Elemental Water: 44 Days of Witchery

This is a picture of Taughannock Falls in Trumansburg, NY.
The main cataract of the falls is a 215-foot drop (66 m), making it 33 feet (10 m) taller than Niagara Falls. It is one of the largest single-drop waterfalls east of theRocky Mountains.^[2] The water flows through a long gorge with cliffs up to 400 ft high (120 m), characteristic of the area's gorges that give rise to the common "Ithaca is Gorges" bumper stickers and t-shirts. The waterfall and gorge comprise an example of a hanging valley that developed in a very similar fashion to the one at nearby Watkins Glen State Park. None of the local gorges were "carved by glaciers." In fact all of the gorges are post-glacial valleys carved by the streams that still run through them. It is the valleys over which the waterfalls hang that were eroded (over-deepened) by the advance of the Pleistocene ice sheets.
   Courtesy of Wikipedia


This waterfall was sacred to the Native Americans who originally lived here, and flows into Cayuga Lake, in the center of the Finger Lakes region of New York.  If anywhere was my soul's home, it would be here.  Returning to my home waters is a magical, sacred thing for me, especially since I now live in Ireland.  

This pond is on the land of my Great-grandmother's family farm.  It's been in my family for generations, and is just an amazingly beautiful place.  This one place is probably the definition of peace for many in my family still.

In which our heroine attempts to use less plastic...

A few weeks ago I made a pledge to cut down on my plastic usage, for as you may know, plastic is FOREVER.  Even more eternal than diamonds, and just a bit more toxic.  I realised most of what I was sending to the landfill was, well, plastic: packaging, bags, crappy cheap toys, and more packaging.  I've always recycled what I could, of course, but the amount that was just useless was amazing!  So, I've started making my own bread, switched from margarine to butter, stopped buying apple juice in plastic, and I'm buying my meat (not too much, mind) from the local butcher (he wraps in paper).  I've also been heading down to the local green grocer for veg, but even so, the cukes are still shrink wrapped.  I'm also planning on making my own cleaning products and soaps and shampoo. 

And still, the size of the task seems overwhelming!  Even with my plans to cook more from scratch, most everything seems to come in plastic, even the dried beans and lentils.  This weeks 5-bean chili was made from canned beans instead of dried.  I have been saving the net bags my onions and garlic come in (and collecting some really big ones from the local green grocer) to make reusable bags to buy veg in (instead of those flimsy plastic ones).  I'm hoping to make enough to sell on Etsy, along with a few other recycled goodies.

So, onwards and upwards my lovies!  Check out Fake Plastic Fish for some ideas and inspiration: http://fakeplasticfish.com/