WHAT MAKES UP THE DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF OUR REALITY?

WHAT MAKES UP THE
DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS
OF OUR REALITY?


From "An Ascension Handbook" by Tony Stubbs

Your physical body exists in the 3rd dimension - it is matter-based. The 4th dimension is the astral plane - it is emotion-based. Together these two make up what we call the Lower Creation World. These are the dimensions where the game of separation is carried out. Only in these dimensions can the illusion of good and evil be maintained -and can You feel separated from Spirit and from each other. You've all became quite good at doing that. Its been a very successful game of separation but it is time for it to end. So, this planet is in a state of ascension. It is now vibrating at the very top Of the astral plane, right on the dividing line with the 5th dimension - the Lightbody dimension. As part of the ascension process, these dimensions will be 'rolled up into the higher dimensions and will cease to exist.

The 5th through the 9th dimensions make up the Mid-Creation Realm.
The 5th is the Lightbody dimension in which you are aware of yourself as a Master and a multidimensional being. In the 5th dimension, you are completely spiritually oriented. Many of You have came in from this plane to be Lightworkers.


6th dimension holds the templates for the DNA patterns of all types of species' creation, including humankind. It is also where the Light languages are stored and is made up mostly of colour and tone.. It is the dimension where consciousness creates through thought and one of the places where you work during sleep. It can be difficult to get a bead on this because 1 you are not in a body unless you choose to create one. Men you are operating 6th-dimensionally, you are more of an alive thought. You create through your. consciousness, but you don't necessarily have a vehicle for that consciousness.



The 7th dimension is that of pure creativity, pure light, pure tone. pure geometry, and pure expression. It is a plane of infinite refinement.


The 8th dimension is of group mind or group soul and where you would touch base with the vaster part of who you are. It is characterized by loss of sense of the "I". When You travel multi-dimensionally, it is this plane where you have most trouble keeping Your consciouness together because you are pure "we" operating with group goals. So, it may seem as though you have gone to sleep or, blanked out., (Ah-ha!)


The 9th dimension in the model that we use is the plane of the collective consciousness of planets, star systems, galaxies, and dimensions. Once again, it is very difficult to get a sense of "I" because you are so vast that everything is "you". Imagine being the consciousness of a galaxy. Every life-form, every star, - planet, and group mind of every species in it is you. If you visit this dimension, it can be difficult to remain conscious.


The 10th through 12th dimensions make up the Upper Creation Realm.
The 10th dimension is the source of the Rays, home of what are called the Elohim. This is where Light is differentiated and is the source of plans of creation which are sent to the MidCreation levels. You can have a sense of "I" at this level but it won't be what you are used to here.



The llth dimension is that of pre-formed Light, the point before creation and a state of exquisite expectancy just like the moment before a sneeze or an orgasm. It is the realm of the being known as Metatron, and of Archangels and the Higher Akashic for this Source-system. There are planetary Akashic records and galactic Akashics as well as the Akashic for an entire Source-system. You are in one Source-system of many. So, we are giving you a description of one Source-system only - this one. If you go to another Source-system, what you will experience will be different. As an Archangel, my home base is the 11th dimension. We come to you as messengers, that is what "Archangel" mans. It is one of my functions, I have many. I have an Elohim function which is not very verbal. We have many, many jobs.


The 12th dimension is the One Point where all consciousness knows itself to be utterly one with All That Is. There is no separation of any kind. If you tap into this level, you know yourself to be completely one with All That Is, with the creator force. If you tap in there, you will never be the same again because you cannot sustain the same degree of separation if you have experienced complete unity.



Spirit creates the illusion of separation up to the 7th dimension. At higher frequencies, distinctions become completely meaningless, and all is Spirit. A definite frequency band exists in all these levels which acts as a unifying medium, a common frequency. Just like the public channel on CB radio, except that you don't just talk on it, but you are part of it. If you match your consciousness to the frequency of this Unity Band, you experience complete unity with all that is. It is also known as the Christed Band and emanates from the Christed level. It throws off sub-harmonics into all the lower frequency planes. The energy in the Christed level is your energy. It is the level at which you existed as a Christed Being, above all separateness.

The Girl Who Silenced The World For 5 Minutes

To The Brook

Crunching sound,leaves on ground
Cool fall breeze,Autumn sneeze.

Dragonfly low, mushrooms grow
Warm sunshine, porcupine.

Rock wall,apples fall
Old big pine,fishing line.

Cool air cough,deer bound off
Rippling brook,lost my hook.

Old bear track,heading back
Stubbed my toe,cawing crow.

Up the hill,old saw mill
Path to house,jumping mouse.

Jacket hung,fishing done
Trout in hand,frying pan...Dancingfire


Also want to introduce a new member of our family Dunkin.

"No Rest For The Weary"

Long days,lazy ways,
Late day sun,harvest done.

Red leaf shine,pumpkin time,
Cold feet,wood stove heat.

Crying bull,freezer full,
Apples boxed,old wool socks.

Cold holding steady,flannel robe ready,
Preserves jarred for keeping,Mother Earth soon sleeping.

Wood piled high,Apple pie
Teapot steaming,old shed leaning.

Ready for snow window high,
Winter work is drawing nigh...Dancingfire

Earth Teach Me To Remember

Earth Teach Me to Remember

by John Yellow Lark



Earth teach me stillness

as the grasses are stilled with light.

Earth teach me suffering

as old stones suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility

as blossoms are humble with beginning.

Earth Teach me caring

as the mother who secures her young.

Earth teach me courage

as the tree which stands alone.

Earth teach me limitation

as the ant which crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom

as the eagle which soars in the sky.

Earth teach me resignation

as the leaves which die in the fall.

Earth teach me regeneration

as the seed which rises in the spring.

Earth teach me to forget myself

as melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness

as dry fields weep in the rain.



Ute, North American

Blackfoot Legend

For longer than anyone knows, INDIANS thru out the Americas have smoked tobacco and other plants for pleasure and for praying, as well as for medicinal purposes. The smoke was the Great Spirit's breath taking the prayers up to the Ones Above.With a pipe in hand, a man could speak nothing but truth.Sir Walter Raleigh learned the use of tobacco from the Indians.To the White man,smoking became an addiction;but to the Native American,pipe and tobacco were sacred, and smoking was a holy ritual. If a man had killed a member of his tribe,he was not allowed to smoke ritually with the others; but had to smoke a mean little pipe all by himself---hard punishment.....

There once were four brothers,all spiritual men who had power.In a vision the oldest of them heard a voice saying, "Out there is a sacred weed;pick it and burn it." The man looked around,saw the strange weed,and put it in the fire.It gave off a pleasing aroma.
Then the second brother had a dream in which a voice said;"Take this herb,chop it fine,put it into a hide bag."The man did as the dream had told, and the dried herb in his hide bag was wonderfully fragrant.
The third brother had a vision in which he saw a man hollowing out a bone and putting the strange weed into it.A voice said, "Make four pipes like this,"and the fourth brother carved four pipes out of an animal's leg bones.
Then the youngest of the brothers had a vision.A voice told him ;"You four men light your pipes and smoke. inhale the smoke, exhale it. Let the smoke ascend to the clouds." The voice also taught him the songs and prayers that went with smoking.
So the four medicine men, born of the same mother, smoked together.This was the first time that men had ever smoked,and they sang and prayed together as they did.
The brothers, who called the scared weed,"Nawak'osis",were meant to teach it's use to the people.But Nawak'osis made them powerful,and wise, and clear-minded,and they did not want to share it with the others.
They planted the scared weed in a secret place that only they knew of. They guarded the songs ,prayers, and rituals that went with smoking. They formed a Tobacco Society,just the four of them.
So there was anger, there was war, there was restlessness of spirit, there was impiety.Nawak'osis was meant to calm anger, to make men worship,to make peace,to ease the mind. But without the scared herb,unity and peace was lacking.
A young man called Bulls-by-Himself said to his wife;"These four powerful ones have been given something good to share with the people, but they are keeping it for themselves.So things are bad.I must find a way to plant and reap the scared weed they call, Nawak'osis."

Bulls-by-Himself and his wife went to a scared lake and set up their tipi close by its shore.The man left every day to hunt and look for the plant,Nawak'osis. The woman stayed in the lodge to quill,tan,and prepare food.
One day while she was alone,she heard somebody singing beautifully.She searched everywhere to find the source of the music and discovered that it was coming from a beaver house close by the shore."It must be the beavers singing,"she thought."Their songs are so lovely. I hope they don't stop."
Her husband came home with plenty of meat, but had not found Nawak'osis.The woman called his attention to the music, but he said,"I hear nothing, it's your imagination"."No,she said, I hear it clearly,put your ear to the beaver lodge". He did, but still heard nothing. Then the wife took her knife and made a hole in the beaver lodge.Thru it they could not only hear the beavers sing, but also watch them performing a strange, beautiful dance.
"My young brothers,"the wife called to them,"be of a sharing spirit,Teach me your wonderful song and medicine"The beavers answered,"Close up the hole you have made because it let's the cold in, then we will come out and visit with you."
So she sealed up the hole and that night four beavers came to Bulls-by-Himself's lodge.As soon as they were inside they turned themselves into humans.One asked," What have you come for?" "I have come to find the sacred weed called Nawak'osis,"said Bulls-by -Himself."Then this is the right place",said the man-beaver."We are water people, and Nawak'osis is water medicine."
We will give you this scared herb,but first you must learn the songs, prayers, and the dances and ceremonies that go with it.Here is what you must do.By day ,go out and get the skin of every four legged and two legged creature that lives in and around the water,expect, of course,beaver.You must get the skins of all creatures that represent water. Sun and water mean life,Sun begets life,and water makes it grow."
So everyday Bulls-by-Himself went out for the skins,while his wife scraped,tanned,and smoked them.And every night the four man-beavers came and taught them the prayers,songs,and dances that go with Nawak'osis.
After a while, the beavers said ,"Now all is ready.Now you have all the skins,and now you have all the knowledge.Make the skins, which represents water power, into a bag, into a medicine bundle.Tomorrow night we'll come again for the last time to tell you what to do."
The following night the beavers came as they had promised.They brought with them the sacred weed, Nawak'osis. The top of the stalks was covered with little round seeds, and the man-beavers put the seeds into the medicine bundle the woman had prepared.
"It's planting time now", said the beavers."Don't touch Nawak'osis before you're ready to plant. Choose a place where there is not too much shade and not too much sunlight. Mix plenty of brown earth with plenty of black earth, and keep the soil loose. Say the prayers we have taught you.Then you, Bulls-by-Himself, must take a deer horn and with the point, make holes in the earth, one hole for each seed.And you, his wife, must use a buffalo-horn spoon to drop one seed into each hole.Sing the songs we taught you all the while. Then both of you dance lighty over this earth,tamping down the seeds. After that, you just wait for Nawak'osis to grow.
"The young men left, turning back into beavers as they went.Bulls-by-himself and his wife planted the scared weed as they had been told.
The four medicine-brothers said to one another, "What can this man and his wife be planting?Their songs sound familiar"they sent a spy to find out and he came back and said,"They are planting the scared weed,and doing it in the scared manner." The four brothers began to laugh"No, it can not be, It's some useless weed,no one but us knows the medicine of Nawak'osis."

But when it was time to harvest,a great hailstorm destroyed the secret tobacco patch of the four brothers. Nothing was left, not even a single seed. The four brothers sent a spy to see if Bulls-by-Himself's patch had also been destroyed. The spy came back and said,"The man and his wife had no hail on their field,and this is what they are growing".He showed the brothers some of the leaves he had picked."It is indeed Nawak'osis",they said, and they shook their heads in wonder.
Thus with the help of the beaver people, Bulls-by-Himself and his wife,brought the scared tobacco to the tribes,who have been smoking it in the sacred manner every since.

Bear Star

Bear Star (Bear Clan)
by L.Cota Nupa Maka

In a time beyond time, I was with my mother Ursula. My walk was not of this land, but one of the stars in the multiverse. My mother took me through the Milky Way, the spirit of the sky world, she showed me where to gather the sweet fruit of the many galaxies. Life was good and we where happy, all was safe and at peace. We were many in those days and we held the sky as our world, the galaxy was our place to sleep and dream.

My mother one day said, "It is time for me to place you in your own land. In time you will be alone and I want you to always have your star to come home too." With this said she bit off a piece of the moon and threw it out into the limitless space of time. I watched as it spun off into the darkness and vanished. Next we traveled to the sun and again she bit off a large piece of this molten liquid and threw this out into space. I watched as the shining light of the sun flew into the darkness and united with the small piece of the moon. They spun around and around until they formed between them a round ball of blue and white. This small ball then flew off on its own dancing and spinning between them.

After a long time my mother took me to see this new blue ball that she had created called Ursula or home of the Bear Star.

It was a wonderful place full of water and trees of every kind like the ones we saw in the long lost galaxies that we traveled. There were many plants and animals and fishes. Birds of all colors and size filled the water and the air.

With her claws my mother dug great rivers and made mountains by pulling the soil this way and that until she was pleased with what she had done. In the side of one of the mountains she dug a deep hole into the heated center of the blue ball.

She went in and told me to follow her so I entered this hole in the blue ball and found it warm and comfortable.

There my mother made a bed for me of soft moss, and told me that I was to sleep for many years. She said that I would sleep here until I was awakened. She said my heart would be like the land it would beat and help this place to be strong. She said that one day I would know when it was time to wake up. At that time I would come out of my sleeping space to travel this land and the sky world again. My mother told me I would dream all that was, or ever would be, on this blue ball into being, and that in time there would come others to share this space.

So I lay down and slept the long sleep and dreamed the creation of this blue ball into being.

In time there came the great shaking of the land and the water became bad and the smell entered my sleeping place. The liquids of the land spilled over into my dreams and I became aware that the time had come for me to awake.

When I awoke there was devastation all around me and the beauty that was in my dreams was destroyed by these strange beings that had come to live on the land.

The sun had faded into a thick layer of white mist and the water was freezing into ice on the mountains and the lakes.

I again walked the land that my mother had created with her powers of the sky world and saw the destruction that had taken place in my time of sleeping.

I sat on the mountains and prayed to the sky world to send my mother back to help me find a way to return all of this beauty to the land. I asked the Creation of all things to grant me a vision to help the land my mother had given to me. For days I sat on the mountain and prayed as the thunder of war flashed in the sky over the deserts of the land. I went in my spirit time to these places where all was being burned and devastated. I saw vast forests on fire and deep ruts dug into the land. The water was unclean and the blood of the land was being dug from its heart and in time there was erosion and the water escaped its place of being. I watched the dream that I had dreamed being destroyed and again I prayed for Creator to help me find a way to restore all of the beauty to the land.

In time there came a great calm and quiet and the sky world opened up to show the sun and the moon. They stood in the sky together and I saw tears on the face of the Moon Mother. Father Sun's face was filled with pain, as together they stood watching their child as she too suffered.

I saw a light come from the Milky Way, the spirit path that I once had walked to other lands and planets. This light came like a white path, and touched the land near where I sat praying. The old ones were walking toward me on this spirit path and they entered the land of my mother. Their black coats were filled with stars and they held the wisdom of the universe in their dream time.

The silent stillness lay all around in the frozen land as the old ones sat in council and spoke to me. They handed me a pouch of sacred seeds and gave me instructions as to where and when to plant them. They placed it around my neck and told me to go and plant the seeds for the time had come to heal the land.

After some time had passed I left my place on the mountain and walked three times around the blue ball of this land. As I walked I planted the new medicine plants that would in time would heal the land of all the pain and suffering.

"From this time on the land will have peace," the Elders had said. "The Bear will return to share the ways of the medicine plants and healing. It will be for the Bear to show the new little ones who come the old ways of healing."

The time has come for the healing; the bear once again walks the land and the stars. Let us enter into our dream time and pray this Earth the one they called Ursula the "Old Bear Star" into a world of love and peace.

L.Cota Nupa Maka

Food Control Growing Power: 1 Million Pounds of Food on 3 Acres

Food Control Growing Power: 1 Million Pounds of Food on 3 Acres

Ocean Cruise

Good Morning,It continues to be a busy time with Harvest, putting up food for the winter,getting wood into the woodshed and doing whatever else is necessary to sustain us through the long winter months here in Maine.The evenings and early mornings a beginning to be a little chilly.Amidst all this tho my daughter and I managed to take a boat and go out on the ocean in Bar Harbor.It was the highlight of my summer and I wanted to share a few photos with you here.
I pray you are all well and happy...Dancing

“Earning Our Wings” Moon in Pisces

Astrology August 14, 2011: “Earning Our Wings” Moon in Pisces


COSMIC WATCH:

“This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.” Captain J. A. Hadfield

A perfect day to chill out and soothingly recharge our batteries with the Aquarian Moon’s early morning conjunction with fantasy Neptune (8:26 am EDT) which grants us easy visitation to mystical realms. Also, the Moon’s shift into dreamy Pisces (8:55 am EDT) further helps us to effortlessly bypass logic and reasoning in favor of going with the intuitive flow.

Later, the Moon’s sextile to alchemist Pluto (6:56 pm EDT) gives us a chance to ride deep waves of emotion while simultaneously stoking our compassionate side. A time when we can gloriously earn our angel wings by gently lightening our brother’s load.

“There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear.” Frank Tyger

Pisces Moon activities: meditation and retreat, aquatic sports, volunteering, dancing, theater, going to the movies, writing poetry, music, photography, acting.

Famous People with Moon in Pisces: Michael Jackson, Kirstie Alley, Hillary Clinton, Elvis Presley, Edgar Allen Poe.

Enjoy your Sunday!
Patrice Thompson

NATURE...By Ralph Waldo Emerson

To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.


The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.


When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title.

To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear.

In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, -- master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.

The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them. The waving of the boughs in the storm, is new to me and old. It takes me by surprise, and yet is not unknown. Its effect is like that of a higher thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I was thinking justly or doing right.


Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both. It is necessary to use these pleasures with great temperance. For, nature is not always tricked in holiday attire, but the same scene which yesterday breathed perfume and glittered as for the frolic of the nymphs, is overspread with melancholy today. Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. To a man laboring under calamity, the heat of his own fire hath sadness in it. Then, there is a kind of contempt of the landscape felt by him who has just lost by death a dear friend. The sky is less grand as it shuts down over less worth in the population.

R.I.P.Cuz...Love You...

Greetings

We have had some beautiful weather here for the last few days and spent Independence Day with family.Relaxing and enjoyable
I have been working outside in the gardens and the veggies are coming in great. Cant wait for that first bite of freshness.
Added some flowers to the beds and also removed some that were taking over.Why did I plant invasive plants in my beds?! Cause their pretty!





Got a chance to take some photos this weekend and the mock orange was covered with butterflies.




Mom is with me for a week and she is such a blessing to me...82 and still young at heart and Beautiful!



Finally got the kitchen wood stove I have been after for years,it is in the kitchen and still needs to be hooked up.I am not wishing summer away but cant wait to use it!
i need to cure the top of it and put some stove black on the rest of it and it is ready to go .



I hope you all enjoyed you 4th of July...Blessing for peace and magic to you all...Dancing

Grow Your Own Food

There is coming a time soon for all of us when we will not be able to buy anything in the stores that is fit to eat , can we trust it to be clean from contamination ? That time is now with more and more things being pulled from the shelves , even our pets are at risk !
Learn how to grow some or most of your own food or teach others how to do the same.

This is not as complicated as you might think. If you have access to a deck, a roof, a patch of ground no larger than a flower bed or far more space, you can, with just a few of the resources listed on this page learn to feed yourself and others. Any reasonably intelligent person with time or patience or internet access can learn as much about soil and gardening as the most experienced farmer knew a hundred years ago--putting it into practice takes time however, today is the day to begin a garden.

One of the first steps that you can take to become self-sufficient is to start a vegetable garden. In doing so, you will not only practice self-sufficiency, but you will also eat healthier. The key is to start small. Don't overwhelm yourself by planting a huge garden. There's a learning curve here, so don't try to do everything in one year. Take your time with it and get a good understanding of what it takes to grow a vegetable garden. Here's a few ideas to get you started.slide2.jpg (41587 bytes)

1. Start by using a very small area to grow your garden. Four feet by twelve feet would be sufficient. Use some untreated lumber or cinder blocks to wall off an area. If your soil is already rich and fertile, go ahead and fill this "box" with good soil. If you do not have good soil, obtain a rich humus soil from a local source or buy top soil by the bag, along with some peat moss and some composted manure. (Be careful where you get your local soil, sometimes the soil isn't that good or it may contain weed seeds. Bagged products, at least in our neck of the woods is the best with very little clay.) You may also want to pick up Mel Bartholomew's book on Square Foot Gardening. His book will give you all of the details of how you can grow a lot of vegetables in small square foot sections.

2. Choose some vegetables that are easy to grow, store well and that you like to eat. Some suggestions are varieties of dried bean, green bean, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, and carrots. You could also try your hand at plum tomatoes, although you will need to learn how to can them. Dried beans are about the easiest to store. In most cases, you can leave them dry right on the plant and then harvest them at the end of the season. Onions are easy too. Green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and sugar snap peas can be blanched and frozen in freezer bags. Carrots can stay in the ground until early winter. Freezing vegetables is not the ideal way of storing food due to the reliance of a powered (electric or gas) freezer, but it's an easy way to get started.

Remember this is your first year at this. You probably won't have a whole lot to store at the end of the year, but you will get a good understanding of what it takes to store your own food. If your interested in a more advanced approach read on.

4. For those of you who have a larger garden area, there's quite a bit more that you can do. If you have the space, a larger vegetable garden can greatly reduce the need for outside resources for your food source. But be aware that there will always be crop failures and other unforeseen things that might effect your ability to store food. And speaking of storing food, the best option for storing most of this food is a root cellar.

A root cellar can be built directly into the ground or it could be a cool damp area set aside in a basement. Either way a root cellar is an excellent way to store food without the use of electricity or other outside resources. Root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes,turnips, beets, parsnips and celeriac can be stored for a number of months in a root cellar. Squash does quite well in a root cellar as well as apples, oranges and grapes. And if you are into canning, this is a great place to store all of your canned goods too. Just be sure to rodent proof it, so the critters don't get to your food before you do.

5. A food dehydrator is also a good way of preserving your vegetables without leaching out any of the nutrients. Food dehydrators are great for most vegetables and fruits as well. There's quite a few good commercial dehydrators available on the market, but you might want to build your own. There are quite a few good plans available for solar dehydrators. With a little ingenuity, you can dry most of your vegetables using a home built dehydrator and a few days of sun. Using a solar dehydrator is a great way to become more self-sufficient without the need of any outside resources.

Healing Benefits of Sweat Lodge Ceremonies

The sweat lodge is a Native American tradition where individuals enter a dome-shaped dwelling to experience a sauna-like environment. The lodge itself is typically a wooden-framed structure made from tree branches. Hot rocks are placed inside an earthen-dug pit located in the center of this man-made enclosure. Water is periodically poured over the heated rocks to create a hot and steamy room. The sweat ceremony is intended as a spiritual reunion with the creator and a respectful connection to the earth itself as much as it is meant for purging toxins out of the physical body.

Mental Healing - The sweat lodge ceremony gives its participants the opportunity to free their minds of distractions, offering clarity.
Spiritual Healing - The sweat lodge ceremony offers a place for introspection and connection to the planet and the spirit world.
Physical Healing - The sweat lodge ceremony gives anti-bacterial and wound-healing benefits.


NATIVE AMERICAN SWEAT LODGE

History of Sweat Lodges
In one form or another, the sweat bath pervaded cultures from the Alaskan Eskimo south into the land of the Mayans. The purpose, in most cases, went beyond getting the body clean. The sweat bath provided a cure for illness, revitalization for aching muscles, and a sense of racial identity. A Navajo who fought in World War II told me he came back for a sweat bath "to rid himself of evil accumulated during war."

Use of the sweat lodge was chronicled by the earliest settlers in America. In 1665, David DeVries of New York observed Indians "entirely clean and more attractive than before" while sweat bathing. Roger Williams of Rhode Island wrote in 1643: "They use sweating for two ends: first to cleanse their skin; secondly to purge their bodies, which doubtless is a great means of preserving them, especially from the French disease (probably influenza) which by sweating and some potions, they perfectly and speedily cure."
Three basic forms of the sweat bath are indigenous to North America: the hot rock method, used by the Navajos and Sioux; the direct fire chamber, heated by blazing logs; and a more sophisticated type relying on a heating duct system believed to be of Mayan origin.
The Sioux, for example, see the interior of the sweat lodge as representing the womb of Mother Earth, its darkness as human ignorance, the hot stones as the coming of life, and the hissing steam as the creative force of the universe being activated. The entrance faces east, source of life and power, dawn of wisdom, while the fire heating the rocks is the undying light of the world, eternity.
Alaskan Eskimos, some Pacific Coast tribes and the Pueblo Indians in the Southwest built lodges heated directly by fire.