Month: March 2022

What is Organic

Plant Your Sustainable Spring Garden

Melody Meyer

Fresh organic food is just out your door!

Making your home more eco-conscious can be bewildering if you’re new to an organic lifestyle. There are plenty of ways you can incorporate ecological living into your home. Your garden is a great place to start.

If you’re growing your own food in a garden of your own then you are already doing a lot to ensure yourself a less harmful place in the environment.

However, if you want to make sure you’re truly doing your best for the natural ecosystem, there are a few things that ensure your garden is sustainable for the planet.

Continue reading “Plant Your Sustainable Spring Garden” →
What is Organic

The Real Benefits of Taking a Bath in Nature

Melody Meyer
Soak in the great outdoors
Photo by Cecilia Medina on Unsplash

There’s a little cabin in the woods where I bathe in a claw-foot tub as the sun rises above “Calhoun Canyon.” I soak in steam and the great outdoors.

I am filled with gratitude to be part of this magnificent planet and view every day as an opportunity to witness the abundant biodiversity of nature—one that is steering towards a massive shift.

As a society, we’ve retreated from the great outdoors, instead mesmerized by our phones and tablets, we’re stupefied by our ever-growing technologies. We would rather be gaming and texting than taking a nature bath.

Being in nature, whether you’re in the Sierra wilderness, Central Park, or simply walking down a tree-lined street, has the power to heal us and the planet.

Let’s explore some of the real benefits of being in nature.

Continue reading “The Real Benefits of Taking a Bath in Nature” →
well-being, What is Organic

My Joy Of Eating and Solace of Love

Melody Meyer
I just love food!
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

I’ve decided to steer clear of the negativity in the world today and focus on cultivating joy. Joy is different than happiness—it’s a permanent internal spring that doesn’t come and go like happiness does.

Remembering my chubby self growing up next door to my grandparents, who offered opportunities to my love of food. The garden overflowed and the bread baked. I was allowed to experiment and run amok with culinary escapades.

These tendencies gave me to a lifetime joy of food- it became my passion and ultimately my occupation. 

I’m befuddled by those who don’t share this source of culinary pleasure. They believe food is a tedious source of grub needed only for survival—or a diet to follow to build brawn and brain.

I’d like to share a few memories and tips for those of you who want to have a deeper engagement with that which sustains us.

How do we make love of food a source of lifelong joy?  

Continue reading “My Joy Of Eating and Solace of Love” →
Culinary Delights, Social Implications in Agriculture, What is Organic

Change Yourself Change The World

Melody Meyer
The Earth is a Living Whole system
Photo by Valiphotos on Pexels.com

From where I write, I see a forest dying—the legacy oaks drawn in gray lay down in droves, limb by lumbar. The madrones tilt and fall—even the redwoods tumble.

Not to sound like a privileged one during this time of war, future famines, and geopolitical unrest.

But I am sad and afraid right here and now as Climate Change transforms my world.

I have lived on this finger-ridge for 5 decades, and never have I witnessed native trees dying in such fever—especially at the tilt of the Earth defining this season.

We can all look outside and see that we must act swiftly if we’re going to prevent the worst of the climate catastrophes from coming.

While the outlook isn’t t positive, there are things we can do to bring the change we need to help turn the tide.

I believe one of the things holding us back is that we look for someone else to come up with solutions.

We can change the world by first changing behaviors and thoughts.

Continue reading “Change Yourself Change The World” →
Environment, What is Organic

Grow Your Food & Cultivate Peace with a Small Landholding

Melody Meyer
yellow banana fruit beside white and orange flowers
Imagine Fresh Organic Food at Every Meal
Photo by Eva Elijas on Pexels.com

It’s odd writing about war after suffering through years of tremendous climate and human health challenges. The atrocities being enacted are hard to imagine, let alone watch on the news.

We are all globally connected to what’s happening in Ukraine right now. The price of natural gas, precious metals, fertilizers, animal, and human food are soaring.

Ukraine is the breadbasket of the world, the fourth-largest supplier of wheat and corn. Today’s disruptions will only add to existing food insecurity for millions and lead to more social unrest.

When I think about what I can do to alleviate the impacts of this unraveling dilemma, I think of growing more of my own food.

Having a “smallholding” or small farm that produces a mixture of crops and animals is a personal way to increase my food security. It lightens my global dependency on industrial agriculture and the resources that lead to climate change.

Is a smallholding right for you?

Continue reading “Grow Your Food & Cultivate Peace with a Small Landholding” →