Farm Fresh News - August 2018
  • Road to Peace: The Dali Lama
  • Right Conduct and the Zen Precepts
  • Salsa History and Making Your Own
  • 7th Annual Salsa Contest August 18
Calendar
Dear friends,
The Farm's initial stated intention was to seek essential truths from all of the world's faiths, religions and teachings. I sometimes describe us as hippie Buddhists (with a smile), a term as accurate to me as Tibetan Buddhists, Zen Buddhists, and the many other schools and traditions of Buddhism. The clarity, the simplicity, the purity of intention, speaks to me and many of my friends.
 
I recently watched a film documentary on the Dalai Lama, called Road To Peace, released in 2012. You can find it on Amazon Prime. Within the first 5 minutes, the film laid down some of those truths and in such clear form.
 
I liked this quote, a translation from the first Buddha,

"All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world."
 
The Dali Lama, in our own time, made it so clear when said, "In modern times, many of our problems we are facing, are essentially our own creation."

His primary message: Universal Responsibility and Universal Harmony
 
Something to ponder.
 
Peace,
Douglas
 
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I had a fantastic experience playing for the Dances in Dolores, Colorado with Sky Safir Roshay and Bernie Heideman. The vibes were pure and sweet and I made so many new friends. It is a good tribe.
I envisioned us as hippie shamans, conjuring up a container of positive energy, launching it out like an essential vitamin, into the body of the world.
We look forward to welcoming Sky Safir Roshay for our November 2-4 My Life is My Prayer dance weekend!

Sky and Douglas in Colorado
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Right Conduct and the Zen Precepts
The Farm post office is a small building filled with mailboxes adjacent to our back gate, the original entrance to the community. Inside on the floor, there’s a box for magazines and other materials that people are offering up to be read (or re-read), one step before the recycling bin.
 
Deborah brought home a small newsprint magazine the other day called The 10 Directions, put out by the Zen Center of Los Angeles, California. Obviously, a friend was cleaning house, because we saw the date was 1993.
 
I flipped through the pages scanning the content, which at a glance appeared to be a bit "heady," not something I found that interesting.
 
And then a small section caught my eye, the Center's Statement of Right Conduct.
 
As someone famiar with community dynamics and reading between the lines, I could tell they were attempting to come clean on some internal dramas, and set a standard for how to be, and how to work it out with each other when we fall short in one way or another.
 
We all intuitively understand that we want to feel good about ourselves, with some degree of pride, confidence, and acceptance of who we are, that we are a good person.
 
When we are truly honest with ourselves, we also know and see our own faults, mistakes we’ve made, and hopefully, strive to do better as we go forward.
 
The teachings often sound so deceptively simple, that to pursue them seems fruitless, yet it is the purity of their truth and clarity that makes them so powerful.
 
When we acknowledge those distractions, those mistakes, I find they inevitably can be recognized as a breach, falling short of a simple truth.
 
The Foundation of Right Conduct
 
The ground or foundation for right conduct is the practice of the 16 bodhisattva Kai or precepts, which are:
 
The Three Treasures
 
Be one with the Buddha. (The teacher)
Be one with the Dharma. (The teaching)
be one with the Sangha.  (The community)
 
The Three Pure Precepts
 
Do not commit evil.
Do good.  
Do good for others.
 
The 10 Grave Precepts
 
Do not kill.
Do not steal.
Do not be greedy.
Do not tell a lie.
Do not be ignorant.
Do not talk about others faults or errors.
Do not elevate yourself and put down others.
Do not be stingy
Do not get angry.
Do not speak ill of the three treasures.
 
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Community in Costa Rica
 This just came to my inbox, a notice for a conference in community September 22-28, in Costa Rica.
The event is hosted by 25 folks living in community at an Ashram in the mountains.
It sounds interesting. Here's the link if you want to check it out.
https://www.satyoga.org/spiritual-community-retreat
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All about Salsa "- It's that time of year when I have salsa on my mind and on my tonuge!
 
The word “salsa” is Spanish for “sauce,” but salsa as we know it today (a combination of chilies, tomatoes and other spices) can actually be traced to the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas. The Spaniards first encountered tomatoes after their conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521. Aztec lords combined tomatoes with chili peppers, ground squash seeds and consumed them mainly as a condiment served on turkey, venison, lobster, and fish. This combination was subsequently called salsa by Alonso de Molina in 1571.
 
According to the hot sauce history, salsa manufacturing in Texas began in 1947 with David and Margaret Pace and their picante sauce. 
 
Between 1985 and 1990, sales of salsa grew seventy-nine percent; and in 1991, salsa outpaced ketchup as the most popular condiment in America, now outselling ketchup 2-1. Today tortillas outsell hotdog and hamburger buns. Corn chips outsell potato chips. Burritos are as American as Apple pie.
Salsa Roja - red sauce. Made with cooked tomatoes and other ingredients
Pico de Gallo – Also called Salsa Cruda. Made with raw tomatoes and other raw ingredients
Chili Verde or Green Salsa – Made with Tomatillos, a small fruit that grows inside a paper-like outer covering
Chipotle – Smoked Jalapeno chili peppers - These really add a great flavor!
How Hot?
Picante – Spicy hot    not Calliente’ – A hot temperature     Pica Mucho – Hot on the tongue
The Basic Recipe
I basically start out with however many tomatoes I have ready to process and can. I then add in an appropriate amount of green peppers and onions, being sure tomatoes stay my primary ingredient. I chop the tomatoes, green pepper, onions, and even my garlic in a food processor to speed up my production.
 
Pulse, that is, quickly start and stop the food processor, about 5 or six times.  Be careful not to over chop. You want the vegies to stay chunky. Lift the top cover off the processor to take a look. If most of the tomatoes are chopped to the right size, but a couple are still in extra large chunks, you can cut those last few by hand to finish up.
 
I do not have a formula for spices. It all depends on how much salsa you are cooking, and your own personal tastes. If you like a particular brand of store bought salsa, read the ingredients list on the label to get an idea on what you should add,
 
Be careful on the spices! A little can go a long way. You can always add more but you cannot take them back out.
 
Basic Ingredients
  • Tomatoes
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Green Pepper
  • Jalapeno Peppers
Spices
  • Salt
  • Cumin (Essential for authentic flavor IMHO)
  • Vinegar (I prefer organic apple cider vinegar)
  • Sugar, honey or molasses (or not)
  • Lime juice
Options
Sweet Corn Kernels
 
Fruit: Peaches. Mango, Pineapple
 
Tomato and Acid Balance
High acid levels are important, because the presence of acid inhibits the germination of botulism spores into the botulism toxin. Botulism spores can only develop into the botulism toxin in low acid, oxygen-free environments.
When you preserve something in a boiling water bath canner, you heat the jars and their contents to the boiling point (that temperature varies depending on your elevation, but at sea level the boiling point is 212 degrees F). That heat is enough to kill off the micro-organisms that can cause spoilage, mold, or fermentation, but it’s not enough to kill botulism spores (they require far higher temperatures). 
 
Water bath – Boiling your filled canning jars covered in water for 20 minutes to kill all bacteria
 
It’s time for the 7th Annual Salsa Contest at The Farm Market Under the Dome Saturday, August 18, 2018
 
Recipes from across Middle Tennessee will be competing for cash First ($35), Second ($25) and Third ($15) prizes!  Enter in either of two (or both!) categories: Hot or Mild.
 
Entries are lined up on a table, with a steady supply of corn chips on hand for you to sample each one. Vote for your favorite. It is that easy to participate and that easy to win.
 
To enter, simply bring 1 pint to one quart of your prepared salsa. If yours turns out to be one the most popular, be sure to have enough on hand so that you don’t run out before voting ends at 1:30 PM.
 
Check out this video about the contest from Nashville’s Channel 2, 2016. It features an introduction into how salsa is made, picking fresh ingredients from the garden, plus interviews with past contest winners.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAMbupBvNkA
 
The Farm Market Day is held the third Saturday of the month April through October from 9 AM to 2 PM. Vendors set up under the huge covered dome, with a wide variety of items for sale, from local Amish and home-grown vegetables, to baked goods, jewelry and crafts, high quality yard sale items and more. Additional vendors are welcome, with a 5% sales fee collected at the end of the day by the Market organizers.
 
The Farm Market is directly adjacent to The Farm Store. Stop in for lunch. Browse the array of gift items, including The Farm’s world renowned colorful tie dye t-shirts.
 
Contact Pat McCarthy for more information.   mccarthp43@gmail.com
The Farm Store, 100 Second Road, Summertown, TN 38483
Check out The Farm Market on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1582954411986374/
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October 19-21, 2018 Farm Experience Weekend  
Fall Colors and a Fire Circle: Always a jam packed weekend. A time of reflection and introspection.
community
 
Dance Calendar
No doubt by now you have read about the music and Dances of Universal Peace events that have taken place over the last couple months and how much fun everyone is having together. If your soul could use a lift, or you’re just curious, you are welcome to come to any of our scheduled gatherings.
 
 
Our regular Dance and Kirtan Schedule are subject to my travel plans.
Please contact me to find out if the dances are scheduled for any particular weekend.
 
Wednesdays 6:30 - 8:30 PM / Sundays, 3 - 5 pm
 
I am so happy to welcome Sky Roshay as our guest Dance leader for our November 2-4 My Life is My Prayer.

Sky and Douglas in Colorado
 
Update:
 
 
Sky first discovered the Dances in 1993, and since 1999 has been co-leading dances and dance camps throughout the western U.S., and at an annual gathering in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. For many years Sky did work for Dances of Universal Peace North America and DUP International, often as a liaison for new dance leaders.
It was in Mexico where my wife Deborah and I met Sky. We were immediately taken with her humble strength, welcoming smile, purity of intention, and her dedication to the Dances.
Each morning, Sky would lead a discussion she called the “Deepening of the Dances,” in which she shared insights and helped provide an understanding of how the energy we co-create and experience has the power to open your heart and transform your life.
An amazing blend of fire and good-natured fun, she makes it easy for people to feel comfortable, a gentle guide into the dance of connection with each other and the Oneness we all share.
I was honored when she agreed to be my Dance mentor and my entrusted friend.
As we enter into this time of shorter days and long dark nights, it is natural for us to turn toward introspection, as we give thanks for the gifts we have received, the challenges we face to make us grow, and the Love that carries us through. Together we dance, our lives as our prayer.

Register Now!

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A big thanks to everyone who has become a patron of Farm Fresh!
When you become a subscriber, your contribution helps spread the word about community based alternatives.
Take this one small step to be part of the solution!
Click here to take the survey.    I look forward to hearing from you.
 
I hope you'll make the effort to take a firsthand look at The Farm during one of my GreenLife Retreats Weekends, and that it will inspire you to pursue your dreams and find your chosen path!
 
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Speaking Engagements
At the same time, I recognize that I can reach a lot more people if I go outside the community. One of my goals is to speak at colleges and universities where I can talk to young people about Right Livelihood, Service, and Finding Sanity in an Insane World. This is a time when people need to hear an uplifting message of hope.
If you are part of an organization, event, or school (or you just want to learn more about my life's work), I invite you to visit my web site www.douglasstevenson.com, where you'll find information on my lecture topics and how to bring me to speak in your area.
Douglas
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www.awakeningbirth.org - the Web Site
www.awakening birth.net - The Podcast 
Our birth resource web site for families seeking guidance on subjects such as
  • Choosing a Care Provider.
  • Health and Diet
  • Challenges and Complications
  • and much more!
  • The Awakening Birth podcast is now available on iTunes or at www.awakeningbirth.net
Please spread the word to anyone in your circle who is thinking of having a baby, expecting, your favorite midwife, or care provider. Please like us and give us a good review on iTunes. It helps!
 
GreenLife Retreats
A division of Village Media Services
PO Box 259Summertown, TN 38483
931-964-2590 - office / cell
Douglas@villagemedia.com
www.villagemedia.com
www.greenliferetreats.com
www.douglasstevenson.com 
Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com
 
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