Pruning the Raspberries, and the Love for the Spirit of the Land!

Late winter or early spring is time to prune away the dead raspberry canes and any weak canes or canes that are in the pathway.  It is very important to do this to ensure a productive and healthy season for the raspberries.  We grow raspberries for their taste, their high vitamin content, and their medicinal properties.  Raspberry leaf tea is very good as well as a syrup that we will make this year from our black raspberry early spring shoots.  Anani is a big fan of the raspberry patch.  We also have in these rows grapes and strawberries.  Our Raspberries are Black, Red, Yellow and Purple!

This pile of debris came from just one side of one row of the raspberry canes.  It is very essential to remove all these old canes and debris because leaving them next to the raspberries can make the raspberries diseased.  Raspberries are very sensitive plants.  We ultimately burn the debris to ensure no disease is spread.  Spiritually it is also important to clean up and remove debris as this helps us and the Spirit refreshen for the Spring that is around the corner!  When an individual is involved in cleaning up, whether it be pruning, raking leaves, weeding the gardens, and so on, upon a Sacred and Ceremonial Land, or even within a small Monanso, the action of cleaning is an EBO for the individual and the individual's frame of mind is very important within this EBO!  When working with these things, one MUST be grounded in Love for the Earth from a Spiritual Perspective!

This is before the pruning, showing the chaotic appearance of the canes, many are broken due to wind and snow from the very hard winter we had this year, and many send shoots into the pathway.  

Left Photo:  After pruning, you can see the shift in energy and how clean and clear the raspberries now look.  Right Photo:  This is very important.  This is an EGUN TREE dedicated to a specific EGUN which stands at the lower end of one of the rows of the canes, right at the entrance.  We know that the EGUN associated with this tree is Observing the activity with the raspberries, and since there is an Egun Tree right by the raspberry rows we have to pay even greater attention to the physical and mental energy we apply when engaging the pruning activity!

Here Anani is participating in removing the debris.  It is very important for her to be involved in these activities and to understand and learn how to caretake the various gardens and spaces.  This way she learns from an early age what is needed to caretake this Space within ATABEY!

Left Photo:  The pile grows.  Right Photo:  The end posts of the rows are visible and next to them the Egun Tree.

Here you can see the walking path in between the rows which also gets cleaned of old dead grass and debris.  You can see the Egun tree's position in the left photo and how close it is to the raspberries. In the right photo you can now see that the raspberries are all in a  neat row and the path is easily accessible and clear.

Left Photo:  This is another Egun Tree of one of the Elder Egun of the Land!  This tree is just down the slope from the raspberry rows, and this Egun is also observing what is going on.  Right Photo:  While we were working a Vulture drew our attention to him/herself because she/he was making an unusual flight sound due to what looks like a missing wing feather.  The Vulture represents the DEAD as well as REBIRTH, which is relevant to the time of year and to the fact that we were engaged in working in close proximity to TWO EGUN Trees!  It may be that the Vulture is molting which is a form of renewal!

Here Thunder the Bull has just been re-captured.  We had found him next to where the fire pit for burning debris is.  This particular bull was originally brought to the Land for the benefit of the EGUN whose tree is right next to the raspberry rows.  So to see him loose on the very day we came to prune the raspberries was very significant!  Fortunately he was cooperative in allowing us to coral him once again in a safe field, because this bull is very fearless and bullish and will use his weapons without hesitation.

We also see this as the EGUN making himself known and bringing us a message!

Preparation for the New Cycle

After such wonderful success we were blessed with over the winter with our two cold frames producing greens all winter long, we added a third cold frame, this one is going to be used first for housing seedlings which need green house conditions until nights no longer freeze.  The greens are vital for good health and we eat them raw in salads to derive the maximum benefit.  

Here you can see the basic design of the cold frame, it has a slanted top to allow maximum sun exposure to the plants within it.  We make it out of ordinary pine lumber (untreated, pressure treated lumber contains many dangerous toxins and should not be anywhere near food).  It can also be made out of cedar which is more rot resistant but also more costly.  If we were living in a colder area we would consider surrounding the cold frames with straw bales to give added protection.

Greens are visible in the existing cold frame, this is highland cress (spicy cress) and a spicy mix of asian greens and arugula.

Cleaning the garden from last years debris and preparing the garden beds.  The snow is almost finished melting.

These are gourds from last year which we allowed to dry right on their vines and now have moved to a pallet to complete drying.  Gourds brought inside develop a mold while drying which is a health hazard, once the gourd is dried it can be cleaned and safely used.

Digging up "Sun Chokes" which had become visible due to the Earth heaving over the winter, we harvest some but left most in the ground to continue to expand this year.  Sun chokes can be eaten raw or cooked and have a unique earthy flavor.

"White Wolf" is pruning the raspberry bushes to remove all old canes which can become diseased and any canes which are looking weak or unhealthy.  

Our four year old, Anani, is learning how to make organic sugar water (syrup) to feed the bees after the long, hard winter.  

White Wold giving the bees the syrup.  On the right and below we examine our garden soil and were excited to see many worms and the high quality of the soil.  Soil structure is very delicate and at this point we avoid tilling the soil and just loosen it with a fork.  We have been working hard to contribute to the revitalization of the soil on the Land.

Burning debris, we will use the ash this year to add to the garden.

The same pile of debris from the opposite side.  The snow on the side quickly melted.

The three photos above are of the process of clearing space and burning debris to prepare for new plantings and a kitchen within what we call "Kongo Land".

The "Chicken Whisperer" trains her chicken, who is very tame after 2 years of this type of handling.

One hawk flying with 9 vultures were above us when we were cleaning the Garden.

Tobacco plant roots hanging in the left photo, tobacco and sage hanging in the right photo.

Right Photo:  Sage hanging from last year.   Left Photo: Sweet Grass braids from last year stilling hanging in the gazebo.

Ethiopian Nazarite Lodge (1899)

The corner stone of this lodge is dated 1899 and was built by the Mount Olive Nazarene Community.  These people were African Nazarites who were fruit farmers on this  larger farm of which The Land of the Sacred Heart of Life is only one aspect.  The Lodge is empty today but still stands strong.  The Campo Santo is behind the viewer up on the Loma (Hill Top) which overlooks the Lodge and many if not all of the Ancestors who built this Lodge are buried within it.    100 plus years ago there were 19 different Nazarite Families here all participating in the working of the fruit orchard, growing apples, peaches and cherries.  

When we were originally looking for Land to manifest the Vision of the Koki Medicine Clan we found our way to this farm to take a look at a log house and several lots.  We quickly heard that each lot belonged to a family of the "Black Nazarites" who used to live here and who had a Spiritual Community centered in this Lodge.  This story was the confirmation that lead us to move ahead to eventually establish the home of the Koki Medicine Clan upon the Land of the Sacred Heart of Life.  This is of profound spiritual significance to us and we honor the African Ancestors of this Land.  

Spiritual Attack/Witchcraft!!!

As a Palero as well as a Taino, when working with the Medicine, the Elements and the Natural Environment are essential.  We, as two leggeds, are having a human experience because of a Trato, and within this experience the Sun is essential to our every action and move and to the very cycles and processes of Life Upon this Sacred Entity who is Mother Earth.  As we gaze upon the Sun on a clear day and into the intensity of the Blue Sky, we are having an intense Spiritual Experience which is our Birthright.  There is delicate balance upon the Earth which gives rise to the weather patterns and cycles, wet and dry, warm and cold to which the plants, animals, fish, and us have adapted over a long period of time.  Much of our Traditional Spirituality has to do with these weather patterns and cycles, with the Power of the Sun and Sky, the Power of the Moon and Stars, and Powers of the Natural Elements.  

As a Palero and Taino I pay a great deal of attention to the Sky and Elements around me, especially when engaging a Spiritual Process or bringing a Medicine, Cemis, Nkisi to "life".  I am alarmed and disturbed by the ongoing physical and spiritual assault which I see taking place daily within our skies.  Although there are those who have laid claim to the "Skies", "Air Space" even to the Moon and other Planets, the fact is and the fact will remain that the Sky is not any individual's to lay claim to.  The assault that is going on in the skies, to our skies and by virtue of gravity to our lungs, soils, plants, fish and animals is spiritually criminal.  I also see it not only as a Spiritual Attack but as a CONSCIOUS BRUJERIA (WITCHCRAFT).  When you have individuals arrogantly attempting to "play god" and thereby jeopardizing all human life and Life Itself upon the Earth, the reality is that there is a consciousness behind that, and those individuals who are involved are also spiritually liable because all of them not only have brains and minds but have in many cases very intelligent minds but totally lack any principles of progression, common sense and respect for Life. 

These photos show fantasy/ animated/ horror movie type clouds, but make no mistake these "clouds" were not manufactured on a movie set, but were manufactured in our sky not too long ago.  Clearly seen is a type of ripple effect which is not natural and is likely caused by a combination of chemical particles sprayed by planes and the manipulation of the atmosphere in terms of heating the ionisphere which is going on directed by conscious minds.  

This is the manipulation of natural phenomenon using chemical and energetic weapons by a consciousness which is in rooted in a superiority complex (born from a inferiority complex) and an arrogant assumption that Creation/ Earth and her Atmosphere can be controlled and manipulated for the purposes of a small minority of extremely powerful (power-over not power-within) human beings.  

The definition of brujeria is not as simple as a "trabajo" which is put together in a Palero's basement, or a curse thrown verbally in someone's direction.  Brujeria is that which is caused by an individual or set of individuals or a consciousness/ spirit which interferes, seeks to interfere, poisons or seeks poison, maims and destroys or seeks to maim and destroy, traps or seeks to trap, manipulates or seeks to manipulate, harms or seeks to harm and in general undermines the well being and health of a individual, family, community, humanity or environment, Earth.  Under this definition what we see going on in our Skies is a Brujeria (Witchcraft).