feel fed, and puts on weight.

Add white sugar, and food additives, to this paste and you have the perfect high calorie junk food to feed parasites, and one parasite then breeds thousands more.

By preventing the natural rhythmic movement of the otherwise soft and muscular gut wall this hard material causes constipation as the gut wall balloons out and holds all the material in and diarrhea as the open space within the gut fills in leaving such a small space that only liquid mush can squeeze through. Both constipation and diarrhea can be present in the one person as a result of this problem.

The slow passage of food and the persistent layer of rancid, toxic, old material irritates the gut wall leading to cell death. Large scale cell death leaves holes in the gut that let toxic materials into the blood stream, that would otherwise be more safely confined in the gut. This is "leaky gut sydrome" produces fatigue, immune system disorders, and general aches and pains, including headaches.

Feeling off color the person doesn't feel like preparing more healthy foods and so tends to eat more readily available refined, processed foods with their additives and becomes sicker. These refined foods are refined by removing their fibre, essential fats, lipids, vitamins and minerals, and the person becomes sicker, and ages faster, because these same nutrients are not available for energy, immune function, healthy repair, and regeneration of the body.

As the layers of refined foods build up the person tummy becomes bigger and heavier, until it is up to 20kg of impacted hardened gunk that habours parasites.



Weight can be immediately and dramatically reduced when the bowel is cleansed, and healthy, wholesome foods, with fibres, vitamins, and minerals are eaten.

On a wholefood (and if you can - organic) diet, with the appropriate herbs to help cleanse the bowel, and to expel parasites from the body, the body becomes much healthier. Being healthier it becomes lighter, and weight moves back towards normal.

It wants to eat less because it is getting the nutrients it needs without the junk. On junk food your body will consume fast quantities if necessary until it finds the nutrients it needs. This quantity, being more than can be used, is stored as fat. Weight goes up and up and up.

Further fat is stored to safely lock away the additives in the processed food, and the toxic wastes produced by a toxic gut and the parasites in it. This further increases the weight, more and more and more. This fat is shed when herbs and nutrients help the body eliminate the toxic material, and the fat is no longer needed.

Dr Suzanne Gudakunst has prepared a e-book available now at a special price with full instructions on her fully researched and simple herbal cleansing program.
Cleansing is the way to go - For the parasites, the gunk, and overweight fat!

So please clean out your gut and your parasites. It will make you a happier, healthier person.

Live a healthy life,

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Love,

David

Subscribe here for Harmony's free quarterly e-zine sharing personal experiences living with respect for All Beings, including gut bacteria (not parasites) needed for health. These articles are not published elsewhere.

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In Harmony we were gifted, on October 1st 2001, 1600m2 (2/5 acre) of space cleared from the forest by our predecessors just 70m from the Waitati Valley Road via a steep grassed drive. Ingrowth by trees had effectively divided the clearing into what we called:

Connection as it was to be the hub from which all parts of Harmony connected with the Humans.

And Sacred Space, which at 15m long x 4-6m wide now neatly embraces a little retreat cabin.

With Connection being 50m long x 30m wide it was immediately apparent that ground zero (Zone 0) buildings would need to be small and nestled mostly into the small gaps around the edges so that all possible open space left after drives and paths were built, could be put into the vegetable gardens of Zone 1 and the less frequently harvested fruits and nuts of Zone 2. Further out from Connection fruit trees are also being planted into smaller clearings and gaps within the canopy.

Although many medicinal herbs are being grown in Connection, these are also being moved into the forest, and out to other clearings. This will dedicate most of Connection to the more frequently used culinary herbs and vegetables of Zone 2.

Zone 3 grain crops, and other starches such as potatoes, as well as more fruit bushes, are being established at the next nearest clearing, Koha Gardens, some 250m uphill. It is for this reason so much energy has gone into improving the access via Compassion and Kowhai Trails.

This organic design as taken years to conceive. The seasons where studied while Lorraine supported David to build a website to promote Harmony and 5km of tracks so that people could see and meet her outermost and wilder Zones 5 and 6, before we committed ourselves in Zones 0 – 3.

In this time gardens were marked out with stones or netting and all the last of Harmony's internal fences was taken down by a volunteer accompanied into the hills by a fantail. The fantail reappeared hours later, to come all the way down to Connection with the last roll of netting, so we knew even the birds loved having the fences out of the way!

The first shelter was a bender of hand-skinned sycamore poles that may one-day become the site of our Temple for All Beings and Master Bedroom for our Guardian(s)!

North of the Temple Bedroom a 3.8m x 2.65m Garden Tool shed was specifically fit into a gap of exactly that size. Then separate smaller sheds were added to each side, like buds on a stem.

Cob Earth teachers then came to build a Cob Oven. As Ovens are of the fire element and the hearth it seemed only right to place this on sturdy rock foundation in the middle of our grassy clearing. In those days before the Drive it took 6 people days to carry the clay, gravel, and other materials up the track!

Danaa, our cob-earth building. started life as a shelter for the oven and ended up with north and east walls clad in vertical weatherboards of macrocarpa and windows to let the sun in on the earth which protects from the cold strong winds that roar in from the south and west. These boards are treated entirely with eco-friendly oils containing copper-8-quinolinolate as a safe anti-fungicide.

A rocky embankment, near where the toilet placed itself, was perfect for an in-built cob fire-bath and left a gap between large rocks that became our Wash House and Shower. As our main consumer of water these "Ablutions" are ideally placed close to the highest ground in the clearing on which water tanks will be placed.




In the above picture Danaa is on the right with a water tank being moved into place, Vanny is at the far end of the Drive, and the verandah of the Garden Tool Shed is tucked in under native Tree Fucshias on the left (west). It is easy to see how much space paths and trails take up!

Initally we parked our vehicle 50m up the road rather than in the mud at the gateway, so we had a contractor build us a gravelled off-road pull in area that entered into an oval parking area. David cut the oval by hand and used the sod for the low walls of car shelter by Gateway creek, however the creek flooded and the wall fell.

From the oval parking area a grassed track had been cut previously from the hillside. David grubbed off the turf and repeatedly raced "Vanny" (a HiAce Van) past the current track end to disgorge gravel and roll back down over the newly formed road. Until a turning bay could be created at the top Vanny lost the safety of the young Drive and almost went into Gateway Creek several times. With repeated visits and loads of gravel the drive hardened up.

Perhaps because Vanny had to be at his very best to make it up the steep parts, David named it 'Come Alive' Drive. The name also reflects the journey of David and later that of his clients and volunteers at Harmony.

The outside pull-in area is "Arrival" the tail of a fish. The oval parking area is "Acceptance", and this is the body of the fish drinking from Gateway Creek. As David has crossed them in "Vanny" with his foot down the fish vomited him up the track into the mouth of the snake whose tail grew as gravel reached towards grassy "Contemplation Ridge" in the middle of Harmony, where Meditation Rocks lie.

The natural transition from Drive to Trails takes place at the Walled Garden, where many lichen covered rocks already lay in place in one of the warmest parts of the clearing.

The wild side of Harmony is divided into 7 macro-zones based on her predominant trees and major slopes:
Broadleaf Forest where mature broadleaf trees where two creeks and swampy hollows kept it too wet for grass. Connection Clearing and Come Alive Drive are part of the Broadleaf Forest.

Orchard Wood the 2ha uppermost clearing that is going to be woodlot, large fruits and nuts, such as chestnut and walnut, and fruit bushes. This and other clearings within "Forest Gardens" are her Zones 3 and 4.

The remaining macrozones are: Cedar Forest, Podocarp Forest, Gentle Forest, Steep Forest, and Forest Gardens.

These seven marcozones are each divided into Zones, which are then divided into Eco-Zones (including buildings, gardens, and trails), and many MicroZones (which include garden beds, and distinct sections of trails).

These divisions are in the tradition of the systems of the human body. Macro-Zones being systems, Zones being organs, Eco-zones being tissues, and Micro-zones being cells.

As in the human body the boundaries are fuzzy. For example the Eco-zones: Arrival, Acceptance, and Come Alive Drive are also like the organ (Zone) of the aorta branching into the major arterial trails: Compassion, Happiness, and Sacred Space, which are themselves Eco-zones. These deliver nutrients to the gardens and buildings.

Connection Clearing is Harmony's physical heart-brain, as it becomes apparent to physiologists that the heart directs the brain in response to connection to the Earth. She (Connection) absorbs and processes information brought it by her trails of veins and sends decisions and nutrients out on her trails of arteries. In this she relies on every animal (on wing, on foot, and burrowing) as her couriers.

The intuitive mind-heart of Harmony connecting her to Earth is at, and near, to Meditation Rocks. In this she is greatly helped by the conscious work of humans and the more aware animals.

Her trees and ferns are her lungs, digestive, and immune systems.
The leaves cloaking branches and ground are her skin.
Her three creeks are primarily her urinary system.
Her ridges are her skeletal system and her valleys her soft bellies.
Her nervous system and elements of her circulation and endocrine systems lie under ground in her rock and crystal formations.
Her blood is the moisture of the land excreted by roots, leaves, and animals, on its way from rain to creeks.
Her reproductive system is everywhere in the sexual activity of every plant and animal.
Her trails (human and animal), as described, are her circulatory systems.
The wind, her animal and plant movers, and her creeks are her muscles.

Her aura is the mist of the Cloud Forest, the energy of the Forest Garden, and all that held dwelling in her arms.

To volunteer and study forest gardening, earth building, and permaculture at Harmony click here.

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Love,

David

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Vanity is that self-centered view of the universe that is the most difficult quality of mind to see in what we do. We see it in everyone around us, and see so little of it in ourselves.

Deep ecological science requires of us that we undertake the discovery of the layers to our own vanity. A spiritual viewpoint alone can achieve this. Because vanity is the mind's confidence in its own importance, to understanding vanity requires us to step beyond the mind.

We must step beyond the realm of science into the realm of the personal experience of the spiritual journey, which gives us the perspective of Soul. As we grow in confidence that we are Soul we are able to look at the mind from outside the mind, and understand our vanity.

Ego, the awareness of self, of I, is essential to the operation of the mind, and incredibly valuable to the study of matter, energy, space, and time.

Quantum physics has brought us to the understanding that in the subatomic world thought is the creative force deciding when and where matter manifests.

Spiritual ecology and physics asks us to consider that the larger atomic, molecular, and planetary worlds are also created with thought.

Vanity tells us that science has not demonstrated this so it is not so. We make ourselves God's in deciding what truth is and this is an evolutionary step in the development of our spiritual understanding of our ego. Truth is the result not of proof but of the inner spiritual experience that results from the spiritual journey into the realms beyond matter, energy, space, and time that teaches us that as Soul we create.

A degree of humility lead to the conceptualisation of ecology. To modern man dominion over plants and animals again carried the responsibilities to communicate, understand, and care for, that it had been before in the past.

The vain dominion of man over others meant that it was much later that ecology included man.

Later, with more humility, we accept that we are all spiritual beings on a spiritual journey. As much as we can we are loving and honouring the planet as our home, we will not so blindly destroy.

Spiritual giants, plants, and animals all say that soul in the human form is potentially the most conscious. Human ego has the vanity that our awareness is the greatest.

We have continually underestimated the abilities of other beings (atoms, plants, animals, and humans) to perceive their environment.

Our politicians, and our priestcraft, have told us to listen to "God" as "God" tells us to put the politicians and priests in their places of power over us.

Now we are listening to the inner authority of ourselves as Soul and finding that each and every being on this plant as a role to play. At varying levels each is conscious (manifested by its thought) and to that degree aware of its environment.

Animals and even plants tell us, if asked, that humans for all their potential, generally have the least degree of awareness of their environment. This our vanity, is our great act of the very ego that gives us the potential to be the most spiritually aware and active guardians of other creatures on the planets.

With experiences like those that illustrate my truth that all beings are conscious, and start to unravel the proof that in fact each is working with the elementals, under the guidance of devas, for the good of and under the directorship of Gaia.

You see, my primary directive, is to believe until I can proof a fact is not a truth. As we are the creators I have not yet found a proof.

Molecules
As a young physiologist one of the many things I did not know was that not breathing for four minutes killed most people, and in my ignorance I experimented. I decided to store oxygen with deep breathing then stop. 15 minutes later I had no need whatsoever to breathe except that I decided to resume in case it was dangerous. I was about 17 at the time, and since learned that I cannot believe I can do it again. I have also learned that some can hold their breath that long, however I was not holding my breath. I have since learned that some can be buried for weeks, however I was not lowering my metabolic rate. I was walking about at the time, observing the activities of others, and fully conscious that I was making my air. I thought the very molecules I asked to where assembling and disassembling themselves as a result of atomic or chemical reactions to give me what I requested. Now it is possible oxygen popped into my lungs out of quantum space.

Rocks
When we arrived at Harmony on first sight Lorraine and I both knew a group of rocks was to be "Meditation Rocks". We could see that many would have sat on them admiring the view from where they were. We also felt a message from those rocks. Slight as their consciousness may be, they knew.


Many, many times in sorting rocks ready for different purposes I have felt a rock with no special characteristics of note needs to perform a certain role. Often in is many months later that it becomes the perfect rock in a project not yet started. Asking the rocks which one would like to be next, in the project of the moment, often (but never always) it slots into perfect place and I think "Wow, either the rock or some other consciousness knew".

Trees
Passing by tree trunk many metres tall, with a crop of hair on top, I was asked to stop and hug it. I felt an energy block in its head and only then did I feel the headache I had forming. Acknowledging the trees "headache" I felt the energy in both our heads clear.
I knew trees were conscious and wondered how much so.

"Honey Bees"
Observing "honey bees" flying into my of building wood I decided to break up any nest while it was still small. Hot smelly burning rags not working I moved in with the full respect that I have for bees, and uncovered the nest plank by plank, being careful to give way to and care for every bee. Working in close amongst these friends with my heart open, they stayed relaxed and I felt their respect. Then when I discovered their nest as paper I wondered if they were wasps and eventually I was able to change my opinion – to accept they stripes were those of wasps.

As I uncovered the queen and carried her away, as I burned the larvae that drew the adults, and as I downed trousers to let out the one that gently stung me to let me know it wanted out, I continued to treat these fellow creatures with the same respect and gratitude I and learned to give honeybees.

For two hours I left the wood stack open and when the wasps continued to arrive in the same numbers, I decided to replace the tarps that had kept their home so dry, in such a way that they could no longer get under the edges. The next day their were still a number of wasps looking for their home. My actions had asked a lot of wasps to die that day. Their actions taught me that wasps can remember for 1 to 2 days, and that treated with respect they give more respect than is usually expected of them.

Mice
I have a friend who is not entirely popular with me, a mouse, who has shared my abode, contrary to my invitation that s/he respect it as mine and leave. For many months it has come by every few days to check out the house on its home territory – "my" clearning.

I have looked it in the eye, I have met in face to face in the spiritual realms as Souls, and it is as defiant as I, that it has rights to visit.

Deciding this mouse sufficiently warned I set a trap and invited the mouse to avoid death by respecting my house, as mine, and staying out. Twice it took the food and left the trap unsprung, thus reminding me that for the mice I death is an acceptable risk in the search for food.

That it respects my space I do not doubt though I would have it respect my space still more. I trust my personal experience in this because though its faeces show it visits when I am not there it has never tried to eat my food or to enter my bed. When it built its nest it did in the very apex of the roof of my dwelling, on the edge of the house, and entered by climbing the outside to the top as if to say 'You can share the edge, you can have your home below, and mine can be in this tiny space on the edge that you can't even get a finger into'. My being fearful of a litter of mice it brought them all back in daylight to that space so I could see tails hanging from the rafter cracks. After that the other mice found other homes and did not visit again.

For more special experiences and insights on living with respect for All Beings Subscribe here for Harmony's free quarterly e-zine sharing enchanting personal experiences not published elsewhere.

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David.

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I continue to be amazed at how much labour it takes to set up an efficient sustainable system. When you want to do so much of it yourself, as I do, for the love of it, because you enjoy learning new skills, and to build a personal relationship with your home on the land that has chosen you, living becomes the journey.

Fortunately whatever I do I am surrounded by bird song, meeting insects, and breathing in the deep energy of a native forest. As much then as I am also stomping cob earth mixes with my feet, carrying pails of gravel to build trails, and moving rocks to build founations, steps, and terraces, and nailing something where I can barely swing the hammer next to a native tree or a fern that I do not want to move I am living in Harmony with All Beings.

I have been the pioneer, and I have enjoyed everything every pioneer before me has helped me with by going before me on this journey.

I do not find the same sense of depth of living within steel, smog, and concrete in the cities, and in those places people have relationships with assets, possessions, THINGS at the cheapest or most expensive price, and seem to hear little of the call of the wild.

Give me the depth of beingness shared with many creatures. Give me happiness even if it means spading native bush worms 300mm long, because I will hurriedly place their bits in my earth bucket so that head ends have a chance to live. Let me trim branches and chop them into mulch with secateurs because those trees are the walls about my clearing that protect me from extremes of wind, sun, and rain. Let me move rocks a little more every month or year simply because each rock wants to go to a certain place and perform a certain role for me, and fit just right when it gets there. Gift me the energy of the gnomes to prepare and lift every handful of cob, every peeled pole, and every piece of bought timber, and second-hand door I put in place, because it makes my home more comfortable summer and winter. Gift me contentment living off my vegetables because the birds eat my fruits and return with morning and evening chorus. Let me see the spirit of the fairy in the smile of the marigolds, nasturtiums, and other flowers that take two seasons to live here, because their species has not been here before. Let me happily mulch in my forest gardens to minimise my weeding so I get time to build places to store my tools, and my body in nightly slumber. Teach me to build with hand tools that I may hear the birds and feel the ground beneath my feet while I work.

I have connection with every piece of wood that the energy of my heart and sweat cut, trim, and nail. I remember the birds that cleared the air before we put buildings into the space. I honour the tree roots that dry out when roof goes over root. I appreciate the trees, the largest of the rocks, and the contours of the land, for defining the buildings I place within their embrace; and listen when rocks say "move that post beside me here, for your wall needs be there, not here".

Though I would prefer s/he didn't come into my rooms to say hello, I thank the mouse whose home I built and share for keeping to his space and not eating my food or sleeping in my bed; and trust that she will not eat those parts of home I built to house me.

I claim space from all creatures for my home and foods. I claim life of plant to feed my body.

I thank all creatures for letting me have space in this place.

I thank Spirit for teaching me Life is a labour sustaining me on every step of my journey.

Click here for the opportunity to learn at Harmony. For my special free E-Zine on living with respect for All Beings Subscribe here.

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Love,

David

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In 2001 land and all the creatures dwelling therein became known to us and invited Lorraine and I to be its new owners. I had asked for this land on the Wednesday and the following Saturday here was an advert glowing in the local paper. It said native forest (as requested) and that the area (hectares, acres) and price were much larger than asked for, and the latter much more than we could finance.

To check with spirit (my inner guidance) that this is indeed land we are to care-take I read the advert to Lorraine. She says "We might as well have a look at it". For me that was absolute and final confirmation. Somehow from that moment I knew this was 'our' land, and that is Miracle 1.

We phone the real estate agent, and have an ally, he is a sensitive plant man, as our agent. He is in the business for the love of it, he doesn’t need the money. That was Miracle 2. He says we can only see it at 1pm that day, he won't be there but the owners will. This is the very same time I had arranged to go for a walk in the bush "somewhere" with my brother. That was Miracle 3.

We drive down Waitati Valley Road, and can't find it, so Lorraine pops into a farm house to ask, and I explain to all my family "She has gone to ask our neighbour where it is". It turned out they were the immediate neighbour and following instructions we drove down to the next driveway on the left. That was Miracle 4.

It might just have been a muddy old paddock entrance but as our Van went past I felt this incredible huge wave of energy come through the gateway and me. Miracle 5 was impressive! Now I was totally awestruck, I was in love, and as we walked the land, I was barely able to take it all in.

It was amazing. The owners were there, and the two who had first option were there too!

One owner walked us over the trails to a large paddock, which was exactly the size I had asked for the whole title to be. This confirmed Miracle 6!) that spirit had heard. The paddock would have been considered the only useful landarea by many, and the forest was a free bonus!

Walking up that paddock my brother said you realise your recently deceased grandmother has left you considerably more money than what you got some time ago. No I didn't. He also said he would provide as much bridging finance as needed. Sign 7 was obviously to do with finance.

Lorraine and I came home after an amazing walk past three creeks, through native bush as good any we had seen near Dunedin city, and considered how much money we could raise! Those with first option they could not raise the money and it was now our turn. Having met the owners we decided to ask them their minimum price and as it was 16% than list price we decided it was Miracle 7 and that somehow we would find it.

We tell the agent not to write anything down on the agreement but he writes it down straight away, because he didn’t even know that the vendors would accept a price that low, he can’t believe they told us their absolute minimum. He says that they shouldn’t have and I say that we wouldn’t have been able to buy it if they hadn’t as it was about our maximum.

The owner is keen to pass it on to someone with similar plans to build a natural health clinic and so accepts the price. I get to walk the land as much as I want before possession date and I do. Later in exploring the boundaries I walk through an energy wall, Harmony reminds me of the energy I felt at the gateway.

In my excitement I walk with a friend with similar interests in forest, finding a mature totara tree Miracle 8) I haven't been able to find since (must be his not mine), and sharing with him we didn't know how, but the signs were that we were going to look after this land.

Now to finance. How? We arrange to meet a real estate broker and just before going I clear our mail. There is a envelope with a cheque in it for a very large sum of money (Sign 9), from the friend. It has his signature but says nothing about it. I take this into town to meet Lorraine and the broker and taking Lorraine aside I whisper the news to her.

A few days later even the bank which has our house mortgage (which had received extra lump sum payments from Lorraine's savings and my grandmother's estate) was not going to lend. So the broker tells us he told them about the money. Talk about having a broker with courage to do whatever it took. We hadn't even told him (that I knew of) about it. Miracle 10) The only catch the bank needed an affadavit from my friend that he didn't want the money back. So I asked him did he? No he said, and yes we would sign a statement to that effect. There was nothing but for me to conclude that this was one really big Miracle (No. 11).

So we said to the bank that this was clear funds for our exclusive use, and they assumed we had it. In fact we were now going to bank the cheque to get the funds. Miracle 12 was my sister in law walking down the street with thousands in cash to put drawable funds into our bank account for us, and a week later the bridging finance was repaid.

The bank was happy and Harmony (as Lorraine later named it) had us looking after it.

Being 17 hectares of native bush (plus a paddock) I figured that all the life within those trees, those insects, animals, and other plants was in the millions. No wonder they had had the power to make it happen.

. . . and a few months later, my grandmother's estate gifted us a sum such that the land actually cost us the amount I had asked for after also deducting the owner's reduction and the gift from the friend. Miracle 13).

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David

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There is a major difficulty in spiritual ecology, human ecology, organic eco-building design, eco-living, and permaculture.

Human ego (vanity) determines that we like to think we always know the way to do something.

Though a necessity ego out of balance is also our greatest flaw. We must continually watch for not only the well known over inflated ego, but also for the subtleties of looking at things from our own personal human point of view.

Spiritual ecology, human ecology, organic eco-building design, eco-living, and permaculture design all require a detached humility that let us see things with us as part of them in them.

There is no right way to strive to do this, because our mood, our feelings, and our thoughts at this very moment are an integral part of the whole reality, which along with how rocks sit, bees bumble, birds fly, animals walk, and clouds look determines our place in the moment.

This place in the moment is the only place in which we can truly design a garden, a building, or plan out a living environment in a way that embraces the role that all living beings play.

Such complicated thought cannot be held with the mind. We must give this role to Spirit. By imagining in Spirit, we can surrender the mind, to the heart, and feel what needs done.

Spiritual exercises in which we sing power words like HU (sung like the boy's name, with a long UUUuuuuu) are all that can give us the experience of being in Spirit, in tune with Nature. Drugs have also been used temporarily, but are a prop, and ultimately the spiritual is a conscious experience we want to enter at will.

In addition to singing a power word, like HU, which means Spirit or God (as in HU-man) feeling safe and comfortable, we let the WHOLE dwell within our mind space.

To do this let your ideas about the matters you are interested in float around in quiet mind space. As part of their natural dance within your mind they will bump against the insights of Soul. There they will ping open the doors of the group mind and the creative ideas of Spirit will speak to you, as Soul. You will find these ideas have popped into your mind and you are not sure where they have come from.

If nothing seems to happen know that ideas will also pop out of the quantum fabric of space into your reality throughout your day.

This may be words you hear as you pass by a stranger, or which seem to stand out in a conversation, on radio or TV. You may read a car numberplate, a book, magazine, newspaper, or advert and certain words trigger a "Wow, that's just what I was thinking about … that's what I need to do". The soaring grace of a flying bird may lift your viewpoint high on its wings so that you see life differently … and therein lies your answer!

You may even deliberately open the pages of a book at "random" while you contemplate, to receive your answer; and do it twice, to see the connections.

This is spiritual ecology, deep ecology in which you are immersed in the environment, you are a part of it, as it is a part of you, you are whole, everything means something to you, tells you something. The answer lies about you, and you look for it without asking the question, from that stillness of yourself as Soul.

Practice this skill everyday for about 20 minutes so you can do it any time and place.

Create the design of your life, your building, your garden; everything about you, guide you. Take the helm as the captain of the ship and give it direction, expect assistance from all "your" materials and tools, and be prepared to do things quite differently from what you thought you would do.

It is a dynamic process, where you design as you build, and when you don't know what the design is, you build so that you can see design.

Rocks, timber, and other materials that I build with, all guide my decisions on where I place them. Their curves, dimensions, shapes, weights, and my assessment of the durability, and ability to do the job, and what I feel for them, determine what I use where.

A nearby tree, and immovable rock, the contour of the land, all create design.

I stand in space, I move around, I contemplate, I sing HU, I feel what space is telling me fits It, and listen to Its plan unfold.

I walk the razor's edge and this is my ultimate adventure: my discovery of who am I, where I am, and my purpose here and now.

At Harmony, I enter this space with my volunteers and we discover together. If you too would like to learn in this way see our Volunteer Programs and Workshops. I describe this space and bring it into written form for you in the All Beings and Deep Ecology sections of Harmony's Website.

Thanks for telling you like this article by clicking:

Love,

David

Please forward, distribute, and publish every article in this blog anywhere you wish, as long as the ENTIRE article, footnotes, and any banners, are left as is, and all links remain active. Exception: Photos may be left out, though we prefer they stay.