Iron John

Just finished reading Iron John, by Robert Bly. He starts off describing most guys today as not having a well-established sense of identity. To change that situation, he reads a Grimm's faerie-tale as an archetypal male initiation sequence which was in effect since the Neolithic, and then unpacks his understanding of it.

I suppose that contemplating these ideas and progressively applying their principles into life, is supposed to catalyze one's personal development comparably to Iron John's initiation. These days, when I feel the force of an impersonal force from without or within I pay attention to it and see what I can learn. That's why I appreciate personal truth in much of Robert Bly's thinking and really enjoyed this book. The names of the days of the week come from Norse and Roman deities, + the 7 ancient astrological planets. Bly's roundup of male archetypes (The Wild Man, the Magician, the Warrior, the Trickster, the King, the Lover, and the Grief Man) enriches that understanding for me. Every day, I am reminded by cosmology to stir up and sip on and embody these previously ignored, hidden or forgotten qualities in my self.

I am also thankful for the literary criticism provided by Paul Wolf-Light, and Charles Upton. Society has changed a lot since the Neolithic; that the Wild Man has been going MIA in white culture since the rise of asceticism several thousand years ago reflects it. If there were bad reasons for his disappearance, I assume there were also some good ones. Inequality between the sexes has been rejected, so sexed archetypes that apply to both sexes can seem ridiculous. Also, if you're like me you got sick and spit up lots of the initiation/indoctrination of our native society. With climate chaos, zombies and robots running towards us, we have our work cut out! We are reinventing culture, keeping our subjective reality based on truth, and in the end passing a beautiful, sufficient way of life to our kids. I know my friends in the Little House in the Ghetto are doing this, anyway- investment analysts could learn a lot from you guys! Happy Thanksgiving!

This Machine Kills Fascists

I walked in and the computer was playing a funny song that went,

Now as through this world I ramble, I’ve seen lots of funny men,
Some will rob you with a six gun, some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel, wherever you may roam,
You’ll never see an outlaw drive a family from their home.

I thought it was probably The Woodbox Gang, given to us by Abby when she was here, but no it was Woody Guthrie. (Also an investigation due to Abby!) So I had to look up the lyrics (found here), and it was pretty cool.

"Pretty Boy Floyd" by Woody Guthrie

If you’ll gather round me children, a story I will tell,
About Pretty Boy Floyd , an outlaw, Oklahoma knew him well.

It was in the town of Shawnee, it was Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in his wagon, as into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him, in a manner rather rude,
Using vulgar words of language, and his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain, and the deputy grabbed for his gun,
And in the fight that followed, he laid that deputy down.

Then he took to the trees and rivers, to live a life of shame,
Every crime in Oklahoma was added to his name.

Yes, he took to the trees and rivers, on the Canadian River shore,
And Pretty Boy found a welcome at many a farmer’s door.

There’s many a starvin’ farmer’s the same old story told,
How this outlaw paid their mortgage, and saved their little home .

Others tell you of a stranger , come to beg a meal,
And underneath his napkin left a thousand dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City, it was on a Christmas day,
There come a whole carload of groceries, with a note that did say:

“Well, you say that I’m an outlaw, you say that I’m a thief,
Here’s a Christmas dinner, for the families on relief.”

Now as through this world I ramble, I’ve seen lots of funny men,
Some will rob you with a six gun, some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel, wherever you may roam,
You’ll never see an outlaw drive a family from their home.

-------

I'll also mention the new Little House in the Ghetto blog for goings-on in our little corner of the wide wide world. And we're excited about starting a Food Not Lawns Springfield.

Food To Be Harder To Get. Or Maybe Easier.

Yikes.

Food is rapidly becoming more expensive. Like, even for spoiled Americans. Becoming unspoiled could be unpleasant. Or it could just mean more fresh local wild chaos food.

I heard about a greenhouse operation in Milwaukee, Wisc., where they lay down a lot of active wormy compost, lay down some finished compost on top, and plant in that. The active compost underneath helps warm everything. Big piles of compost in the corners also warm it up. Worms everywhere. No other power or heat source.

Animals In Our Urban Homestead update: vertebrates!

First, not in our yard, but a block from here, we've seen a pair of snakes sunning on some leaves that had accumulated between the base of a stoplight and a fence. They slithered under the stoplight when Kid Khalila and I approached. I suppose the people driving by all day long have no idea what they're missing. Hooray for bikes. More recently--Sharqi saw a snake slithering into the mulberry bush right here out by the street! It was almost caught on film while she was making a li'l video about our chaos garden.

Second, in the alley that runs down the middle of the next block over, I was riding around looking for Khalila's missing bike, and saw a turtle (double-take, yes, a turtle) turtling along the alley. It withdrew into its shell when I stopped to look at it. I went back to look for it later but didn't see it. I don't know how much water it would need (not sure what kind it was) but it looked like there was plenty of alley foliage for it to hide in and munch on.

Third. We have cats who sometimes like to stay outside overnight. So we've been leaving food & water out for them so they don't wake us up way early in the morning. The food attracted a reticent stray male cat (Groniger Whitefoot) whom we're trying to catch so we can have his sprayer "fixed" so to speak. (Our cat door had a funny smell on it one day.)

But one night I looked out and saw a young opossum chowing on the cat food. It was so cute! In that ugly, possum kinda way. So I stopped leaving cat food out back and moved it to the front porch, like right where a lot of the cats hang out, and where people come and go all day. Then just the other night before bed I turned on the porch light to see if any cats wanted in one last time, and there was a young opossum--now larger--chowing on the cat food. It sort of hesitantly ambled away in that lazy possum way. Our calico kitten (the cuddle-lion) was relaxing on the porch swing while possum helped hirself to the cat food.

So, no more cat food out overnight.

So, I looked up possums, and found there are a couple societies online dedicated to educating us about these mostly harmless critters & helping hurt or orphaned ones. Apparently, leaving pet food out is one way to attract them. (D'ohh!) But, I don't think I want to try to repel or otherwise get rid of our new friend. They like to eat "pests" like slugs, snails, cockroaches, mice, and rats, as well as carrion.

As The National Opossum Society informs us:

• Opossums regularly consume insects, snails, worms, rats, mice, and carrion. They can actually help keep your yard free of these pests.
• They are far less of a health risk to you or your children or pets than nearly any other wild animal. By eliminating the opossums, you may create a niche that will be filled by a less desirable species. Rabies and viral diseases (e.g., distemper) are practically unheard of in the opossum. [low body temperature]
  
• They are exceptionally non-aggressive and non-destructive. They will not dig up your lawn, chew wood or wires, or create burrows. They do not "attack" anything that is not a food source, and is not threatening them. If you keep prey animals such as birds, rodents, or rabbits, you must keep them secure in their enclosures from any wild animal. Adult cats and adult opossums generally get along together, or ignore one another. Dogs are a serious threat to opossums, but not vice versa.
• Just because you see an opossum around does not mean that they are the ones causing your trouble. Opossums are much less secretive than animals that cause damage, and you are more likely to see them, when it is actually another animal doing the deed. It is very unusual for them to be the culprits of any damage to property or lawns.

So I'm becoming a fan of these mammal cousins of ours. Maybe it should be our totem animal here at the odhouse. They are the only North American marsupial! They have opposable thumbs on their feet! Their tails are prehensile, for help in climbing and carrying, but they do not hang from their tails as portrayed in the TV cartoons I recall from my childhood.

They're said to be the size of a cat, but I'm sure I've seen some pretty big ones in the past. Maybe they were pregnant, or well-fed suburban possums. This youngish one on our porch was about the size of a year-old cat. I don't care if it helps itself to our compost (rotting onions ... mmmm ...) but to encourage it to eat pests I'll keep the pet food inside. They're also said to be nomadic, so I expect it'll move along and find new food, water, and nesting sites someday. BTW, swimming pools can be a danger if an opossum tries to drink, falls in, and cannot climb out.

Nomadic, omnivorous foragers, opposable thumbs, non-aggressive ... sounds like an ideal post-civilliesed vagabond tribe to me!

plants in our urban homestead

Happy Discordian chaos holiday! 5-23!

These are plants cataloged by Shaykha Sharqi as found in our yard. Some are overwintered in the house. Some of them were planted this season, and many are volunteers aka wild aka weeds.

Amaranth, aloe vera,

Bell peppers, broccoli, burdock, buckeye trees,

Creeping Charlie, chicory, coffee, clover (white and red), cherry trees (2 kinds), catnip, Christmas cactus, croton, Chinese evergreen,

Dandelion, daylily, dayflowers, deadly nightshade, datura, devil’s ivy,

Elm trees, English ivy, evergreen tree (kind??),

Fleabane, fern

Garlic chives, garlic, grass (3 kinds-short and tall fescue, cool-season), grapevine, garlic mustard, gladiolus, ghetto palm,

Indian strawberries, iris,

Jerusalem artichokes, Japanese ivy,

Lambs quarters, lemon balm,

Mulberry trees, milkweed (vining), morning glory, mint

Onions, oregano, Oak tree (red oak),

Potatoes, peas, peonies, plaintain, poison ivy, plum tree, pokeweed, pole beans,

Raspberries, rose of Sharon, redbud tree, rosemary, roses,

Spinach, sunflowers, sunberries (garden huckleberries), sweet William, spirea, stinging nettle, strawberries, shepherd’s purse, smartweed, spider plant, sweet potatoes,

Tomatoes, tansy,

Violas, violets,

Wood sorrel, wild four-o’clock,

Yarrow

and a few as-yet unidentified plants. and a few waiting to be put in the ground. unjobbing and unschooling RULZ!!

animals in our urban homestead

My dad, who has taken an interest in permaculture, attended a one-day introductory seminar and picked up Introduction to Permaculture by Mollison & Slay. He commented to us,

> systems usually include animals like chickens, which probably isn't possible for y'all where you live now, is it?

I don't think we could officially have chickens, but on the other hand, besides cats, we have seen squirrels, bats, earthworms, robins, cardinals, mourning doves, grackles, little brown birds, pigeons, some kinda red-headed woodpecker, ants, snails, slugs, pill bugs, bees, flies, flies that look like bees, wasps, mosquitos, various spiders, centipedes, a few kinds of butterflies, bumble bees, lady bugs, various other bugs I don't quite know what they are ... there's still animal life in the yard, each doing its things. I guess they're getting something good here. Even with the cats hanging around there are a lot of birds. Robins have been pecking in the compost lately. When I turn over a log to cut it up, sometimes I find a centipede scurrying away. I don't like them, but they're third-tier decomposers, a good sign of healthy soil microorganisms. (If I recall correctly, from Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway, a must-read!)

In the basement, we still have the worm composting bin, and there are still a lot of worms in there, finishing up everything we gave them over the winter. Actually, we just decided to start feeding them more compost so they don't die off. I guess that's a more intentional or domestic way to keep permaculture animals in the city. When I open the lid on the worm bin, I can hear the quiet mass squishy noise that a whole buncha earthworms in a box make!

Oh, though two of us will be earning our permaculture design certificates later this summer, we're not yet officially entitled to use the p-word to describe whatever it is we're doing or want to do. But then there's the problem of how to say permaculture without saying permaculture--sustainacultcha? Autonomist maximal diversification? The one-earthworm revolution? (After The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka--a must-read!)

Now that I've posted the animals list, I want to post the plants list later. And after the what-is lists, I want to post the paradise-garden list made by a bunch of us freex in the chaos house.