The other side of Microbes by Jim Little
A lot of difficulty these recent days could be attributed to our human response to a tiny little virus, but a lot of joy comes from our microbial friends as well. At the beginning of the shelter-in-place process I was fascinated at what people were “stocking up on” at the stores. I saw that flour and yeast was flying off the shelves, thinking “Wow, everyone is going to have time to make bread?” I love bread, and homemade is the best, but I opted for another fermentation option: kombucha. (The “pancakes” floating in the jar are called SCOBYs. Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast.)
I have actually been making kombucha for a few years off and on.
It was pretty easy in Sacramento because I could manage the temperature
having a two-story house. But now in Salinas (well really in Castroville)
the temps were much cooler here. And some of you may know that we were
without heat for most of the winter. Though my poor little SCOBYs went dormant
in the cold, they did survive. In the spring, they started to perk up
again and now they seem to be doing great with the warmer weather.
The SCOBYs (and COVID) remind me that in and of themselves they are neither benevolent nor malevolent. I am grateful for the tea that they ferment and the “relationship” that causes me to reflect on life at the microscopic level and how it impacts this macroscopic being.
Our ZHS on-line schedule
- Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
- Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
- M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
- Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
- For more information: www.zenheartsangha.org)
Special bows for today:
- Please offer bows for evacuated sangha members and their families (Lidia, Kathleen, Kat, and Misha) and all others displaced by the CZU fires
- Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
- Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:
- Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
- Ofelia Mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
- Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
- Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
- Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
- Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org
- From our dharma friends, Diane and Wing: Dismantling the master's house: https://www.lionsroar.com/dismantling-the-masters-house/amp/
- From our dharma sister, Misha: incredible graphics and information about COVID-19 https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/covid-19-coronavirus-infographic-datapack/
- From our dharma brother, Bill: Buddhism in women's prisons: https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhism-in-womens-prisons/
- From our dharma sister, Nancy: Spirituality and interconnectedness through time https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/04/19/lynn-margulis-talking-on-the-water/
- From our dharma sister, Camille: an important commentary on race, riots and society to help us understand from Trevor Noah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c
Many thanks to those of you who are sending me articles to share, links to helpful information, and for making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.
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