It's time

  I've been a writer for as long as I can remember. I am not formally trained, past high school English and Literature courses I have had no instruction....but it is what I love to do. I have only ventured to share my work with a few people over the years, maybe as a result of overly critical teachers during my formative years.... or because of some other deep seated insecurity of whose origins I am unsure. Whatever the case may be, over the last year I have felt drawn more and more to share. So here it goes. I haven't titled most of my poems, maybe I'll get around to that some day... For now I'll just take this one step at a time.

(&Just because I have to...)
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For years the fear of complacency and stagnation have driven me

guided my choices

 directed my path

kept me from

 satisfaction

from lasting peace

I see more clearly now

fear has finally stepped aside

allowing me to live honestly

my vision no longer clouded by doubts

I know myself, I have found my voice!

capable of speaking my truths

with only a little fear of how they will effect your view of me

Honesty is paramount

intentions set the world into motion

while actions keep it on it's track

I have crawled out of my own head

I've been living aloud

 for some time now

I am real

that is more than enough

it is

Everything

 

Tawnya M. Mullen (2013)

Live

Life

Free of

Posturing 

Independently

In spite of the worlds resistance

Indecision wont bring autonomy, find your truth.

Tawnya M. Mullen (2012) 

Typical of me.....(Brief Update)

 (Please forgive the rapidly run together thoughts here....I'm on overdrive this morning and am uninterested in editing today.)
Well as per my usual I started a project, (THIS BLOG) with all of the intensity and fervor that I embrace all of my new adventures with. Staying true to my Gemini soul, I was distracted by the proverbial squirrel  along the way. Though I did continue to maintain and grow my little urban sustainability haven, I completely neglected to post anything after the start of spring in Albuquerque.

 Either way here I am again, the spring and summer were wonderful as far as the garden goes. The grey water pond plan has now shifted into an oasis for birds and other neighborhood creatures, filled now with fresh water and aquatic plants. (The storage of said grey water was not successful, so while I am still utilizing it on the garden I don't save it for more than a day after doing laundry.)   A sun shade and Casita have been added to the space. There are plans to set up solar power for the Casita, hopefully with enough extra power generated to run a better pond pump and possibly an outdoor outlet so that we are not constantly running an extension cord from the bathroom window across the yard.

     (Below: hard wood floor refinishing adventure, My birthday picnic in Hyder Park with X and some of the gardens bounties).

                                       

 


 We had an overgrowth of zucchini and yellow squash which I expected and enjoyed, gave away more pounds of it than my friends and neighbors wanted as well as stashed away several containers in the freezer for use during the winter. Other items that did very well include: Tomatoes (4 different varieties....I went a little overboard with somewhere around 12 plants.), NM Green Chili, Jalapenos, Basil, Eggplant, Kale, Beets, Golden Purslane, Chamomile, Dill, Onion, Lettuce, Kohlrabi, Asparagus, Rosemary, Leeks, Spinach, Optuna (Prickly Pear) Cacti  and Sunflowers. ( I'm sure I am missing something here.)
  As it has now become to cold to continue with any gardening, work has moved indoors to planning for next spring. Jordan (our tenant) is planning to help with the transformation of the front yard into an edible landscape! Currently we are plotting: corn, peas, squash, garlic, onions, companion flowers, kitchen herbs, cucumbers, an apple tree and the asparagus bed we started last year. I hope to be able to organize another seed swap in the next couple of months as last years experiences were productive as well as entertaining events. If time and finances allow we plan to put in a small greenhouse before the spring so that we can experience a little more success with starting from seed as well as limit costs in not having to purchase plants.

 I've also had the pleasure of getting to know a few more similarly minded people in the area. I am enjoying very much the opportunities I've been given recently to spend some time volunteering on a working farm. The friendships and hands on experience I am gaining are an encouragement to keep moving forward. Having a community of farmers that are willing to trade, share and teach has been a dream of mine for some time and I am thrilled to see this realized!

  I think that's all I have to share for today, I will make every effort to keep this updated more regularly. I am also going to start sharing some of my writing here, poems, short stories and what not. I hope you enjoy them and are blessed in some way by visiting this page.

Fair Winds and Smooth Seas...
~Tawnya

Starting over in 2013

  “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” 
― Albert Einstein Over the last couple of years my gardens have been semi successful. As I was traveling on a regular basis and it is hard to find someone who will commit to and actually keep your garden growing when you are out of town, I haven't yielded the crops that I've craved. For several years now I've been dreaming  of being able to sustain myself almost entirely from what I can grow or raise in my back yard. This desire comes from several sources: First, concern about my impact on the planet. The fact that if I grow kale in my yard vs. having it trucked in to me from Georgia there will be less greenhouse gasses building up in our ozone and adding to the Global Weirding* taking place on our planet today. Second, I simply enjoy the flavor of a tomato that has ripened on the vine in my own yard over the lacking, tasteless fruit found in most produce sections around the country. Third would have to be my distaste for over sized agribusiness in the US and overseas, they way they treat people who harvest the food, the harmful chemicals they add to the crops to kill pests and increase yield and the lastly the use of GMO's now spreading across our country. I am not here professing to know everything, far from it in fact. I am here because I have started to smell a rat, and am trying to remove it from my life. I hope that as I post my plans, projects, failures and successes that you will follow along, add your advice as well as being open to learn something new.

 In November of 2012 I made the move back into my little duplex and away from my home of the last three years in Nob Hill with its raised veggie beds, asparagus trenches, apple, pear and artichoke trees.  I find myself starting over from scratch again, but that's nothing new for me. Xandra and I started working on our barren Albuquerque back yard last week when the sun finally came out to let us know that spring was on it's way. So far we have cleaned up most of the trash for the space, started a compost pile for our organic waste, put in a pond to store and filter our grey water (controversial I know but I've read about a few ponds used as grey water storage to be used in the garden being successful so I'm going to give it a try.) Last weekend we added concrete blocks to the yard to build our raised beds and now we are waiting on the delivery of the soil to fill them so that we can get the cold weather plants in as soon as possible.
 
  I am filled with the excitement of spring and all the possibilities that come with the warmth and sunshine of a new season! Happy Planting!!

(* Term taken from Thomas L. Friedman's 'Hot, Flat, and Crowded.')