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- Ulster County Events in August 2013
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- Buddhist Economics 2.0
- Relating with Permaculture: Principle #11
- Relating with Permaculture:
- Inner Space for August 2013
- July 2013
- TEDxLongDock:
- Judy Wicks the BALLE Mama
- It’s All Here
- A New Call for Bread and Roses
- Three Year Anniversary
- Red Baron of Rhinebeck
- Peekamoose Restaurant and Tap Room
- JK Wine & Liquor
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- Ellenville Regional Hospital
- Accord Feeds and Needs
- Augustine Nursery
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People In Your Neighborhood
The suburbs have their lawns, the countryside has firewood. Firewood is important and expressive business here in the country. Both suppliers and buyers are busy all year long handling this valuable resource.
Suppliers are constantly managing woodlands, felling trees, splitting wood, stacking wood, making deals, and transporting wood here, there, and everywhere. This is why it takes them a so long to return your phone calls. Don’t stress that much, it’s not too personal. They are busy people.
On the other side of the transaction, firewood buyers are just as busy assessing and managing their wood piles. Do I have enough firewood? Should I get more? Is now the right time to buy? Is this wood ready to burn? That firewood needs to be split and stacked!
But to the important—finding a “wood man.” Firewood suppliers can be located through newspaper advertisements, hand written announcements posted on community boards and by word of mouth. Your neighbor with all that firewood may have a great supplier.
It is necessary to be aware that New York State regulates transporting untreated firewood to protect trees from deadly invasive pests. It is illegal to bring untreated firewood into the state. Untreated firewood cannot be transported more than 50 miles from its source and within that 50 miles, firewood must carry proof of source (such as a receipt). Treated firewood which has been heated to eliminate pests can be moved without restriction.
Another important issue firewood buyers face is understanding the quantities of wood that are actually being offered for sale by firewood suppliers. The simplest measure to deal in is the cord. A cord of firewood is a measure of volume of stacked wood that is eight feet, by four feet, by four feet, or 128 cubic feet. Of course, there is the face cord, pick-up truck load, dump truck load and or the "Picker Load" that you could order, but the cord is a legal definition that carries in most states. Make your life simple and deal in cords. A minimum order for delivery is usually 2 cords.
The price for delivered firewood depends on the quality of the firewood, the quantity you buy at any one time, your location, and the time of year. If you’re buying wood late in the winter, prices are going to be higher. If you buy in the off-season, prices are discounted.
You want hard wood or mixed wood. Maple, oak, ash, beech, birch, etc. are all good. You'll get more heat per weight with hard wood than you will with softwood. Soft woods like popular burn up fast and don't produce as much heat. Pine, spruce, fir and other evergreens produce large amounts of creosote and are not good for burning in the house. However, they are great for using as kindling, if properly dried.
It is important to learn the difference between dry wood and green wood. After wood is cut, some time is needed for the sap to dry out of the wood before burning it. This process is called seasoning. Six months is about minimum and 1-2 years is much better. Seasoned wood is dry wood. Green wood is unseasoned firewood.
While the wood is seasoning, or being stored for later use, it needs to be organized and kept dry. Stacking wood is the public and expressive part of firewood management. Since firewood is omnipresent in the country, it is hard not to compare, contrast and wonder. So it seems a hardworking and reliable man stacks his firewood square and straight, while a lazy or let’s be kind, just a busy man leaves the wood in a covered pile or “rick”. A Scandinavian tradition has the firewood pile arranged in a round. Either round, straight, or thrown in a pile to give the wood as much wind and sun exposure as possible for seasoning.
After responding to all that firewood demands, it is the fire and smoke that thrills and nourishes this time of year. Burn smart and enjoy!
Mohonk Consultations Transition Conference
Packed Parlor Wowed at “The Lake in the Sky”
Greeted by a breathtaking blue-sky view of the Catskill Mountains to the west and Mohonk Lake to the east, keynote speaker and conference facilitator Tina Clarke of Transition US, along with over 100 regional participants, filled the parlor at Mohonk Mountain House for a day-long conference titled Building Resilient Communities In These Changing Times, which continued and expanded upon the regional dialogue started in April 2011, at the Mohonk Consultations panel presentation and group discussion, Communities In Transition: Local Strength, Local Resilience.
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| The Mohonk Mountain House overlooking the Rondout Valley. |
The conference sought to further identify guiding values and principles of the Transition Town movement, which according to Transition Town founder Rob Hopkins “could create strong, safe, sustainable, and vibrant communities while solving the most urgent problems of the times.” The movement is comprised of grassroots community initiatives that seek to build community resilience in a myriad of ways. A Transition Community, in its own unique way, seeks to meet the converging challenges posed by peak oil (petroleum depletion), economic instability, erosion of community, resource wars, climate change, and declining biological diversity by engaging an entire community in a visioning process that illuminates the true needs of the community and then find ways to meet those needs locally by the community’s own efforts.
Transition Town initiatives differ from other efforts put forth by NGOs and government organizations in that they seek to mitigate converging global crises by engaging their own communities in home-grown, citizen-led education, action, and multi-stakeholder inclusive planning as a means to increase local self-reliance and resilience.
Tina Clarke convened the conference into small groups that focused on pressing issues in our own communities such as food, energy, transportation, healthcare, the economy, arts, culture, end of life issues, and more. The groups discussed ways to deal with the scarcity of resources related to the depletion of cheap energy supplies. An emphasis was placed on networking between individuals and community organizations, all of whom were encouraged to engage in a continuing dialog that will in time result in new locally based initiatives that will support and increase community resilience and well-being throughout the region. When later reconvened as one large group in the parlor, the ideas and initiatives discussed in the smaller focus groups were aired for all to hear, with groups reflecting their own interests so as to bring ideas and enthusiasm back to their own communities.
Of the prospects for the movement, Clarke said: “What’s exciting about Transition, which is now in 34 countries around the world, is that it’s simply a means of having a conversation. It’s not top-down, it’s not one way of doing things. It’s actually just people all over the world like us who are concerned about the gathering storm of problems, and seek to move forward creatively with their local leaders to take a look at community resilience, energy dependence, and economic concerns, and also seek to have a high quality of life in this society and community.”
The Transition US website sums it well with the following passage: "If we wait for the governments, it'll be too little, too late. If we act as individuals, it'll be too little. But if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time."
Transition Town Movement Resources:
Book: The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience, by Rob Hopkins. Describes how the inevitable and profound changes ahead can have a positive outcome via the means of community-based planning and initiatives. The ensuing rebirth means communities will grow more of their own food, generate more of their own power, and build their own houses using local materials.
Book: The Transition Companion: Making Your Community More Resilient in Uncertain Times, by Rob Hopkins. The Transition Companion picks up where the Transition Handbook left off by looking in detail at the process a community in transition goes through, reflecting on the experience of those communities that have already embarked on the journey of Transition.
Websites: Transition US: transitionus.org
Mohonk Consultations: mohonk-consultations.org
More in Common than Revealed in Mainstream Media
by Tod Westlake
by Tod Westlake
One of the viral jokes being posted on Facebook in recent weeks goes like this: Three people are sitting at a table—an executive, a union representative, and a worker. There are ten cookies on the table. Suddenly, the executive grabs eight of the cookies, leaving one each for the other two. He then points to the union rep and says to the worker, "Look out for this guy. He wants to steal your cookie."
This joke encapsulates what many are feeling these days, that the economic playing field has been tilted too far in one direction. The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, for example, has spent quite a bit of time talking about what has become known as the "1%," that group of individuals at the top of the income scale who seem to have the vast majority of the cookies. With annual incomes in the millions of dollars, this upper strata of earners are the ones who call the economic shots—often at the expense of the rest of the 99% who are left to fight over crumbs.
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| George Washington at Federal Memorial on Wall Street. |
And there's no doubt that the huge disparities between the haves and the have-nots is a significant part of the angst many are feeling. For those sympathetic to the Occupy Wall Street movement, income disparity is just another symptom and sign that something in this country has gone terribly amiss. We work longer hours, see fewer benefits, make less money in real dollars, and see our already inadequate social safety net being slowly dismantled.
But how do we quantify this? In other words, just how far has the playing field tilted? According to an article by Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot published in Mother Jones magazine earlier this year, one percent of Americans currently account for 34.6 percent of the net worth in this country. That's one person in a hundred wielding over one third of the economic power. When you extend this outward a bit further, to 10 percent of the richest Americans, the numbers are even more startling. Currently, 10 percent of Americans control a staggering 73.1 percent—or nearly three-quarters—of this nation's wealth.
Income, too, shows huge disparities between the top and bottom tiers. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top one percent of Americans have seen their income increase nearly fourfold in the past 30-plus years (adjusted in 2007 dollars). Meanwhile, the bottom 20 percent hasn't had a raise. Translated another way, the top one percent have seen their share of the nation's income more than double, while the bottom fifth have seen their piece of the pie shrink by nearly a third. Numbers like these should give pause to even the most ardent free marketeer.
Princeton economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has spent quite a bit of ink on this phenomenon. Writing on his NY Times blog, The Conscience of a Liberal, Krugman identifies three key periods in the 20th century when it comes to wealth distribution in the US. After what he refers to as the Long Gilded Age (the late 19th and early 20th centuries), the nation underwent what Krugman refers to as a Great Compression (late 1930s through mid-1940s). During these decades economic disparity dropped considerably. And from the late 1940s onward, things were much more equitable, according to Krugman.
"It was a society without extremes of wealth or poverty, a society of broadly shared prosperity, partly because strong unions, a high minimum wage, and a progressive tax system helped limit inequality," he writes. "That’s the country I grew up in."
But the late 1970s came along and things started to skew back in the other direction. Slowly, inexorably, we've managed to get back into a situation in which wealth continually creeps upward, while poverty continues to roll downhill with increasing velocity. Krugman calls this, the period in which we are now living, the Great Divergence.
"Between 1979 and 2005 the real income of the median household rose only 13 percent, but the income of the richest 0.1% of Americans rose 296 percent," Krugman writes.
And things have only gotten worse in the past several years.
This has led to a situation in which the fruits of living in the world's largest economy have for many become all too bitter. There are currently 42.6 million Americans living in poverty, which is defined as a family of four earning less than $22,350. Stop and think about this for a minute. This is 15.1 percent of the population who are attempting to live, and raise two children, on a sum that would barely support a single person here in Ulster County.
So, these are the numbers. We can massage them all we want, but it won't change the fact that these statistical abstractions have embedded in them the lives of real people. In another example of how far off the economic rails we've gone, the advocacy group Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) recently released a report entitled: Living Below the Line: Economic Security and America's Families. The report concludes that, currently, 45 percent of Americans "struggle to make ends meet." These are the folks who live just above the poverty line, a group of people for whom even the smallest unexpected expense—car repair, a doctor's bill—can mean months of hardship.
The folks in this segment of the population have become what is known as "the working poor," people who have jobs, sometimes several jobs, none of which pay a living wage, provide good benefits, or offer any kind of long-term economic security.
College graduates do fare much better in the current economic climate, according to WOW. But even this group is beginning to feel the relentless creep of poverty. Currently, 21 percent of households headed by someone with a college degree lack economic security.
"In the past, threats to economic security were supposedly clear—dropping out of high school, being a single parent, or having a large family. In today's economy, we cannot assume we know who lacks security," the WOW report states.
So, where do we go from here? Many have advocated for a modest adjustment on the top-tier tax rate. This will happen automatically at the beginning of 2013, when the Bush Tax Cuts expire and the top marginal rate moves from 35 percent up to 39 percent on income in excess of $250,000 per year. Deficit hawks will also be pleased to know that this automatic adjustment will close the nation's debt by $3.6 trillion dollars over the next ten years.
But won't an increase in marginal tax rates stifle economic growth? If history is any guide, the short answer is "no". Throughout most of the 20th century, the top tax bracket was actually much higher than it is at present. The fact is, we have to go all the way back to the era prior to WWI to see a period in which marginal rates are lower than they are now. In 1916, the top tier paid 10 percent of its income over $250,000 in taxes. This was changed two years later, in 1918, when the top rate jumped to 72 percent! Yes, you read that number correctly. The rate was more than double what it is now. This actually peaked in 1952, when the top bracket paid a staggering 92 percent. From 1942 through 1962 marginal rates never dipped below 88 percent. Those who are a bit older will remember these two decades as being among the most prosperous in this nation's history, an era in which our government had the resources to take care of its own—and a one-income household could afford to purchase a home and send its kids to college.
Whether we can ever return to the prosperity that our parents and grandparents knew remains an open question. In the interim, we need to be keenly aware that many of our neighbors continue to struggle. And now that the holidays are upon us, we should also remember that this is the season when poverty really hurts. Whether it's a senior citizen neighbor, a down-on-his-luck member of the family, or a complete stranger, we as individuals can make a big difference in the lives of the less fortunate. And if our government can't, or won't, provide a strong safety net, it's up to the rest of us to make this holiday season one that is remembered not for what we received, but what we gave.
Resources
wowonline.org
krugman.blogs.nytimes.com
Food Pantries in Ulster County
nyconnects.ulstercountyny.gov (click "emergency food pantries" in the left column)
Rosendale’s First CSA has Launched!
by Mimi Quinn
With a huge effort from its core members and a multitude of volunteers, the Binnewater Farm Project (BFP) will be the first-ever Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in the Town of Rosendale. The CSA will be operating on property they’ve leased from Legacy Farm Cohousing (LFC)—a nine-owner cooperative located off Binnewater Road in Rosendale.
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| Dan Guenther with CSA volunteers. |
BFP President Dimitri Galitzine said, “We’re thrilled that Legacy Farm is able to contribute to the creation of this CSA, as sustainability is a keystone of our vision for the cohousing community.”
So how did this all start?
Galitzine said, “We asked Dan Guenther, who had helped to develop a number of CSAs locally, to speak to our group, and we developed the idea of reaching out to folks not involved in developing cohousing to get the project moving. There was strong interest in the local community; the project has really taken off.”
According to Galitzine, the lease is for 10 acres of property (not all of it usable for farming) for one dollar per year. He stated that LFC plans to cluster their development on approximately six acres of the total 56 acres and will leave the remaining land open and undeveloped. The CSA will provide local sustainable food for both LFC and the surrounding community.
A press release dated October 18 stated: “Support for BFP has come in many forms. The group obtained a loan to cover start-up costs from a generous individual who prefers to remain anonymous; all interest from the loan will be paid out in donations of produce to the Rosendale Food Pantry.”
The release also noted that additional support has come from the Bruderhof Community, who plowed the fields in preparation for cover crop cultivation; and from the Students for Sustainable Agriculture at SUNY New Paltz, who participated in farm “work days” by gathering cedar trees to serve as fence posts and helping to spread manure to improve the soil.
In basic terms, a CSA is comprised of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation with the growers, with consumers providing mutual support as well as sharing the benefits of food production. Typically, members or “shareholders” of the CSA pledge to cover anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer’s salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season.
After putting a “shout-out” for an experienced CSA farmer, Kristen MacDonald was hired. She is relocating from Massachusetts.
“Kristen brings seven years of CSA experience in the Northeast and is very excited about starting up this farm from the ground up,” Galitzine said.
MacDonald said that she looks forward to meeting the community and seeing the farm develop.
“I was really impressed when I learned about the Binnewater Farm Project. To me this project is inspiring and exciting, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to get to be a part of this CSA,” she said.
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| Getting ready for garlic planting. |
The official launch of the BFP took place on Saturday, October 29, when the SUNY New Paltz Students for Sustainable Agriculture gathered with BFP volunteers to plant the farm’s first crop—garlic—which will be harvested next year and distributed to CSA members as part of their weekly farm share.
The inauguration was also the start of the promotion for CSA membership for the 2012 growing season. Each share will cost $800 and provide fresh vegetables sufficient for a family of four over the course of a five-month distribution period, which breaks down to about $30 per week.
At this point membership is enthusiastically encouraged and there are many phone numbers and emails on the CSA site for prospective members to contact to join the CSA or volunteer, stated Galitzine.
CSA member Emma Kreyche said, “This is really a team effort. There are so many people who have helped out that are not even part of the core group. My friend Mark is hosting our website on his server; our friend Dave lent us his tiller to till the garlic beds; a student from New Paltz is designing a logo for us...it's really been amazing the way people have rallied behind this project.”
BFP is also seeking volunteers to help install a new fence, set up a greenhouse, repair the barns, and help with both farming and administrative tasks.
To sign up for the CSA, volunteer, or to find out about meeting times and locations please visit binnewaterfarm.org.
300-year-old building is home to museum and Ulster Historical Society
by Rebecca Shea
by Rebecca Shea
Lucky for us, Ulster County has a great collection of old stone houses. They are sublime. Old stone houses look fiercely elegant in the landscape and their interiors are often charmingly redolent of the past. One such fine house is the Bevier House on Route 209 in Marbletown, now the Bevier House Museum, and headquarters of the Ulster County Historic Society.
The over 300-year-old Bevier House is an amazing asset to our community. The Ulster County Historic Society received the house in 1938 from Louis Bevier and his sisters. They had occupied the house and site for seven generations. The stately house effectively meets the Historic Society’s mission as curator and collector of significant Hudson Valley artifacts, documents, and cultural items and to educate our community and public on the very important role Ulster County has played in the formation of our nation.
The building is of excellent design and contains many items of beauty and interest. Today’s Ulster County residents can find enormous inspiration and practical knowledge within the exhibits and special events.
The house includes a fascinating kitchen dating back to c.1680, and carefully and accurately dressed rooms in the Victorian style. Sometimes, to our modern eye the Victorian home can be overwhelming with its profusion of objects. Victorians loved to decorate—filling almost every open space with some little treasure. Even picture frames were elaborate. You can see some fine examples of pinecone picture frames in the second floor hall. They are a marvel of ingenuity. It took great inspiration and skill to create these. They are astonishing.
Also of note, the tool room, known as the Peter Sinclair Gallery of Early American Crafts and Trades, holds an extensive collection of farm and homestead equipment, many demonstrated in their use. This exhibit is fun and informative—a must for any country homeowner.
On the house’s formidable façade is an intriguing detail, about 12 feet up at the southwest corner, the remains of a vertical sundial is visible. Sundials are fascinating, stimulating with all their complexities. This particular vertical sundial seems a unique addition to a residential home; they were most often installed on civic buildings. The Museum’s director believes that the sundial was built into the second level of the house sometime in the last quarter of the 19th century.
Two upcoming events at Bevier House Museum are an opportunity to see the Museum and participate in their wonderful education outreach. November 26 is A Children’s Christmas, which will include period craft building, carol singing, and snacks plus a visit from St. Nicholas. November 26, 12-3pm. Fee: $5.00, call for reservations. 845-338-5614.
On December 3 and 4, Bevier Museum holds their Holiday Open House and fundraiser. This is a beautiful event and an easy way to support the UCHS. Just pop in and enjoy. The house is decorated in Victorian holiday grandeur, there is music, snacks, and inspiration—and good cheer abounds. December 3 & 4, 12-4pm. Fee: $5 members, $8 nonmembers.
The Bevier House Museum is open May 1 to October 31, Thursday to Sunday, 12-5pm. Admission: $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $3 for students ages 5-15, children under 5 are free. Library & Archives: Open only by appointment. Call or email museum@bevierhousemuseum.org.
November 2011
by Eric Francis
by Eric Francis
November is the month when the Sun moves from Scorpio to Sagittarius. As autumn develops, the theme evolves from the deepest emotional and sexual consciousness (flavored by Days of the Dead in early November) to the most etheric, global, and cosmic. Yet the concepts of these two signs contain one another. Scorpio and Sagittarius present us with an essential diagram of the human experience, representing the two seeming polarities of what we long for. Scorpio endorses desire, which we find within ourselves and ultimately fulfill within ourselves. Sagittarius reminds us that the most cosmic experiences are often the most grounded ones. We can find the truth of God contemplating the Galactic Core or gazing at a flower. What all of this has in common is how we experience our awareness. Whether we experience something as emotional, erotic, mysterious, or natural is all about how we experience ourselves—and this can change from moment to moment.
Aries (March 20-April 19)
After a phase of experimenting with your expressive passions, you reach an inner fork in the road: you can direct your creativity into a focused project or vocation, or you can get lost in your doubts and self-criticism. While I'm not a big fan of dichotomies, this one seems to contain some truth, at least this far: you cannot be too self-critical and still be free to express your passions. Self-reflective is one thing. Self-aware is closely related. It's necessary to be able to critique your work without criticizing yourself. You seem determined to make some practical use of your passions, and to keep yourself busy with what actually matters to you. You can do that, though it's going to take a mix of effort and flow, thought and intuition, motivation and attention to detail.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
You may feel like you're right near potential that you cannot quite access. This might be in the form of having limited options or feeling like you're boxed into the circumstances in your life. Yet there is something obvious you may be missing, which is that in any given moment, no matter what you're doing, you have the privilege and the ability to express your quest. You may not think you do; you may have the idea that you're not free till you make your great escape. That itself is a kind of trap. Your freedom of existence and creativity is contained in your daily activity. Yet to get there you have to make a decision to think of two things that usually seem separate or unrelated as the same thing, then explore how that feels.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
You are in an unusual position to experience the world as the people who are close to you do. This is not the usual mirror effect of relationships but rather the sensation of a world opening. Remember to define the word “relationship” as broadly as you can, remembering that human encounters are as diverse as the people we have them with. Connecting with people is not about getting married or hooking up or doing business—it's vital to be open to any possibility, and greet the many people you encounter with a sense of potential and openness to adventure. That means keeping an open mind, and using your freedom to adapt to the people and circumstances that surround you. You don't need an agenda, though your authentic curiosity will come in handy every day.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
You need a lot of freedom around your work, and this is the time to take it. You know you're not the type to sit in an office, so if you find yourself in one, do your best to get out as much as you can, on whatever excuse or project you can think of. If you're self-employed, experiment with the most creative aspects of what you do, and then as the month progresses, work out of the house as much as possible. Your mind will be happier and your ideas will flow better. This is the time of year when you can connect to your infinite source of creativity. Many have wondered where you get your energy, and whatever the answer to that question may be, these are the months when you connect to your source, refill your well, and guide the abundant activity of the month toward your highest vision.
Leo (July 22-August 23)
Expression is the opposite of depression. Keep telling yourself that. You may not be depressed, but approximately two-thirds of the world seems to be—and it has a way of being contagious. At the moment you're especially empathic and absorbent. You can feel just about anything anyone else is feeling, which is good for them. But when the Sun enters your fellow fire sign Sagittarius in a few weeks, you're going to feel like a galaxy of ideas you want to share with the world. I suggest you start sooner rather than later. Clear a table, make space in your mind, and make space in your life as best you can in this busy world, because a wave of visionary creative passion is on its way. This is yours to explore and enjoy, however you can.
Virgo (August 23-September 22)
You need to learn the art of evaluation. All kinds of spiritual and psychological paths decry the toxin of judgment, but we don't get much information about what to do after that. Virgo is famous for its self-critical nature, and you're now beginning an extended phase of your life when you may be tempted to go there even more than usual. So I suggest that you create alternatives that give you a constructive use of that drive, giving you something useful to do with the energy. Along with this, I suggest you truly explore the concept of being open-minded. Like many things, it's easier said than done, but more valuable than you may realize. One cannot really think, unless they are open-minded. Since you'll be thinking a lot about yourself, it will help to do that in the gentlest, most self-supportive way.
Libra (September 22-October 23)
This has been a rather interesting few weeks in your experience of (and study of) your relationships. I trust that you've left one concept behind—grafting yourself permanently to another person for the rest of your life. Obviously you're someone to whom commitment is deeply important. You believe in fidelity and you thrive on trust. But that is different than the idea of absolute permanence. You have, at least, begun to ask yourself real questions about what it means to be an autonomous, independent person. I would suggest that only such a person is in a good position to relate to someone else in an authentic way. Now and for the foreseeable future, you could say that the theme of your relationships is “love is freedom.”
Scorpio (October 23-November 22)
You're at your most magnetic right now. The Scorpiophobia of the world is melting away and most days it will be more obvious that you're the sensitive, passionate person you know yourself to be. That said, I suggest you remain picky about who your friends are. Fortunately, there will be a self-selection process working for you: the more authentic you are, the more you'll attract the right people and repel the ones you don't want. But don't be too harsh on others; they may not seem to have your sharp wits or your notorious insight into psychology, but there will be certain days when you are feeling especially judgmental of the people around you. Everyone has their positive attributes, and one of yours is being able to notice that.
Sagittarius (November 22-December 22)
This is the time of year when you feel the calling to the astonishing adventures for which you came to this Earth. As the Sun moves through your sign, you feel many of your deepest longings and sense of cosmic connection. If you cannot go on a worldly adventure now, make plans to do so. You're being called places; orient on them, collect information, make friends with people who live there. Make time in your schedule at the next possible moment. Set aside some money. Meanwhile, the deeper adventure involves the possibilities for your incarnation on our planet at this time. You came here with a purpose, whether it was to accomplish certain things, to learn, to have fun, or to serve. Connect with that mission now. Give yourself permission to let it be real.
Capricorn (December 22-January 20)
You will get a lot further if you give up caring what other people think about you, but that's another way of saying that self-acceptance is the key to success and happiness. You tend to be a private person, but you must also live with a sense of transparency that can be unnerving. In truth all you can really do is be comfortable within your own skin, though that's a learned skill. Here is a clue: there are a number of people who factor prominently in your life right now, and you don't feel the same way about any of them. If you practice objectivity, which basically means accepting them for who they are without judgment, you're really offering yourself a space of belonging in the world at the same time. Said another way, the more freedom you give people to be themselves, the more you will feel to be yourself.
Aquarius (January 20-February 19)
You may be on an odd emotional edge where what you desire as your greatest success also feels the most dangerous. As you approach an accomplishment or take on new responsibilities, you may have this lurking sense that disaster is looming. You won't be able to tell if it's your intuition or a bit of paranoia, but I would suggest that the closer you get to that feeling, the more effective you're being at working toward a deeply cherished goal. While this sensation is especially poignant for you now, many people experience this sensation—and in running from it, avoid actually accomplishing what they set out to do. Progress demands a measure of uncertainty, and if you can dance with that, you can do anything.
Pisces (February 19-March 20)
I'm not sure if you have an erotic vision—that is, a dream of how your sexuality would be ideally—but if you do, this is the month to take a real step toward making it real. It would help if you state your ideas outright. This may feel radical; you may have the sense that nobody else will understand. What matters most is that you understand what you want. Why you want it is not so important; I suggest you connect your desire to direct ideas and visualizations. Then, see who and what comes your way, and the influence this has on the relationship experiences you have. What's never said often enough about Pisces is that sex is your true religion, that is, where you seek your God-source. This idea is cosmologically and biologically accurate. It's only judgment that gets in the way.
Read Eric Francis daily at PlanetWaves.net.
Spending locally strengthens the power of the dollar
by Tod Westlake
Resources
www.amiba.net
www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-new-economy/resource-guide-the-new-economy
www.civiceconomics.com/localworks
www.moveyourmoneyproject.org
www.occupywallst.org
www.VisitVortex.com
by Tod Westlake
Taking to the streets in order to protest an injustice is as American as apple pie. Students of this nation's history will note, for example, that the revolution which eventually secured our independence from Great Britain was touched-off by a group of individuals who no doubt would have been described as "rabble" by their British overlords. When you mix in the destruction of private property—i.e. the boxes of tea dumped into Boston Harbor—it's easy to envision an alternate history, one written by the victorious colonial power that depicts these patriots as nothing more than a bunch of terrorists. Had the fledgling United States lost that war, effigies of Thomas Jefferson, et al. might be going up in flames alongside Guy Fawkes each November 5.
Enter: Occupy Wall Street. This movement has been described as rudderless by the mass media. "They don't know what they want," we hear on a regular basis. "They're nothing but a bunch of unwashed, unemployed ne'er-do-wells looking for a handout. I worked for my money." But an awareness of injustice can come in many forms. It can come from the knowledge that good wages and benefits, as many of our parents experienced during the boom years of the mid-to-late 20th century, are a thing of the past. It can come in the form of an awakening to the fact that the current economic system is unsustainable, and that for every winner there must be dozens, hundreds, thousands, of losers.
Thus, one of the things the Occupy Wall Street protestors are, well, protesting, albeit indirectly, is the relentless corporate consolidation which in recent decades has led to a severe erosion of consumer choice, and with this an erosion of our standard of living. For every new big-box store, with all of its convenience and alleged low prices, more and more small businesses go belly-up, as they are simply unable to compete with the economies-of-scale that make an item manufactured and shipped halfway around the world cheaper than the same item manufactured just up the road.
And there appears to be little we can do about this continued consolidation. The United States Justice Department, at least in recent years, has never met a cartel it doesn't like. And can anyone remember the last time a merger between two corporate behemoths was scrapped by the feds? It appears that the disconnect between Washington, DC and the voters has become fait accompli. Or, as GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said recently, "Corporations are people." But these corporate persons don't need clean air or water, they can theoretically live forever, and their sole purpose is to come up with new ways to make more profit, even at the expense of the communities in which they are located.
How can we fight such potential super-villains? By spending our money, and taking our business elsewhere. Deciding to spend your money at a local business, even if that means paying slightly higher prices, will send a message that will be heard loud-and-clear in boardrooms across the country and around the world. Like the Occupy Wall Street movement's spread into other cities, and other countries, consumers must make a decision as to whether they will stand with their neighbors, or if they will be given to the ersatz allure of cheap junk from overseas.
Voting with Your Wallet
A 2007 study funded by a pair of civic associations in Kent County (Grand Rapids), Michigan found that when consumers did their business at locally owned banks, restaurants, pharmacies, and grocery stores, only 32 percent of this money left the local community, this in the form of items imported from outside the area. Conversely, spending money at a non-locally owned business saw 57 percent of this economic activity leave the local community. The out-of-area companies, in addition to stocking imported supplies, spent money on marketing as well as factory-farmed products that were produced at facilities in other parts of the country (and the world, even). An item such as signage, for instance, which for small businesses is almost always produced on the local level, the big retailers almost always produce either in-house or through another large, non-local company.
The most startling finding, however, came in the form of some tangible numbers. The Kent County study concluded that locally owned businesses annually generated $140 million in completely new business activity. This, in turn, led to the creation of an additional 1,600 local jobs, with a commensurate increase in local wages totaling $53 million. To bring this down to our scale, Ulster County has just under one-third the population of Kent County.
An even more dramatic finding came during a 2003 study of businesses in the mid-coast region of Maine. Funded by the Minneapolis-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the study concluded that locally owned businesses spent more of their dollars in-state. These businesses relied upon local vendors for their inventory. These vendors, in turn, employed people locally, as did their vendors, and so on. The impact this kind of spending had on these local communities cannot be overstated, given that these businesses spent approximately 54 percent in-state, with 44.6 percent of their revenue being spent within two local counties. Conversely, the big retailers spent just 14.1 percent in-state. The rest of this economic activity left the area, enriching shareholders and executives rather than family farms and mom-and-pop businesses in the area.
Another telling statistic from this study relates to the impact big-box retailers have on local charities. The study found that for every $1 million in sales, big-box stores gave approximately $1,000 to local charities. Conversely, locally owned businesses gave more than $4,000 per $1 million in sales—a fourfold increase. For communities strapped by the current slump, charitable giving is an important component of the local economy. Buying at a big-box retailer offers very little assurance that the money you spend will be helping your neighbors.
Buy Local
We've seen the signs as we drive throughout the Ulster County area. These signs admonish us to spend our money at locally owned businesses. And when it comes to the farm stands in our area, buying local isn't just a way to improve the economy, it's also a way to improve the food you see on your dinner table, and often at lower prices than what you might pay at the local supermarket.
If you are someone who shops for produce on a regular basis, you cannot help but be appalled, for instance, at the quality of the tomatoes encountered in the produce sections of the big retailers. They are often overpriced, pinkish in hue, grainy, flavorless, and unappealing. At the same time, taking a short drive to scope-out a local farm stand reveals that prices are often the same or lower (typically $1.49-$2.49 per pound, or even less), and for tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes. Local farm stands sometimes have excellent tomatoes for about $1 per pound or less during the growing season. And don’t forget all the other items, such as locally produced organic, grass-fed beef for very reasonable prices (ground beef for just $4.99 per pound is just a little bit more than the who-knows-what-it-is you buy at the supermarket).
Sending a Message
Another way to send a message without taking to the streets is to move your money. In recent weeks the Occupy Wall Street movement has been focusing on the negative impact the big banks are having on our economy. Like vast vacuum cleaners, these banks, despite trillions in bailouts, are still seeking new "profit centers." One national bank recently announced that it will start charging customers $5 per month for the privilege of using a debit card. For some, this was the final straw.
The Move Your Money project is a national campaign that is designed to help individuals who are looking to divest from these “Too Big to Fail” banks, with the project encouraging people to instead join local credit unions and smaller, locally owned banks. According to the Kent County study, local banks loan most of their money to people in the local community. Instead of investing in something outside your region, by depositing your money in a local bank you have some assurance that your money will be put to good work in your own neighborhood.
There are, no doubt, many other ways to become more locally centered when it comes to how you spend your hard-earned dollars. Some communities have even gone so far as to develop local currencies. Whatever you do, taking the time for some exploration—away from the mall and the big-box stores—means better food for your dinner table, it means that you're helping to boost the local economy, and it also means that you're getting to know your neighbors—folks, like you, who have a stake in what's happening in your community.
Resources
www.amiba.net
www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-new-economy/resource-guide-the-new-economy
www.civiceconomics.com/localworks
www.moveyourmoneyproject.org
www.occupywallst.org
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