Injuries to the soft tissue often have impacts on our movements, even after the injury is long-healed. These include adhesions, or tissue layers sticking to each other, the skeleton, and even the internal organs. The Feldenkrais Method can be applied to these residual effects of soft tissue injury, both in Awareness Through Movement lessons and in Functional Integration lessons.

Donald VanHowten, a Feldenkrais practitioner and teacher in the field of bodywork and personal development for more than 35 years, is a forerunner in this application of the Feldenkrais Method to soft tissues and internal organs. His CD series, Clarifying Relationships of Your Organs Through Movement, is a wonderful way to experience this special application of the Feldenkrais Method. I have had the privilege of studying with Van and am finding this work very effective at relieving long-term pain and disability due to soft tissue injury, including my foot injury that I mentioned in a previous post. It is also peaking my interest in our embryological beginnings, but that topic is for another post.

Algae

You probably already know that ethanol can be made from corn and switchgrass.  Thanks to government subsidies, we in the midwest get an ethanol enriched gas that is higher in octane and lower in price than regular (check it out next time you fill up your gas tank in the heartland). What you might not know is how enzymes derived from the fermentation of micro-organisms such as algae, bacteria and fungus can be used as a biological catalyst to break down cornstarch, thereby improving the yield and reducing the energy cost of producing conventional ethanol.

My town of 7500 is the lucky home of a business that blends enzymes and ships them to ethanol producers (currently, the enzymes are produced by a company in North Carolina).  Novozymes, a Denmark-based company, already ships half of the enzymes sold in the U.S. and has begun to build an enzyme production plant here that will go online in 2012.  To attract the company, my town and state will give the Novozymes 1.6 million in grants; the first $400,000 is earmarked for streets and utility lines.  Future payments will help pay for equipment.  The enzyme production plant is anticipated to bring 100 new jobs to my town.

Why should you care about this?  Currently, biofuel have a CO2 emission rate that is 20-50% less than gasoline.  Using second-generation biofuels produced from agricultural waste such as wheat or corn straw reduces CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared with gasoline.  The enzyme technology is key to this reduction in greenhouse gas production.

Biofuels produced from oil synthesized from current fuel crops and animal fats, such as corn or lard, cannot meet the demand for fuel without negatively impacting the world fuel supply. Using micro-organisms to produce biofuels is more efficient and may be the only renewable source of oil that can meet global demand.

Click here for a related scientific article.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about second-generation biofuels and third-generation biofuels.

Winter Rye Grass

To provide some green manure for the raised beds in the kitchen garden, I sowed some winter rye grass on October 4th.  I watered and waited and nothing happened (I was told it would germinate in a few days), so I quit watering and waiting and decided to read up on cover crops for next year. It snowed 3 inches on October 11th and then an inch the next day…weather turned cold and it looked like fall was over before it started.

I happened to look out on Halloween and got a real treat…the winter rye was finally coming up!  Although it is sparse and may not develop much of a root system before it is killed by a hard frost, I am thrilled.

Here it is, November 10th and Indian summer has descended upon us!

South windbreak

So it is very windy here. 40 mile an hour gusts are common throughout the year, especially spring, summer, fall and winter. I had not done much about it until I met a wonderful local gardener at the farmer’s market last weekend. She offered me some shrubs to attract wildlife. I thought that might translate into 5 or 6 plants, tops…actually it was more like 30! Mostly a viburnum species called lantana which has beautiful red berries that birds love,

Viburnum lantana

another viburnum, arrowwood, which has blue berries,

Viburnum arrowwood

and one high bush cranberry. What a good neighbor! Of course, I brought her some tomatoes.

It took me 3 days to plant everything, plus I was inspired to dig up about 5 redtwig dogwoods from the northeast corner of my property and put them in where I will see them this winter. Gorgeous red bark late summer to fall on the new growth.

I used 15 bags of mulch and remulched the pines, ninebark, yews, and big crabapple. Next will be to rabbit proof them (I have not seen one yet, but…) with paper trunk wraps.

The weather was amazingly cooperative, 60s for the first two days (with a plague of ladybugs), then the temp dropped to the 40s on the third day and rained, but held off until I was done, luckily. Snow is predicted in the next day or too.

Birds are already hopping from bush to bush! Something new for them and something that will make being outside more pleasant for humans during the windy times. Here is a great link for windbreak design.

I am seriously considering a windmill…Nebraska has netmetering!  And just this month, two residential windmills went up nearby…

The last of the tomatoes...finally

I am beginning to feel like the Bubba Gump of tomatoes. This week alone we had a tomato onion tart, crab salad stuffed tomatoes, pizza margherita, and gazpacho, all made with tomatoes from our kitchen garden. I am contemplating learning how to can…

And still have basil And the sweet red italian peppers are ripe now. Could never grow those in San Francisco; now it is possible. And quite delicious.

The trumpet vines have bloomed a little, the butterfly milkweeds flowered and have pods now. The surprise of the garden are the big beautiful sunflower volunteers that found their way into the perimter garden beds. Many butterfly sightings including monarchs, swallowtails, painted ladies, frittlaries, and sulfurs. One hummingbird (where the heck did he come from?) and lots of bluebirds and sparrows frequent our garden.

I bought some winter rye to sow the beds for winter. Thinking about asking the neighbors for some manure, too.

Plans for next year include more raised beds (so easy to maintain once filled), pea gravel pathways, and the rest of the perimeter beds. Maybe a tunnel green house to harden the plants off before transplanting (also we ran out of space inside). Surpisingly, the heavy winds of May did not kill anything, and we were able to control June’s onslaught of black vine weevils. It took so long for them to climb up the 2 foot high boxes, we were able to squash them before they got in and ate anything.  They sure love basil!

Sometimes, a habit can begin with an injury. I hurt my left ankle several months ago in a yoga class. Being a physical therapist, I worked on it myself, without success. I went to another physical therapist and although it improved a little, it still bothered me quite a bit. He suggested I do nothing more, just let it heal up on its own, preferably in a boot.

I declined completely immobilizing my whole left lower leg because I felt that would create more problems than it would solve. Instead, I chose to wrap it and laid off heavy exercise for several months.

The discomfort eventually resolved, but every morning my first couple steps were quite stiff. Yesterday, I did a Feldenkrais lesson for Ankle Movements and today is the first day there was no stiffness.

Feldenkrais did not heal my ankle. It showed me how to go beyond the habits of my injury. By exploring the repertoire of ankle movements and some of the relationships between the ankle, knee, hip and spine, I rediscovered what it was like to move without pain or stiffness.

Would this have worked if I had done it before my ankle had healed? I am not certain. What I do know is that I was not ready to learn until yesterday.

Kitchen garden day 43

Everything has done well, except the penstemon, which did not survive transplanting.

Last week, I had a 30′ x 30′ patch of sod removed from the backyard and, tomorrow, four raised beds and a picket fence will be installed. Future plans include four more raised beds, a sundial or other ornament in the center, and a 1′ foot border of whatever we feel like growing all along the interior of the fence. Funny thing is this future border garden will amount to almost the same square footage of our raised beds.

About the fence: it will be white PVC pickets 1″ apart, which I hope will keep out the bunnies and provide a little wind protection. Acreage Fences is installing it along with four raised bed boxes of the same material. No painting, no rotting, virtually maintenance-free, is our intention. Will see how it looks tomorrow!

Penstemon

I am about to embark on my first kitchen garden in Nebraska.  Actually, I have embarked, if you count the seedlings that have sprouted under my grow light.  It is on an automatic timer 6am-12 midnight.  Everything is coming up, quickly, if you look at sprouting times on the seed packets.  I had to move the mesclun and pumpkins out as they had outgrown their dome.  They now live in a mini greenhouse in our eat-in kitchen so we can keep an eye on them.  I am sure they will be soon joined by the Bonnie Best tomatoes.  Still under the domes and light are some prairie natives (penstemon, echinecea, little bluestem), some sweet peppers, Italian basil, watermelon, and snapdragons.

The plan is to thin the seedlings and transplant them into 3-6″ pots as needed, then plant them in raised beds in early May, square foot garden style .  This year I will plant four 4′x4′ boxes, 2′ high, with ledges for comfortable sitting.  Each box will be separated from its neighbor by a 3′ crushed gravel walkway for ease of movement.  Drip irrigated.  The watermelons and pumpkins will be trellised on rebar and slinged when needed.  I hope to have a nice center feature like a sun dial or statue. Maybe some benches.  Ultimately, there will be 9 or so boxes in a 30′x30′ fenced area with a metal arbor entrance and an adjoining greenhouse.

Currently, I am thinking about what to make the fence and the raised bed boxes out of.  The fence needs to withstand the wind and look nice.  Wood or metal with a reinforcing hedge of some sort might do the trick.  The boxes need to look pretty, but be durable.  Cypress, cedar, or even stone are possibilities.

For more inspiration and information on kitchen gardens, check this link or this or this.

photo credit: Nia International Inc.

Sometimes, you just have to get up and move.  Alot.  Plus, there is the cool music.   For anyone who ever got bored during an Awareness Through Movement class, don’t despair, try Nia, “movement-medicine for the body and soul.”

“Nia simultaneously addresses the body, mind, emotions, and spirit, and puts them on the “same page” using music, movement and personal expression to integrate one’s neurology (including the mind, emotions, and spirit) with one’s outer body, or musculature. To achieve this whole-being integration, Nia addresses the whole person using a comprehensive, holistic exercise approach designed with a combination of nine classic movement forms.

Martial Arts: T’ai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido
Dance Arts: Jazz Dance, Modern Dance, Duncan Dance
Healing Arts: Yoga, Alexander Technique, The Teachings of Moshe Feldenkrais

Nia teaches you how to physically interpret and internally direct your actions and choices, and to listen to the voice of your body and allow the body to be your guide in discovering Dynamic Ease. Practiced barefoot to music, Nia is self-guided, adaptable and safe for any fitness level, from stiff beginners to highly fit athletes. Delivering cardiovascular, whole-body conditioning, Nia is based on creating a loving relationship with the body and following The Body’s Way – the innate intelligence of the body.”

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Nia International headquarters in Portland, Oregon, to take a couple classes with Carlos and Debbie Rosas, the founders of Nia.  They are amazing folks with a beautiful vision – “Through movement we find health”- who have a following of over 2000 professional Nia teachers worldwide. Lately, I have been taking some Nia classes with local Nia blue belt Janice Batt.  She is the embodiment of Nia: a tall, beautiful, warm, confident woman who inspires me to move with pleasure and joy.  Janice teaches classes in Omaha at Prairie Life and Nebraska Dance. She is organizing the first Nia white belt training in Omaha in early August.  Come move with us!

An article on Feldenkrais and Nia by a Nia teacher