Thanksgiving

Thanksgivng is a National Holiday in the US.  It's a day to be thankful for survival and freedom.  I tend to be meditative on special days and my thoughts are about the vast population of  man and all their works.  You might say I'm simple minded, I think about the basics, I have a connection to the earth. 

Yesterday, I looked through my Kiva portfolio and planned my next months donation/loan.  http://www,kiva.org/.  I have decided instead of using banks for savings I am going to use kiva for savings.  Saving accounts give very little interest and the interest on a kiva loan is the human interest of helping someone get started.  Every month I put what I can into the account and then look for individuals to loan to.  I tend to prefer agricultural, natural industries.  If they are going to use the money for pesticides I don't loan.  I like to lend to organic growers, seamstresses, weavers, and those who sell  local farmers produce.  If they  show cocoa cola or other BIG company products I pass them by.  My belief  system is that "Every man should sit under his own vine and fig tree"  We should be growing food in and on our homeplaces, we should be nurturing and supporting those who are growing food and supplying basic products and services. 

Kiva is an international  organization but they do loan to people in the US as well.  Usually those loans are for $10,000. and are for restaurants or in one case a recycled clothes store.  I would like to see loans go to CSA's  (Community Supported Agriculture) , organic farmers, permaculture start-ups, and other grass roots businesses.  Many of the recipients of the loans live very basic lives.  Their shelters are simple, they are hard working and trying to just get by. 

Here in the U.S.  people go to the food bank, get unemployment pay and this is their way of surviving.  I would love to see more community gardens and locally grown food.  In the county where I live there is very little locally grown food, it is all shipped in.  What removes people from the very basics of life and moves them into modes of frenzy about stuff? 

I'm thankful that I have a piece of land where I can plant and grow and gather some of my own food.  In time this piece of ground will have much to offer in providing food and resources for me and my animals. The trees I've planted will bear fruit.  

 My Thanksgiving message is;  Grow something, even if it's in a pot, something you can eat and share with others.  Give something, to help someone help themself.  Teach something , that helps the earth be natural and full of abundance.