A quick entry to highlight a new organization in the SF Bay Area...Fibershed. Click on the name to learn more. This is an excellent example of how one person has initiated and is now working with many others in creating  fiber for clothes in a  bioregional way ....bioregional imagination at work!

This rattlesnake was not there when, with short clippers and no gloves, i had  just clipped the ivy back near the front area of my house. It still was not there when I passed by several times, in sandals. Then, when sweeping the leaves up a bit later, the broom led my eye to the snake just two feet away. It did not rattle its tail nor get too agitated by my sweeping, thankfully, but certainly I was startled. I have not seen a rattlesnake in the garden ever since we moved here in 1974. The last time, about eight years ago, one was close by in the driveway near the truck. I called several people to see how I might move the snake to a different location outside the garden. The fire department came...but the rattlesnake slipped away...so I go out into the garden, knowing it could be anywhere...it is its home, too, and it is necessary to be careful, mindful....and wear boots and gloves and use longer clippers! It is helping with keeping the mice in check...rattlesnakes are active day and night. They are not out to attack but will defend themselves if disturbed or cornered.

"When you keep science and art together, what comes out of it is  a sacramental experience of wonder."   Goethe

It is that wonder, that spirit in us, that can carry us into a new way of being in our culture.