WELCOME! This is a community for the Chronically Awesome not chronically ill. We are a nation of people who are working to right so many wrongs; educating each other along the way! And many of us battle long illnesses, this includes those with chronic Lyme but we are not exclusive in our suffering or struggles. We are all bound together by our vast difficulties. It is our duty to stand up against injustice and fight against anything that inhibits our health
Have a happy and healthy day!
Many of us are struggling to put one foot in front of the other. I have talked to some people who are in a very dark place - places I am familiar with and have struggled through myself. Don't give up. We need you. You are loved! You are strong! You are a warrior! You are not alone! And for the record I am not on the other side of this Lyme disease yet yet either - but I am here to link arms with anyone who is willing, so that we might all make it across this dangerous and rising flood of Lyme and other Tick borne diseases ... We don't want to see anyone else go un-diagnosed year after year right?
I am also here to offer you some hope. Today is the anniversary - of my having gone 16 months without a hospitalization or ambulance ride. This is the longest I have gone since 2005. I have changed my diet and started using Juice Plus+ which I highly recommend for anyone suffering from chronic illness. Please do yourself a favor and contact me so I can send you some more information - it has been a catalyst to great changes in my life with Lyme and is also now allowing me to work from home as an independent contractor, health coach and blogger. I urge you to explore this with me but I am only trying to educate and inspire you to live your best life yet. This is not a sales pitch - I am offering you the opportunity to improve your health and wealth because that is my mission in life now. I am here when you want to talk my friends! Email me at healthandwealthaves@gmail.com or send me a message on Facebook. What a difference a year of nutrition makes in the battle against Tick Borne Diseases. my quality of life has improved an enormous amount from when I couldn't go more then a month without numerous devastating symptoms and sicknesses plaguing me for over a decade. Doctors say these symptoms can be caused by Lyme, or by a plethora of other illnesses and conditions, which is not helpful as a diagnostic response to ongoing symptoms and sickness. My doctor said that my dietary changes are the cause of my healing and call me a walking miracle.
We are not there yet my friends - as you know! And when we as a society don't look for chronic Lyme per se, we lump all unusual symptoms into poor categorizations. Either "see someone for your mental health" or "see a specialist" (aka: It's not my field of expertise or area of the body). Great! So helpful!
It's a lot for anyone to deal with. But we do a better job of coping and healing when we link arms and walk this minefield together. That I promise.
I cannot tell you why we have to fight to be heard or why we have to wait for the rest of the world to hear our cries - I do know the day is coming when we will be recognized and will receive the kind of attention and care we need! I look back on my life pre-Lyme vs today and there is no comparison! However, I do know I am strong enough to beat this. I know that in my heart - in the very fiber of my being! I am stronger than this!
I have struggled for years and the struggle continues in the present day. It's a struggle that includes my housing, finances, health coverage, transportation, money, bills; broken phones & laptops & tablets & various other items that help me run a business; it's all a struggle but I am fighting and encourage you to do the same. YOU are not broken - you may be bruised, beaten down, feeling brittle - and much more - I know. But never allow yourself to be broken. You have to tell yourself regularly that you are worth fighting for and that you have come so far already that you aren't going to quit now.
Year after year - nobody wants to be a burden. I want to be a blessing and be the best for myself, for my family, for you, for the future of Lyme & humanity.Still carry that desire to fit in with me from my teens I guess, I bet many of us do ~ but I now care as much about doing myself proud and being the kind of woman others look up to as I do about pleasing others! That is a step in the right direction.
And I am finally spending time on this need to be more then my medical condition. I didn't have a grand plan when I started my blog or my business or most of the things I am working on regularly in my current life. I just had a need, an instinct, and some people come into my life who loved me with my illness, and all of my flaws even, I didn't see it at first because I had gotten so used to being alone during my hardest battles. It's normal for the very ill to seek solitude or even to be left behind in their hours of need - both happen regularly but the day I said to myself - this is no way to live and I am going to try something else after all these years was both the best and worst day of my life because it meant, and still means, a ton of hard work on my mentality, on my fears, on my foods and on building or re-building friendships and relationships. It's exhausting yes, however, it is the most rewarding "treatment" I have tried yet in terms of giving me back some small piece of my old self, of the person I always was but had lost sight of long ago in the battle against this crazy bacteria.
I am that kind of woman. I am strong, I am unique. I am powerful and no lack of funds is going to dim this bright bulb. I encourage you to join me and start giving yourself the applause you deserve. You may not have "won" but you have not lost yet either. Another round? Sure! You can manage; you can fight; you will not be defeated! Won't you join me and be a warrior? Warriors never give up! Look to the future - wait for the dawn that brings light and hope for Lyme victims everywhere. It's coming! Until then stand tall, be proud and fight! And take care of yourself physically, mentally and spiritually - nobody will do it for you.
As always I wish you a happy, healthy and healing day. Thank you for supporting each other and for supporting me. You are always welcome here at the corner BETWEEN HEALTH AND WEALTH AVENUES! Happy to have you! Y'all come back now ya hear?
Stay tuned for more on this exciting new online location! We are coming back to life my friends! I have not forgotten you. I'm excited to get the new site up and running this fall. Please be patient and send out some good vibes to this endeavor and those involved in helping create a special place for our special community!
Re-post! Have you ever had a knot in your shoelace? You have to bend down to untie it. Bending down can be seen as showing humility and asking for guidance and today that's exactly how I'm going to view it.
Only you can decide how to handle the knots in your shoelaces - and in your life.
" Problems cannot beResolved at once. Slowly untie knots Divide and conquer."
("365 Tao" Deng Ming-Dao)
In order to solve problems, it is helpful to first understand whether "they are a puzzle, obstacle, or entanglement."
* A puzzle: to put (someone) at a loss; mystify; confuse; baffle. To exercise (oneself, one's brain, etc.) over some problem or matter.Archaic. to make intricate or complicated.
Synonyms - Puzzle, riddle, enigma refer to something baffling or confusing that is to be solved. A puzzle is a question or problem, intricate enough to be perplexing to the mind; it is sometimes a contrivance made purposely perplexing to test one's ingenuity (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/puzzle)
A puzzle "need only be analyzed carefully. It is like unraveling a ball of yarn and requires patience more than anything else." (Ming-Dao)
"I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is "Who in the world am I?" Ah, that's the great puzzle!" --Lewis Carrol
* An obstacle: something that obstructs or hinders progress. Synonyms: Obstacle, obstruction, hindrance, impediment refer to something that interferes with or prevents action or progress. An obstacle is something, material or non-material, that stands in the way of literal or figurative progress: "Lack of imagination is an obstacle to one's advancement."
"The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to be resisted, and when it be obeyed." --Nathaniel Hawthorne
An obstacle must "be overcome. We must use force and perseverance to either destroy or move away from what is blocking us." (Ming-Dao)
*An entanglement: something that entangles; snare; involvement; complication. To confuse or perplex. An entanglement mires us in a maze of limitations: "This most dangerous of situations requires that we use all our resources to extricate ourselves as quickly as possible." Most problems are a combination of puzzles, obstacles and entanglements - by breaking them into these more basic elements they can be managed easily... Reduce them slowly and untie the knots of life - then you are free to move around, un-tethered and untied to the controversies, faults, flaws and fears that many of us carry around. These weigh us down or pull us back when we try to move forward in our lives. Without movement nothing new can be discovered, nothing can be created, and no new destinations will be reached ; no new new learning occurs. One needs creativity to untie their knots - and to keep those knots from reforming around them, We don't want to find ourselves entangled in the same mess again.
reprinted with permission from U.S. Army Veterans Association
Only you can decide how and where to cut ties, how to unravel your life and how to un-tether yourself but remember when you bend down to untie the knots in your shoelaces and in your lives to show some humility and ask a higher power for guidance, grace and when needed, the gusto to keep unraveling these knots. Go slowly, use your wisdom while keeping in your heart and mind a great sense of possibility when you approach your problems. Remember to keep in the back of your mind a sense of responsibility and accountability - many of these knots you allowed to from; you may have even tied yourself up unconsciously and now the responsible thing to do is to untie them humbly. Trusting in a higher power or energy source is absolutely essential - for the sake of my life I will refer to my higher power as God but feel free to replace that term with whatever fits best into your life and belief system. It is with God's help that the knots of fears, regrets, woes, self-pity, pain, anger, frustration,apathy, ignorance and doubt can finally come undone.When you are on a path with passionate acceptance that the universe and the creator are a part of your daily life then those will loosen naturally - when you are an active seeker you will feel the guiding energy of the greater good working with you and through you against your problems and those of the world.Your "puzzles, obstacles and entanglements" are not unique and once you are learning how to untie and untangle it is your duty to help others do the same.
Don't be overcome by fear of the unknown and don't fret when it gets hard and fall back into familiar, yet faulty ways of thinking and acting - this only serves to tighten those knots - keeping you tied up longer and distracting you from the great future God has waiting for you. Don't let fear, and familiarity draw you into their comforting and consistent embrace - it's time to break the chains my friend. Take calculated risks, face danger if you must, go it alone when necessary, use vision, determination passion, tenacity and moral compass to confront the bonds of adversity and anxiety. Then you can emerge successfully and go further in your life's callings then ever before.
Remember break your problems down into small manageable parts so you can resolve the situation. Reach deep within and don't forget to center yourself in goodness, strength, being aware of the greater world around you and all the goodness and strength it provides. Be aware of all that energy and that you are a part of it. Is your energy going towards the good - both personal good and the greater good? Keep this in the back of your mind - come back to this question regularly.
This is one manifestation of our continuing efforts at self-development. Maintain your development, move forth confronting your demons, un-tether yourself and examines those puzzles, obstacles, and entanglements and let's start untying some knots! Accumulate momentum in this part of your life - and move forth being extraordinary every single day. Have a happy and healthy day dear friends, Peace, Audrey
Have a happy and healthy day my friends and thank you for reading! Keep on rockin' in the free world! Peace
Hello my friends - long time no see. I have not had a computer, nor access to wi-fi in a week and a half now - and it has been quite an adventure since we last were here together. This is a post I have been working on since last Wednesday when I was struck suddenly with the idea and since I had no computer I sat down at my local bar with a pen and paper and wrote it out by hand. I am happy to say I found that the Newport public library gives access to my blogger account so here I am on a rainy Monday night, finally writing it up and getting it online. And so without further adieu I present "Examine your dash" - my new favorite piece without a doubt.
Rick Grandinetti is a friend of my father's, and the author of "Succeed inside the Box". I came across the book right at home one day last month - and sat down to check it out. It's a slip of a book; barley long enough to qualify, but chock full of fantastic accounts and quotable s and one liner's you want to take with you. When I was reading it last week I had an A-ha moment. I had been working out the way to use some ideas that Pema Chodrun had shared in an interview with Oprah on OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) earlier in November (part of the Super Soul Sunday series) and when I read this piece by Rick I was struck suddenly with the need to write a post - I take these A-ha moments very seriously as a writer. They don't happen often and cannot be forced. Once the idea hits it's like the piece rites itself; I don't have control over the content or length and race to get it all copied down before I lose the idea... or motivation needed to produce something like this.
I find the difference between an inspired piece of writing and a forced one is that when I've had an A-ha moment, I cannot be kept from writing the damn thing... as I fully realized just this week - on Wednesday I began to understand that the home computer, network and account issues I've been having were, perhaps, beyond repair and at the very least, insurmountable even with tech support from Microsoft, Cox, Google, and Verizon.
But dammit I had an idea, and the piece was ready to be born, so I headed for the bar where I could jot down some of the key ideas I hoped and relax before bed. Instead I ordered a drink and started writing - I didn't touch the drink or look up from the paper for over 45 minutes. I was desperately trying to take note of the piece as it occurred to me and now I regard the bar as my muse if you will. Pour Judgement had the writing pouring from me like Vodka at a Russian wedding.
It's not been fun trying to deal with all these technical issues and finally I had to get a tablet this weekend. I simply have not had time to get it set up with software and Internet access but it's on tomorrow's agenda for sure. The entire week has made for great story telling though it has been a long and difficult journey between Wednesday's A-ha moment and right now. Like most of what I have had to overcome it is not so great while you are alone, and living it out... but it certainly makes for a wild time, a lot of learning experiences, and of course, a great piece of writing
(I hope)
I had forgotten what I am like with an idea, and a pen and paper in hand - I've gotten accustomed to typing everything now even though it felt completely foreign to me a year ago. Ironically the entire week even with it's low points has reminded me to "Examine the dash" in my own life. This is a term I discovered and now borrow from Rick Grandinetti. In his book he speaks of a man who gets up at a friends funeral and says 'you will have three things written on your tombstone. 1) your date of birth 2) "a dash", and 3) the date you died'
This man "said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For the dash represents all the time his friend had sent alive on earth. "And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth"
"For it matters not how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash. What matters most is how we live, and love, and how we spend our dash." (Grandinetti, p. 27 "Suceedinsidethebox.com")
Rick goes on to ask us - 'when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions to re-hash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you "spent the dash"?
This is certainly a question that we who get stuck in our lives need to examine. We're stuck in our careers, relationships, education, social lives, and our financial situations - which leads to being stuck elsewhere. Those of us who battle long term illness know how easy it is to get stuck in this mud. Even if and when our physical abilities change to allow us the room to finally grow and experience all parts of life we have missed out on we are often stuck due to these other aspects of our lives being so messed up and beat up during our illnesses. The degrees we never finished, the careers we put on hold, the families we dreamed of having but don't, the homes we can't afford to build, the relationships we longed for but gave up on having, and so much more - we are so stuck for so long that we forget to go out and live in any and every way imaginable. Because we are so stuck. Right?
Are you stuck? Are you chronically ill, or disabled, addicted, depressed? Are you having trouble with the mud in your life? If so you are not alone. I have been there myself for many years; chronically ill and super stuck. Like not moving ahead at all year after year, like not earning a dime, like not feeling loved or understood by anyone at times, or advancing in my education, or choosing a career path, or writing for almost a decade. I've coped with and accepted my losses and limitations but I am still learning how to pull myself from this quick sand and live my life with chronic Lyme disease despite feeling ashamed, or anxious, or incompetent at times. Not having a chance to feel secure in your life creates a hazardous amount of mud and it sucks you in so fast - it won't let go. Due to our sicknesses, injuries, traumas, financial destinations, lack of friends and worn out families we often allow ourselves to remain in this state for years - even forever but we don't have to. I am seeing this day in and day out this month. It's fight. It's hard work - so hard - but it feels amazing at times even when it is exhausting.
We can still spend our time, and live our "dash" to the fullest, once we realize that living to the fullest now is not what it was before we got ill or injured. Then we must make changes, internally and consciously, making ourselves re-define living and then go out and put our new definitions into action as best we can so that we can once again live a life we are incredibly proud of. Ask yourself, when was the last time you felt accomplished? Or appreciated? Or proud of something you created? If you have trouble answering this then it's time dear reader to start making some changes and we can start by changing how we define ourselves and view our lives. We all need to stop using the term "stuck" especially when we are talking to ourselves! When you use the term "stuck" as an adjective to represent your current situation you don't change. Word Origin and History for the word "stuck" tells us that the term means "unable to go any further," and dates back to 1885. It is from past participle of stick (v.). The moment we think of ourselves as stuck -we are unable to go further in any of the parts of life we are trying to advance in; we are in essence, accepting our situations, limitations, illnesses and problems as being out of our control - and therefore they remain unchanging. Others view us as stuck therefore, without question. I am just realizing this in my own life, and it's not easy to admit, it's even harder to work on changing. Changing myself from the position of "stuck" to "moving ahead" is one of the hardest things I've ever done. It's work on myself, by myself, for myself. Yikes. That's scary isn't it. But it is harder to be stuck then it is to get unstuck if you'll believe that. Believe me - it's a lot like emotional healing and therapy -it's a process, not a one time event. But it's worthwhile to start this process because it opens up the possibility of changing your life and having the desired effect on other people that you want to but are not currently capable of having.
What kind of effect do you have on other people? We with chronic "issues" must ask ourselves today "what kind of effect our own acceptance that we are stuck has on our ability to heal" - to heal, and hope and feel honest and happy and humbly begin to change our lives and teach others what we know. We lack these things with a profound sense of having been cheated. Am I right? We are stuck, and it's implied every time we think, or say this, that we didn't get stuck by our own actions alone, others had a hand in it. And so of course, did our diseases and diagnoses. But what are we doing right now to get out of this situation? What are we doing to change and improve ourselves, our view point, our health, our spirituality, our relationships, and our overall health and happiness? If you say you are too stuck from your disease to change anything I have bad news my friend... This is just a comfortable un-truth, we have let ourselves accept as the reasoning for so much unhappiness and pain. We have felt out of control in our lives, and our relationships for so long we stopped examining our dash.
It's as good a time as any to begin to break free. It's time for some harsh truths... we are allowing ourselves to be unhappy, misunderstood and incapable of moving forward by accepting that we are stuck Being stuck is not something I ever questioned until recently. After so many years of struggling with illness, and the ensuing lack of independence, lack of feeling impassioned or inspired; driven and eventually fulfilled, I am finally asking myself the right questions. When I don't like the answers that's when the work begins. This is the total opposite of how I lived for about 7 years and it's taken a long time, and a lot of effort to arrive at this current point. SO start asking yourself the hard questions - just remember to be kind to yourself my friend. Be kind but totally honest. No excuses but no judging yourself or criticisms of your current situation either. This is not easy but if you are determined to be fairer to yourself then you would be with another then you can begin this process. Know this, before you begin, you can actually get un-stuck. YES YOU CAN. Even with no money, no love life, no job, no new dreams, no inspiration or new interests to pursue... you can move into a life where you seek to live and love and let go of your limitations, and become chronically awesome; no longer seeing yourself as chronically ill. You need to let go of the obsession with the run of the mill generalizations we all use when we're feeling down and out - you want to get "better" or "back on your feet" - well you may not get better and your feet haven't gone anywhere. You may have developed some trouble using them - but with the right ideas and people to lean on you can not only get back on your feet but let those feet take you anywhere you want to go, anyplace you dream of. If you're stuck you need to examine why and start fixing it - only you can do this.
"You will not be remembered for how tall you were. You will be remembered for how many times you bent down to teach others." (Grandineiti, p. 28) You may be stuck - it happens to the best and brightest of us without a doubt. That's okay. Today you start the process of breaking free. I am here to teach you how or at least give you hope for tomorrow. You decide if you are going to let the "dash" on you r tombstone mean more then it does today. There's still time left "in the dash"! But once the last date is put on your grave it's out of my hands, and yours. Game over. Don't get stuck like a deer in the headlights - because you are afraid. It's instinctual I know; the nature of fear is to stop and hold your breath. You have to work against this nature! As Pema Chodrun told Oprah Winfrey in their recent interview "If you don't know the nature of fear then you can never be fearless."
Be fearless my friend. Examine the dash!
Have a happy and healthy day my friend, PEACE - Audrey
Grace - Today I AM AWARE OF GRACE AS A GIFT IN MY LIFE. There is a quality of grace that is like a gentle gust of wind. It lifts your spirits, changes things around, and makes way for new things to appear in your life.
What is grace exactly? For the purposes of this post let's define it as: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification. It is also an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency. How do we invite grace into our lives - well here's the first step... Don’t dwell on everything you think your life lacks. Instead, pay attention to what’s going right. I have the life that I want: I write every day. I take risks. I seek opportunities to use my skills. I’m sowing the seeds. Other people might not recognize the abundance in my life because on the surface, I have challenges—but I recognize it. I use my natural gifts and enable all that I have to grow, strengthen, and come in to light. Focusing on lack is not an option. Negativity is not constructive. The important thing is that I know what I want and I can make it happen. There are few things in this life that are impossible and we always have a choice. We don’t have to live in the shadow of what could have been if we shine a light on what’s working to allow it to grow. (tinybuddha)
GRACE is ''Unmerited love'' we didn't earn it. But when it finds us we need to accept it, and welcome it with open arms. Remember Grace doesn't always come in the forms we expect - there may not be visible legions of angels - or a booming voice from above saying I love you and I'm here to help... and I think this is what many of us subconsciously expect. You don't have to go looking for it - it will find you. But you do have to keep your eyes, and your heart and mind open not just to the possibility of Grace but to the probability of it. It does exist. For each and everyone of us Grace is a part of life. I know a lot of people may think I haven’t “reached” the place where I need to be yet. I’m not in denial, I need money, good health, and love, but I am optimistic, and I move forward and trust in friendship, fellowship and grace. I have felt guilty, desperate and exhausted. We all do sometimes. But I know it’s getting better. I also know that my present experience will ultimately enrich my life. More importantly I know Grace is currently a part of my life - I can both give and receive it - and I do regularly. I encourage you to do the same.
I consider each of us employed in the service of GRACE - some of us are doing it full time, others may not have heard or recognized their calling yet. If you believe in the power of prayer, please pray with me...I don't usually bring religion into my posts - all are welcome here despite beliefs but I for me God is a gracious being and with that I will end with one of my favorite prayers. Take what you can from it:
"Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, Amen. -- Collect for Labor Day from the Book of Common Prayer" O God, who hast bound us together in this bundle of life, give us grace to understand how our lives depend upon the courage, the industry, the honesty, and the integrity of our fellow humans; that we may be faithful in our responsibilities to them. – Reinhold Niebuhr Thank you for visiting Between Health and Wealth Avenues. I wish you a happy and healthy day full of wonder and grace. PEACE, Audrey
Have a happy and healthy day dear friends. Peace, Audrey Elizabeth Korte
(Check out our new Twitter page friends: @avehealthwealth and don't forget to follow the blog - I love seeing your names and faces listed under followers! It helps me grow - LOL)
"The eradication of hunger is not just an end in itself; it is a key step towards a fairer, more secure world; for a hungry man is not a free man." - Kofi Anan
Let me tell you a story about something that happened last Thursday. It was a day of awful weather here in Newport. Chilly, pouring rain, with driving wind and I was out doing errands for my business. I had jut left Verizon and was on my way to the public library to drop off some books and was excited I had spent jut under my budget that morning which meant I had enough left over to grab some lunch, and I was hungry. I was coming up on an intersection when it started to rain, hard. I saw a man standing there with a sign saying "homeless Iraq veteran. Hungry - please help." There was a woman in a huge SUV in the lane next to me also stopping at this intersection. She rolled up her window2 and put her hand over her eyes to shield her vision... not from sun - no... from the homeless, hungry man. She was talking on her phone and I assume she didn't want to look at this man asking for help. It was an ugly moment for humanity. The man put his head down and turned away from her. I was in the lane to the left and over the4 next 30 seconds or so I got so pissed off. I did something unusual - I put my right blinker on and pulled in front of the SUV - blocking her and half the intersection too. When the light turned green I pulled forward about 6 feet and put my flashers on. I stopped the car and got out - reaching in my pocket I thought I had a dollar or 2. I pulled out $11 (my lunch money) and grabbed the umbrella from my door. I handed him the money and umbrella, gave him a hug and said - don't lose hope my friend." I had stropped traffic and nobody was honking their horn at me in that moment. A man in his car in front of me put his hand out the window and gave me a thumbs up. I wanted to give the woman in the SUV the middle finger but I resisted the temptation. Instead I got back in my car and turned the music up - the man started sobbing as I pulled away. And my eyes started to fill up with tears too. But I felt good. I hadn't thought ahead - I had no plan when I got out of my car. I reached in my pocket and gave everything I had. Why? Because he was asking for help. In that moment I didn't hesitate and for that I am grateful. You see I didn't just hand him $11 and an umbrella - I handed him some hope and I hugged him like a friend. I believe in my heart that I gave him some hope - ad that is a gift you can't put a price on.
I got home and got online and what do I see? It's World Food day! Who knew? Apparently I did. I started working on a post immediately and spent the after noon sharing World Food Day posts and photos. I tweeted a lot - and made a collage for the blog. That night I was watching Kofi Anan online and shared his tweets - I responded to of them saying I believed we were trying to accomplish the same things in life - I was simply in the U.S., 33 and serving a different population and said how much of an inspiration he was for me that day. Low and behold, Mr. Kofi Ana re-tweeted it an hour later. Cool huh? And that my friends was how I spent World food day 2014.
Today I sharpen my discernment and cut through illusion with the sword of truth. Cutting through illusion takes a discerning eye, a sharp mind and an open heart. I wish all of these for you dear friend.
In recent years a strong movement has emerged to redefine agriculture from the perspective of its sustainability (ability to be productively replicated in future generations) and its interconnection with its immediate environment. The movement has brought focus not only to these connections but to the profitability of small farms, the practicality of individuals growing their own food, and the environmental and economic benefits of obtaining food that has been produced locally.
According to the 1990 U.S. Farm Bill, sustainable agriculture should hold to these basic tenets: • satisfy human food and fiber needs and farmers and ranchers profit over the long term • enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends • make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate natural biological cycles and controls • sustain the economic viability of farm operations • enhance the quality of life for farmers, ranchers and society as a whole Although the farm has long been a place where much thought has been given to stewardship of the earth, it has also been a battleground of principles where large scale economies often fight for position in front of solid conservation practices. While food and fiber production has soared due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization, and government policies that favored maximizing production, there have been significant environmental and social costs. Prominent among these are topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, decline of family farms, increasing production costs, intensified use of fossil fuel sources, and degradation of economic and social conditions in rural communities. The growing sustainable agriculture movement of the last two decades has focused on methodologies that address these concerns without damaging the economic viability of the farm According to the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program at U. Cal-Davis, basic operational core practices of the movement should include : • Selection of species and varieties that are well suited to the site and to conditions on the farm; • Diversification of crops (including livestock) and cultural practices to enhance the biological and economic stability of the farm; • Management of the soil to enhance and protect soil quality; • Efficient and humane use of inputs; and • Consideration of farmers' goals and lifestyle choices. Examples of specific practices that fit within this framework include but are definitely not limited to): recycling/composting yard and kitchen waste, polycultural farming, square foot gardening, seed saving/use of heirloom varieties,rainwater management practices (rain barrels, cisterns, rain gardens, etc.),vertical gardening (may I recommend the Tower Garden my friends: akorteshares.towergarden.com), animal husbandry practices (small paddock rotational grazing, backyard chickens, Serengeti rotational grazing, etc.), integrated pest management, and best practices from organic agriculture. The way that crops are sold must also be accounted for in relation to sustainability. Food sold locally saves transportation energy (including consumers) whereas food that is sold at a remote location, involves a different and higher set of energy costs for materials, labor, and transport.
Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. While this can possibly be done with large scale operations, the focus of this topic will address smaller scale, family farm level operations. One of the newest topics in sustainability and one you will hear me discuss often is vertical growing. I run a small business dedicated to this sustainable technology and would like to use this opportunity to tell you more about it and it's environmental benefits... So how can you start to support sustainable movements on the local level?
Grow your own food
Visit your local farmer's market regularly and get to know the people who feed you
Stop asking why organic food is so expensive and start asking why non-GMO food is so cheap
Educate yourself and others on sustainable practices
Make your voice heard - contact your Senator and Congressperson; let them know this matters
Teach your children well: show them the way instead of telling them
Practice what you preach
Start with these basic tenants and before you know it you'll MVP of Team Sustainability! Welcome to the team my friends - we are happy to have you join us! Have a happy and healthy day everyone. Peace, Audrey
![[wolves1.jpg]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u74gudPOjLiWcOJLBNdocpzpVo-QER2fi2UbbDS6Sn8tS1umtA30ejtXklh4iJv0ESEX2afvUJp-7mqcSJ890g4eeBfNtNtUldlgF7LqR2R2OA6Rp_Q79kQs_FZvbUyHnEDU_igybvHm93wMrK3j5zEyikJVy4CQ=s0-d)
.jpg)
