What I love most about life, is the alchemical process of transformation. What is the secret of our rubbish becoming rich and fertile soil again? I salute the village and residents of Darabkola in Northern Iran for initiating the village-wide movement to turn their kitchen waste into compost. Our project, Soil Alchemy, started in December 2017. It has been a beautiful start with the village folk bringing their kitchen rubbish along with their love and labour to make the community compost. The village municipality supplied us with gloves, straw, cow manure, lime, and water. Trees for Hope invested in the forks needed to turn the compost. A third local NGO, Children of the Good Earth, informed and gathered the local residents. This project ran for six months and fell asleep for the time being. I think the Soil Alchemy project needs to wake up at a nation-wide scale. Why? When the Soil Alchemy project is awake and operating, it not only helps to transform our waste to rich soil, the base of our true wealth and health, it transforms our social and mental diseases to pure cultural gold. Compost making then becomes a sacred act. An activity worthy of our lives, of every hour we dedicate to this transformation. This is why I think the Soil Alchemy needs to wake us up, all over the place 🥰. © Pupak Haghighi | a weekly celebration of life~transforming sorrow to joy |
0 Comments
understanding each otherWhen I reached home, in time for my call with Aref, I was shocked to be hung up on the call. 'Something's come up, can't talk to you right now,' read the text on my phone display. I felt a space that was warm and receptive, indeed as divinely creative as Chrystal is to me, closed down. And then came the breathlessness of death. My relationship with Aref died with this missed appointment, with the missed opportunity to communicate truly. I felt I lost a friend and colleague I loved as dearly as my own beloved son.
There are only two feelings. Love and fear. There are only two languages. Love and fear. There are only two activities. Love and fear. There are only two motives, two procedures, two frameworks, two results. Love and fear. Love and fear. A Common Prayer, Leunig The Soil Alchemy, a project to transform our food waste to compost in Northern Iran, is on my mind.
This quote by Leunig sums up my experience with our project. I hear the land
and understand people here in Tatvan I delight in a language born as a twin to my mother tongue then the two languages, Farsi and Kurdi flowed down the river of time changing in accents sounding sweetly familiar in my ears my heart is here I belong to the earth and one with her people I am not a foreigner there are no foreigners we are one people belonging to the earth I have adopted a policy and practice and want to invite you to join me too. My policy is water should be free for all. So I don't buy water, especially bottled water in a plastic, or any other drinks in a plastic bottle either. This way I take responsibility for my consumption and contribution of plastic to the environment. I also refuse to buy water and make sure that my water bottle is filled wherever I go. I share this message with people in shops and restaurants and get a lot of smiles when I talk about water being free. People everywhere agree with me. I hope we can practice this together. Why don't you get hold of your own bottle of water and make your water free too. Notice the difference between the right and left side of the fence. The area on the left is protected from deer and sheep grazing and young trees are regenerating naturally as the land heals itself. Outside the fence, on the right, overgrazing by deer and sheep prevents the growth of any new trees and the land is held static in a state of suppressed ecological succession and greatly reduced biological productivity. This area on Glen Strathfarrar inspired Alan to fence off large areas on Glen Affric to naturally regenerate and Trees for Life was born in 1989 with help from Findhorn Foundation and the Forestry Commission. |
Pupak's blogWhat I am seeking in every encounter and experience is the essence of Love. This blog-page is home to photographs and writings reflecting my Seeking Love. Archives
January 2019
Categories
All
|