Eco Adventure in Wisconsin – day one by Mary Ellen Ryall

Happy Tonics husband and wife team left today for Costa Rica.  They are staying at Rancho Margot, a self-supporting working ranch in Central America. 

Our first walk

 I am staying at their cabin in the woods with Sadie the dog for the next ten days.

Before the storm.

The first thing I notice when I look out the windows is that there are little woodpeckers and chick-a-dees flying to the porch and window boxes.  Then I see the nut-hatch climbing down the tree backwards.  It’s a winter wonderland of little birds.  All of a sudden I am transported into the silence of winter.

A slow cook pot is on.  Within the pot are lentils, organic onions and carrots, potatoes and cabbage.  I added lots of cumin, a medicinal spice used for indigestion and a dash of smart balance for some fat.  A teaspoon of powdered Turkey tail mushroom was added.  It is a medicinal mushroom that has been researched as a  cancer treatment.

After Sadie had her walk and a roll in the fresh snow, we headed back to the cabin for a good brush on the porch.  She is a corgi and in winter Sadie sheds. 

Even with the beauty of winter and being isolated in my retreat setting, there was a sad moment.  Earlier I noticed a sweet little mole in the kitchen.  When I went over to it I saw that it was barely alive.  His little leg was broken.  There appeared to be a few punctures in the little creature’s neck.  I wrapped him up in some cabbage leaves and carried him out to the porch.  I knew the cold temperatures would help end his life more quickly than letting Sadie experiment with her little pet.

When I went out to the porch to check on the little dear, it had already walked on.  I already had my snowshoes on so I gathered oak leaves from the woods and picked him up while I sang him an honor song.  There was a nice wood pile with a sheltered opening and I placed the little mole in a bed of oak leaves.  I put down tobacco leaves to honor his life and to thank him for the gift he was giving me.

He may be preparing me for an experience that will call me into grief at some point.  I felt stronger for knowing that we must all pass through different stages of life and each stage should be honored.

The road less traveled

  I photographed deer trails that wander along the woodland path.

Blue berries on red stem.

 I saw blue berries hanging from red stems and cotton soft down covering flower seed that wafts on the wind. 

The sun was setting to the west.  This is a little journal of my days in the woods.  I thought you might enjoy reading about Sadie and my eco adventure in the Great North Woods of Wisconsin.  Talk with you tomorrow afternoon.

Stay happy readers wherever you are.

Growing Food by Mary Ellen Ryall

Spider web after rain copyright Mary Ellen Ryall

Take a look at Will Allen.  

He walked away from corporate America and sports sixteen years ago to head up a growing business.  His main goal is to grow soil at his working farm Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  It is all about community gardens and we need to get growing in each community.  Visit http://www.growingpower.org/

When we realize that it takes nearly 1 gallon of fossil fuel and 5,200 gallons of water to produce just 1 pound of conventionally fed beef (Mooallem, 2009), we might start to realize we need to support local farmers and grazers.  Meat taste like meat when it is wild harvested or grass fed.  Biofuels made from crops have been responsible for up to 75 percent of the 130 percent increase in global food prices in the past six years (Weltz, 2009).  Food is not fuel and should never be taken out of the mouths of people and diverted to another profit making purpose. 

 It is interesting to note that college campuses across the USA are starting to introduce local grown food right into the cafeteria.  Tim Galarneau, is cofounder of Real Feed Challenge, a national campaign, wants to introduce 1,000 universities and colleges to buy 20 percent of their food by 2020.  Tim will still be actively working long after I retire.  It is good to know that youth are stepping up to the issue now.  Communities need to learn how to grow their own food so they can feed themselves in the future.  Josh Viertel, the 31year-old president of Slow Food USA says, “It’s just this incredible outpouring of energy to do the right thing.”  I feel confident that Tim Galarneau and many other young activists will lead the way to sustainability.

 Are we too little too late?

At the same time we need to keep our eyes open and on global food security and climate stress now that climate change is knocking at Earth’s door.  Please take a few minutes to listen to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack speaking on Agriculture and Climate Change in the video at http://vimeo.com/8137485

He spoke at Agriculture and Rural Development Day, on 12 December, 2009, a day-long event at the University of Copenhagen with more than 300 policy makers, negotiators, producers and leaders from the agricultural and climate change scientific community.   Unfortunately many believe that genetically engineered crops are a possible solution to end world hunger and the second Green Revolution has begun.  By listening to this video, we are staying informed and hearing about the world’s challenges to these paramount issues.

 Mooallem, J. (2009, March-April).  Veg-o-might.  Mother Jones, 36-37.

Weltz, A. (2009, March-April).  Trouble on the Limpopo. Mother Jones, 44-47.

Viertel, J. (2009, March-April).  Tray chic, Mother Jones, 47.

Happy Tonics is Migrating to Costa Rica for an Eco Adventure by Mary Ellen Ryall

view of Lago Arenal in view of the Arenal Volcano and the valley of the Rio Cano Negro and is surrounded by the Children Eternal Forest and the Arenal Forest Reserve

We are pleased to announce that Sandy Stein and Pat Shields, husband and wife, will be in Costa Rica for much of December.

Stein is secretary of Happy Tonics, Inc. a nonprofit environmental education organization and public charity.  Pat Shields is a board member and facility at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College.

They will be staying at Rancho Margot, a 300 acre self sufficient working ranch at tp://www.ranchomargot.org/our_ranch.html

The Reserva Biologica de Monteverde is just 15 km from the ranch.  The natural paradise setting of the ranch is on Lago Arenal in view of the Arenal Volcano and the valley of the Rio Cano Negro and is surrounded by the Children Eternal Forest and the Arenal Forest Reserve. 

Costa Rica has the most species of butterflies anywhere in the world outside of Ecuador.  We hope the team is able to photograph butterfly species that are unfamiliar to us.  A video camera will record interviews at the organic ranch.  Happy Tonics mission is:  Sanctuary for the Monarch Butterfly and Food Safety Issues.  We are looking at other countries to see what we can learn about staying small, producing our own local and organic food, promoting biodiversity of habitat for butterflies and eco tourism.  Be sure to keep up with the blog news in December here at Insectamonarca’s Blog.

Water Is a Life Giving Gift by Mary Ellen Ryall

Sweet free flowing water in northwest Wisconsin. Copyright Mary Ellen Ryall

Have you seen the documentary film “Flow” yet?

 The film eloquently points out what is happening around the world with water privatization by multinationals. The film explains how the World Bank plays a part in displacing people from their homelands to build big dams that will burden the people even more with water costs.  Learn more about the film at http://www.flowthefilm.com/

Flow is a must for environmental advocates who want to protect Mother Earth.  Visit http://freeflo.org/article31  Read about ARTICLE 31: Sign the petition to add a 31st article to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing access to clean water as a fundamental human right.

We need to protect Mother Earth’s blood which is the free flowing water within and above ground.  Water is a precious gift of life to all species. Water is not a commodity.      

GE thoughts for the day by Mary Ellen Ryall

Native serape corn

Genetic engineering (GE) is the practice of altering or disrupting the genetic blueprints of living organisms.  Think of trees, plants, fish, animals, microorganisms and humans who are no more a true species but now bits and pieces of something else, outside of their own natural species line.

The Creator did not cross different species with each other.  Man is crossing the species line in the laboratory.  Fish genes are now in tomatoes, bananas have no seeds, a bacterium pesticide is in the DNA of corn and the list goes on and on.

What are these altered crops doing to the soil?  What are these crops doing to human health?  What is the consequence to the very crops and animals that have had their DNA changed forever?  Take the tiniest spider in his web, is there anything more beautiful?  Or corn pollen that scatters from silky hairs to wrapped corn kernels within a cob.  The pollen slides down the silks and pollinates each and every corn kernel.  Why would one poison a plant and let it fertilize itself with its own toxic pesticide pollen?  In turn we eat the toxic corn.  This was not the way it was intended.

German researchers have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the guts of bees feeding on gene-altered rapeseed (canola) plants.  Wind, rain, birds, bees and insect pollinators have been carrying genetically altered pollen to adjoining fields, including organic and non-GE fields.

 In 1999, we learned from Cornell University that GE Bt corn killed the monarch butterfly.  According to Food, Inc. a must see film, there is a growing body of evidence that GE crops are also affecting other beneficial insects included ladybugs and lacewings, as well as beneficial soil microorganisms, bees, and possibly birds (Weber, 2009).

Scientists in Oregon found that GE soil microorganism, Klebsiella planticola, completely killed essential soil nutrients.

Source:  Weber, K. (2009).  Food, Inc. NY:  Public Affairs (84-86).          

Butterflies and Gardens Newsletter Volume 4 issue 4

Milkweed is the only host plant of the monarch butterfly

The fall 2009 issues of Butterflies and Gardens is ready for viewing at below link. 

http://happytonics.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/butterflies-gardens-issue-4-091.pdf

Our Graphic Artist Cindy Dyer, Vice President of Happy Tonics, Inc. publishes the newsletter for Happy Tonics.  Please leave comments and let us know what you think of our blog version.

Thank you, Mary Ellen Ryall, Executive Director, Happy Tonics, Inc.