Three Fall Conversations: A New Poem
Three Fall Conversations
by Gwendolyn Alley Read more…
Scott Struman, VC Students at EP Foster Library Th. Dec. 5
This Thursday, Dec. 5, at 730pm the Thursday night series in the EP Foster Library Topping Room (651 E. Main, Ventura) hosted by Phil Taggart features Scott Struman. During the open mic that follows, some of my Ventura College students and I will be there.
Learn more about Scott, hear some of his poems, and learning about his writing process by checking out the video above; a sample poem and short video are below..
“it’s ok for our hearts to be broken over the world,” says Joanna Macy. “What else is a heart for! There’s a great intelligence there. …Our earth is not a supply house and a sewer. It is our larger body. We breathe it. We taste it. We are it.”
What happens when we name problems, research solutions, and take action?
Sometimes in the process our hearts get broken.
And sometimes in the process our hearts get healed. Read more…
Words Have Power
Words. We all use them– inside and outside of our heads, on the page and off. Read more…
Understanding “The Mind of the Soil” — A Walk With Vincent Charlot in His Biodynamic Champagne Vineyards.
Near Mardeuil, France, biodynamic Champagne winemaker Vincent Charlot holds his most precious asset: healthy soil. To make the best champagne, Charlot says he must “understand the mind of the soil.” Biodynamic practices direct Charlot in how to listen and learn from the soil in his vineyards.
Because of intensive, widespread pesticide use, the region of Champagne may have the most polluted water in France — and the world. Charlot uses natural, organic remedies to build strength in the vines through the chalky soil. “When you have soil like this, the roots are deep,” says Charlot. “Just like a person — more balanced, less sick.”
As Charlot farms biodynamically, we safely smell and sample soils formed from marine fossils long ago. “When you taste the chalk, you can taste that the wine is born from the sea,” says Charlot. Like a sponge, chalk absorbs moisture releasing it by evapotranspiration to carry minerals from earth into grapes for flavor and texture in wine.
“When you drink the wine,” says Charlot, “you understand the soil.” If there’s more clay, there’s more fruit, more sensuality; the chalk soils have more tension. Few are invited to visit vineyards; I am fortunate to walk there with Charlot. In the US, Vincent Charlot’s biodynamic champagne ranges in price from $60-$110.
The Le Fruit de Ma Passion label represents how biodynamics integrate cycles. “When you work biodynamically, you work closely with the sun and the moon,” says Charlot. “But that’s really just the beginning of biodynamics. When you believe about the sun and the moon, the rest is more simple.”
See more pictures and read the complete article on Wine Predator.
In Beauty We Are United: On Sat. Nov. 16 Plant Trees at Hayden Preserve 9-12, Midtown Ventura Cleanup 2-4pm
In Beauty we are united,
through Beauty we pray,
with Beauty we conquer.
–Nicholas Roerich
In Beauty. Do Beauty. Be Beauty. Express your gratitude for the beauty of our planet this Saturday in Ventura by planting trees or helping clean up.
TREE PLANTING AND RESTORATION WORK AT HAYDEN PRESERVE
Based on Holocaust Diaries: “Ghetto” Opens Weds. at Ventura College
