Vultures and hummingbirds have returned. I've seen the Turkey Vultures in the Willamette Valley in February, but yesterday was the first sighting over Aisling. I remember the first time I saw them soaring above Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington State- surprised that they migrate to the Puget Sound. These birds have a large distribution in the U.S. They are also very non-aggressive. Maybe the peace movement should adopt this bird rather than the dove. But probably it wouldn't be popular as something that feeds on the dead. But in an analgous way, the peace movement does feed on the dead. If war wasn't killing people, then there wouldn't be a peace movement.
Now for the chipmunks. Yesterday we had one show up on our porch. The first sighting was as it crouched on the end of the telescope on the porch. They are cute rodents (I know some call them rats with a fuzzy tail) and bring out a positive feeling for me. Just like the gray squirrels though, they can be destructive. Susan mentioned to me how excited I was to see the turkeys show up last year as an example of a well-balanced ecosystem. Soon they multiplied and became a problem for what WE wanted to do. (See July of 2009 blog). Also yesterday, the Gray Squirrel was feeding from one of the bird feeders. The problem with that is they they can chew up the feeder itself to get to the food. We learned this when they chewed up the plastic ground feeder.
Yesterday, Dustin (the 16 year-old who helps out on Saturday mornings) and I put up a new fence in the "orchard" area. Then he dug the holes for our blueberries. I bought ten bushes that will fruit from early season to very late. The early season ones (Duke's) have been our favorites because of their high sugar content. The original plan was to plant them away from this fir tree in order to limit the invasion of birds on the plants. Susan has the attitude that we share the berries with the birds and just plant enough of them so we can all have some. I realized that I'd been thinking of the ways that we would keep all the berries to ourselves. After all, isn't that why they are being planted!
Which leads us to permaculture. This is an ecological way of living with the land while also meeting human needs. We plant the berries, fruit/nut trees, the raised beds, and beautiful flowering plants in conjunction with letting nature have its way rather than making it all so labor intensive and destroying what is already growing here. In Buddhism there is he concept of the Middle Way. Maybe this is the middle path of ecology. Rather than an either/or, how do we make it a both/and? How do we raise those things we want/need and while respecting the needs of the land and creatures that inhabit it?
One of the biggest barriers to creating a post-industrial culture that lives this way is our own self-interest. We are capable (if we are educated to do it) of living in a harmonious and ecological way, but it is less likely to be done when such practices get in the way of our own self-interest. People want to be comfortable. We want life to make sense based on our history, culture, and biological make-up. WE want what we want when we want it. To do otherwise causes stress and that stress requires energy and that energy requires the consumption of more resources. We are, by nature, consumers. The question is- at what level do we consume? The current world population is close to 7 billion people. So, at what level will we consume? It doesn't seem to me that we can all live the comfortable life that we do in the U.S. Will people choose discomfort? If it isn't the natural tendency, then what do we do? Is it even physiologically possible for all of us to do this? (On a macro and governmental level, this is the reason industry monitoring themselves doesn't work and there is the need for government intervention.)
In a way, Aisling is us making our statement for the Middle Way. It is a way of balance and interdependence. It isn't easy and I want all the blueberries (or Blubs as we affectionately call them) for us. But it is a matter of finding a balance so that we can all live in balance with each other without taking the cat-o-nine tails to our backs.
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