RECENT CANNING

I have already canned all the beans we will have and last night started on pickles. There will be more pickles. And I cut back on growing cucumbers this year too from last year but they will be pretty thick this year. I planted two types of cukes, one that I liked for pickles and the other, not so much. The one type turns yellowish and the nice ones are dark green on the outside. I need to find the seeds and figure it out. They will all taste well.

Tomatos will be my biggest crop. We have a zillion and a lot of different types. I planted three plants with a variety of small tomatos and we eat those on a daily basis. One is a round yellow cherry and they are just starting to ripen. With the sunny days we have I can actually look out at the back yard and see them ripening over a period of several hours. The other small one I like is a red grape tomato. It is really firm and is not too big. Picking them warm out of the garden is amazing. My husband eats them as he mows the lawn and goes back and forth. He grabs a handful when he goes by the garden. There will be about a billion small ones.

I was reading the Stryker book last night and my first impression is that this book will be popular with Western yogis. Using the eastern Hindu philosphy, he talks about how to live a rich and fulfilled yogic life without becoming an ascetic monk who takes a vow of chastity, poverty, etc. It is tantric. We have to live in the real world. He talks about the different relationships we have in our life and that part of our dharma is to come to terms with them, whether they are mother/daughter, husband/wife, or boss/worker. There is a lesson in all of these relationships and they can all lead us to a higher wisdom. Running away from them sounds good but realistically we can't. I know I would like to run away a LOT from some relationships and the difficulties inherent in them. I would be a good ascetic. Heck, I raise my own food so I could even avoid the grocery stores.

Again, the thing I love about the book, as well as the Freeman book, is that these are total asana yogis and yet their books are much deeper than move your left hip back two inches etc. That is for yoga class and that stuff is all good and really opens you into deeper levels of concentration and awareness, but how do you move off the mat?