Zazen, Again

Morning temp: 60F
Afternoon high: 83F
Tonight's projected low: 55F (Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy, we LOVE cool evenings for sleeping!)
Humidity: 85%
Moon: Waning, 15%
Wind: N at 4 mph
Overall: It's been clear, hot in the sunshine, cool in the shade! Another day in the Shire.

1. Well, I got to feeling quite run-down yesterday afternoon, and so only a smaller amount of work was done on the fence, and afternoon thunderstorms ruled out any photos. I did, however, build and attach a second fence section about 5' in length. This morning I reinforced the newer posts by driving smaller wedge-shaped pieces of hardwood in beside them, and by wrapping the newly attached sections to the reinforced posts with 20 gauge wire and 1" carpentry nails (so much easier to work with than 3" finishing nails). This afternoon, I sunk five additional fence posts. They'll bear three new fence sections (each about 9' in length - I'm going back to longer sections) and two gates. It also occured to me today that when we move - which might be as early as April, 2008 - I can take the fence sections down and take them with us! That will give us a fence of our own making fairly quickly.

2. I started out today with a different plan in mind. I'm still learning the flow of full-time Homesteading, much like a new job or relationship has its own "flow" that you have to learn to fit into. I've noticed that I still tend to sink into a hurried, stressful state of mind when I'm working, even in the Garden. Spiritual practices of any kind certainly help, e.g., asking St. Fiacre for assistance, talking with spirits of earth, air, wind and sun. But I'm also making a concerted effort to begin each day with a form of meditation I learned years ago while studying Zen Buddhism.

Like Huston Smith (one of the founders of the modern field of Religious Studies), it's always seemed obvious to me that understanding a religious or spiritual tradition is greatly aided by spending time with teachers and lay-persons within that community, learning its religious stories and teachings - especially those that do not appear in World Religions textbooks - seeing how ordinary people make that religion work for them in their daily lives, and engaging in their forms of spiritual practice. I like to see how a certain religious orientation feels, much like trying on a new suit. So, with years of study of a wide range of religious traditions, I've "tried on" and been impressed with a great many spiritual disciplines. One of my favorites comes from the Zen Buddhist tradition, zazen meditation. While all classical forms of Buddhism emphasize meditation of some kind, in most schools of Zen zazen, i.e., learning to sit quietly while the rational mind slows down, grows calm and peaceful and eventually comes to a complete and utter halt, is considered the "essence" of Buddhism itself. After just a few sessions of zazen, I was shocked at how different the world looked and felt after just 10 or 20 minutes of sitting meditation. It's really quite simple: sit quietly in a private place, gently focus your attention upon your breathing, when your attention drifts away to something else gently bring it back to your breathing. That's it. It helps to pre-determine a period of time, say 10 minutes or more, and stick to it, otherwise "little mind" will quickly summon up all sorts of reasons why you should end your meditation after just a few minutes. The result is a calm, peaceful and far more intuitive state of mind, one in which it's all of sudden easy to do the work you have in front of you with much better concentrations and enjoyment, similar to what professional athletes call "the Zone".

Over the past ten years or so, I've begun this practice and then gradually drifted away from it many times. Presently, I'm considering a trip to Green Gulch Farm, where organic farming and meditation are synthesized into a consistent way of life. They have a superb website, at http://sfzc.org/ggfindex.htm. I've been doing brief periods of zazen (e.g., 10 minutes) throughout the day (between various tasks) and as a result I've accomplished a good deal of work, do not feel stressed out but actually quite calm and energized.

3. We now have 11 Tomatoes and 1 Squash in wire cages. Each cage is 28" in diameter and 50" in height. I've staked them down with long pieces of bamboo and string. I've also cut 5" X 10" "flaps" in each cage for easier access when we need to fertilize and harvest. I cut the bottom and both sides loose, and folded the flaps up (without creasing the wire tightly, which would cause it to snap off before long), and then hooked the flap back with an S-hook.

4. Well, we're off to meet D (one of M's son, who's a sophomore at GA Tech) and his girl MG for dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant! : 0 Happy Mother's Day to all!!!