Collaborations and Supporters
I worked with another Gaia Associate, Virginia Menstell, who is into Urban Agriculture and Herbalism. She resourced me to use her information that she gathered for the Tahoma Urban Agriculture Guild website. It had 7 botanicals for skin care products and their properties. You can check it out here.
I also had a think and listen with, Ava Klinger, where we talked about incorporating some of my recipes into the Gaia newsletter. She also encouraged me to get back into blogging and using that more as a database to share my creations. It was helpful to have that creative push from Ava as I kind of keep to myself these days.
I had a quick guild session with, Liam McDermott, where he was able to help me question my processes throughout the creation of my recipes. Liam provided a lot of questions and support on what interested him. Liam was my partner during my MoY presentation and we thought it was cool how similar our topics were and really wanted to connect afterwards about our next steps within Gaia.
Skill-flex
I had a lovely skill-flex session with Ava. We talked over and reviewed my Cover Letter. This is because of my up and coming job searches after I finish Gaia. I want to learn how to promote myself in a positive, eye-catching way so I don't come off as one of the many but rather as one of the few. She gave insight on trying to avoid passive voice and that using a present voice is more powerful. Also, she stated that it would be good to make the reader start with a smile, for example: something a kid said that was funny, or, opening with a story. We also then went over writing as a metaphor and she guided me through a writing activity. This helped break down some of the barriers I had been having on certain areas that I need to write about or process in general. Ava also was helpful and kind of inspired me on my next output, but I don't want to give away too many of the details!
Here is an example from my writing practice I did with Ava:
"As I sit alone at the kitchen table with the glass vase of flowers, I stare at it, I begin to think of how moving on from you cracks my heart, you know the kind of crack that slowly permeates a glass, soon being completely broken and shattered in pieces on the floor? The pieces that I thought were shifted and formulated into the perfect puzzle have suddenly become a fragile, handle-with-care package that my hands are shaking with. It’s the same ‘handle-with-care’ that lingered on top of my heart when I first met you. As we became more intertwined I found my heart wasn’t so fragile, it was stoic and polished similar to the glass vase holding the flowers on our kitchen table that have now started to wilt. I have watched myself for days carefully clean the table making sure not to bump the vase for fear of making the crack real, losing even more of us as each pedal hits the table. "
Skill-flex Assessment
Throughout this output I felt like I addressed many of my skill-flex goals. I worked on Excel from a professional standpoint as I have to use it for work a lot. I also had a lot of attention towards the written/communications area. I worked with Ava for developing a cover letter and writing as a metaphor. I also went out of my way to Skype and chat with other people. I had to attend an in-person job interview that also made me practice and write out questions as well as observe my behavior during the interview. Ava had sent me a good TED talk video on the effects of body language. There wasn't a whole lot of attention towards IT/Technology but it wasn't completely avoided either. I worked on using Powerpoint, Google Drive file sharing, Mahara and Creately. The other skill area I felt was addressed throughout my output was sustainability. This to me seems obvious as I am trying to live a life of self-reliance and this output showcased my steps on how I am actively trying to pursue my goals.
My activity in Gaia
I listened to 2 radio calls this month and sent them to Ava. The first one I listened to was, the Permaculture and Governance call that was led by Ava and the second call I listened to was, Mushroom Cultivation, by Gabriel Bridges. This was in support of my last output packet and using him as a Mentor. I wanted to see some of his work that he had shared and the radio call had me learning some new things!
Here are my responses to the calls:
This call was not only informative but also it kept my interest engaged. It was led by Ava Klinger, and I enjoyed the concept of having a guest speaker kind of present. I was definitely inspired by hearing all of the people that attended the call, especially knowing that they are people that I have connected with on a personal level within Gaia.
I feel like politics has always been more a gray area for me. I either get so involved and worked up about voting, or at times I don't really have any idea what's going on. Usually it's the latter because of lack of interest in the subject matter. If it is something that I am interested in or have attention towards (women's rights, city transportation, LGBT rights, the environment) I am doing my research. My father was a Political Science major and has always opened up conversations about politics in our family. I come from a family that is mainly conservative except for my actual parents. My aunts and uncles, cousins, and brothers are conservative whereas my parents are liberal.
I find myself holding conversations with friends about topics that are of interest such as immigration, and who will be running for presidency in 2016. I also will be moving in the fall of 2015 and am finding myself seeking out, or researching the politics of the locations I want to potentially move as it has a big impact on your daily lifestyle. I really enjoyed hearing about catering arguments and switching to the listening role when working with 'important' people who tend to hear only complaints.
I listened to this radio call to support Gabe. He helped me as a mentor for my last mushroom output in my capstone year.
I thought it was neat to learn that, "take" means mushroom in Japanese and that's why there are a lot of mushrooms that end in "take". Shiitake, Oyster and Chicken of the Woods are the only mushrooms you can cultivate and the others he talked about (porcini, morels) are foraged in the wild.
Mushroom life cycle, the biology of mushrooms are related more closely to humans and animals than plants. The mushroom itself is like a fruit (apple from a tree), and the organism is the mycelium. The spores germinate and can grow for years in the ground until they find their opposite mate, and then it becomes a fertile reproduction organism and will fruit them mushroom. The Chinese began log inoculation of mushroom spawn roughly 5,000 years ago. I also learned that Europeans began cultivating the button mushroom and grew them in caves. It's only been the last 100 years that sterile techniques have been applied to mushroom growth.
The call was about primary decomposers because Gabe chose to actively involve himself with log cultivation of mushrooms. America and England are the two most fungal-phobic countries. Gabe went over the step-by-step process to starting your own small-scale mushroom growth.
I thought it was cool that he shared his experience of trying to grow wild mushrooms in a controlled environment. I enjoyed hearing the breakout briefings and that everyone was really into mushrooms.
Annotated Bibliography
This helped me realize that that movement is what you make of it. It doesn't need a specific place to come to fruition and that I could start taking steps NOW.
"DIY Mouthwash for Fresh Breath and Healthy Gums | Scratch Mommy - Life, From Scratch." Scratch Mommy Life From Scratch. N.p., 22 Jan. 2015. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
Scratch Mommy was a website that I resourced a lot throughout my DIY beauty products. I adapted some of my recipes from her to fit my needs.
Mother Earth News Magazine. Issue No. 263. April/May 2014. Print.
I found an article on Urban Homesteading that triggered this output packet and my endeavor on joining the movement.
"Tahoma Urban Agriculture Guild." Tahoma Urban Agriculture Guild. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
I found this link through another Gaia Associate, Virginia Menstell. She had shared some beneficial herbs that would be great to use when making my products.
Digiphon
This is a list of the digital devices I utilized to make this output packet. Feel free to chat with me if you have any questions on how to use on of the devices.
iPhone 5 video, and camera
Creately website
Youtube
iPhoto
iMovie
Word Document
Gmail
Skype