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Volume 1, Issue 2, 2011 A Creative Commons Publication

THIS!ISSUE

SPRING TIME!!! Circles of GROWTH, Gardening, Heart

Ache, & How to LEARN & survive ANOTHER year in the Modern World!

Jonathan Deschamps

It’s that time of year once again when yet another circle completes itself. I’ve recently begun looking at the world in terms of cycles. Everything except perhaps the impermanence of time is circular (but that’s another article all together).

Spring is that point in the year when life stops hibernating and begins living once again. It is not simply a span upon a calendar. From death always comes new life. A small death is completed and without pause a small birth is just beginning.

Every year within myself a similar process plays itself out. Summer is that time to rejoice in the bounty of life. When autumn comes around my optimism and pleasure seeking turns into survivalism as I anticipate the cold and dark months to come. Winter is always the hardest. My “lust for life” come into direct conflict with harshness and reality. Some dreams die and others survive the cold months. It acts as a sieve for healthy personal growth.

By the time spring comes back around I can once again give birth to new hopes and new aspirations which are now enriched by last years

cycle of life and death. I look at The Backyard and think of our garden in very much the same way. Nothing is ever forced. Things just grow, decompose, and create nutrition for the next regeneration. Just as things always have and will in some form or another.

I make a conscious effort to try to eat and live seasonally and locally, in this time and this space. “In the moment,” as some say. I fear that breaking this cycle will only cause internal and external chaos as I’ve experienced it to be true.

Our society makes it easier than ever to live out of balance with these ancient cycles. If I wanted to, I could spend my entire year sipping on coconuts and wearing Hawaiian shirts. I could go months transferring myself from one artificial environment and into another. This is a mental luxury afforded by cheap energy and insulating technologies, and what we excuse as “practicality.”

However, I prefer to feel cold in the winter, to move a little slower, and to eat my root vegetables as I feel it keeps me in balance with the natural cycles of all things. Yet, then of course there is the practical reality of “the moment”—the exception to the rule.

A Spring Thing Jessica Gring

To me, spring has always seemed the shortest of the seasons. Perhaps due to the daily changes, more visible then usual, in the: sun/bulbs/trees/vegetables/clouds/moods/and more of every living thing in sight.

Each time I look outside, there are more things a bloom, a few more people taking a walk, and a little more sun. If the entire year could be considered a play of 4 acts, Spring is the climax. The most activity and change is felt, especially since act 2 (Winter) and act 4 (Summer), personally represent a lot of lounging, eating, and slow, drunken evenings. But Spring--- Spring is the fast part of the song, where if only for a moment I am motivated to leap out of bed in the mornings, put on some boots and begin toiling away, planting seeds, violently smashing slugs, pulling weeds, carrying heavy loads of compost. This behavior usually lasts well into Summer, when act 4 reaches a climax of it’s own right and I realize resignation. The plants can grow themselves without my mothering, and the slugs and I are left to end our days in a beer trap. This is not a sentiment of general malaise, simply an acceptance that we are all a part of this play. There is no happiness without sadness; no true relaxation without first hard labor.

revolutions

Still, I do believe it brings health both inside and outside and I value health above most else. To push the practical towards the realities of timelessness and perpetuation.

Health is what allows me to endure another year of the cycle without skipping a beat or playing a wrong note. Playing in tune with the great opus of life is very much the same as playing in tune with an ensemble of talented musicians. Only experience

can truly describe its magic. 

Don’t take my words for it but see for yourself. We’re anciently adapted to these ancient cycles. It is truer than advertising and more timeless than technological solutions. It just is and always has been.

Seasonal FoodS !

Look for these local Northwest foods in your market this Spring.

April: Asparagus, Fava Beans, Fennel, Fiddlehead, Rhubarb

May: Arugula, Chard, Collard/Mustard Greens, Herbs, Kale, Lettuce, Morel Mushrooms, Pea Greens, Radicchio, Radishes, Spinach, Watercress

June: Peas, Raspberries, Strawberries, Turnips, Zucchini Backyard Tip #1

R E N E W A L   i n   S P R I N G B R O K E N   i n   t h e   P A S T 

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A Letter From the Editor It’s finally here. This is spring. Whatever that is whatever that means. Within each thing, such as “spring”, there lies a whole universe of conception. Layers below layers below layers—impossible to separate one from another.

Spring means flowers, baseball, and gardening but it also means transition, growth, and so much more. Something a little different for each of us. Yet something similar as well. It’s the SUNSHINE and its cosmic relation to the northern hemisphere that helps define this time for us. A force so powerful that it transcends politics, culture, and even species.

If you haven’t already, done so, please take this moment to shed your winter skin of contemplation and to expose your vulnerable under layer. After all, we wouldn’t want to be caught dead wearing something as out of season as that old thing.

We thank all the many new contributors in this issue for doing just that. We were once again overwhelmingly impressed by everyone’s output. If it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t exist.

Music THIS ISSUE : “Roots Music”

We’re featuring all new contributors including Lonesome Shack, Levi Fuller, Rose Windows, & more! Check out our website to listen to this very special compilation, to find more spring material all month long, and to find out how YOU can get involved in this project.

pataphysical‐vibrations.org 

Questions, Comments, or Contributions! contact@pataphysical-vibrations.org

2011     Creative Commons Attribution Non‐commercial Share Alike License ‐      creativecommons.org/licenses/   

This paper is public domain. All material has been donated by individuals who make up your community. To our knowledge we are the only publication of our type. We pride ourselves on being non-exclusive, ethically responsible, and in simply being real.

LEFT : The first sign of spring to come, “Helleborus orientalis”, Jessica Gring

Above : “A Chant for Growth”, Jonathan Deschamps