Hello there. Welcome to a first page of thoughts from a grandfather.

A bit about me, just for background. A major juncture in my life journey was when I was told that I had five years to live (without surgery) due to my advanced cardiac disease. I have two arteries that are 95-98 percent blocked. And the cardiac surgeon, at the time, gave me a very grim forecast. That was in 1988, and started me on a journey toward health. As far as I know, I still have the blockages; but I also have a quality of life now that I am enjoying. And I have never had the second surgery.

Another large shaping factor in my life journey was growing up in a household that was aggressively shaped by my father, and he was shaped by his experience of loss of his father and then growing up fatherless during the depression. From that background, he had some strong ideas about life, and also struggled, I believe, with minor depression throughout his adult years. He tried to beat some of his ideas into me. It worked for a while. And some of his ideas live on in me. He did not have much use for doctors, believing that the body would heal itself. To some degree, I also believe in that possibility.

So where am I now? I live in Colorado, just outside Golden, on a 1/4 acre lot with a small house, that I am turning into a birds, bees, and rabbits visiting place. Planting every year, mainly flowers, although I plan to try my hands at a few vegetables next year. Colorado weather is hard on gardens, although I have had a few successes mixed in with the failures. That is reason enough to keep on trying. The rabbits just make me laugh, sometimes. Nothing as sweet as lavender in bloom!

I have three children, and six grandchildren.I  honestly did not expect to be able to watch grandchildren grow up. They are all good people. I do have some guilt over what I have NOT done in my sixty plus years, to make the world better for them. But I am starting now. See the previous paragraph. My generation should have learned more from Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”; but it seems that chemical and oil interests have only gotten more hold on governments and policies. I can only shake my head at that.

And now? I will be writing some occasional pieces here. I am currently heavily engaged in learning more about permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and what can be done to slow climate change. I believe that industrial agriculture, climate change, and human health are all wrapped up together. And that the challenge of the next decade or so, will be to unravel and undo some of the damage now being done to our Mother Earth. I now am trying ‘stubborn optimism’ (from this):

For another view, see this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWdHLGTR2FM&feature=emb_logo

Finally, to tie some of the threads together, let me recommend watching this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER5ZZk5atlE&feature=emb_logo

Health, food, climate change, pollution, plastic, growing local, buying local, eating local – they all tie together.

Let me leave with this hopeful thought. If we can all start doing something now (changing consumption patterns, planting a plant, buying local organic food, perhaps just walking a bit more and driving a bit less) we can make the changes needed to return our planet to health. And return our selves, our bodies, minds, and spirits, to health. We can be thankful for the abundance of this earth, our island home.

Namaste