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Annalisa

International Report: Tokyo Guerilla Gardening

The model for Artist Duval Smith's projects are, Masanobu Fukuoka's seed ball project and Bill Mollison's Permaculture system of sustainable. "Basically, the idea is to spread the seed and let nature go. It’s about living in an edible jungle. You don’t need to pay 100 yen to buy a few pieces of lettuce or herbs. You just plant some seeds, the rain falls and they grow, and you get hundreds of leaves and thousands of seeds the next year." He started his Guerilla gardening projects after moving into an old Japanese home with a beautiful garden. He expressed that he was tired of making static art after he discovered the more fulfilling art to initiate the process of something creating itself, "I came to a realization that nothing was more miraculous than soil and seed...Things that are alive just seem so much more useful—they multi task. Cleaning the air. Cooling things down. Making you feel good. Making your food, making the birds and insects food. Changing everyday. Oh, and producing insanely psychedelic, mathematically complex, impossible-to-print color blooms all over the place. Man! Lucky world." When a house got torn down outside his apartment, he used the lot to his advantage. He went out with handfuls of various seeds and let nature take her course. Soon there was a flourishing garden that created food, a community, and nourishment to the environment. Unfortunately Smith didn't rent the lot, so after a year the garden got torn apart by the county. His gardens didn't stop there, however. He found logic in planting food, so he began to carry seeds with him everywhere and spread them out over lots around the city, "We’ve planted daikon radishes next to individual roadside trees. You know, those little plots of dirt on the side of the road...why should they house just one tree? ...We also planted a bunch of broccoli in the holes in the concrete outside the Yokohama Bank Art Gallery. It was really funny, they were just popping out [everywhere]." People have been calling Smiths projects “green graffiti,” possibly because they are done without permission. But how can it be a crime when no one individual profits, no damage is inflicted, and there is only a gross gain for the community and environment?

Species profile: Psycho Active and Sacred Plants Entheogen *

The Poppy: Herb of Heaven or Hell Papaver Somniferum

The binomial name means, loosely, the “sleep-bringing poppy.”

Papaver Somniferum is native to the Mediterranean region of Asia Minor from where it is thought to have spread east into Asia, south into northern Africa and north into Central Europe. Today they are found as far north as the UK, though rarely appear in the wild.

Papaver Somniferum prefer a cool climate and grow best in loose, well-drained soil that is low in clay content. The plant likes to grow in association with corn, wheat, and barley. Each complements the plant and improves the condition. The poppy needs at least 8 hours of sunlight. It’s life span starts at the germination process, it sprouts in autumn or spring, flowers in the summer and sheds its seeds again in autumn.

Papaver Somniferum is an herbaceous annual which grows between 70 cm and 130cm tall. It has white or red flowers growing around a central bulbous pod. When scratched, the pod produces a milky latex called opium, a narcotic (primary constituents: morphine, codeine, and thebaine). The pod is spherical with a star shaped, flattened top that lifts off as the capsule dries out, creating little openings underneath the rim through which the seeds can disperse and pollinate.

Many varieties have been cultivated throughout the temperate regions. The wild variety has pale whitish pink petals with a large dark dot at the base. Cultivated varieties are pink to red to dark purple with either a single arrangement, or a double arrangement of petals. In the center of the flower head there is a multi-rayed stigma surrounded by many stamens. Once the flower is fertilized the petals drop off and the seed capsule begins to swell, eventually dispersing the seeds to pollinate.

“In Egypt, the use of opium was generally restricted to priests, magicians, and warriors. A figure of the Minoan "goddess of the narcotics", wearing a crown of three opium poppies, ca. 1300 B.C., was recovered from the Sanctuary of Gazi, Crete, together with a simple smoking apparatus. The Greek gods Hypnos (Sleep), Nyx (Night), and Thanatos (Death) were depicted wreathed in poppies or holding poppies. Poppies also frequently decorated statues of Apollo, Asklepios, Pluto, Demeter, Aphrodite, Kybele and Isis, symbolizing nocturnal oblivion.”

Many indigenous and shamanistic religions of the Americas, Asia and other continents use entheogenic drugs to make contact with the divine as part of their religious rituals. Most commonly, these are used in shamanistic practice in healing rituals.

Salvia Divinorum and psilocybin mushrooms ("Magic Mushrooms"): used in the Oaxaca region of Mexico.

The Fly Amanita or Amanita Muscaria mushroom: has a long shamanistic use in Europe and Russia. Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) and other Mescaline containing cacti: has a widespread use among Mexican and some North American Indians. Morning Glory: Aztecs used the LSA containing seeds (similar to LSD, but not as potent). Cannabis (Marijuana): Many Rastafarians believe it to be a sacred gift of Jah and may be used for spiritual purposes to commune with God but should not be used profanely. Also, it is not uncommon among Hindu sects where it is connected with the god Shiva, who is said to have rested in the shade of the Cannabis plant on a particularly hot day. In gratitude, Shiva gave the plant to mankind. Often the drink Bhang is drunk in Shiva's honor. It is a tea typically cooked with milk, spices, cannabis leaves, and flowers. Blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea): use ceremonially in ancient Egypt Tabernanthe iboga: The best-known entheogen-using culture of Africa is the Bwitists, who used a preparation of the root bark of Iboga.

• An entheogen, in the strictest sense, is a psychoactive substance (most often some plant matter with hallucinogenic effects) which occasions or supplements a spiritual/mystical experience. In a broader sense, the word "entheogen" refers to artificial as well as natural substances which induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional shamanic inebriants, even if used in a secular context.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entheogen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium http://www.answers.com/topic/hallucinogen?cat=health http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany/plantprofiles/poppy.php

Tall Grass Bioneers: Don't count what you spend in the moment, count what you save in the long term. Investment. This weekend at Grinell, I was inspired by the speakers and the knowledge, passion, and experiences they had to offer to the audience. The conference grounded the work of SL, illustrating the manifestation of the ideals in the now; from Jay Harman who looks to nature as a teacher for the most efficient answers, to the powerful art of Judith Baca, to the work of ocean activist Wallace Nichols, and many more. Personally, I found Van Jones the most inspiring of them all. The work that he's doing in Oakland, and for underprivileged people everywhere, takes SL to another level that is vital in the progression of our world. For more on Van Jones and green collar jobs: http://ellabakercenter.org/page.php?pageid=5