Today, with dirty hands and a determination never known, I 
am officially welcomed into the next level of Soil Study at Dr Elaine’s Soil Food Web Program. A miracle! I did ask for a scholarship to enter this deeper study but this level of study the school can not gift due to the mentoring and apprenticeship expenses. So, I prayed and shared……and today, it became possible…and I enrolled. The enroll button was hit. BOOM!
In many ways, this miracle arrives on the back of a lot of hardship and perseverance. However, it also seemed quite easy. Well, easy isn’t the best description it just came together without too much effort other than my desire and realization I needed to learn more. The steps and stones to get to this possibility were sometimes slippy and wobbly. Some stones stopped me in my tracks. Some catapulted me to another level. It was all humbling.
I enrolled this morning and hit the “sign me up”. In flurried the “congratulations” emails detailing the outline of the next levels of study. Yes, there is some risk but risk I am willing to take as I have a deep held sense of where this path is leading me. It is my view that this work is going to save the world. BIG STATEMENT for sure, but true!
And, I can not do this alone. This couldn’t be possible without assistance from others. We need each other. Doing things alone is not the most functional path forward anymore. We learn this from the soil. We are a web. Most of these “helping” folks are “old” friends. We connected a decade ago. They didn’t need me to “prove myself” either. They were not waiting to see if I was worthy or the business was worthy. They just became a part of the team and web with giving nature that did not have “criteria” attached. Well, sorry, the criteria is to “change the world”, period!
I want to talk about these people who are helping me because they all seem to be of a “group” that walked a similar path. Most of them converged on this little place in Ecuador with hopes and dreams. They didn’t come “looking for an easier” life. We all were challenged and tested finding our paths. We all persisted and held the potentials very close to our hearts. We went though challenging experiences. We cried, laughed and held each other. We went our ways and converged in times of need. What I notice today is something BIG is happening for ALL of us right now that is bigger than us as individuals. The sum of our parts is powerful. It feels like we are on a cusp of truly creating a better world working in conjunction and support. These people know who they are….and I love them.
And, then there are the strangers that came forth! Man, gratitude as they do not really know me! They just helped for the sake of helping.
What will this next level of training provide? It will give me the tools to really change the soils of the lands in Ecuador at a practical level. After I took the Foundation Course, I realized I had gained much knowledge and realization, but to apply this wisdom I really needed to go deeper. I was hungry to know more. I was humbled to realize my 30 plus year organic and natural gardening excursions were shaped no differently in attitude and application than the chemical mindset of Big Agriculture. I honestly don’t think that anyone can go through this learning and discovery without coming to this humble conclusion. If you don’t, you are missing the point and maybe it is more about your ego?
So, I went back to square one and entered what felt was a kinder-garden of realization. Learning about the micro word, I find so many lessons arising that mirror both the work I do in my healing practice (looking at the terrain of blood) and the human psyche and consciousness. For example, I have already shared one “concept”…we are a web and interconnected and we can not pull that apart. We can not go alone and thrive. We do not need to be a war with the pathogens. Rise up the good guys and the pathogens will fade away. It is better and more productive to enhance the web of life than to eradicate the bad guys. The “web” and “biome” is a powerful force. If we focus on that, we do not need to amend and restructure. The micro world is teaching so many lessons for our macro-existence. The macro world is not above the micro…we are living upon it and through it.
For the past 4 months since Jimi’s passing I have cloaked my days in putting together so many parts to create a project that goes beyond me. Making soil and creating soul are aligned. To date we have created many compost piles with different recipes of material from the lands. I have worked with my Ecuadorian family, father, mother and child, collecting materials, turning, watering, mixing, blending, recording, taking temperatures, succeeding and failing. One of my visions is they take this knowledge and we become a powerful force in the conversion of the soils, locally and nationally. One half of this equation is understanding the science and reviewing the scientific data to go from dirt to soil. The other half is a love of the soil at a hand’s on level. The smell, feel, sight and care and the hard work. I do not ask them to do anything I am not willing to do myself. We work hard together.
This work and knowledge is so important for everyone. The state of our soils is horrible. We are not receiving nutrition and flavour from plants as their pathways of transmission are harmed. The micro world is tipping in the anaerobic environment. We need oxygen to survive and thrive. It is time to take off this mask of destruction and breath life into it all. This is for organic gardens as well as chemically force. Even in organic practices, we force ourselves and amend with a lot of misunderstand. Therefore, I can state that this work and project “is” saving our world and our species. The aerobic microbiome is everything. This also applies to human’s microbiome too. And, yes, this is deepening my understanding of the “terrain” theory of health and healing.
So, today I begin the next chapter. As I shared, it seems like a miracle. I intend to blog and share the journey here in the Purple Carrot Club on a personal level. The business is affectionately named “Living Ground ~ Suelo Vivo” and will be launched when the time is right and soon. The business will umbrella many aspects of living offerings such as biologically sound composts, teas and extracts, services to and offerings to convert soils, farms and lands, infused tonics and elixirs from the land created in healthy soils and alchemized to enhance the healing benefits, and essential oils and hydrosols also from the land and my work in microscope of live and dried blood. It is all connected really. It is a big dream and many years of study, trial, error and query. It will be launched soon as a legal entity with a natural engine and sacred fuel.
I am feeling so grateful. It is overwhelming me. If Jim was here right now, he would say I was “icky” as the gratitude is just oozing. My love, I honor you. I am on Living Ground, Suelo Vivo and this is perhaps the whole purpose of the Purple Carrot Club that you seeded. It is time, yes? Your vision after your surgery is coming alive.
