ubuntu-grows intentions for the new year

"let us not take life for granted...

always remembering how truly precious your life is."

- emily c

On January 1, 2009 ubuntu held its second day of healing.

On this day we had various workshops:

Yoga/Meditation

Intentions and Determinations

Trauma Stewardship

Trust

Potluck dinner

Guided meditation

Letting Go

Dance/Body Love

The Intentions and Determinations healing session lead to the question...

"how do we support each other through the year in keeping our intentions and determinations?"

It was suggested that we post to the blog a list of our intentions, and then find an intentions buddy to help keep each other accountable.

Here are the intentions: planted seeds that we hope to grow through the year:

AJ

- to be thoughtful and intentional for myself and those I care about

- continue to be more GREEN

Alba

- to use every drop of potential I possess to the end of having the most extraordinary life possible

- to listen and act on my clarity

- to be authentic, whole and intentional

Amiris

- love for myself, others, of our environment which is the earth and cosmos

- destroy oppression and exploitation

- to create love and freedom for myself and others and of our environment which is the earth and the cosmos

- to do my work well

- determined to be free together with all

- bridge divided worlds and people, bring them together in a diverse collage of collective collaboration while never losing sight of the horizon light of freedom which is our humanity

- find a love remedy to heal the oppressors of their oppression

Beth

- play regularly

- practice my art as prayer

- create home as a place of welcoming

- take care of self

- pay attention

- trust my passion

- transform my world like we do

- to draw frequently

- to live actively

- being a being of light

- learn new meaning of accountability

- to act, to attend, to witness

- to love, to heal

- to know home

- to speak

Bre

- I want to focus more on art. For art comes in many forms. It is drawing, writing, music and cooking! It is creativity and it is creation. Art was my first love and I put it aside to focus on schooling. Now I realize that I should have never put it aside. My goal is to draw more, write more, do more, and cook for myself and friends, family and community!

Emily

- to be healthy

- to be a person of conviction

- to be intentional and loving with my words and actions

- to have and nourish faith

- to create a stable, healthy, happy and harmonious family

Jenn

- CREATIVE FORCE

- trust that I am loved and create trust

- feel love as abundant as creative process

- sing, be art, write music

- create confidence

- follow my path creatively

- create healing space

- learn from the earth's creative force

- be a mentor

- recognize the beauty and creativity every day

Kriti

1. feet on the ground

2. give into right now. goal-less. nowhere better to be.

3. willingness always to learn new things.

4. write it. share it. now.

5. sharpness clarity precision

6. do whatever needs to be done, simply, straight forwardly, without hesitation.

7. no fear. no hesitation. no doubt. you are perfect and invincible. you are surrounded by the same.

Lex

- youth led spirithouse

- Durham in love with ourselves through progressive cooperation and synergy

- optional and resonant historical names for the divinity in my life

- learning to mother ourselves

Lex and Julia

- the most loving sustaining days and nights ever shared...

Lynne

- to be brave in all I do

- to spend more time with loved friends

- to truly live to the fullest outside my work

- love

- to finish fitting into my skin

Manju

- no deprecation, self or otherwise

- write a love letter daily

- practice impeccable self care. begin with simple steps. begin with my body. begin TODAY.

- be intentional about moving forward in healing from my abuse and violence history, be patient with this process.

Mikel

- I am hereby resolved to opening my heart and my awareness to enable my choosing, moving, and connecting with each and every moment in a creative, spontaneous, and Truthful way

Noah

- Say yes! to my life with my whole heart

- focus

- say all the things i wish I'd said/ that i need to say

- act from my heart, my spirit and my deeply held values-knowledge

- speak like i know

- don't wait for perfection

- open up and give my trust out like extra seedlings or seashells

- tell everyone how much i love them

- say blessings out loud

Sendolo

- Decisive

- Strengthen my character

- Strategic, accountable, integrated, organizing

- Call my Mama, Gramma + JJ Polska more often

- Complete a first draft of my portfolio

- Make base building and intellectual work the center of my work

Serena

1. to create and sustain a sense of purpose in my work

2. to build a useful and consistent rhythm into my days, nights, weeks, moon cycles, and seasons

3. to develop an intentional, sustainable spiritual practice- in particular I want to listen to my ancestors more and better

Yashna

1. Practice Impeccable Self Care

2. To build myself with these blocks:

strength, clarity, trusting, boldness, empowered, loving, courage, confident, full+whole, truth telling, creative expression

3. to hold a torch of hope and light for myself and self-love and to actively pursue creating this in my life

4. to hold a torch of hope and light for my relationship/partnership with mikel and to actively pursue creating this in my life. healthy, passionate, connected, sustaining, long-lasting love

5. to rewire myself out of old beliefs into empowering beliefs that support my growth

6. to change my default of fear and negativity to positivity, hope and joy

and to close:

"i want to blink my eyes and radiate love like the stars." - noah

Reflections: Birthing a Garden / Midwife to Justice

Last Saturday we, ubuntu-grows, had an amazing workday and mini-teach where we got together and weeded, mulched, winterized, and learned glorious things about our garden.

We used old coffee bags for a "winter blanket" mulch cover for our beautiful greens...collards, kale, red kale, etc. We cut slits or "x's" into the bags, and then carefully threaded the plants through the openings. As we eased the plants through the openings I remembered the few times that I have been able to witness a human birth. Each time is a miracle. Each time a head reaches out of the comfort of the warmth within their mother and out into the world is truly a miracle.

As we eased the plants out from under the coffee bags, I felt a joyous gratitude for the birth of each of those heads of greens. I laughed with delight each time a plant was threaded through, as if I hadn't seen one come through just a few moments before.

Miracles.

As I mentioned the birth anology to my garden family, Beth mentioned that then we must be the midwives of this garden. Helping to birth and deliver these miracles.

--

This is my second week at my new job with the National Farm Worker Ministry. It has already been an eye opening experience, a new way to look at the world and our food through the labor of farm workers lives.

Today at work I came across a passage that echoes these thoughts on birth and food from the land. I suggest you use it before eating your next meal.

"(Name of your divine spirit), bless the farmworker, and move our hearts to remember and bless them well. The farm worker shares in your power as midwife to creation. Help us to serve as midwife to the living wage they deserve for their labor. Help us to serve as midwife to the cause of just treatment in the fields." Amen. Ameen. Blessed Be. And so it is.

So as we do our work, and we assist in the birth of our plants, our food, as co-creaters with the Divine, we are also called to assist in the birth of justice in our communities.

What birth have you assited today?



posted by ymp

happy with the habanero

amend the jus soli

This is an exert from our latest meeting, notes taken by Kriti:

"We need to amend the soil, re-establish the planting grid, plant seeds and starts, put up PVC hoops, and put up plants that need vining. Kriti will bring aluminum foil and garden twine. Noah will bring shovels. As for amendments, Mikel will look into getting five 5-gallon samples of compost from the City of Durham. Beth and Yashna will both look into getting chicken manure. Mikel will ask Kia about getting the starts. Kriti and Noah will figure out what seeds to bring. Noah will look into saving eggplant seeds."

At our last meeting when Kriti said "we need to amend the soil". I had no idea what she was talking about, which is one reason I am participating here, to learn about gardening, about creating life. So, I asked Kriti, do what to the soil? Amend the soil, meaning to renew, replenish, add on to. Wow! That is beautiful! Wikipedia says that a "soil amendment is a material added to the soil to improve plant growth and health."

For some reason I am finding similarities in my naturalization process, the recent and horrible lash against undocumented (and often times documented) immigrants and my experience of gardening.

I am in process of becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States. I am excited about this, and take this process very seriously. I am in the last stage and now just waiting to hear back for final approval and hopefully be able to take my oath soon. I have felt growing attachment to the US as my home and where I find pride, safety, security and honor. I have lived here for 26 of my 29 years, this is my home, it always has been (even without a piece of paper to prove it), and I hope that it always will be (with that piece of paper to prove it).

To become naturalized originally came from "jus soli" which means to become "right of the soil."

During this naturalization process I had a chance to brush up on my civics, and study for the naturalization test, and studied the Amendments again after a long time. There are 27 Amendments to the Constitution. Amendments are changes made to something that needs to be altered. To make amends means to make up for something that was typically incorrect or wrong.

Every day in the the last few weeks I have cried. I have cried every day because I have heard, read or seen stories of people, yes people, not "aliens", not "illegals", but people, who have had there whole lives (and that of their families) shift in a second because of paper, skin color, religion, assumed nationality, or someone else's misguided hate or ignorance. This has made me unbearably sad, with tears flowing easily. If only I had a rain barrel for these tears to feed our garden with.

So, taken from our meeting notes, I would like to share these notes to my potentially new naturalized home, of the US, "we need to amend the soil..." we need to change the groundwork here y'all. We need to take out the old shit and bring in some fertile soil that encourages growth, not breaks life.

I stated earlier that the US, as my home, is where I find safety and security. I have had moments where I do not feel safe after the last few weeks where I have seen a blatant disregard to the Bill Rights, Amendments numbers 1, 4-8 and most importantly 9, unenumerated rights, or basic fundamental rights. I am calling upon the first amendment to be able to say that I am saddened by this tearing up of our garden called Durham, called NC, called USA, with blind eyes.

We need to make amends to the people we have hurt in this process, who are just trying to help our garden, our home, become more fruitful.

"We need to amend the soil and reestablish the planting grid..."

What does that look like for you?

(post by: ym)

youth

This is what our Zucchini flower looks like at 6am.
Happy green tomatoes.
First ripe tomato!

birth

These are long overdue....
First Baby Tomato!
Mulching keeps the moisture in!
Grow soybean sprout grow!


Welcome loved ones!!!

Making Rain Barrels!

Hopefully there's a slide show below... If not, try here.
much love