New Moon, 2012 Year of the Water Dragon

January 23, Chinese Year of the Water Dragon

Within the last few days the Water Dragon has arrived in waves of rain. Beginning last Thursday, we were jolted out of the limbo of warm, sunny days and nights of hard frost, back into the reality of functioning in the downpours of a more normal Northern California winter. Even though all of last years annuals have frozen and died, the froggie's unified chorus sing out the return of fecundity.

Thankfully, there was a brief, 3 hour parting of the waters on Saturday when blue sky and sun allowed for a mid day foray 10 miles south of Boonville to a little olive oil ranch in Yorkville where Ron, the owner, graciously allowed us to use his log splitter. Sharon and Cookie (her sweet old dog) and I climbed into good old Warren (my '66 Ford pickup) and we rendezvoused with Eric and Christina where we all worked to load up two trucks full of wood. Probably enough to last through the cold season.

Sunday, the day of our Pruning Party arrived with slanting rain and we embraced it, knowing that if we couldn't prune we could still party. The first to arrive was Charlie, our Save Hendy Woods Activist/Organizer, and capable arborist who just last month felled the old acacia that wanted to take over the back yard. Odd feeling, how even tree huggers can agree to cut down a tree sometimes. After Christina cooked some breakfast she and Charlie worked on pruning two apple trees, Eric and Margie worked stacking more wood and then they all situated some pallets for our new compost system as the welcome rain deeply blessed them right through their jackets.

In the meantime, the Barbara Vindis had arrived. Her soft spoken helpful assistant, Richard drove them all the way over scenic hwy 253 in the downpour. Nothing stops Barbara...at the age of 86 she can outwork and out produce anyone I know. She is the topiary lady who has transformed her shrubs into elephants, ballerinas and rabbits and will return on a sunny day to help us coax our shrubs into hearts, dragons or whatever lies hidden within them. But today we mainly eat. Here is what she brought with her....a huge bowl of potato salad, deviled eggs and pickles, a mountain of chicken breast schnitzel, Plum Schlivovitz and Grape Brandy home brewed in a homemade still, and to top it all off homemade cream puff horns and vanilla merinque cookies. All this, as well as the food we had prepared, made for a feasting overflow.

It was apropos to raise our glasses in a toast of gratitude. We're grateful for our dear friends and housemates and all they offer, and we're grateful to have finally signed the papers and closed the escrow for purchasing the MendoDragon house and property. It is now in our hands. We begin in earnest to work together to transform it into a place of beauty with abundant gardens and charming tiny house personal pods, a place where people can work to co- create, celebrate and encourage in each other the best of being human.

January Full Moon

Despite the lack of rain, January 2012 is unfolding with optimism here in Northern California. At the MendoDragon Community, we are nearing the end of our escrow period, mid air in the leap over this hurdle in acquiring the financial control of the purchase of our homestead. The cycling in of the Chinese Year of the Dragon on the New Moon, January 23, is a reassuring synchronicity in timing. Working with lunar rhythms is beginning to unfold naturally for us and it feels right to set an intention to post regularly to this blog on the Full Moons and New Moons.

During this first quarter of the year we are planning for our annual pruning party, a permaculture visioning workshop and a mycoremediation retreat/workshop. On January 22 we invite our local friends to again share their pruning skills as we tame back the rose canes and shape our fruit trees with nurturing gratitude. Lynda's inspiring idea to prune our landscape shrubs into topiary designs has us all a-buzz.

Because there is so much we would like to build in the way of gardens, ponds and structures we are looking for guidance from people versed in permaculture design. By my new moon posting I hope to announce the particulars about who will lead and when the visioning workshop will be held.

The Amazon Mycorenewal Project team will meet for a strategic Planning retreat to determine what their goals are for 2012. At this time we will install the MendoDragon edible mushroom site and offer a workshop in mushroom growing. Look for the date and other details in my next blog.

We are working with many others in our bio-region to work for much needed democratic oversight and change in our government. On the state level we encourage everyone to sign onto petitions for the ballot initiative calling for the mandatory labeling of all genetically engineered foods.

In cities and counties all over the country people are working together to pass resolutions urging a Constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood. The following is a press release about talks being given in Mendocino County by David Cobb, chief organizer of MoveToAmend.org, a nationwide coalition focused on abolishing "Corporate Personhood" and reestablishing a government of, by, and for the people.

“Creating Democracy and Challenging Corporate Rule” will be the topic of David Cobb's upcoming speaking tour through five Mendocino County communities. Cobb, an attorney, past Green Party presidential candidate and an inspiring speaker, will explain how corporate cash has captured our politics, and what citizens can do to reestablish real democracy.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on elections. The Court's five conservative justices declared that corporations are "persons" and their spending in elections is "free speech" that can not be limited.

“Corporate Personhood" commonly refers to a court-created precedent that gives corporations constitutional rights intended solely for human beings. Cobb states, “Corporate personhood is not an inconsequential legal technicality. The Supreme Court ruled that a corporation was a ‘legal person’ with 14th Amendment protections years before they granted full legal personhood to African-Americans, immigrants, natives, or women.”

“We are inspired by historic social movements that recognized the necessity of altering fundamental power relationships,” said Cobb. “America has progressed when ordinary people joined together-- from the Revolutionaries, Abolitionists, Suffragists, Trade Unionists and Civil Rights activists through today's Occupiers. Move to Amend proudly joins this tradition as it works to make the U.S. Constitution and our nation more democratic.”

David Cobb's five local talks will provide information about the issue and describe how Mendocino County can join this national campaign to end Corporate Personhood and its corruption of our political system. Part history lesson and part heart-felt call to action, David’s presentation is not to be missed.

David Cobb will speak January 31st at the Boonville Fairgrounds at 6:30 PM; February 1st at the Point Arena Library at 6:30 PM; February 2nd at the Willits Grange at 7 PM; February 3rd at the Caspar Community Center at 7 PM, and February 13th at Ukiah's Saturday Afternoon Clubhouse at 7 PM. More information can be obtained from Tom Wodetzki at tw@mcn.org