Art of Permaculture
Given the state of our countries unemployment rates, trading goods or services for goods or services, or an alternative currency instead of simply just cash is very lucrative for many. Trading laws vary, they varied, even before the existence of money or currency. I am deeply blessed on my journey to find people who have traded the use of much land, both in Mpumalanga and Gauteng. In Mpumalanga I have written a previous post on some of what goes on, on this farm. Read it here for more information.
I find myself on a farm, situated approximately 7kms outside Machadodorp, nestled between a trout farm and game farms with guesthouse accommodation. A co-owner of the land, Ane’, connected with me via an old friend and we emailed back and forth information about our visions for community and self-sustainability. Working with ATSOU (Awakening the Spirit of Ubuntu) Ane’ found a love and passion working with disadvantaged children and ex-combattons. She worked in many community projects and is an excellent PA to a very wealthy woman in the city. It became a trade to do a garden, a massive garden, without any money to invest or reward me with… We decided on a small piece of land for me to use to build a small home on. I do not have any money income apart from consultations and the garden in Johannesburg at the Pirates Sports club was thinned out to do a few client gardens when I lost my cottage 6 months ago. It would have ended then if it were not for a friend Peter who insisted I keep the garden and has truly stepped up to assist in the physical work of it all. It is also an important garden because it ensures there is always food in Johannesburg growing for me and those who assist, and those who I giveaway to. We therefore currently trade a ride through to Johannesburg once a week/every second week (to tend to my garden at Pirates and do consultations), my monthly costs (rent, electricity, washing, and three meals a day),and if necessary assistance with odd items for personal use when required, along with the use of the land to build my own home on…
The setup and duties on the farm include assisting in creating a youth camp consisting of 4 teepees and 2 large army tents. Once we have funds to complete a small ablution and kitchen area for volunteers it will be set up and ready for camps/woofers/visitors. Ane’s vision does not end there, she has looked at the entire region – Emakhazeni; each small town individually (WatervalBoven, Machadodorp [Dullstroom is already at tourist attraction and is therefore not included] and Belfast) and we have reached out to various departments; Municipality, Arts and Culture and the Cooperative Governance of Traditional Affairs for assistance. We wish to implement a plan and program which can be summed up as a self-employment initiative for each area. This involves setting up of green spaces (community gardens), tourist stalls, art and crafts developments with capacity building, incorporating ideas such as trash to treasure and fresh start to name a few of the projects in mind. It is a highly amiable and ambitious vision. It is also the most likely model to create community that thrives on local and naturally grown produce, medicine and cosmetics.
I’ve worked on these gardens for approximately 6 months, and planted over 100 different edible and medicinal plant varieties. Some in bags, some in the ground, some in trays, some in the food gardens, some in the wild… I am still, in no way producing anything in a monoculture method. or on a mass scale. We are still experimenting; wanting to find a main crop or two…a vision of setting up a nursery in the area. I estimate another 2 years at this rate before making some serious money, but keep an eye on my Facebook pages and this blog, many things change instantly in my world.
My trade is to use my talents, to just be, which seems surreal but is quite a task at times. It is all very exciting, very humbling, very rewarding and very much dependant on consistent effort and discipline. It is a race against time that is no longer as we know it. Climate change presents itself, especially with drought and a recent tornado in Johannesburg. Biodiversity is vital to both our own health and that of the earth itself. This planet. I am almost certain a few of us will evolve, as some plants evolve when transplanted from region to region. The question is, whether or not we are prepared to evolve?
Much about gardening has become a dance for me, like putting away ones toys after a game. Relayering, replacing, restoring, adding, shifting mulches…. The result is longevity and great skin. It is a dance highly recommended to those drawn to it, but not a calling for everyone. I came across men eating mice once, and it shocked me to core with a deep sadness at how unprepared they were, even with the knowledge of planting seed. If anything to do a garden is a major way of taking ones power back. IF not back from government or shop owners we dislike, or from bosses who don’t pay us enough to go on holiday often enough, then simply it is a matter of pride, in my opinion, as a garden is a good foundation for a home 
Do come join me in Johannesburg at my garden for a monthly crop swap so we can add to the biodiversity of this country or visit us at the farm in Mpumalanga and volunteer your time and expertise.
see you in the garden
My winter has been filled with color, as I find my way still with all of these things I write and share herein. I have spent 4 months and counting drifting between Mpumalanga and Johannesburg, planting and harvesting bits and pieces. Consulting work is picking up, and paying off in more ways than one, as clients begin to show and share their harvests and joy about fresh peas and spinach, onion and tomato always there.
I still believe that food and water should be a human right, and that it is important to add value to our food security by adding to the biodiversity in our gardens and communities. At the farm outside Machadasdorp (Mpumalanga), the garden has taken shape as shown below, throughout winter.
This was the beginning…
I am greatful for the assistance in hoe-ing out the thicket, as I sorted the debris into braches, logs, mulch, and used it to shape and layer my beds. Much is being used to grow soil or compost for planting.
This is the result. I have planted Mugwort, Basilmint, Pineapple mint, Rue, Burdock, Comfrey, Rainbow Raddishes, Marigold, Onion, Specboom and Amaranth here.
Just needs SOIL -the most important plant you will ever grow. Soil is for plants what bioplus is for some of us. My method is being tested wherever I gain clients with the consultations I have begun to do. I have had success both on ivy, and on clay soil, also in drought. I believe I have combined permaculture methods of sheet mulching and hugelkultuur in some cases, however in this garden elements such as the eucalyptus and pine needles are shunned. If i were more scientifically equipped I would guess the soil ph is what is most tampered with when I work in this way, shifting layers of the earth like a dj. To me, each part of any piece of land is different, it is a thing or language we all know and become aware of the more we engage in being part of the solution to climate change. This part of the solution is biodiversity.
The shadecloth donated was not enough on my first trip, but I managed to get some more on my second trip and have sewn it all together onto the tunnel, next to this spiral garden I made. Things are already growing here too…
As you can see, things are really growing here….
I am in Johannesburg 7 – 9 days a month to generate a financial income. My garden at the Pirates Sports Club is still growing, and I have chosen to share it with some people, they deserve a dedicated blog post. We hope to sustain ourselves with food and medicine from this garden and will continue to use the garden as a place for crop swaps and workshops.
If you would like to have a garden consultation, please book one in advance. Email nntreasure@gmail.com or give me a call Netanya 072 146 9017
I find myself sitting up in bed at 4.30am considering the past two months, the two years spent in the city, with my own blinkers on. This blog and the work I have done in an effort to be self sustainable has been completely fruitless financially, yet, if I were to cease to exist as I do, and get a job (as in stop trying to make money doing things I love doing, get some bills to pay etc, instead of following my heart, I know I would not afford the fruits of this world as I do now. I put myself and my talent out in every way on this blog, and some perceived me as a company (great and quite a trainsmash too for my ego- thank you); others perceived me as some kind of expert on all the fields and others show great compassion and step up to take back their power as people.
I often receive messages of gratitude and encouragement, big smiles from those who have supported me with unintentional false promises, trades and finances. Ive written about The Vintage Kitchen merging with me and selling my products, but The Vintage Kitchen is two people still picking up on creating a business, and a preference and passion for biodegradable cleaning products prevailed for them. I also wrote about Bianca and Joanna assisting me, they did, but they did not make money, neither did I. I lost my cottage cage in Linden, I was getting sick there – trying to connect with my neighbors, impress the landlords by growing food on Yakka roots hmm not an easy thing to do… Bianca and Joanna no longer assist, but follow their hearts I trust. The previous blog posts will explain completely why I, therefore, decided that working and living on a farm, outside of Johannesburg, in an effort to trade for land and assistance in creating a home and business is more lucrative for me than to continue with this trade for Pirates Sports clubs bit of land.
Yes, I still want to grow my teas, get a potting wheel and make giant teapot fountains and teapots to drink from, sell you the teas, the seeds, the plants, the workshops etc etc in an effort to muse, inspire and empower. It’s always my intent. In jhb community is too large for me maybe? I wanted support from local businesses, local residents and perhaps my perception of local being wherever I can reach without transport was what stirred this holy anger within me to stubbornly continue to create and destroy the awesome gardens I did there twice over two years. I did muse and amuse many and I did inspire many too. Empowerment comes from within though, not from numbers in an account, it is up to each of us to add value, through compassion, with or without numbers.
Intuition is part of or a form of natural medicine. In a dictionary, I have in my possession, Intuition or that which is known intuitively is defined as truth obtained by internal apprehension without the aid of perception or the reasoning powers. I like to believe that intuitively we all know that living foods straight from our backyards are more beneficial to our bodies, and that the same goes for medicine too. Medicinal tea is one of the oldest medicines known to us, and herbologists were labeled witches and burnt at the stake some time ago for a reason. I believe that in that time our perception of value or capacity changes as well, and our intuition literally went out the window as far as medicine from our backyards goes, when we stopped listening to our bodies out of fear and went to doctors instead. We also lost community in the same way we lost our connection to our intuition and nature itself.
So, on this farm, my host has opened up her home to me and also another family (we are all in limbo and without much money, some of us are not in good health), progress is slow but steady at times. I am learning a lot about people, plants and medicinal infusions to assist. E.g tick bite fever and recovering from malaria. We randomly found a volunteer from Amsterdam, who assisted for a day. The wild horses come say hello at the fence more often. We started making a tunnel using the invasive wattle removed. Chopping wood, moving logs, pots, teepees, leveling, walking, water divination and more go on – even planting seeds in this unique winter inside my tent. I am finding joy, and learning what nurturing really is. I will write a lot about us here on the farm, and I am pleased to have already got a big patch of the garden almost prepped for Spring
Leaving my pirate garden behind has been quite a struggle to me, I deeply apologize to all who feel my efforts failed their dreams about community there, and to those that used it to promote only themselves, that removing it completely fails.
I would still APPRECIATE assistance, definitely more soil and more fruit trees. Please let me know if you wish to trade or donate something toward my efforts in bringing people together to add value in this world by emailing me…. nntreasure@gmail.com as I am not around signal all day.
When I read the market opportunity part in my document, and my document in general, it is beautiful, it is an awesome vision but again it is nothing without a community that sustainably utilizes it. I am grateful for the gifts of what I’ve needed, especially, for what seems to me the Grace of God while I worked through my anger and depression with God making this garden, for the teachings, for the second hand clothing, the toilet paper, the toothpaste, the shoes, the likes and shares on facebook, the room to sleep in, the heater in the winter, the farms I get to see… its the reason I do at times maintain this garden with very little reward.
- Club members over the past year and a half have been exposed to information on this garden in the club newsletter less than 5 times. This means the market opportunity has not been utilized or tapped into. Pirates is a sports club, and the sporting activities, wine tastings and gin and tonic evenings take precedence. They have been very generous in gifting me with the use of the land and borehole water. I would gladly stand at the gates and hand out pamphlets if I had the funding to make pamphlets. I am now pushing to walk and do this talk, and discussion about my vision (see the Art of Craft Mission document) with committee members and management over the next two months, and be more frequent in the newsletter, if the garden is to remain on the premises.
- Suburban upper class wine tastings or food, tea and wine pairing is something I would require professionals to come and present and train me if desired or just use the opportunity and add to the versatility of the ideas set out in my document as far as Pirates being a space known as a hub of community support and inspiration in all areas of wellness goes.
- Organic markets and farmers come together at Pirates, but one market is a success and the rest are often confused with this one, resulting in a lot of newcomers only coming through once. The farmers stalls at markets are usually one guy selling everyone’s produce, so it is not likely to meet the farmer at a organic market, but rather at the garden swaps. Either way all NEED SUPPORT. I do not generate enough income to support myself, and usually pay for markets by grace… as in the fee is waived last minute or lessened and volunteers assist me in moving around once a week, or month at times in doing a market. I therefore have little exposure. This month I am merging with The Vintage Kitchen, and have shared and added some spice to what I produce from the garden. Elisma from The Vintage Kitchen will also assist with packaging, design and distribution. Below are some images of our small start in the kitchen today, yes a day before the Bluebird Wholefood Market where these will be for sale big love.
- Health shops, co-op shops and online shops want larney packaging I cannot afford and I have not contacted or met many of the owners. Mostly because I know that what I produce is unique and limited and they want products that are supplied in x amount on a weekly basis with x amount of profit in x amount of time … quite frankly, if I spread out my teas at pirates now it will be another 6 – 8 months to meet a demand on a huge variety of things. Packaging will cost, so will communication.
- I have registered a blogpage as an online shop and will be learning and putting my items for sale on the Art of Craft Shopping site this month April 2017. It was set up by an IT guy who has little income, for free. My domain name for this blog was gifted by an old friend from many years back.
- No one has ever contributed R500 or more, added my range of teas and infusions to their brands packaging and distribution (however my salt and tea is now added to The Vintage Kitchen collection of April 2017), and had me teach and train their growers about them, placed a link to Art of Craft on their website, sponsored an Art of Craft event, and Solid Green is the only company to have brought a group to volunteer at the Art of Craft garden.
- In consideration of the Art of Craft Mission document attached in PDF format free for you to download here – artofcraftmission – and the above mentioned, as well as losing the cottage I tried to make a home and business in over the past 4 months my bed and camping chair are for sale. My offerings of doing art, making you medicinal infusions, garden consultations and reports with trading assistance still exist. In short I do all this for the love of God, humanity and the earth quite literally. As much as I have inspired you in your art, life, business and dreams, you have inspired me to live from my core.
- My phone, banking and email records, as well as the free spaces to sleep, store things, take things along randomly and loss of a beautiful cottage are testimony to what I consider a lack of support, though a few have angrily commented that I have support. I once laughed, responding that I have more opportunists than support, which I still feel is true, which is why I mainly tried to do this garden alone – for me it was my only grounding place, when I previously had no cottage or home of my own… it is and was also my downfall, as hermits own IT businesses lol not empowerment or healing ones. I deeply apologize to society and myself daily. Some have commented that I have inspired them, others have been empowered for short periods. It is and always will be my intention to ADD VALUE whether I have money to pay for it to be added or practical DIY – like this garden.
- Lastly, I am sure I will be forgiven if I disappear out this farming scene all together, flatten and remove the plants from the garden entirely, and just make tea and do art… and grow my plants elsewhere. However, I have been changing the garden by moving things around, and planting seeds, so that it can be left alone more-so, while I ground myself and completely manifest my business here in Johannesburg. I really do want to do a few art installations at some point before my trade time ends
- Thank you for continuing to show respect for the space I grow my food and medicine in. Please give me a call if you would like to utilize any of my offerings or purchase my bed and camping chair 072 146 9017
SINCERELY
Netanya
Most people confuse a common Thistle weed with Milk Thistle. The second image is a Milk Thistle, I have it growing in my garden, and have been diligently harvesting seed and trying to multiply my seed over the past two years. I will be planting these seeds in trays on the farm this week, while an awesome team of workers from Vlakplaas construct a tunnel for them to germinate in.
Most people also do not know what to do with Milk Thistle when it is not in a capsule. I make tea alot so I usually have some Crushed leaves and seeds in a muslin bag, steeped in hot water for five minutes, with honey or anistar for flavor is actually quite an awesome cup of tea. Ive added mint to mine too, at times.
You can also sprinkle the seed powder on your burgers, smoothies, and salads. I think only my more adventurous readers will try milk thistle leaves in a salad – do note the thorny edges and remove them before adding to your salad. I have also seen Milk Thistle available in capsule form at Dischem.
The medicinal use of Milk Thistle is mainly for the liver, gall bladder, skin, helpful in treatment of liver cancer – known to kill carcinogenic cells.
Let me know if you want to try some by emailing nntreasure@gmail.com
This expression is an attempt to heal and in doing so share the healing with you, as I follow what I call my core back to sustainable ways of life.
It takes between 30 and 90 days to detox THC out the body. Previously I documented mood changes, eating patterns, sleeping patterns and thoughts, this time will be similar but more of a reality, than some information I’m trying to share for some purpose… this time it’s more than just a detox…we really should not blame any imbalance, or any one thing for all our discomfort. Most people think my problem or whatever it is, is Marijuana, but this post, being the most personal thing Ive ever shared might change that perception. It might change how you see yourself. It feels right to share, to voice, to express.
My medical history, if it was recorded, apart from the file and its contents I walked out of a hospital with and destroyed, might tell you that a few years ago I was diagnosed as a borderline, manic depressive in need of psychiatric attention and prescribed medication also included something to slow my heart rate. At that point in my life, I had withdrawn for many months into a friends garage apartment and spent most of my time as an absolute recluse. According to the doctor I was having a panic attack every hour. Perhaps I had a bit of post traumatic stress disorder too at the time, given the history I won’t give in detail herein, that is probably true. Unfortunately the medicine they gave me made me feel like bugs were crawling under my skin, all over my body for a few hours, I couldn’t sleep for days and felt like pulling off my own skin, it was an itchy irritation I will never forget… I decided not to take more of it and spoke to God – inner voice, whatever you call it – through the attacks instead. This was the beginning of my journey with natural medicine, celery being the first. In the public health system no one ever follows up on you and mails you whether or not you will make your next appointment so people like me just move on and deal with it in our own ways. The psychiatric ward in fact, never contacted me and I did go and sit there for an entire day waiting to see someone, which resulted in a one time 6 month supply of the medicines. I only took the medicine that calmed my heart rate, as I started to exercise again and change where I slept, as well as, everything I was doing and eating.
The reason I am sharing this, is that I was deeply sad and I had very little still after all these years, just gypsying around, as if I was waiting for something, letting my pride keep me in survival mode, for several years. I had given up entirely, and was left gasping quite literally for my breath. I have returned full circle to this breaking point in empathy, as I type now. To some, this off-grid way of life, eating more out of garden, foraging and trading more than finding what is needed in shops and markets is honorable and inspiring – in fact I meet many people leaving behind good jobs, good relationships, abandoning the system of money so to speak, for this gypsying homeless material-less way of living, that I adopted as my survival mode. To others, it is a way of life that exhibits no self love or self respect whatsoever. I have shared in the shame and sadness from both perspectives. In my opinion, poverty is a choice we create based on our subconscious judgements. I am learning that abundance is and always was for everyone. A currency is not something you base your value on, how much currency you have does not determine your access to abundance. Clearing subconscious judgements is an entirely different subject, but a very necessary part of healing, and accessing this abundance. It seems never-ending.
I felt anger, I pushed the only person I let near me away over and over, until we both finally remained silent. Completely alone for a bit. It was an anger that I did not understand, and loathed. A very necessary aloneness. The more I loathed it, the angrier I became, so I smoked more, worked harder despite how run down my system and body became, also, despite how much judgement and disappointment I got from a few interactions with people, because I was not earning a lot of money yet, and they could not seem to fathom why I seemed so strong and content without it at times. I also seemed all over the place, and like I was running all the time, an absolute mess in my personal space as it was within. I forgot to eat on time too many times, for too long. I lost weight quickly. I was completely run down and emotional all the time.
In a notebook, I have written about how I felt like an end, not wanting to do anything anymore because it seems that one can dress your space with nice clothes, a car, a dining table …. All that home stuff, and the right brands and you have “LOVE” lol seems so ridiculous and untrustworthy to me. In fact in business, once you pay money to print up a signboard for example, instead of hand-painting it, people start buying more of what you sell, in most urban societies. If I get a vehicle that is second hand and old from cash I save for over 3 years instead of a brand new one, my teas will be selling slower. I hope to change that. I wrote about my homeless assistant working on his own volition at times, to finish my garden perimetre without being paid and enduring my moods… how for that reason, among others, like a man offering me a car and others bringing plants and seeds or whatever I needed along my gypsying path, I got up to continue day after day, making the garden at Pirates. That the Universe or God was screaming at me literally ‘ get up and walk’…. While my heart broke and all the sadness of all my life flowed through me, because of how people responded to my reality in different ways (their own perceptions often left me awakened) leaving me in some weird way refreshed, especially at a moment of absolute abandonment. I am deeply grateful for it, not because I blamed the person that abandoned me but because I realized how hard she tried to break this wall down, how it destroyed parts of her and myself too. I needed to let go.
So much anger, and confusion and sadness as a result of putting it all out there literally and getting what felt like judgements and disbelief in return. I felt absolutely worthless, hopeless and at the mercy of strangers for too many years, and I started to listen again to my inner self or God – like I say – whatever you call it. I am deeply grateful to some of these strangers who are becoming true friends.
Here it is then…or is it the time is now? The time to STOP…. in fact it is not yet time, I dont know this yet but it’s another month and a bit before I really do stop smoking so much, and being such a reclusive hermit, and to stop getting sidetracked by some search for love or community to lift me out of this empathy that I literally fed off of.
I try to create a day to stop completely and start this document instead. In the process, I change the name several times varying from 40 dayze to the last 40 dayze to what it is now awakening to living from the core, and later Healing with the Core…the reality… I feel this is appropriate considering my past and present, as so many things manifest from my deepest desires before me now, to lift me somehow away from whatever parasitic or egotistical or self loathing being I became. My mother earth carries me, quite literally, and I am sure it is much the same for many.
I want to scream. I will take a bath instead.
The sadness from thoughts of suicide and misunderstood expressions of it dissipates again. I am tired of feeling sad, I loathe this feeling and I do not understand. I wake and shout at my mind, shout at my body, shout at God to take this away. I am angry and begin to lose the feeling that I should be entitled to abundance, that I need it and that I do not deserve it.
As a long term marijuana abuser or user I can honestly say that it is not possible for me to function as a stoner in some societies and in most forms of work and creativity. We become stoners when we overuse this medicine, and it destroys our minds quite literally, in my opinion, much the same as too much coffee damages our gall bladder, making us feel run down and nauseous instead of giving us a boost of energy…. It is not possible because I do not stay in my mind in one place or in my body at times, it feels that way anyway. If I suddenly stop, I am very depressed and angry and irrational with anyone, even a 5 year old recently The sadness of my situation is from one perspective quite debilitating and numbing, and the passion and dedication displayed in the attempts I’ve made to work through this with God or Mother Earth, however you perceive, it is what is causing people to connect around me in their communities, which is what anyone’s purpose is I believe.
This is the reason I do not change where i am or what I am doing and everything at once again, I have done that 4 times in my life already. Change is definitely as good as a holiday, but if the result of 22 years of marijuana smoking is this kind of rollercoaster, and isolation or abandonment is the result then this problem perhaps is my mind or something within the chemicals in my brain. I do wonder what if I had taken more of those creepy pills years ago? We are what we eat literally, and it is recorded in many medical texts that Marijuana causes some kind of imbalance in brain tissue and brain chemicals, affecting mood mostly. I want to make it clear again, that I do not believe anyone’s state of being can be defined or tainted by one imbalance – as one is never out of balance in only one part at a time, and besides, right now my heart has been breaking for a quite some time as well.
Damaged or not, beyond all this hurt and sadness I do love my SELF and you should feel that way about your own self too. Its this self love that makes me take a bath and continue to live
I’ve shared this as it happens as it is so that it’s not just a simple Day 1 and a list of symptoms like anger, nihilism, suicidal etc so many go through this. Marijuana is not the same as stopping alot of chocolate and bananas, and I have got some serious depression going on here. I believe Marijuana is a powerful medicine and if abused as I have abused it results in the above-mentioned kind of debilitating empathy and depression for many. So what do we do? What does SANCA offer long term marijuana users as mood stabilizers? I am in contact with them regarding this, and hopefully they will share some of the natural medicines more widely in the future. What are natural mood stabilizers?
I know that at some point I will be making use of the following plants as mood stabilizers.
- Sceletium
- Ginko Biloba
- Goto Kola – centella
- Rosemary
On a random time I took a walk from my garden past a house, and the owner outside invited me in for coffee. I didn’t tell him much about myself but rather my ideas about urban farmers and community development. He gave me R2000 cash to start learning to drive. It is still surreal. In that moment, I don’t know whether to cry or say fuck you to be honest. I asked him if he was sure about giving it to me, and he giggled, ‘no, I am not, are you?’. I also headed out with him and his mum into the mountains where they are working on a food forest. It was beautiful and humbling in the sense that much of what I imagine I would want to own or create for myself exists there already. E.G a solar heated bathtub on top of a cliff overlooking the mountains with a waterfall on the left. Isolation still though but I may be there to change that two weeks a month. This means I will be in two worlds still, still creating, still awakening to living from core.
I felt very sore and sick from a lack of stable eating, lack of sleep, the anger, the sadness, a fall that resulted in a huge bruise on my butt and a swollen bicep, with lacerations on the inside of my left hand. A fantastic simulation of pain that seemed to flash through me resulting in some form of happiness, as I fell, seemed rather strange. I stood up from that with gratitude.
I was bedridden with flu, after this trip and it became a very nihilistic few days in which I considered all the reasons one can fathom to end such a lifetime… I stand, just the way I am supposed to be placed into a reality of my own dreams coming true. It is teaching me that abundance is really always there, always was and always will be. We just need to learn to trust it. I found, I no longer desired anything and then everything I ever desired presented itself.
TO BEGIN this detox needs to get real. I need to really stop smoking. This flu has left me with heart palpitations and chest pains of note. I am not diligent in drinking water but I have managed to start feeding myself meals that are not just soups or pasta. I am deeply sad still, even though I am earning eight times the income I had and having a beautiful mountain space to go garden in and stay in for at least two weeks each month. I am sad because I am alone. I embrace this and decide to reach out to the woman I love, I am ignored mostly. Eventually I get a angry response, and I respond with the love I do possess. I am not sure we will ever be friends. To forgive takes time, and when one does forgive, it does not create the changes one desires in those we forgive, or delete their subconscious judgements that cause them to treat us so badly. We must learn to love without understanding.
This flu lasted almost 5 weeks. I bombed my body with tissue salts, garlic, ginger, tumeric, cayenne pepper, african wormwood, olive leaf and echinacea extract and eventually snake oil… smoking alot of marijuana in between just to ease the discomfort. I stop taking anything and I let it ride its journey through my body. Now I am detoxing off of anti-inflamatories too, goodness…. I stop smoking so much. I start to walk again in the city. I try to reach out to society on facebook to come assist in the garden at Pirates or to contact me if any of my proposed ideas are wanted. I get one response. It is a response I cannot honor until I have actually earned the first months full salary or get funding or donations of soil from community. I am not sure I will honor it, and the few that know me tell me to stop running away.
I plan another garden, one that will be started in the mountains this week. I prepare myself to be healed and restored in doing this. I go shopping for the first time in years not for anything I need – i don’t rush in and out reading labels of products I am not familiar with, I don’t get anxious in the mall for a change, I don’t get a headache trying to be normal anymore. I laugh, it’s quite an ironic and biased community in this city – everyone consuming and literally pushing each other out the way to throw around abundance they think they earned?
I am not sure where my journey will lead me but this blog is a huge part of mine, a record of all the ups and downs that, like so many in my life, always lead me to be alone in nature and with God for a certain time. Out in the mountains, there are 5 workers, hundreds of hectares of unused land and a small village of people I am yet to meet. I will walk with the plant healers and learn, I will map out trails I explore with a compass, a machete, some paper and my pencil among other things. I will start and grow an awesome medicine and food garden, that will supply more tisanes or teas to any city, and add to subscription food boxes. I will fearfully shape shift and awaken to living from the core. Human interaction, and this flu and the attempts I’ve made in the city to be free to enjoy it, have not killed me, neither did my wish for death or any of my past shit. I surrendered.
Whatever perception you, as the reader have of me or my expressions are yours alone. I can only hope to continue to inspire and empower people along with myself through this blog. If you are a marijuana smoker, smoke less, make some cookies once a month instead, use the plant medicines I mentioned I would be using to stabilize your moods and make the detox as mindfully pleasant as possible. Choose life, realize that when you let it ALL GO & TRUST there really is a whole lot more energy, clarity, production and reward.
If you would like to sign up for a food box, seeing as it’s already growing in Westbury, please send me an email nntreasure@gmail.com because I will be on and off signal at least two weeks every month. I will post about what is being done in the mountains as I go along, healing with the land
Thank you for reading this.
Thank you for letting me know you want a food box full of naturally grown edibles and medicinals.
I found in a blog post by Shivanand Pattanshetti the perfect sentence to sum it up.. ‘’Money is just a proxy for real goods and services. The value of money and the relative costs of goods and services are determined by demand and supply.’’
Is there a reason for governments to be in charge of money?” asks Paul Kemp-Robertson Judging by the new raft of alternative currencies—from digital coins to point systems that reward customers of a certain brand—the answer might someday be “no.” As Kemp-Robertson suggests, many people seem to trust brands more than governments these days. Since currency is, in a sense, an expression of the brand value of a government, why shouldn’t commercial brands also make currency?
“An alternative currency (or private currency) is any currency used as an alternative to the dominant national or multinational currency systems. They are created by an individual, corporation, or organization, they can be created by national, state, or local governments, or they can arise naturally as people begin to use a certain commodity as a currency. Mutual credit is a form of alternative currency, and thus any form of lending that does not go through the banking system can be considered a form of alternative currency.
When used in combination with or when designed to work in combination with national or multinational fiat currencies they can be referred to as complementary currency. Most complementary currencies are also local currencies and are limited to a certain region.
Barters are another type of alternative currency. These are actually exchange systems, which only trade items; thus without the use of any currency whatsoever. Finally, LETS is a special form of barter which trades points for items. One point stands for one worker-hour of work.
Often there are issues related to paying tax. Some alternative currencies are considered tax-exempt, but most of them are fully taxed as if they were national currency, with the caveat that the tax must be paid in the national currency. The legality and tax-status of alternative currencies varies widely from country to country; some systems in use in some countries would be illegal in others.”
I have been at a few points over the past few years feeling torn or seeing the choices between two worlds of value. In one there is very little currency or money, and in the other a lot of currency or currencies going on. In one there is very little fair trade or love, and in the other a lot of fair trade and love. I turned away from all of them into my own way. I ran to stand still. I saw love in the darkest places, places we are not taught it exists, the ones like where I live where people turn away from people because of perceptions and judgments.
I have learnt anyone can live without money, if they have other ways of obtaining all the resources they desire. Unfortunately, because of the way the western world functions on currency as power, as a means to ALL ends, many of us perceive our own value … the value of the heart, the soul, the spirit, the body itself …based on how we look presentable in all situations or under all circumstances no matter how different (and that costs a lot of currency or energy exchange that once one applies physically is not fair at all). This perception presents a dilemma of ‘am I worthy?’ and of ‘what is my capacity worth? Because of these perceptions I actually spent most of my life pushing people who cared, especially family, who gave me money away. I had no regard for it.
From my experience, of going alone into the mountains to live with a few people on and off the land who I did not know, with no money or idea what next, I can attest to the fact that these perceptions also affected the value of what I received in trades. I had good reasons to wonder between systems and ways of life, to never settle for any of it until love found me. Suppose you read a few books, and begin to forage for food – eating medicinal weeds such as plantain or purselane for example. You become good at this, so good in fact that you are no longer going to the shops for greens or any kind of food. You consider your accommodation and begin to build a house, but the work takes time and energy from foraging for food, recreating the need to go shopping. Imagine clothing, growing the cotton, spinning it, creating cloth, sewing it – all of it… Life can become stressful and cumbersome very quickly in that way. Not to mention the adjustments in the body, aches and pains one never even considered existing… Now if you are in the mountains with snowy tops in winter, like I was, alone, no money, no people, in a tent with all your clothing on and your body sore from the weight of that and the two blankets you have; anyone handing you a R100 note or bread or anything really is an illusion to hold onto. Alternative currency or money is literally what we balance our capacity to become super powerful or deserving of instead of human rights. Im pretty sure I would have preferred a nice big fluffy duvet on a comfy bed, not exactly something I could carry alone. In a weird way alternative currency or money does create community, because we come together to trade based on different reasoning, and we need each other to complete the trade.
In my experience I learnt to let go of material things, to not need that many t-shirts or dresses, only two pairs of shoes, use everything to its potential, recycle, upcycle and be practical. It was beautiful, like some hippy arty fairy me was wild at play in such a world, but I was alone mostly in giving without want, receiving only to fulfill need. I awakened to a sadness being walked at or bumped into in the shops so whoever bumped me could get to something on a shelf first or without hesitation, picking up items almost glowing at the thought of how good they look with this but don’t deserve it because it is not affordable…. Hmmm and value of self? It cannot be determined by a currency or material possession. Neither can the value of love.
I was also awakened to anxiety, empathy and judgment on both a conscious and sub-conscious level. I wonder at the shame that I would not love myself enough to have a variety of everything to choose from at all times, or more that I could not even afford a packet of rizlas to roll natural tobacco in? The insanity that somehow I deserved this punishment to have to stop smoking, to rejoice also because of it, of being cut off…I was awakened to gratitude. I was awakened to loss. I withdrew from the system, wanting the hug or the eye contact from loved ones instead of the hundred rand notes. I cried asking for these things. I saw many alone right next to their partners, right next to their mothers and brothers and friends, so alone, so disconnected. I tried an alternative currency or two, ended up trading more than using any of these systems of value. I got angry. I wanted a variety of foods I couldn’t afford. I wanted more than I had the capacity to trade for. I got lost. I fell in love. I felt the loss of love without currency and the loss of love with currency. I am silenced in the anxiety of these separations… that so much is lost just because of lack of either capacity in one world or currency in another. I shed so many tears for those people so alone, and for the humility and conformity within me that surfaces because of love, though I might have lost it.
I have learnt that money is just an exchange system. It is as efficient a way of trading goods and services as any other alternative currency e.g bitcoin, talents, ebucks, starbucks… the list goes on and on and more and more alternatives arise. These are just perceptions of value but never the value itself. Ive heard so many people say , ‘My time is worth more as a call out because the client is rich’. Ive seen good rich people honored in my slum so to speak. Ive seen people judge and turn away from people they connect with, with and without words based on perceptions of currency being value and capacity.
There is so much confusion about what I do at Pirates, you would have to really stalk me or walk a bit with me to know completely. I am growing in all ways. I want to sit in restaurants and watch movies, step into my power again, LIVE. I want to create a life where the price of my organic food and medicine is not a concern, I want to share what I know and I have done my best with this blog… but I do need to make money or a alternative currency in order to make society, past friends and family perceive my capacity and my value to far outweigh the value of where I sleep at the moment. At least where I sleep is only acceptance in whatever form my wallet is in. I live in my body and want to make a home.
This journey over the past 7 years of my life has led me here, through all the circles, to Pirates ground to see so many things from so many perspectives… to hoe out all anger, all my awakenings, and wonder yes I wondered why no one has put me in a straight jacket or given me a means to continue more efficiently… yet nothing can really manifest unless I am clear … and now that Im clear about this worlds perception of capacity and value I am choosing to conform and chase the money instead. I am tired of getting half measures, lack of commitment, second hand everything you can imagine. Unfortunately, I will lose a lot of love and respect because of this change in me. I hope we all grow together no matter which form of exchange is preferred. I choose to always base my capacity and value on the state of my being – mind, soul, spirit, body. I choose one world because all of them actually have this same perception in all of the different worlds of different groups exchanging alternative currencies and trading.
In this world it is as simple as if you are good at one thing it comes from practice, for this reason its best to focus on one or two things only which is something you can always exchange for goods and services or use money. I have never focused, but I am working on it.
I have no money again so do show some support and buy something so I can grow more herbs or paint or write or restore something and pay some rent. I am sure that all the pages on this blog can indicate some kind of capacity and value I possess.
I have not posted step by step what Ive been up to due to no internet access and very little cash, with no income since my last posting. Someone once told me that when you are on an island alone and a storm is coming you first consider shelter, then water then food. Being in a city now its a given, even with water restrictions, that water is not scarce enough to be concerned with and I trade and balance out with cash where I sleep most of the time… my concern was food.
A friend of mine is involved in a soup kitchen project and has an agreement (now being reviewed 2016) that some of the almost expired and expired goods from a fruit and veg store can be taken and distributed off the grounds of the business. I joined in on the dumpster diving thinking an exchange of waste to bokashi for the compost and the runoff for fertilizer or drain cleaner was lucrative enough, but food was my main concern. I watched people in the streets and parks and at the rivers as I walked, wondering how many needed a banana or apple or just some kind of smile I agreed to distribute some food waste in my area. This is what we gathered in less than an hour … very greatfully
This is how I made my bokashi – using almost fermenting fruits and breads. I particularly loved walking around the block with a giant polystyrene container and backpack of cakes and sandwiches to give away.
On another occasion, I made a poster and displayed it in the park with food for anyone to take home and eat. This particular store cut us off from the dumpster area a few weeks before Christmas, leaving approximately 180 people wondering where the soup is. They want to recycle the food waste now and sell it, honestly I think there is way to much and it is way too costly a process, even on such a scale to make any profit. Our earth needs some bokashi, our people need food but one 150kg drum is costly and there is alot of waste in one skip. If you have any ideas please contact me 072 146 9017
I think that people should re-evaluate their morality or system or value or perception of value. just love each other as in see the need fill the need if you can, and if not acknowledge that you know that need… it connects us all despite our lifestyles. I think that doing this creates a force of love, a sense of community returns, crime decreases…. why dont people working in these stores take the waste home and give it away on the way home? why doesn’t anyone bother to make a buffet in the park with the veggies in the compost instead? why look away at the waste and at the man at the traffic lights with the sign asking for mercy in so many ways? where is humanity’s humane nature lost?
I had no money, few people and no hope of income other than some artwork at a street vendor in the city and I am still here lol love is a great force embrace it. Money and a lifestyle is a choice – make it.
Its time for me to make some awesome tea again too… please keep an eye on the Art of Tea page too.
I harvested quite a bit of Black Raddish and Dicon seed from Pirates, both look similar to the image above. Below is an image of Rainbow Red Spinach seed, also harvested from Pirates. These will all be planted in the new garden at Pirates.
Cauliflower seed
Onion seed
Onions for planting this week
Peruvian Amaranth, makes excellent porridge
Freshly harvested Amaranth seeds
You should leave the heads to dry out before doing this next part, but I had little space, so I did it, it means I have a lesser yield of fully developed seeds but enough to have a way better kick start on this land than before.
Isn’t it just beautiful?
I have hesitated posting this post, and was happy to see a new fan liking all the Scaping Cultures Interactive Gardening @ Pirates – 14 likes from one person in fact. Sadly Scaping Cultures or rather the idea of it will remain an idea, and unfortunately this post is not going to be a happy one, but it has many lessons, which hopefully make up for it and will explain my lack of interaction over the holiday season and dedication to continue to do what I do at Pirates instead. I really just want to make tea and paint pots, talk about herbs and medicines, share, enjoy, get a canoe… So here is the perspective I am at, in my journey. It is easy to find small companies or people struggling and get a garden done and sorted for anyone who offers money for it. However, I do not see myself sitting in traffic, rushing from site to site, never really doing any gardening for everyone else. I need to farm my tisanes. I am also not that attached to money or material possessions.
On a Friday Jess and I picked up a friend of mine, some stuff, or ‘shit’ if I may, went down throughout the morning. Jess and I ended up arguing outside the property, and a trigger was set off with one simple phrase in which I retaliated from my darkest place – instantly losing a new friend and business partner. Ironically I am grateful for it. As many tears as I shed, I shed off years of aging that this nonsense already started…and I walk through Greenside back to Pirates, to clean up the beautiful mess I made. It makes me feel similar to the way I felt when I tore up an amazing painting I did, because it hurt someone I loved.
Don’t we usually all have this problem, at some point? Being unprepared, rushing in to keep our word to those who don’t keep theirs? All for our name’s’ sake, for money? Its funny that so many think money relieves stress – walking away from it has proven many times for me to be a far greater release. Yet, a lack of money causes stress, and sacrifices people do not understand or ever speak of. The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it, according to Henry David Thoreau. I think our currency should be love, not money, simple kindness goes a long way.
I am one of those people who has worked so hard that I actually have 3 rows of callouses on each hand, who has been brutally honest, open, liberal, broken, misunderstood and completely dismantled throughout various expressions in art, poetry, and gardening. I have somehow got something on my side, as I managed to trade for land for a long enough period hopefully to create a tisane producing business. My focus will not be deterred again. I have been swung by my dreams and collaborating them with the dreams of others, all because one must exchange money or become someone’s bitch or be ok with being suppressed as a child for space to sleep – this, unfortunately occurs on the streets amongst the homeless, in volunteer projects and also in larney people’s’ homes, depending on how psychotic they are or how long one stays. I have failed in the art of making money but I have my freedom. I can eat very little, I can eat things you walk all over all day. I have put fractions of what I can do out there, scattered like stars, fragments of beauty that have inspired so many and I am still on my own.
I have noticed that those who try create other people’s dreams, as if they are their own, have clearly not been taught that the dream belongs to the dreamer…. if you try live someone else’s dream, it can become a nightmare. Everyone has their own demons to confront in such nightmares, even the dreamer that shared the dream – quite ironic ..
For all of the above reasons I am sticking to Art of Craft, and changing the name of the gardening facebook page again…. here it is if you are still not on the same page as me…. Art of Craft Interactive Gardening @ Pirates
Jess is a fantastic landscaper and designer, she is practical and uses all the materials, even the waste to its potential. I have seen images of the transformation she is capable of managing. Please contact her for your landscaping requirements on 083 336 5177
The about section on my facebook page for Art of Craft says – “Showing off skills as I acquire them, and make use of them in expressions of almost ANYTHING in an effort to educate and empower”. These blog posts have and will continue to do this for many, its my path to sustainability in original ways. Most people need to keep the blinkers on in order to survive or maintain sanity, I need to discard them, because once you see it is actually a painful experience to regress and put those blinkers on again. Im sure that makes sense to a few people.
I have had wonderful times with volunteers, I learn alot letting people in, exchanging information. People think I am paid lol or well off based on the perception that my expressions create. I cannot change that. I cannot lie or tell enough truth to convince those who judge me that they are wrong either. I can only keep working this land, keep an open mind and heart toward those who enter. Alot can happen in 3 years, but look at what happened in 7 months (all recorded in this blog) – so many highs, so much to indicate success and prosperity based on perceptions and still nothing constant or permanent, except for a few supporters and people who remind me never to give up. Nothing is permanent, nothing is as it seems. This is deeply and completely shit to a degree, but very much a part of the reason I continue regardless of dinner on my plate or not. Thank you to all of these people.
I hope to see you again, in the garden
