Bali Coffee Supporting Sustainable Harvests

While traveling in Bali, I read an article in the Sept 2011 Bali Weekly I found at a cafe in Ubud by Ketut Suasi entitled Bali Coffee, Slowly Displaced by Age. In a nutshell, the author talks about the need to add sugar or milk to the traditional Balinese Coffee to be enjoyed by the younger generations. She noticed how the international chains like Starbucks have come into Asia and do not include Balinese traditional brews. So I mentioned this to my local host, Wayan, who took me to the local provider of Balinese products he insists are grown organically here in the island. Here the sign where I went in to taste the options.

Here is the young coffee tree, labeled Bali Coffee on the way to sampling the various brews here.




Here are a variety of the plant products offered.


Another website describes the Luwak Coffee - http://www.balikopiluwak.net/
"Kopi is the Indonesian word for COFFEE. Luwak is a local name of the Asian palm civet in Sumatra. Kopi Luwak or civet coffee, is coffee made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Civets also eat small vertebrates, insects, ripe fruits and seeds. Passing through a civet’s intestines the beans are then defecated, having kept their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world. Kopi Luwak is produced mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago. Kopi luwak is a name for many specific cultivars and blends of arabica, robusta, liberica, excelsa or other beans eaten by asian Palm civets (LUWAK), hence the taste can vary greatly. Nonetheless, kopi luwak coffees have a shared aroma profile and flavor characteristics, along with their lack of bitterness. Kopi luwak tastes unlike heavy roasted coffees, since roasting levels range only from cinnamon color to medium, with little or no caramelization of sugars within the beans as happens with heavy roasting. Moreover, kopi luwak which have very smooth profiles are most often given a lighter roast. "

Alanon in Adelaide South Australia - Connections

H.A.L.T. "Hungry Angry Lonely Tired" is one of the unofficial slogans of the 12 step program. Just before noon today, raining outside and hesitating to walk to the Adelaide Botanical Garden, spirit said gently, go on line and see if there is a meeting. Sure enough, I found a noon meeting right on the way. So I got out of my self to walk the 30 minutes and join 6 others in the circle. Happy to be able to read two offerings in Courage to Change, and to share my experience strength and hope of 30 years of one day at a time in the program. Here is a photo of Lois W and real correspondence in 1974 to the Adelaide meeting. Really wonderful to experience the love and serenity of the program, one half word away from Minnesota. Thanks group for your kind support. Thanks David B for your encouragement about the Chinese Facebook QQ. More shall be revealed EASY DOES IT, ONE DAY AT A TIME>

Wild Food from the Amazon Rain Forest - Cleansing, Nurturing and Balancing

In the spring of 2005, I drove to Davenport Iowa to meet the Founder and CEO of Amazon Herb Company, John Easterling at the Palmer School of Chiropractic. I began to eat Amazon Herbs with the Rainforest Health Pack that included Treasure Tea, Illumination, Aquazon, Sumazon and Digestizon. I attended the Amazon Herb Summit after John and Olivia Newton John married in South America in the summer of 2008. This photo was taken a month later. I am planing a trip to Australia in August and as Olivia is a native of that continent I am interested in the path she has chosen. Olivia Newton-John became a co-host of the PBS series "Healing Quest," which serves as a guide to the frontiers of integrative health and she funds holistic health centers on that continent.
http://spiritube.com/olivia-newton-john/healing-quest-embrace-natural-wellness-video_aa69f9ad4.html

Rosen Method - Learning About Release of held Emotions in the Body

Here is the center where I was welcomed in my second Rosen Work Intensive in December of 2010 and where I met Marion Rosen the founder of the work who was 96 and still teaching at the time. Supports my desire, as modeled by my mom, Peg Weaver, "to support people living fully to die young, as late in life as possible" ! :-)

In 2009 I had my first Rosen session here in Minnesota, being referred by my good friend Andy Ml, long term member of the Twin Cities Men's Center. Andy is also, member of my I group in Mankind Project, a 501 C3 non profit I have been a volunteer for off and on, since my New Warrior Training Adventure Weekend completed in December of 1990. I am very grateful for that referral, as Rosen Bodywork and Movement is becoming a bigger part of my personal health balancing program, as I have now completed three intensives and often refer people to the work.
THis photo of Marion. is from the Rosen Method Website http://www.rosenmethod.org.

I invite folks to consider this work, who have blockages to breathing fully and are recovering from trauma, especially if old issues are getting in the way of being present in relationships in the present.

Here in Minnesota, I suggest looking at the following practitioners found on http://www.rosenmethodmn.org/ Dorothea Hrossowyc, my personal worker, was recently honored as an instructor of the work in our developing community in Minnesota.

American Holistic Medical Association - I Mosiac Connections April 2011

I April of this year I was invited by Bill Manahan, MD, past president of the AHMA to volunteer at the i Mosiac Conference here in Minneapolis. While attending the meet and greet social gathering, Dawson Church introduced himself to me as another tall person. So here we are later on. Wonderful energy for me to meet him. Dawson persented about EFI, the tapping for emotional balance at the conference. Here is the new AHMA website to link to, to find a doctor or a gathering.
http://www.holisticmedicine.org/
Also Dawson's work can be seen here at http://www.dawsonchurch.com/

Entrepreneurial Spirit - Glessner House Chicago and Genealogy - 1879 Letter from JJ Glessner to Lewis Glesser

I visited the Glessner House at 1800 S Prairie Ave in Chicago on June 8th with my friend Don Nelson of Minnesota. It was my third time touring the 18,000 sq foot home, designed by Henry Hobbs Richardson and built in 1886 for John Jacob and Frances Mabeth Glessner and their two chidren, George then 14 1/2 and Frances eight years. I am pointing to the Tree of Life created in stone above the door on Prairie Ave which serves as the entrance to the building now for visitors. It is below where I met the current Ex Director Bill and his assistant Lynne, and two young women (xiaojie) from Southern China, where a could practice my conversational skills. My middle name is Glessner, Glassmacher in German, and for me, learning about my genealogy grounds me into who i am and opens a door to how I can continue to be of service to "all my relations" and the family tree of life. I invite readers to consider how each generation builds in the experience strength and hope of those who have gone before, and the lessons they learned.

Here we are starting the tour from the 18th Street side, entering where the carriages and horses were kept. The two Zhongguo (Chinese) women and then Don with his Turtle Movies shirt. No photos are allowed inside the building.

Here is the courtyard of the home.

The first page of a genealogy inquiry from JJ Glessner in 1879 to Lewis Glessner, my greatgrandfather who owned and edited the Hancock County Courier in Findlay Ohio.

Second page of the letter from JJ Glessner to Lewis Glessner in 1879. I await hearing from the Glessner House Archives whether Lewis responded to him. Lewis died March 3 1879 and this letter was handed down from Lewis son, Leonard Cowles Glessner and grandson, Harry Chappelear Glessner to Margaret Glessner Weaver, my mom.

Gardening 2011 Other Options for Planting Vegetables

Fennel is known for its digestive properties. I planted this in flat this year. It looks like dill and the bases form large bulb like enlargements at the base of the stem. Called Finnocchio in Italy.
For more info check out http://italianfood.about.com/od/finocchiobulbfennel/Finocchio_Bulb_Fennel.htm


For fun this year I planted these orange peppers to add color to the garden, when most folks just have sweet green peppers.



This is a special heirloom I planted for the first time. For more info, see my other blog.

http://prairielakesjourneystwospirit.blogspot.com/2011/04/gardening-2011-some-options-for.html

Enjoy the gardening journey in 2011. Take care. Tom Weaver with Wopida Group

Lotus Incense - Preparing for the 14th Dalai Lama Ceremony

I awoke this morning, the day before the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama at the U of M, where I will be meeting my Putonghua Teacher, Tian Xia and a friend of hers and a friend of mine, Sylvan, for a healing ceremony. What spirit asked me to do when a awoke is that during my meditation, that I light the red incense stick that came through my Glessner and Chapplelear ancestors this morning. I see the faded label on the wrapping is likely from the early 20th century in China. "Exported from China National Native Produce and Animal By- Products Import and Export Corp. Fukien Branch Amoy Office. "

"Lotus Brand Scented Sticks are manufactured from various fragrant herbs. Once lit, they give off very pleasing aroma."

What came up for me is to put this quote here from the 14th Dalai Lama "All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives."
Dalai Lama http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dalai_lama.html#ixzz1Lf8BcNki



I am been interested in the healing power of plants and how herbs like tobacco attract the spirits and ancestors on Turtle Island, N and South America, and recently learned through an elder, that each continent has special herbs that call on ancient grounding loving wisdom. I get a sense, and that my be in-cense :-), that herbs such as sweet grass and flat cedar here in N America, Copal in Central America, Palo Santo in South America are some of those herbs that quiet the body-mind to become open to the love of the source of Creation, the Creator of this dynamic changing planet that has countless beings as denizens of her blue green life giving essence.

Recently the elders of White Bison have agreed in meditations www.whitebison.org

Elder's Meditation of the Day - May 6
"We must remember that the heart of our religion is alive and that each person has the ability within to awaken and walk in a sacred manner."
-- -- Thomas Yellowtail, CROW
The Native Spirituality is full of life. When we seek it we become alive. Even if we have gone astray and have conducted ourselves in a bad way, we can look within and have a new awakening to life. Maybe we have drunk too much alcohol; maybe we have cheated on our spouse; maybe we have done things that make us feel guilty and ashamed. If we look outside ourselves, we will not find life; if we look inside, we will find life. Anytime we choose to change our lives, we only need to look inside. How do we do this? Take some sage and light it, close your eyes and say to the Great Sirit, I'm tired, I need your help. Please help me change.

Great Spirit, I know you exist inside of myself. Let me awaken to your teachings.

Elder's Meditation of the Day - May 5
"There are many things to be shared with the four colors of man in our common destiny as one family upon our Mother the Earth."
-- -- Traditional Circle of Elders, NORTHERN CHEYENNE
The Elders tell us the time will come when the four colors of Man will unite into one family. According to prophecies, we were told this would happen when the Sun was blocked in the Seventh Moon. There was an eclipse of the Sun in July, 1991. We are now in a new Springtime called the Coming Together Time. Each of the four colors of man has knowledge that the other colors need to heal their families. Let us all be willing to sit in a circle and respect our differences.

Creator, let me be willing to have an open mind.

Thanks for the strength and wisdom my my Glessner and Chapplear Ancestors who lived in the LA and Ohio area of the US and who brought in the spirit of the ancestors from all traditions.

Remember to light some sage, sweet grass, cedar, here in N America, and the herbs of your lands throughout the beautiful changing world! Xie xie ni! Pidamiyayelo. Mitakuye Oyasin. We are all connected.

Spring Teachings About New Life - Support from our elders the tree nation of ancestors!

I am grateful for the coming of spring and the reflection I see in new life in this cottonwood tree by my apartment in St Louis Park. Here is a close up of the swelling bud of the red catkin of the cottonwood tree.

Thinking of my Field Botany Mentor, Donald Lawrence PHD, pictured here along the Mississippi River gorge with students, including Matthew Wood, Herbalist Author with the bike. In the spring we would go for walks this time of year along the east bank of the Mississippi from the Botany Greenhouse, then on East River Road. I was a teaching assistant in the 1970's at the U of M for Don in a course called Field Botany. Don taught us to recognize that characteristics of plants so we could learn from them about their place in ecology. We would drive to Cedar Creek each week to look at the natural history of a plant that selected each student to study. I remember one student, Sue, who worked with the hazel and noticed the small flowers this time of year. Thanks Don and Lib Lawrence for your generous vision and support with your teaching and generous work at Cedar Creek Natural History Area that you helped establish. Thanks for sharing in your cabin there as well!

Reflections on the trees of life. Here I am with an over 2000 year old yew in the are of the south of England in 2009. Story has it the yew forests were cut down to create long bows for the wars of the two leggeds. Such grace and grandeur being with this old relative. And how amazing it is still here as a beacon to another time. Trees can talk!
My elders have continued teaching me about noticing and how trees are so grounding to many humans. One of my Lakota teachers often reflects that each tree reflects the Lords Prayer of the Christian tradition, so above we can Create Heaven here on earth. Already the chan oyate "tree nation" are here as our grounded relatives living with the Creators instructions. Showing us to have deep resilient roots. The trees create oxygen and bring water up for air conditioning and transpiration of the planet we share with them. Recently several of this trees' relatives were cut down that were shading my garage here in my apartment complex. This morning I took out tobacco to pray for the give away of the tree nation and thank them. . Also I prayed this morning for understanding for the need for sustainable harvesting of our forests and plants all over the world so we can live in harmony for the next seven generations with all the plants and animals here on Mother Earth.

Here is one of my family trees: The Cole or Cowles Family that came over from the Gloucestershire area in 1635 to New England. I pray for health for the tree nation as well as the two leggeds so we can live here on Mother Earth in harmony for many generations to come. May we all walk in peace, love, joy and harmony on our earth journey. Mitakuye Oyasin.

Amazon Herbs- Connection with the Rainforest.

Here is my friend, Ted Harrison, who is pictured at an Amazon Herb booth at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Ted is the man who first introduced me to Treasure Tea and Una de Gato in 2005 prior to my meeting John Easterling as outlined below. Thanks Ted for your ongoing support of these plant foods that come from Pacha Mama, Mother Earth.

Starting the Blogging Journey - Wild Herbal Foods This is text from an entry I have in my regular blog from SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2009

I was inspired by Linda Youcha, who moved to Mexico a while back and began a Google blog, to begin this blog to share part of my journey. This past week, I decided to learn more about some Wild Plant Food from the Amazon Rain Forest, as envisioned by the folks at Amazon Herb Company. As a little background, I met the Founder and CEO, John Easterling over four years ago in Davenport Iowa, home of the Palmer School of Chiropractic where he and some Midwest Amazon Herb Ambassadors, including Maryann Hesse , Lynn Mayfield and Ron Bond shared their powerful healing stories. It was then I decided to begin eating the 5 core products developed by naturopaths from four different countries to support human body systems. In addition to the (1) Shipbo Treasure Tea (and Una de Gato) I had began eating during the winter cold season, after picking up some of the Treasure Tea from Ted Harrison, a friend and elder from the ManKind Project, I started with the other four core products: (2) Fiberzon "intestinal broom", (3) Illumination "multiple herb nutritional suppliment", (4) Sumacazon "adaptogenic endocrine balancer from two ginseng like plants from South America, suma and maca", and (5) Aquazon "blue green and marine fucus nutrition." I now began a journey of inner health, with plants, that Cleanse, Nurture and Balance Body Systems".

Read more about Amazon Herbs here on my site, under Products and Service, clicking on the hyperlink "Order Amazon Herb products here" to find information on a plethora of fine herbal foods.