"Catch the glimpse of a sunrise
Before it fades away
And the long dark night
Once again becomes a day.
It's a gift from Heaven,
From our Father above
Who is awaiting a thank you
For this token of love." ~Leona Walter 2003

In early October of 2009 my husband, Banton, and I declared our love for each other before my Dad who officiated; with my Mother, my Grandmother, My Uncle, My aunt and cousins who watched and agreed. This act of love and consummation started a process here that astonished and amazed me. I had not been home in 2 1/2 years; it seemed like a long time to me at that moment when I stared into My Husbands beautiful eyes and told him I would love him and be by his side until the world was no more. We began to find work, enjoy spending our time together and be with my family. My Parents, Grandmother, Husband and I all live on the same property and eat together so we were all together a lot. 
The second week that we were married My Husband decided that he knew where he wanted a garden and preceeded to go outside and dig up the space with a shovel. All hot and sweaty he came in and wanted to show me what he had been doing. As I surveyed the freshly torn ground my heart swelled with love and gratefulness. What amazing things were in store for us?
We bagan to bundle up and cuddle up for the cold winter, never forgetting the garden space and the work that we would have to do once it warmed up!
To give a little background- before the rest of us came my Grandmother lived here by herself and being of the aged variety thi8ngs outdoor were a little bit of a mess. A large area of trees and brush that were dead needed to be cleared and things definitely needed to be cleaned up. When we arrived with minds full of ideas the list of "things to do" grew.
Banton started clearing the brush and trees shortly after it started to warm up the least- in early March, and that was the cause of the first bonfire.
Have you ever just looked at a large bonfire and just let your mind think?
Through all of the trials of the last year we had a new start. Through the stress of the winter we had endured!
Now here we sat around the fire and contemplating what my dear and very smart Husband calls "The Inner Gallactic Phenomenon". Have you ever just thought of the sun, the moon, the earth, the spinning, the rotation, the timing.... I could go on. It MUST be a phenomenon that we sit on this moving, living earth and get to watch all the amazing things that happen around us. Stare at a fire long enough and those will be the thoughts in your mind; but how can we change the way that people have been treating this living, moving earth? We can all start in small ways- as we built up the ash from bonfires for ground so that we could plant, so that we could eat and share with others. I saw some of what was missing in much of the earth. People have forgotten the simple things; the simple joys and pleasures. The joy of watching a sprout break the ground and call the earth his home - how that sprout grows for us so that we can be nourished and sustained. All the tools that we were meant to have exist all around us. Have you really dug down to the root of a tree and seen how attatched to the earth that they can be? Well we aren't connected to the earth that way. We are connected in a much deeper way; we ingest it, we live off of it. Free as we are without the earth and all of the things on it we would be dead. Without the sun and moon we would pass from exsistence. What care and love we should give to the one thing that has been proved for generations to sustain and nourish us. 
The only thing that causes us to hurt our own sustenance is pride, selfishness, laziness and ultimately evil. No one said that it was going to be easy to live that way when it looks seemingly easier to live the other, but the toll that it takes on you life is deeper a gash then you would receive in a sword fight. It will take a lot of work, but I find that when you do it with all of your might the more rewarding it is. 
It's so much more rewarding when you pick a fresh carrot out of the garden that you worked so diligently, and bite into its sweet flesh. No one made money off of you for that carrot. No one else touched that carrot until you picked it out of the ground. You watched it grow, cared for it, pulled the weeds around it and allowed it to do what it was meant to do: sustain you. Remember when your Grandfather told you that you must work in order to eat? It's all very true, but you can either work for someone else or for yourself. You can work to keep the earth healthy for the upcomin generations of people. No matter what you believe in; where you have faith or not, it is your duty as a resident of the earth to care for the earth. Not to put chemicals and foriegn substances into her, and definitely not to blow her up with bombs. 
As I leave you with these many thoughts I also want to leave you with some practical wisdom- a wonderful recipe that I love to use! I have found that the healthier you eat, the healthier you are and feel.
Step out into the fresh air today and listen to the sounds around you. What do you hear? A bird singing? The ocean lapping the beach? The wind blowing through the trees? Take a moment to be thankful for the breath in your lungs, the sight in your eyes and the living, moving earth beneath your feet.
Mrs. Rachel Williams

Portabello Chicken
1 Package of 5-6 chicken breasts (buy local and cage free!!)
4-5 large portabello mushrooms, washed and cut into large pieces
1 onion, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup marsala cooking wine
salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, parsley and a PINCH of cayenne pepper
1 tomato chopped
Place chicken breasts in a large glass 13x9 baking dish. Add the portabello mushrooms on top and pour over olive oil and marsala cooking wine. Add the seasonings listed to taste. Sprinke with onion and place the butter in small pieces on the top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until chicken is done. Garnish with tomato and serve with rice or potatoes.

JAH BLESS!