Gill and Peter Bacchus are masters of their craft, Biodynamics, and I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time chatting with them after their recent workshop, held in Cromwell, New Zealand. These two are well-educated and switched on to life. They’re also in tune with the how important our relationship is with the planets, stars, earth, and the food we put into our bodies. Gill is the author of “Love Your Veges” [ed: “Veggies” for you Yanks] and Peter has authored “Biodynamic Pasture Management”. with the subtitle Balancing Fertility, Life and Energy.
YOUR FOOD SUPPLY #32: The Dynamic Duo Note: (This video series started 13 years ago, while listening to the audio version of the book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, when Amanda and I were driving across the U.S. and were seeing the effects of industrial farming in real time while listening to the book.Here’s that first entry Your Food Supply #1To see the whole series, click on the category “Your Food Supply” in the category section of this blog on the right of your screen.
What struck me was, not only how informed Gill and Peter were when giving their workshop and interview, but how passionate they are about “the parts related to the whole” (physically, spiritually, with the plant kingdom, and universe) , and how we are all interconnected. I also appreciated Peter’s awareness of the bigger picture when it comes to globalist and government overreach. He’s clued in.
Gill has a long practical experience of organic vegetable and herb growing, and learning to choose a vegetable-based diet to manage health issues. She has helped children create school gardens, grow and cook vegetables and helped create community gardens. Gill has a masters in science in Soil Science and Human Nutrition and is also the author of Food Full of Life. Peter was raised on a biodynamic dairy farm and later worked as a medicinal herb grower, developing large-scale composting business. He consults widely and has held leadership position in biodynamic farming organizations. The two live near Thames on the north island of New Zealand. They can be reached at p.bacchus@farmside.com.nz and gillbacchus@gmail.com Although they do have a web domain, their website isn’t up and running at the moment, however here’s Gill’s Facebook page.
This year’s workshop was held at Valda Muller’s Organic New Zealand Nuts walnut farm where Valda guided the workshop participants on a walk-around of her property, which is virtually all biodynamic. The workshop was created and managed by Su Hoskins, who is also has an amazing grasp of organic and biodynamic farming, who we’ll interview soon. Sue recently hosted the two-day workshop where the first day was near Wanaka, and the second at Valda’s in Cromwell. You can learn more about Sue on her Facebook page.
If you get a chance, read their books, and if you’re in New Zealand, by all means, attend one of their, and Sue’s workshops.
David Trood, a world-class photographer was shut down during lockdown. All his work was based on taking flights worldwide. He was forced to rethink his life, and his role in relation to the mother earth. Here is a trailer to his story.
David Trood is a prize-winning travel and commercial photographer who pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling with his passionate narrative of people and nature.
He is a Hasselblad Master, and for almost three decades David has successfully completed thousands of editorial, corporate, and commercial assignments in over 40 countries.
David was born in Queensland and is now based in Australia and Denmark. He is a valued contributer at Getty Images and takes on freelance still and video assignments all over the world.
You can find out a bit more about David’s work on his YouTube channel here and at his website
I love it when spirit nudges us. Our family does an evening reading at our dinner table every night before eating. Without looking at the bookshelf behind me last night, I pulled a random book off the shelf. Then I opened to a random page, then I looked at a random quote.
It’s one of my favorite quotes: “Believe me my young friend, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” Kenneth Grahame.
This quote arrives just when we’ve put our Lake Wanaka Yacht Charters business “on pause” due to New Zealand border closures. The lack of tourists is “forcing us to live our dreams” and as we consider and possibly prepare to use the yachts in more of an educational role, for experiential adventures on Lake Wanaka. This is my first love anyway. As every passenger that’s gone out on the lake with me attests, they got more than they bargained for, regarding an experiential sailing experience. Once they get out there, my job, and mission, is to light up their eyes and soul by helping them connect to the wind, the water, the place and themselves, and of course have fun.
Here at Mountain Spirit NZ, we’ve been hooked on the “AirBnB drug” prior to our Covid lockdown, and now we’re advertising for domestic visitors to stay with us with a purpose in mind, whether to just have a digital detox, record some music in our piano studio, or take some yin yoga classes with Amanda in the yurt. We’re stepping out into our own possibilities.
The trick to being fulfilled and successful, (however you personally define success), is stepping out of the way, allowing the Universe/Spirit/God to help out, and importantly, look for those reminder signs when they pop up and recognise them as such, then of course, take action.
I just attended a powerful presentation yesterday here in Wanaka, New Zealand, by Lake Wanaka Tourism They’re our local tourism association. As you can imagine, like many of us in tourism here in New Zealand, they’ve been in on a path or re-inventing themselves. They’ve been working on a new branding program. I’ll write more on that in later in a separate post, as it deserves more time. But I have to mention here, about the power of timing, being at the right place at the right time, taking action when a crisis/opportunity presents itself and listening to spirit. Lake Wanaka Tourism is taking the bold steps to create a wonderful vision of post-covid “tourism” for operators, the land, community and visitors alike.
Here’s just a snapshot of some of the Lake Wanaka tenets going forward: The Vision: “Our aspiration is for the visitor industry to enrich this place, as well as the lives of the local community both now and into the future. To create mutual value for Whanau/whanui (which includes our families , our community, our visitors), and our whenua (our place and natural resources) and our economy.
“Values: Guardianship for our people, our place and our plant; Inclusive and respectful; Living with a sense of balance; bold and free thinking.”
There are plans being put into place with a whole re-adjustment of what it means to be in tourism here in Wanaka, and fortunately, the leadership and staff at Lake Wanaka Tourism are taking on the challenge with heart and purpose. The future looks bright because there’s a proactive approach. I look forward to sharing more about LWT’s and the community’s plans going forward in future posts. I would say LWT is following their spirit course.
Back to the reading about messing about on boats. I can’t wait for the next sign to come down the road, and hit me with a spiritual 2×4. But for now, I thought I’d share this little nudge from Spirit.
This wonderful statement by Sony Renee Taylor has been circulating around lately, and it’s surely a wake up call –
“We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.” You can find out more at the Facebook page Over Grow the System
The first step towards creating something is imagining it. We imagine the smell of fresh bread as we tend our sourdough starter. We imagine the taste of ripe tomatoes as we plant out our seedlings. When we lay down the first stone, we imagine laughter and stories from future meals shared in our new home. The ability to create, in our minds, a possible future, is what gives that possibility a chance of being realised.
If all we imagine is business as usual, then that is the world we will create. But if we draw on our curiosity and creativity, we can hold in our minds something much greater than the world we are in. And once that happens, we can begin to act. Find out more about Brennan here.
“The pattern” continues, now in Bolivia, as explained by these well-informed international experts on a show called CrossTalk. For a different take from the MSM, check out this interview. Although I’ve not yet heard any comment from Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man author John Perkins on the subject of Morales’ departure, I think he’s working on something so keep an eye out.
I’ve spent some time in Bolivia, running a few educational programs with Mountain Spirit, and even considered moving there at one time. It was uplifting to see what Evo Morales as doing for his country, and I was surprised to hear about the election improprieties. When I dug into the story a bit, it started to make sense. It’s all about lithium. Also see Lee Camp’s Redacted Tonight Episode 268 for some eye-opening facts on Bolivia’s Coup. Also see a past Mountain Spirit Blog post on Morales and Bolivia
I grew up in tourism. My parents started a ski lodge, Dexter’s Inn, in the 1940’s in Sunapee, New Hampshire. I’ve been in and out of tourism over the years, and in different shades of it, from ski instruction, to experiential education, high-altitude mountain guiding, a guide on the Inka Trail to Machu Pichu, back in the days when you didn’t see a lot of people, and no permits required (referring to the Inka Trail only).
We now own Lake Wanaka Yacht Charters and Mountain Spirit NZ in the Southern Lakes District of New Zealand. So we’re officially back in the industry. However the industry seems uber-industrial.
Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So when is enough, enough? And what do we do now?
Here are some rumblings about our, small, but very fast-growing communities, Wanaka and Queenstown, New Zealand.
First an article from CNN: in which Queenstown is listed, among other areas in the world, as a trouble spot, with over 3 million visitors per year…
Destination trouble: Can overtourism be stopped in its tracks? (CNN) — We first hear about these places when we’re kids. Famous destinations full of wondrous architecture, spectacular scenery or ancient mysteries that fire our imaginations and fill us with yearning.
We dream, we grow, we save up all our money and one day we finally get to visit — only to discover, read more…
Next, our local Wanaka Stakeholder Group’s Protect Wanaka Facebook page, a firebrand in its own right (and I mean that as a compliment), weighs in: “Queenstown has been named in CNN Travel’s global list of locations that are currently plagued by ‘Overtourism’, read more…
The Wanaka Sun The Disadvantages of Tourism By Allison McLean (journalist@thewanakasun.co.nz)
“Tourism is noted as New Zealand’s top export earner and the cornerstone of its economy. It sustains and grows local communities and reportedly employs one in seven New Zealanders, according to Tourism New Zealand. Many locals consider this sword to be double edged, noting the accumulated waste, erosion of land and consumption of fossil fuels from tourism that put the country’s land and greatest asset at risk. read more…
– – – –
Just as shifting our paradigm on how our family uses plastics during Plastic Free July, we’re in the process of shifting how we think of tourism, and how we contribute to the problem or clean up the mess. Whether as suppliers or tourists, we all need a re-think. A saying I heard the other day made me chuckle, and again was a paradigm shifter:
“I’m not stuck in traffic, I am traffic”
Responsible tourism is the future, not simply the bottom line. Here’s New Zealand’s webpage on the subject, as well as another great page on NZ Sustainable Tourism Tourism Industry Aotearoa, TIA’s page. And acompany, Responsible Travel has had some new global initiatives. Lake Wanaka Tourism has published a sustainable tourism page.
Unfortunately I see Wanaka and Queenstown going the way of Park City, Vail, or other towns in the Alps, that just got too big, and now deal with smog, traffic and overgrowth, but that’s another subject, I suppose. Although we, too, are new here, one redeeming attribute is we’ve always tried to live a small footprint, including buying existing houses rather than building anew, living off the grid when possible etc. .
Tell me what you think. Respectful comments welcome.
Check out our new video which gives you an overview of what we’re up to, our goals and dreams to make Mountain Spirit a place where people can connect to nature, themselves and each other. The video was done by “The Master” *Ashley Leung. Ash did the ground work, all editing and production. Keep the good work Ash! Randall did the aerial footage, and Ash made magic with it.
*We feel very fortunate to have Ashley, his wife Autumn and their new daughter as family friends. We miss them them and look forward to their return to New Zealand.
Half a Million Hectares, Sold From Stuff.co.nz
New Zealanders have paid $65m to get rid of some of our most treasured landscapes, through an obscure process critics have described as a vast wave of privatization. Wealthy foreigners are snapping up valuable land once owned by the public, who in some cases paid to dispose of it. As gated estates and manicured golf courses spread through our wild places, Charlie Mitchell investigates for Stuff.co.nz: Who owns the high country? Read more here…
Not far from the site of a new development for the very wealthy, golf course included. Here’s a shot prior to all that.
Editor’s Note: A bit of disclosure – My wife is South African, and I’m a Yank, and we bought an existing house and small bit of land in Hawea. So I’m guilty by association only in that I’m American. I believe in living lightly. We have an off-the-grid home and retreat centre, with gravity fed water and a small house. The scale and rate at which foreigners are snapping up New Zealand’s high country is appalling, and appears to be changing the very values of the country, by gentrification.
“The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
I started Mountain Spirit Institute in 1998 when we led our first trip to Peru, with the basic mission “to facilitate a deeper connection to the natural environment, each other and ourselves.” Since then it has become ever more apparent how we need “nature time” more than ever. It’s good to see people out on the trail, and in kayaks these days, but National Park use is down in the U.S, and technology competes for the breath of fresh air. We just offered a presentation last night in a small town in New Hampshire called “Get Outside While You Still Can.” The piece below echoes a lot of what we covered in our presentation, and why we started MSI.
• Get Out into nature that is
• How do you view nature?
• Find it hard to get nature time?
• Technology Got ya?
How do you spend your time?……
Doing This?
Or Doing This?
Come and explore, with Mountain Spirit board members
Bob Stremba and Randy Richards, Nature Deficit Disorder
&
Why we need to get outside while we still can!
GETTING OUTSIDE!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25th , 7:00PM
Cost: Free
Lake Sunapee Bank Community Room
116 Newport Road
New London, NH, USA
For more information call 603-763-2668 or http://www.mtnspirit.org
“The pattern” continues, now in Bolivia, as explained by these well-informed international experts on a show called CrossTalk. For a different take from the MSM, check out 
![20190705_115036[1]](https://mtnspirit.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/20190705_1150361.jpg)
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