Cowboy Corner: The Cat Dentist

September 26, 2024

I started out as a cat dentist quite by accident….you see, one day I was at the bank and made a joke about how a Vet was going to charge me over six hundred bucks to get this rotten tooth pulled out of my cat’s head. The exact wording of the conversation escapes me, but the general gist of the banter was that although it wouldn’t put me in the poorhouse, I felt the fee to be excessive so I created a hypothetical situation in which I would get the cat really drunk on Lemon Gin and pull out the offending fang with needle nose pliers. We all had a good laugh and that was the end of that.

Or so I thought….

Later that evening, as I was right in the middle of my nightly ritual of getting drunk and wallowing in self pity, I heard a loud commotion outside. I peered through the drapes to ensure that it wasn’t some escaped mental patient with a history of violence, then ascertained it was one of the girls that worked at the bank. She was playing a set of bagpipes right beneath my window. Then I realized that it was not a set of bagpipes at all, but a fighting and screaming cat confined in a ratty old pillowcase. I hastily donned my purple polyester pantsuit with the big white vinyl belt and slid down the banister like a jaunty pirate and unlatched the door.

She wanted to know if she could pay me two hundred bucks cash to pull out the animal’s tooth, no questions asked.

So I looked around and said,”Yeah, okay, c’mon in”.

And that’s how I met my first wife.

Green Wizardries: Apple Pressing

September 26, 2024

We just finished. For the last two mornings, we have been pressing all the apples we could scrape together from our orchard, a friend’s orchard and a tree growing on the road allowance. We borrowed the apple press from the Growers and Producers Association.

It is a grand old press very solidly made in the States. We bolted it to our deck and had all the feed bags of apples lined up. The first job is to grind the apples. The press has an integral grinder. I would throw in apples one or two at a time and my husband would spin the wheel that turned the grinder and the little chips of apples would fall into a bottomless metal basket.

Once the basket was full, we would put a heavy metal plate on top and then turn the screw driving it down and down to press the apples until the glorious, clear juice ran out into a bucket. Once we had all the juice we could squeeze from a batch of apples, we undid the screw and emptied all the apple chips into plastic tote boxes. We use this to feed livestock. There is far too much for our little farm so we gave some of it away to farming friends.

This apple pomace, for that is what it is called, is a delicacy enjoyed by horses, cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and rabbits. If you don’t have any livestock, then the critters in the compost bin will love this for sure.

We haven’t pressed our own apples for a long time and buy juice from a local supplier who does a great job with her automated apple-pressing facility. This year, she said she might not be able to get all the apples she needed but assured us of one carbouy of juice. That is 21 litres. So, we ran around and picked like the dickens and got the GPA’s press.

Annual GPA membership for a household costs $20. The equipment is free for the use of members. Their list of equipment to aid farmers and gardeners is impressive. There is the apple press of course, a seed thresher for corn, beans and grains, apple picking pole and picking bags which are a Godsend when you are working to harvest tall trees, a walk-behind rototiller, a tincture herb press, an oat roller and GF mill, seeder, hoop-house pipe bender, really nice stainless-steel food dehydrator, a canbro cooler, oxalic atomizer for cleaning beehives, a thresher, sheep shears, a honey extractor, a nut cracker and a soil sampling probe. That is a lot of expensive and useful gear for $20!

The apple press alone saved us heaps of money. An inexpensive wine kit costs about $75 and makes about 30 bottles of wine. The cost per bottle is approximately $2.50. A carbouy of fresh, organic apple juice costs just the $20 membership fee and the pleasant time it takes to pick and process the apples. My husband worked out that using our own apples and the GPA’s apple press, he can make apple wine for .33 cents a bottle. The wine is lovely stuff and a big hit with our visitors from the city.

The GPA has a high-functioning web site where you can speedily purchase your membership as there is still lots of time to pick and press apples and use the other equipment. The GPA is holding a seed cleaning demonstration at the Old School on Saturday 12 October from 9:30 onward. I will be taking a bunch of seeds up to be cleaned and I recommend this to anyone who needs their seed crop cleaning.

The GPA also hosts Seedy Saturday which is a fun event to be held next year in January and there will be workshops, local seed vendors and a seed exchange where I get a great deal of the seed I use every year. Make sure you have some packaged seeds from your garden to bring to Seedy Saturday as you get to pick a package of seeds for every package you donate.

If you have read this far, I have a sweet treat for you. Apple crumble is an easy dessert to make and much beloved of all but here we have an apple crumble with a twist. This is Apple Custard Crumble. Peel core and slice about 8 apples and lay the slices in an 8” by 8” glass baking pan. Whisk 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 Tbsp of flour, 1 Tsp cinnamon, 2 eggs and one cup of milk. Pour it over the apples. Make the crumble of 2/3 cup of rolled oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 2 Tsp cinnamon, 1/4 Tsp nutmeg, 3 TBSP butter and a pinch of salt. Mix that all up until it is crumbly. Sprinkle it over the apples and bake at 350 for about 50 minutes until the crumble if golden. Serve warm or cold.

Letter to the Editor – Oakley Rankin

September 26, 2024

Caitlin Johnstone. Oakley Rankin

Checking in on the Grapevine’s chosen cultural analyst, Caitlin Johnstone, some of you may already discovered who she is and what her background is but for those who haven’t, here is her own very limited overview.

Caitlin is an Australian living outside Melbourne with her American partner, Tim Foley. She writes of herself on Medium: ‘I am Australian, lived in Melbourne nearly all of my life, two kids, twice married and once divorced. I got a journalism degree in 2003 but figured out long before completing the course that the media deck is stacked so far against truth that I wouldn’t be able to do the kind of work I wanted to do, so I did some environmental activism while paying the bills with corporate work. I had a bunch of transformative personal experiences during that time period, then in 2016 I got a job at a self-publishing news outlet where I quickly gained an audience for my opinion articles about the Bernie Sanders movement (which arose from a commentary void I’d noticed needed filling while I was participating in Bernie Facebook groups)’.

She notes on her website that she ‘. . . became a fully crowd-funded writer who is answerable to no one, a privileged position I exploit to its fullest in saying things I think need to be said regardless of the taboos against saying them.’

Although she insists that her partner does not write her articles, she is ‘joined at the hip’ with him and her ‘work is the product of two minds, not one’. Johnstone styles herself as a ‘socialist’ but nowhere can I find an explanation of events that led her to believe in either socialism or in a stacked media deck—information which would be useful in assessing her articles.

Now I always believed that although a single name usually appears on a piece of investigative journalism or cultural analysis, behind the author is a collaborative structure of researchers, lawyers, proof readers, and an editor, often demanding two or more sources to corroborate claims made—in short, good investigative journalism relies on a team of persons even if the writer gets all the glory. What we can infer from the little information she gives us is that she believes the teamwork of responsible journalists only gets in the way of truth—truth which can only be found by an individual in a ‘privileged position’.

So what does she give us, the readers, from her privileged position? The same angry list of cultural demons, some common to all of us and some her own particular ones, over and over again. I can detect no critical reasoning about any of her particular bête noires, she never takes one of her claims and attempts to account for it in critical detail. Her blanket answer to motivation and process for all her claims is a ‘profoundly sophisticated propaganda machine’ (The Island Grapevine. Feb. 22, 2024). Her most egregious claim that millions of us are ‘brainwashed’ dupes of some exterior agent insults her readers and exempts her from any critical explanation of how events and actions in our culture come about. When she attempts to answer the question as to what she would propose to do about these demons she can only come up with ‘change yourself’. (The Island Grapevine. Sept 12, 2024). People do, of course, change but they are helped along by cultural attitudes including some enshrined in government legislation; think seat belts, healthcare, highways, public schools, next to non-existent capital gains taxes, lower taxes for unearned income, corporations as persons, etc.

But if you would like a comparison of the real critical thinking that Johnstone encourages but never demonstrates, there are plenty of examples; a particularly good one is a short book entitled ‘The Asset Economy’ by Lisa Adkins, Melinda Cooper and Martijn Konings. Of course, you should park your bias and use a bit of your own critical thinking in reading the book but it demonstrates a clear, detailed analysis of a few of those demons—inequality, the 1%, home ownership. The authors provide these familiar cultural observations with a framework of analysis that makes sense of their process and effects. There are, of course, other critical frameworks on the same problems which the authors responsibly acknowledge in some detail as critical reasoning demands. Taken together such efforts can lead us towards truth.

Johnstone exemplifies the ethos Susan Faludi writes of, an ethos ‘pervasive in so much of contemporary reporting—that the personal can save us from the political, that the world of objectivity will be humanized by the “authentic” feelings and sleeve-worn convictions of its chroniclers—has proved corrosive to journalism’s fundamental purpose: to examine “the system” and hold it accountable’. (NYRB. August 15, 2024. p. 50). Johnstone never really examines “the system” and along with dozens of similar contemporary ‘reporters’ leads us to a place where opinion has become a source of ‘truth’ and ‘feeling’ always trumps critical reasoning. Such an emphasis on the ‘truth’ of opinion is rationalized on the basis that all of us are ‘biased’ and our efforts to overcome bias have never worked. Social media enables anyone to broadcast their opinions to the world without critique of any sort and, within a matter of hours if not minutes, a large number of people can then pick it up as their own truth. This ‘crowd sourcing’ works to kill legitimate criticism and when enough people take up an idea quickly it lends a specious verisimilitude of truth to the idea and becomes the critique—if all those people believe it it must be true.

If the Grapevine’s intention is to inform rather than inflame it remains a mystery to me why Gwynne Dyer, a internationally acclaimed investigative journalist, Middle Eastern specialist, and professional historian, was replaced in the Grapevine by a relatively unknown agitprop artist who brooks no criticism of her extraordinarily biased ranting on our culture. And mind you, I am not talking of perfection here; Dyer is an honest cultural reporter using the best means we have devised for minimising bias. Johnstone prefers to give her emotive bias full rein over any critical reasoning. Her unpleasant attempt to emulate Jonathon Swift (The Island Grapevine. Sept. 19, 2024) only drives home both her irrationality and her dispiriting writing style. As a child in the forties and fifties we were often exhorted to put on our thinking caps; Johnstone has never found hers.

Editor’s note: Gwynne Dyer’s regular appearance in TIG has not been “replaced” by Caitlin Johnstone. A former contributor to TIG had a paid subscription to Dyer’s work that included permission to reprint his material. Mr. Rankin’s ad hominem attack of Johnstone is ironic in that it projects his own biases toward corporate legacy reporting that can be found everywhere else.

To Be An Authentic Person Is To Stare Deeply Into The Face Of Uncomfortable Truths

September 26, 2024

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE

SEP 23, 2024

To be an authentic person is to stare deeply into the face of uncomfortable truths.

It’s to experience all the footage of shredded bodies in Gaza with a visceral understanding that these are real things happening to real people whose lives mattered just as much as your own.

To come to terms with the reality that the power structure you were raised to trust and the political party you were raised to side with are responsible for some of the worst things that have ever happened in our world, and that their depravity must be fought tooth and claw.

To stare unblinking into the very real possibility that the madness of our rulers could cause total human extinction by nuclear war or environmental destruction within your own lifetime.

To admit that your previous understanding of an issue was a misguided perception caused by propaganda, and to be fully open to the possibility that this is also true of your current understanding of other issues as well.

To deeply recognize the ways your own delusion and dysfunction have played a role in the delusion and dysfunction of humanity as a whole, and to cease viewing yourself as separate or separable from the self-destructive patterning of our species.

To be honest with yourself about the circumstances of your birth and the ways in which you have it better than other people in different circumstances and in other parts of the world — often at the expense of those very populations.

To be honest with yourself about the ways in which your actions harm others, and take any steps necessary to rectify this wherever you can.

To be honest with yourself about the ways in which you have been harmed — your traumas and wounded self-beliefs and your maladaptive coping mechanisms ensuing therefrom — and do the work necessary to heal them.

To be honest with yourself about how little you really know about this boundless mystery called life, and to be humble in your position as a clueless member of a young species in a universe that none of us understand.

To explore with sincere curiosity the possibility that all our assumptions about the reality we are experiencing have been wrong this whole time, right down to our beliefs about things as fundamental as thought, perception, and the existence of a self or a separate outer world.

To to be an authentic person is to constantly plunge headlong into the uncomfortable, the unfamiliar, the unknown and the unpredictable, even when doing so feels like a kind of death, for no other reason than because that’s where the truth is.

It’s to always welcome the truth with open arms, even when it is unpleasant, embarrassing, inconvenient or downright terrifying, come what may.

________________________________________________________________________

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Go here to find video versions of my articles. If you’d prefer to listen to audio of these articles, you can subscribe to them on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud or YouTube. Go hereto buy paperback editions of my writings from month to month. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

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WHAT’S UP WITH HARRY?

September 26, 2024

WHAT’S UP WITH HARRY?

Everyone wanted Harry. Surrounded by a sparkling inland sea, this tiny island paradise attracted beach and forest pilgrims from the planet ‘round.

But across murmuring nighttime waters, Van Hoover’s inclined sprawl glowed like the campfires of follow-on armies. If Harry’s stewards did not remain vigilant, the fate awaiting this much-coveted isle was plain to see.

Storm clouds were gathering. Before implementing remote virtual control, unelected Plan Errs occasionally parachuted onto Harry’s fair flanks. Inspired by powerful industries and a shared mission to “preserve and protect” corporate profits, their ill-considered ethics and edicts sought to bring condos, cell towers, cabanas and chaos to a rural sanctuary held sacred by its first seasonal visitors.

Oddly, the impulse driving those who most coveted Harry was to replicate what they were fleeing. Apparently unfamiliar with the concepts of karma, courtesy, common sense and community respect, Islands Bust Inc. green-lighted the inadvertent (though much forewarned) exhuming of the Cro’mox Nation’s ancestral bones.

“Shame! Shame! Shame!” scolded three ravens.

Resistance was growing. Early one morning, local defenders armed with their Official Community Plan, Local Government Act, Canadian Charter and Harry’s Vibe approached the snag atop which their jeering tormentors commanded and cowered.

“On me!” the leaders shouted. But when they turned, only a few stalwarts had followed.

“Where the heck is everybody?” someone cried out.

“They must still be asleep,” came a suggestion.

“That roost looks pretty high.”

“What will my neighbours say?” fretted a voice in back.

Just when all seemed lost, a rustling in the forest grew into an exuberant roar as Harry’s wild inhabitants burst from the trees!

Cows mooed. Crows cawed. Bees buzzed. Gulls squawked. Eagles cried. Salmon leapt. Orcas spouted close inshore and an astonished fawn looked on with wide unblinking eyes as hundreds of islanders began arriving on foot, horseback, ebikes and old pickups waving the petitions they’d signed.

“We love Harry!” everyone shouted in unison, accompanied by joyously honking geese. “Be nice to Harry!”

“Hoooot! Hoooot!” Owl hollered for attention. “All attend to Harry’s Code of Right Conduct.”

“Tell it,” a human voice called out.

“Ahem!” Owl said, adjusting his spectacles to read, not from Pooh but a scroll that kept trying to retract.

“Corporate predators are not welcome here. Ahem! Newcomers addicted to making commotion and demands are asked to reconsider whether they’ve caught the wrong ferry. Whether arriving via channel crossings, birth canals, hatchings or sprouting, the Way to be welcomed into this special place where so many interdependent creatures reside is to embrace the Spirit of Harry.”

Roosters crowed. Goats began cavorting with the horses. Soon, mothers, sons, dads and daughters were dancing too.

“What’s all that racket?” the overseers called down from their precarious perch. “Our avaricious predilection is to leave nothing alone — least of all, Harry. So get over it. We may know or care nothing about you, your lives and aspirations. But we do know what’s best for us. Er… you.”

“How do you figure that makes any sense?” hailed a sailor from the Cove.

“Our distant urban planning relies on Toronto’s best models and ChatGPT,” the over-developers boasted. “And we never suffer the consequence of our mistakes. If Nature is their own nature before all, leave your children’s impoverishment to us and go home.”

“We are home!” shouted every animal in unison, humans included. “We’re here to reclaim Harry!”

The flummoxed Plan Errs nearly dropped their personal distraction devices. “What are your demands?” they nervously demanded. Though they didn’t really want to know.

“Simple,” came the reply. “Leave us alone.”

“But how will you govern without us?”

“Like we used to,” rat-tat-tatted a red-crested woodpecker. “Much bet-bet-bet-betta.”

“Only after every voice is considered will we decide together what’s bestest for all the Fuzzy, Finned and Feathery peoples,” chortled baby Emma at her mother’s teat. “And all those walking on two legs,” her father contributed. “Or four,” added her mom, burping Emma.

The would-be usurpers grew alarmed.

“You must be joking if you think that, along with local woods and water spirits, the millennia-old representation of critters, elders, children, mothers and warriors in Village Councils has any relevance to godless digital-wireless rule,” they spluttered, appalled by the real world feedbacks needed to achieve harmony and Not Screw Up.

“We’re not impressed by your city ways,” riposted an otter, shaking slogans, soundbites and seawater from its back. “We’ve seen what happens when a few outside rule-makers disregard community wishes and values, local knowledge, and the innate wisdom of Place.”

“The mentality you want us to emulate cut me down,” a grandfather arbutus chimed in. “And thanks to your procrastination, Tribune’s trailside woodlands remain at risk.”

“Progress! Profits! Power!” the unrepresentatives chanted to reweave the spell they’d cast over themselves. “More Inappropriate Development Now!”

“Not on the backs of our kids,” said the woodpecker. And chopped that snag down.

willthomasonline.net

Shucking Oysters: Cuddle Therapy

September 26, 2024

Everyone likes a cuddle. And in the same vein as spanks, now we can pay for cuddles. This simple touching action can lower our blood pressure and enhance a sense of well-being. Not quite as popular as sex therapy, the business of cuddles is definitely expanding. In particular, one niche market, your cuddle therapist could weigh 1,200 pounds. Forget about old-school petting zoos, now we have boutique cuddling farms.

At Lester’s Farm Chalet in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Chloe, a working dairy Guernsey cow also freelances as a cuddling therapist in her part time. “She’s probably one of the kinder cows I’ve met,” said Sophia Vallis, one of the farm workers. “She’s super kind, super gentle.” Everything you want in a therapist, I’d say.

Jim Lester moved into the cow cuddling business last summer and has never looked back. For a mere $20, the 20-minute time slots have been sold out ever since. “They’re really amazed by a cow’s demeanour, and just being around these big, gentle creatures,” Lester said. “What a feeling it gives them, a sense of relaxation.” It’s a small business boost for the farm, but Lester also said it’s nice to see people reconnect with nature, and animals, in a novel way.

Cows are a great way to reconnect with the earth. “They’re probably a bit underappreciated for what they can offer the human soul,” he said. “Cows are one of the older domesticated livestock species… They’ve been around humans a long time.” Since the increased traffic from starstruck cow cuddlers, Chloe seems to be thriving, Vallis said. Chloe and the other cows get their therapy from the attention as well. “A lot of our cows here are very used to people,” she added. “They enjoy being with people, and they really love the treats. The treats are their favourite part.”

In Pennsylvania, Rose Bridge Farm & Sanctuary, home to many rescued animals, offers cuddle animal husbandry sessions with baby cows. Closed toe shoes only they warn, as “the cows are sweet, but they are big babies, so you must be careful and mindful.” A private cuddle session for two is only US$58. Cows are very sweet, affectionate animals that love to kiss and cuddle. Lest you be concerned with seeing this as form of animal abuse, the Sanctuary reminds visitors: “Please keep in mind this is not a petting zoo and that the needs and desires of the animal residents always come first.”

If cows are not your cuddle ideal, there are baby goat cuddling sessions. This is a little different kind of therapy; shades of EST. The baby goats will be jumping on your back and when they finally get tired, they may fall asleep in your arms. Or perhaps baby lamb and piglet cuddling, for those leaning towards a more mellower approach to cuddle therapy.

Helpers of Our Farm, in North Carolina, offers cow hugging as well. For US$75, two guests can hang out with a cow, goat, or pig. For the more frugal, or possibly intimidated types, 30-minutes sessions with a rabbit, chicken, turkey or duck are available at much lower rates. I can’t quite see how hugging a turkey would be therapeutic, except maybe in apology after Thanksgiving.

As always, Japan manages to take it to the next level. A pig cafe. At Tokyo’s Mipig Cafe, diners can schmooze with miniature pigs who trot around the cafe aimlessly looking for a soft lap to cuddle up on.

Customers pay US$15 for the first 30 minutes and a reservation is required.

“Each pig is unique. You may notice one may be strong-headed and another may be gentle,” said Shiho Kitagawa, an executive at Mipig who refers to the pigs as “buta-san,” in honour of the pig fighting video action game. The Mipig Cafe is one of 10 pig cafes Kitagawa has opened around Japan. The first one opened in Tokyo in 2019 and two more are in the works at the end of this year.

Known as “micro pigs,” they don’t get much bigger than a corgi, even as adults. The cafes also feature baby pigs the size of toy poodles. And if spending half an hour is not enough, you can adopt one for about US$1,350 – toilet-trained and socialized.

The pig cafes are the latest in a series of animal coffee shops that have popped up in Japan, including ones that feature owls, hedgehogs, birds and even snakes. Naturally, some people have raised ethical questions about whether the animals enjoy the experience as much as the humans. “It must be stressful to be touched and fondled by a bunch of strangers,” said Sachiko Azuma, head of Tokyo-based PEACE, which stands for Put an End to Animal Cruelty and Exploitation.

Most of the pig cafes tended to be tiny and didn’t provide enough of a natural environment for the animals, Azuma said. She does approve of cafes run by shelters trying to find owners for abandoned pets, however.

We all know the gift that animals have – the ability to help us humans relax and heal. Everyone has stress and each of us have different avenues in relieving that stress. Studies have consistently shown that cuddling and connecting with animals increases our oxytocin, “the love, cuddle, and bonding” hormone. But if that’s not your thing, I’ve heard rumours about a company opening up in the Valley, called Cuddles, Squeezes and Kicks, from a woman and her pet donkey, Muriel.

Letter to the Editor – W.J. Avery

September 26, 2024

Thank you so much for your paper that was in my box in Fanny Bay.

Very enlightening and pleasure to read. It contained 2 articles in particular that I’ve been curious about. This comment is shared by 2 of my neighbours also as we discussed it.

Yours,

W J Avery

invisible denied

September 26, 2024

Trauma-Skilled Workshop: Understanding, Healing, and Empowering

September 19, 2024

8fa409_27a912bb4eb74fa3a0000f47912a4762~mv2.jpg — Karen Wallace

DICES is honored to support this upcoming workshop with local art therapist, counselor, author and educator, Karen Wallace.

Trauma-Skilled Workshop: Understanding, Healing, and Empowering

Fee: $50 – $75 Sliding Scale

Seats: 25

Dates/Times: Friday October 4, 6:00 – 8:30 pm and Saturday October 5 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Location: Back Hall in the Denman Island Community Hall

The Trauma-Skilled Workshop aims to provide participants with comprehensive knowledge to begin to recognize, respond to, and support individuals affected by trauma. This workshop is designed to empower attendees with the necessary tools to start to create spaces that promote healing, resilience, and growth. The Trauma-Skilled Workshop offers participants a transformative learning experience aimed at deepening their understanding of trauma and cultivating empathy and resilience. By integrating trauma-informed principles into their personal and professional lives, attendees can contribute to creating safer, more supportive communities where healing and empowerment thrive. This is the first workshop to start our journey towards building a Trauma-Skilled organization.

Objectives:

1. To educate participants about the various types and effects of trauma.

2. To explore the principles and framework of trauma-informed care.

3. To equip attendees with practical strategies for creating trauma-sensitive environments.

4. To foster empathy and understanding towards individuals who have experienced trauma.

Workshop Facilitator: Karen Wallace

website: karen-wallace-therapy.com

“I am Karen Wallace, a multifaceted professional deeply entrenched in the realms of art therapy, artistic expression, and education. With a rich background spanning diverse roles, I initially served as an Art Therapist within Victoria BC’s school system, aiding individuals grappling with mental and emotional challenges, as well as those with special needs. In 2004, the trajectory of my journey led me to Saskatchewan, establishing a private practice in Regina. I extend therapeutic support to both adults and children while also sharing my expertise as an educator at the University of Regina and WHEAT Winnipeg Expressive Art Therapy.

My passion for fostering creativity and healing extends beyond traditional settings. Through a

spectrum of art therapy groups, including transformative sessions like The Archetypal Journey,

Learning to Love the Body You Have, Claiming Your Ruby Red Slippers, Soul Garden, and

Honoring the Mother, I empower individuals to explore their inner worlds through Internal

Family Systems and artistic expression. My commitment to spreading the benefits of art therapy transcends borders, as I have taught Focusing and Focused Centered Art Therapy on an international scale. I am also the author of two impactful books: Trauma Informed Teaching through Play Art Narrative and We Don’t Have to Talk About This; Poetic Inquiry from the Art Therapy Studio, which offer profound insights into the therapeutic potential of creative expression. I have taught Trauma Informed Education to many schools and organizations based on my book co authored with my partner, Patrick Lewis. I am a clinical supervisor and consultant for Shibogama First Nations, Bridges for Women and I supervise many counselors and therapists across Canada.”

To register for this workshop, please email Miki at dices.communityprograms@gmail.com or call 250-335-2058

Green Wizardries: Autumn Equinox

September 19, 2024

Green Wiardries, Autumn Equinox by Maxine Rogers

The Autumn Equinox falls on September 22 this year. It is a time of perfect balance so enjoy it in these unbalanced times. I don’t know about you, but I was both pleased and surprised that NATO did not yet decide to start the Third World War by lobbing their missiles into Saint Petersburg and Moscow. I agree that both sides in the Russian-Ukrainian special military action are at fault but I fail to see how a war that would engulf us all would bring about peace at any price worth having.

The Autumn Equinox is all about the harvest. What worked well this year and what failed? The apple harvest is a bit scanty this year. Once our apples are picked, I will concentrate on getting compost, lime and bone meal spread under the fruit trees. This is very important, particularly for the fig trees which will not bear well without a heavy dressing of lime and bone meal in the autumn.

Our other harvests of this year are also to be considered. Have we been meticulous in our spiritual practice? Have we been kind to friends and the animals in our lives? Looking back on the year behind us, what would we most like to change about ourselves, our relationships, our communities?

The 22 will be a day of equal day and night, after which, every day we slip deeper into the dark and quiet of winter. Farmers love the winter which is our leisure time. This was traditionally a time to pursue crafts such as basket making, carving, spinning and knitting. These were things you could do indoors by the warmth and light of a fire when it was too dark to work outside.

The dark and quiet of winter is a time I look forward to for the greater opportunities this brings for reflection. This early autumn is a great time to prepare the garden for next year’s growing season. Beds should be weeded, limed and mulched to protect and enrich the precious soil.

A heavy layer of mulch keeps the soil warmer, protecting it and its inhabitants from frost. The layer of mulch provides food to the soil organisms and protects the soil from damage from the driving rain. Really weedy areas will benefit from a clipping, a layer of compost, a layer of cardboard or six sheets deep of newspapers and then some more mulch on top to prevent the paper blowing away. By the time spring comes, the cardboard or paper has disintegrated and the weeds are mostly dead except for the buttercup. The soil will be so loose and crumbly that the buttercups will be easy to pull out.

Mantras are to the human mind what mulch is to the garden. Mantras function as a protective and nourishing layer for the brain. How often have you known a person who indulged in harmful self talk such as saying, “I can’t cope,” only to believe it and not be able to cope? “I can’t cope,” is a mantra but it is negative. Forming a better mantra can change how we perceive events and make us better able to give things a try, believing that we can goes a long way to succeeding no matter what issue is at hand.

Mantras work best when they are simple, declarative statements of a positive nature. One of my mantras is, “I am serene and tranquil.” Now everyone who knows me will tell you this is a bald-faced lie. That is the point! But, by telling myself this mantra, I have become much more serene and tranquil.

I was trying to help a friend pick a mantra and explained the rules that the mantra should be short, and declare what you want to become. It must be phrased as a simple declarative sentence. She kept getting it wrong. One of her proposals was, “I pursue happiness.” That won’t work because it will have you endlessly pursuing something you cannot catch up to. A better mantra might be, “I am happy.”

One thing that makes most people happy is a good feast with friends to celebrate the season. We will be having some friends and family over and we will serve them roasted squash soup, hot kale salad with fried walnuts and balsamic vinegar, a roasted chicken on Yukon Gold potatoes, parsnips, carrots, red onions and garlic, all from our farm. For the dessert, I plan on making an apple cake as the apple harvest is the keynote of the season. We will be serving small glasses of the new apple wine which will still be fermenting and very sweet and bubbly.

The final act of the festival will be to light a fire and do the ritual of fire bathing by jumping over the flames. It is also the custom to write down the things you no longer want in your life and feed the paper into the bonfire while making a short prayer to your guardian angel to help you release what no longer serves you. I wish everyone who reads this a very happy and productive Autumn Equinox.