Tag Archives: Inner & outer restoration

Mother’s Day at Green Gulch

sukey-with-garden-forkJoin us at our annual Mother’s Day celebration, showing our love for Mother Earth.  Sukey Parmelee, site manager, writes:

The earth of this valley is now saturated with water from the heavens. Each rain drop brings a little bit of nourishment along with it – dissolved nitrogen, picked up via the electrical activity in the clouds.  The resulting rich, vibrant greens of the leaves fill us with joy and well being.

It’s time to get down to the meander again, to our restoration site at the end of the farm. We will have a chance to look at the health of the trees and shrubs we planted in 2014-15 and see how the creek has changed.

Possible projects

  • It would be wonderful to pull the weeds at the bases of the alder trees we planted in 2014. The trees are doing so well.
  • Velvet grass is running amok in one section nearby. If we can slow it down, then the native potentilla will be stronger and grow better.
  • Cape Ivy detail: Come meet our favorite weed, with the beautiful magenta roots, and carefully remove every delicate rootlet to prevent its return.
  • There are always other tasks to do. Be sure to let Sukey know whether you want light or heavy work, or anything in between.

Glad to be hereSchedule
12:00 Arrive at Visitors’ Parking Lot. (RSVP to carpool; the lot often fills)
12:15 Lunch in the dining hall. Come down the road and follow your nose and intuition, or just ask someone you meet.
1:00 Meet at the stop sign back up on the road above the dining hall. Introductions and delegation of duties.
1:15 Into the green for loving labor.
3:30 Tea and muffins up on the tool deck.
4:00 (Or so . . .) Green Sangha conversation and/or walk
5:00 To Zendo for meditation
5:45 End meditation, prepare for departure

RSVP to reserve your place:  info@greensangha.org

If there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have
one.
— 
ee cummings

Working meditation

What better way to restore oneself and the earth than enhancing the beauty of the land that we love?  Last Sunday, Sept 2, Green Sangha’s East Bay members took an afternoon for inner and outer restoration at Green Gulch Farm, and David Nelson took these photos.

Weed collecting

Wood splitting

Eating some muffins, too, made by our hostess and Site Manager, Sukey Parmelee.

Embraced by some sunshine, dirt, and dharma fog, we left in our natural state.

Next date at Green Gulch:  Sunday, November 11.  Watershed Stewardship in the land of sun and water.

Photos 1,2, & 4 by David Nelson:  http://smilecalm.wordpress.com/

Photo of Sukey Parmelee:  Stuart Moody

Come to Green Gulch Farm for Inner and Outer Restoration

Join us once a season at Green Gulch Farm near Muir Beach for an afternoon of Watershed Stewardship and Inner Refreshment.  After a delicious organic lunch, we gather for an overview and selectioni of jobs according to our heart’s desires.  Tasks can include:  removal of invasive weeds, trail improvement, planting of natives shrubs, wood gathering, and sheet mulching.  After a couple of hours’ work, we reconvene for tea and scrumptious muffins.

We then hold a short Green Sangha meeting, whose content varies according to the season and our collective inclination – from sharing news and plans, to a letter-writing action, to a walk down to the beach.

We end with deep silence, meditating with the larger community in the Zendo.  Bring comfortable layers for changeable weather, sturdy shoes, a hat, and gloves if you have them.

Fall-winter schedule
November 11, 2012; February 17, 2013 (Arbor Day)

Program
12:15  Lunch in the dining room – organic, farm-grown, vegetarian
1:00  Orientation
3:30  Refreshments
4:00  Green Sangha meeting or walk in Garden
5:00  Meditation in Zendo
6:00  Homeward
Arbor Day schedule is slightly different; click here to view.

Reservations for lunch required. RSVP to info@greensangha.org or (510) 532-6574. We organize carpools from the East Bay and San Rafael.

Special Training Day in 2013.  Join the Teen Environmental Leadership Academy for farm work, lunch, and mindfulness instruction on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, 10 am to 2:30 pm (tent.)