http://www.soulandsoil.com/RSSFeed.aspx?Mode=4soul and soil top articlesAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://www.soulandsoil.com/images/logo_sands.gifhttp://www.soulandsoil.com/RSSFeed.aspx?Mode=4SoulSoilSocietyMon, 30 Mar 2009 11:56:15 GMTYou may have heard that a new 'last chance to tackle climate change' film has been released. Its name: Age of Stupid; its effect, so far fairly minimal, apart from its re-rousing of the 'converted' when it comes to such issues. In my world, climate change (as well as its troublesome relatives - peak oil, the capitalism crunch and a gross misunderstanding of what human beings are really for) is a given, a foundational issue around which I structure my lifestyle. A site I facilitate, ...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Age_of_Stupor&ArticleID=2116http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Age_of_Stupor&ArticleID=2116#commentsFri, 27 Mar 2009 13:19:57 GMTWhen we buy a pork chop labeled "organic" we can assume that the pig that produced it ate only organic food, roamed outdoors from time to time, and was left free of antibiotics. An organic tomato must flourish without conventional pesticides. An organic chicken cannot be fed antibiotics.   But when it comes to deciding what makes a fish organic, it is rather baffling. How does one control the wild fish which swim in pristine waters? This is a major issue in organic aquaculture It a...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Can_wild_fish_be_labeled_organic%3f&ArticleID=2110http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Can_wild_fish_be_labeled_organic%3f&ArticleID=2110#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2009 19:14:47 GMTTales from the Allotment Late March It's been ten weeks since I was last formally employed in exchange for money and I've settled into a routine so naturally, I can't quite believe it. My biggest fear now is having to go back to work, something that will have to be considered in due course unless providence shines its light upon me for the rest of my working life. For the first time in thirty years of working for a living I realise what ''working for yourself'' and ''being your own ...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=The_Greenhouse&ArticleID=2107http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=The_Greenhouse&ArticleID=2107#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2009 12:27:32 GMTIn recent times, I have rarely heard wealth and spirituality mentioned in the same breath. Many religions like Buddhism advocate renunciation of wealth as a path to enlightenment. I recently remembered a Sanskrit shloka I learnt as a part of my fifth class curriculum. The meaning was given by my teacher and I had learnt it by heart.   I am trying to analyse it now. I am writing the English meaning in the bracket. “Vidya dadati vinayam (Education or learning makes a person hu...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Wealth_and_Spirituality&ArticleID=2104http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Wealth_and_Spirituality&ArticleID=2104#commentsWed, 25 Mar 2009 08:32:53 GMTPeanut butter has created quite a stir in the US. You’ve probably heard about the most recent Salmonella outbreak. The culprit this time seems to be a batch of infected peanut butter, of all things. Strange for  a country which had two presidents (Jimmy Carter and Thomas Jefferson) who were peanut farmers.   More than 400 consumer products have been recalled after eight people died and more than 500 people in 43 states, half of them children, were sickened by salmonella poisoning.   As ...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Fear_of_Peanut_Butter_Sticking_to_the_Roof_of_the_Mouth_Phobia&ArticleID=2099http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Fear_of_Peanut_Butter_Sticking_to_the_Roof_of_the_Mouth_Phobia&ArticleID=2099#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2009 04:12:09 GMTEnough has been done to build opinion against unhealthy eating habits and fast food for more reasons than one. The campaigners claimed the low price of a fast food product does not reflect its real cost. They claimed that profits of the fast food industry have been made possible by losses that accumulate on society in an as yet unknown way.   One of the obvious outcomes is that in the US the annual cost of obesity alone is now twice as large as the fast food industry's total reven...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Fast_is_the_word_we_love._Slow_we_dislike._Can_Slow_Food_Movement_go_far%3f&ArticleID=2076http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Fast_is_the_word_we_love._Slow_we_dislike._Can_Slow_Food_Movement_go_far%3f&ArticleID=2076#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2009 06:32:33 GMTHow many of us consider seriously the impact which animal health has on food safety and healthy animals have on safe food? A new trend in emerging animal diseases is a greater cause for greater attention.    Zoonotic diseases   An emerging aspect of animal diseases is that the increase in diseases is largely in zoonotic diseases - those that can be passed from animal to human. It is estimated that 75 per cent of the emerging diseases are zoonotic.   The factors that influence...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=More_and_more_food_animals_passing_on_diseases_to_humans&ArticleID=2072http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=More_and_more_food_animals_passing_on_diseases_to_humans&ArticleID=2072#commentsTue, 17 Mar 2009 16:00:19 GMTFollowing my discussion with Ian about Gods in the previous post, a question came to my mind -- Why do we need religion. If God is one, if there is one creator – why are there different religions?   I am not saying there should be just one religion. For reasons I do not understand clearly at this point in time, I know that it should be the way it is now -- with all its ills.  People are being killed in the name of religion -- but would having one religion end that. I don't think so. Peopl...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Why_do_we_need_a_religion%3f&ArticleID=2069http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Why_do_we_need_a_religion%3f&ArticleID=2069#commentsTue, 17 Mar 2009 11:42:30 GMTIn the week where climate change shocker Age of Stupid premiered and I had my own moment of glory in the local paper (crowing again about quitting my job to save the planet), I was reminded of that old chestnut: "Live each day as if it were your last, because one day you'll be right". Kick starting this thought process was a man called Mac from the Embercombe eco-community - a living experiment in how we might live and love each other better, just down the road from me - who not only wis...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Stupid_or_not_stupid%3f_(Is_this_the_only_choice_we_have%3f)&ArticleID=2065http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Stupid_or_not_stupid%3f_(Is_this_the_only_choice_we_have%3f)&ArticleID=2065#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2009 07:41:57 GMTA few months ago, I shifted to a new apartment and was party to the “grihapravesh puja” (traditional prayers performed on entering a new house). Not being too religious, both me and my husband were doing the needful to satisfy the older generation who would live in fear of untoward happenings, if we stepped in without the traditional puja.   As the priest chanted mantras in Sanskrit, he was sweet enough to explain the meaning of the ancient chants. He said we were asking for forgiveness...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Planet_friendly_traditions&ArticleID=2060http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Planet_friendly_traditions&ArticleID=2060#commentsWed, 25 Feb 2009 10:46:31 GMTIf you know anything about the Transition movement, you'll know that their two-headed nemesis is the increasingly dynamic duo of climate change and peak oil. For everyday people, who may still be in denial about these environmental ugly sisters, the credit crunch is enough to be getting on with. How - they might ask - are we to make ends meet this month; let alone worry about global warming and our destructive addiction to fossil fuel? Sure enough, climate change, peak oil and economic d...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=DO_give_up_your_day_job&ArticleID=1986http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=DO_give_up_your_day_job&ArticleID=1986#commentsMon, 23 Feb 2009 20:00:50 GMTTales from the Allotment Late February So, I've rescued the rhubarb, which rabbits avoid, from the stinging nettles and relocated it between the asparagus bed and where the soft fruit will eventually go, which, at the moment, is covered in three feet of horse muck not quite well rotted. And I'm thinking I need to move the fruit bushes like now, and how well rotted does muck have to be before you can spread it? I sniff it - that's a good indicator, isn't it? It smells like damp earth...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Mucking_About&ArticleID=1980http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Mucking_About&ArticleID=1980#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2009 11:24:34 GMTI don't have many gripes but one of my more persistent ones is seeing land seemingly under utilised. This can be a disproportionate sized acre of lawn at the back of some nearby houses where there is little evidence that the owners have any interest in gardening, on the contrary it must surely be a chore to sit on their miniature tractor once a week in order to maintain these acres of green desert. I'm guessing there are no fruit trees planted either because that would hinder the mower's prog...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Land_for_All&ArticleID=1962http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Land_for_All&ArticleID=1962#commentsSat, 14 Feb 2009 14:49:05 GMTHaving a dog is green: you have to walk it daily, and the bigger the dog the longer the walk - so why not combine it with a trip to the shops and leave the car at home? Today being St. Valentine's Day we did just that. Off to the shop to buy food for our valentine's supper, with dog at heel. Was it me, or was there really an old fashioned feel to the morning? It felt like a bygone Saturday from a time before consumerism. Could it have been caused by all the intentional love in the air? I...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Sweet_Valentine&ArticleID=1944http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Sweet_Valentine&ArticleID=1944#commentsThu, 12 Feb 2009 16:26:57 GMTGood news for chicken fanciers! Limiting egg consumption has little effect on cholesterol levels, research has confirmed. Well, for the short term at least. What I mean is, until they tell us otherwise which (you need not be too much of a cynic to think) is inevitable, but until then crack away. Research by a team from the University of Surrey suggests most people could eat as many eggs as they wanted without damaging their health. In response to this study, The British Heart Foundation...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Go_To_Work_On_It!&ArticleID=1933http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Go_To_Work_On_It!&ArticleID=1933#commentsTue, 03 Feb 2009 13:00:18 GMTFrom my study window, looking out across the gentle valley, the river Churn snakes its path through white fields like a stalking black mamba. It's all very pretty, even though the frozen ground means I can't move my rhubarb to a better site today! Ah well, mustn't crumble... There's a story about a farmer whose barn roof had a big holes where many slates had come loose. He was asked why didn't he get on and repair it? Well, he said, when it's raining it's far too dangerous to go climbing...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Snow_Joke!&ArticleID=1881http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Snow_Joke!&ArticleID=1881#commentsMon, 02 Feb 2009 10:29:04 GMTTales from the Allotment February I wouldn't want to describe my methods as being ''Organic''; I like to think I'm coming at it from a pre-industrialised method of gardening, before people knew anything about the ideas of organic vs. non-organic. I think there's a danger today of going to extremes of obsession with being organic. It's more important when considering the commercial growers, as the consumer needs proper authorisation and this means strict regulation, the issuing of code...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Please_Don%27t_Call_Me_Organic!&ArticleID=1868http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Please_Don%27t_Call_Me_Organic!&ArticleID=1868#commentsSun, 01 Feb 2009 10:41:35 GMTBuddha had his bodhi tree - the sacred fig - and I had my neighbour's shed. I'd been shifting muck from the dumping point onto a pile on my allotment when the heaven's opened. I have a small tool shed and if I kick out some of the pots and boxes there's room for two standing. But my neighbour's shed – more of a limestone bothy with an open end – was closest. Upturning an empty bucket, I sat down to watch the rain. It was then that I felt overcome by the whole truth of the self-sufficienc...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Epiphany&ArticleID=1862http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Epiphany&ArticleID=1862#commentsSat, 31 Jan 2009 15:22:21 GMTI've just found out about the death of John Martyn. A casual remark on a silly programme whistled past my ear; I was convinced I'd misheard it. Sadly, by way of the internet, I find it's true; he died two days ago, in Ireland. I came to Martyn's music late. I was aware of him at his peak but it wasn't my thing. I wish it had been my thing: he was a wonderful singer-songwriter and an innovative musician. So many famous names have passed away this January, you almost think it must be curse...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=The_Death_of_John_Martyn&ArticleID=1861http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=The_Death_of_John_Martyn&ArticleID=1861#commentsFri, 30 Jan 2009 22:14:15 GMTSpiritual teachers are like buses. You wait for ages, and then three come along. Last week, I had the great pleasure to meet Patricia ten Berge, Darren Eden and David McCready - all spiritual guides in their own way, specialising in healing, intuition and energy work, respectively. Patricia told me a great story about her childhood, Darren gifted me with a day quite a few people will remember, and a session with David put me in touch with my helpers, who are with me as I write this!...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Spiritual_teachers_are_like_buses&ArticleID=1857http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Spiritual_teachers_are_like_buses&ArticleID=1857#commentsWed, 28 Jan 2009 18:12:08 GMTI have many opinions on the state of the world today but fearing that too much seriousness is a turn-off, I thought I'd lighten the tone every once in a while with tales from the allotment. This will be our second growing season on our present patch; we are both relatively new to the art and science of growing food but make up for it in enthusiasm. Sure, I feel it's the only way to live a complete life: to have at least some small meaningful part of you planting and harvesting fruit and veget...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Strawberries&ArticleID=1829http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Strawberries&ArticleID=1829#commentsThu, 22 Jan 2009 16:44:35 GMTIt's easy to think that all the players in a capitalist society believe ''boom time'' and ''bust'' to be two unequal performers inside the same economic pantomime horse. They must believe that the two ends are quite separable, and that one – the one playing the back end, probably – let's the other – the actor playing the head part – down very badly. They don't appear to see the economy as a single beast with a periodically lame back. No one talks of shooting the horse. Instead they talk of fi...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=The_Future_of_Work&ArticleID=1788http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=The_Future_of_Work&ArticleID=1788#commentsMon, 19 Jan 2009 17:52:08 GMTOne of my regrets as a young family man was not to insist on a family tradition of eating up at table. As a kid, we would almost always eat up at the table. Only Saturday evenings were excusable as on those days we would give mum a break from the kitchen and usually have something on toast; cheese, a poached egg, or very occasionally pilchards in tomato sauce! Only these meals were we allowed to eat from plates on our laps, while watching Jon Pertwee battle the Daleks or listening to 10 minut...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Mindful_and_Mindless_Eating&ArticleID=1759http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Mindful_and_Mindless_Eating&ArticleID=1759#commentsSat, 10 Jan 2009 16:25:48 GMTIt's been several months since I was offered the opportunity to contribute to Soul & Soil. My hesitation – reluctance – to do so until now has been a mix of self-awareness and the superficial. Superficially: I didn't find the place appealing, the format, the colours, the instinct to want to call it Soil & Soul, and not Soul & Soil. The seeming lack of comments to contributor's efforts, the interval between the most recent post and now, the meaningful purpose and true direction of the endeavou...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Baby_On_Board!&ArticleID=1696http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=Baby_On_Board!&ArticleID=1696#commentsWed, 03 Dec 2008 11:59:16 GMTIn the era of cyber-archaeology - many years from now - cyber-forensic experts need only view this Yahoo Buzz review of the most popular searches of 2008 to see what brought western civilisation down. Here's the full list of 'runners and riders' or as I prefer, the various plagues that may well contribute in terminal potential  to our mental and spiritual obesity: Top 10 Searches for 2008 1. Britney Spears - bless (I mean it - this woman needs help. She's the new sacrificial lamb; se...http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=The_rise_and_fall_of_western_civilisation&ArticleID=1498http://soulandsoil.com/UserConsole/ViewPost.aspx?Title=The_rise_and_fall_of_western_civilisation&ArticleID=1498#comments