Judith Browning

Our ability
to reach unity in diversity
will be the beauty and the test
of our civilization.

Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948, Spiritual Teacher and Political Leader)

I'm thoroughly enjoying Harlen Hubbard's first Shanty boat book 'a river way of life'.
Thank you so much for this thread about them JP.

I can't believe Steve and I had never read any of his books nor were aware of he and Anna.
The forward by Wendell Berry is priceless!

Hope is a state of mind,
not of the world.
Either we have hope within or we don't;
it is a dimension of the soul
not essentially dependent
on some particular observation of the world
or estimate of the situation.
It is an orientation of the spirit,
an orientation of the heart;
it transcends the world
that is immediately experienced
and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons.

Vaclav Havel
(1936 to 2011, Czech playwright, dissident, president)

In comparison to emotions,
which come and go
and sometimes mistakenly lead us
into thinking there is danger,
values provide a steady hand
that reminds us about the kind of person
we want to be.

Yael Schonbrun
(Psychologist and family therapist)

The last wolf hurried toward me
through the ruined city
and I heard his baying echoes
down the steep smashed warrens
of Montgomery Street and past
the ruby-crowned highrises
left standing
their lighted elevators useless
Passing the flicking red and green
of traffic signals
baying his way eastward
in the mystery of his wild loping gait
closer the sounds in the deadly night
through clutter and rubble of quiet blocks
I hear his voice ascending the hill
and at last his low whine as he came
floor by empty floor to the room
where I sat
in my narrow bed looking west, waiting
I heard him snuffle at the door and
I watched
He trotted across the floor
he laid his long gray muzzle
on the spare white spread
and his eyes burned yellow
his small dotted eyebrows quivered
Yes, I said.
I know what they have done.

~Mary TallMountain
(1918-1994, Native Alaskan writer and elder)

thanks Tommy and Doug!

I don't have a lot of places I would use it so doubt I'll wear out the blade.
I had thought it would need to be slicing sharp in order to çut the plants off?

I have an aversion to regular hoeing after summers 'walking beans' in high school so rarely use one.

This looks like it would cut off the plants and lay it down nicely, even tuck it under the soil a little.....maybe?

thanks Christopher!

Is the bevel on the top or bottom of the blades?

Sharpen like a sickle with the bevel on top?

We use 'water only' frequently, especially summertime.

Otherwise I mix up a gallon of hot water with washing soda (3-4 cups?) and use a cup to 2 cups of that liquid in a load depending on what's in the load of wash and the size.

Washing soda won't dissolve well in cold water and that's all we use in the machine so liquiding first works for us.

We liked soap nuts but they got expensive.
I didn't like the smell of yucca root but it didn't linger in the clothes.
Have been intending to try ivy leaves as suggested here somewhere.

We don't use anything but water when the water is diverted to the gardens though.

found this at my favorite thrift store yesterday!

The handle is very dry, begging for some linseed oil and has a bit of a curve at the top that may or may not be intended or useful?

The blade is dull, almost as though it was never sharp?

How best to sharpen?

I've never used one before but have been interested in trying if it works as I imagine by just cutting off plants just below the surface of the soil?

any thoughts are most welcome!

I sometimes forget
that I was created for Joy.
My mind is too busy.
My heart is too heavy
for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the sacred Dance of life.
I was created to smile
to Love
To be lifted up
And to lift others up.
O Sacred one
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares.
Free my soul.
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious.

Hafiz