Wendy Crist Column: Harvesting, Freezing, Canning, and Pickling, a lot of work!

Harvesting, freezing, canning, and pickling, a lot of work! The pantry and cool storage are filling up fast. 

The full Moon, on the seventh, was a blood moon because it was totally eclipsed. Lots of emotional energy was the general effect and, during these challenging times in our world, I’m wondering how it was for you. 

The September full moon is traditionally called the “Corn Moon” due to the harvest being the farmer’s primary focus in September. 

The moon will be new on the 21st and again we will have an eclipse, this time a partial eclipse of the Sun. The energy of this Moon is around grounding in your plans for the coming challenges and doing it from where You stand, from your authenticity, not the herd mentality. 

My husband Michael and I have been working toward becoming as self-sufficient as possible over the last 21 years, since we sold our business in Dunsmuir, The Brown Trout Gallery. 

I’m happy to report that we’ve accomplished most of what we intended. We are completely off-grid. We have a well with water sourced by glaciers on Mt Shasta (which are melting). We are living with less “Stuff,” in a small house, which makes accumulation of things nearly impossible. 

We are growing about 75% of our vegetables for the year. We have stocks of grains, beans and other staples in the pantry – salt, sugar, dry milk, olive oil. I can comfortably say we feel fairly well prepared for uncertain times over the years to come. 

Another big part of our self-sufficiency is growing only open pollinated and heirloom varieties and saving their seed. Hybrid seeds do not reproduce true to the original plant  They usually revert to one of the parent plants. So, I’ve been harvesting seed for next year’s growing season as well as edibles. 

I wonder how many of you are thinking about an uncertain future. Have you noticed food prices, and the prices of nearly everything, going up? Do you know that farmers and ranchers are having a hard time keeping afloat primarily due to the demise of USAID, but also from loss of their workforce? Do you know that Medicaid (Medical) is being altered nation-wide and drastically cut in many States? Do you know that the survival of many industries is on the line due to the rising costs of materials and/or the inability to get supplies, as well as workforce cutbacks? Can anyone say “Tariffs?”

How many of you have lost your job or know someone who’s lost theirs? How are farmers, hospitality and  construction businesses going to keep on track with their laborers being disappeared? 

These are just a few of the problems we face economically and these questions are evidence-based. 

Now, some other concerns are coming to my mind. Do you know about 3I/ATLAS, the newest visitor to our Solar System? It’s an interstellar object that science is having a hard time understanding; is it a Comet? Why is it increasing in size and velocity the closer it gets to our Sun? 

Then there are the increased geological activities of late: mega quakes, volcanic activity and oceanic current changes, to mention a few. Geophysicists are saying the increased Solar activity is part of what’s driving the geological activity. 

Let’s take stock of all this tumult and ask the questions that may arise – what the heck is going on? I myself believe that we are going through a huge transition and it’s not just the Earth, but the entire Solar System. And to use a worn phrase, I believe it’s happening for us, not to us. As the volume gets turned up and time seems to be racing by I’m reminded of the general premise of Chaos Theory, that as things speed up and become more and more chaotic we are headed for a huge evolutionary leap. Buckle up!

I encourage folks to check out what’s going on with reputable sources, not news networks, including Fox, but do some research. And don’t get your information from conspiracy mongers! Check out the American Resilience podcast on YouTube. Stefan Burns is a geophysicist I follow on YouTube. There are many knowledgeable sources free from the self-serving impetus of most. 

And lastly, choose love over fear as your motivating force. It’s easy to be kind and a whole lot less destructive, being strong in your stance while allowing others their opinion. Don’t be afraid. Try treating others as fellows, all of us sharing this rock. 

In the meantime remember, time spent near a creek or in the forest, helps you feel lighter and makes the world look brighter.