River/Creek Photos

Chris has been spending quite a bit of time in the woods lately and came home with these two photos.

Cumberland River

A creek that feeds into the river

30 Square Foot Garden Results

Our friend Pat Ritter created some garden beds using Chris’s instructions in his booklet, The 30 Square Foot Garden. 

She writes “...last year this was a large area we had to mow—and this year, well, see what I picked for a stir-fry dinner last night.  And will be better when it rains as I have a lot of little seedings just coming up—more greens.”

Thank you Pat, for sending the photos. 

Garden Insects to Air on PBS this Summer

Chris's award winning film is scheduled to air a number of times on PBS stations across the US during June and July. Check your local listings.

Detachment/Inner Peace

Om with laundry acting as prayer flags

Lately, Chris and I have been discussing the differences and similarities between an experience of “inner peace” and “detachment.” When we find inner peace, if only for a fleeting moment, we are detached. We are neither in the past, nor the future, but feet firmly planted in the present. We require the past to feel a loss, to lament that which has been and we require the future to yearn for what has not yet come to pass, to wish for what we are not, or what the moment isn’t. Detachment has a connotation of less warmth, it speaks of a singularity, where the moniker inner peace feels more pious, more at one with all. Yet by realizing the one in oursleves, we relaize the one in all, and by realizing the unity in all, we are greeted with our true self. Both inner peace and detachment can infuriate another by the sheer non-reactive response, the response that does not seek to please, to perform, to gain, but only to allow. Can one even disagree, without an inner rise, one can shun, love and accept, all from the state of pure detachment? There is an objective choice at play, a freedom of response from one who is married to the moment. The Mother once said, “Freedom from attachment does not mean avoiding all occasion for attachment.” This helped me to see that detachment in the sense of a spiritual aspirant does not mean aloof or cold-hearted. In fact there is a chance for a pure expression when not polluted by what we are attached to—including allowing others to feel the pain to which they are entitled. Nature is not attached, seems to be in a constant state of inner peace, and she does not seem to cry because we are cutting down so many of her trees and soiling the air she breathes--but this does not mean she is not taking action. I learn much from her in that way, I can align my identity with her’s by gazing into the woods, and suddenly, my problems seem to soften.

Turkeys

Each morning, Chris and I sit and have coffee, overlooking the empty winter fields. Often times, a flock of up to 25 turkeys emerges through the brambles and weeds that separate field from woods. Many know that Ben Franklin wanted to make these large foul the official bird of the United States. While not as majestic as the Bald Eagle, these wild turkeys certainly have a collective personality and are more commonly seen. Despite their size and awkward body shape, they can take flight to amazing heights, quickly flying into woods, somehow managing to navigate or crash through the thick lattice of branches.


Photos by Chris Korrow

Late January Garden Harvest

These root crops are thriving in the garden despite sustained below freezing temps during the first weeks in January. They are covered with Reemay (agriculture fabric).