ON THE FARM

No Fertilizer Shortage at Yakima Beach
Want to dress your spring garden in alpaca beans?
Bring your buckets up to the farm! Located in Naches Heights, next to Wilridge Winery.
Shovels provided. Donations accepted.
Shoot me an email to schedule.

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 March Herbal Allies: Milky Oats & Nettle
***Milky oats tincture, dried nettles and nettle plants are available in our shop.

As we tumble together through shattered global norms,
these two herbs are finding their way into my daily routine:
Nettle (nutritional, antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, analgesic, anti-infectious, diuretic, hypotensive, and antiulcer) &
Milky Oats (antioxidant, antispasmodic, cardiotonic, nervine tonic, nutritional, vulnerary).
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Milky Oats: The Best Herb for Self Care
“Milky oats is an exceptionally important and useful remedy in nervous debility and exhaustion and is the best all-purpose restorative in the Western Materia Medica. Milky oats is a nervine trophorestorative, meaning they have a unique affinity for the nervous system. Whether you’re battling stress, anxiety, or nervous exhaustion, milky oats can help rejuvenate and nurture your frazzled and depleted nerves.”

(Source: Wild Rose College of Herbal Medicine, Feb 2024)
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Stinging Nettle: The Healing Herb and Wild Spring Superfood
“Used for centuries to relieve joint pain, ease allergies, and gently detox the body, this nourishing spring superfood deserves a spot in every seasonal kitchen.“
(Source: Willow Haven Farm, June 2025)
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Rod’s House
We’re quickly approaching our annual goal of 400 meals. Just a few weeks to go.
Yay team!!
This week’s no meat menu featured Black bean and kalamata hummus, veggies, Turkish lentil soup, flatbread & sandwich bread by Nona, raspberry & strawberry jam.
Cookies provided by Johnson Orchards and Little Bake Shop.
You, too, can take a meal to share. To sign up, visit the Rod’s House website.
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Yakima Human Rights Consortium Update:
Nearly 100 passport sized copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights went out this week to local students, organizational leaders and High Desert Composting customers.
200 more have arrived from the printer.
I sent an email to Liz at Yakima Valley Museum, requesting that they offer copies of the UDHR in their gift shop in connection with their upcoming WWII exhibit.
And I launched a Go Fund Me campaign that will help fund our
Human Rights Arts Contest later this year.
Want to get involved?
You can purchase copies of the UDHR to self distribute here or
contribute to the arts contest prize money here.
Thanks for helping to seed solutions based conversations!
(***With a special shout-out of gratitude to our inaugural contributor, Erin Walsh.
You have our most sincere appreciation.)

Let’s go!

LOCAL

Yakima Indivisible General Meeting
Saturday, March 14, 10am – 12pm
Location: Mighty Tieton
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Yakima Community Aid Fundraiser

WA STATE

Visit Beacon Food Forest (Beacon Hill, Seattle)
“Beacon Food Forest combines agroforestry and permaculture design principles to create a diverse and resilient edible landscape.
The site is on public land, and anyone is welcome to visit between the hours of dawn and dusk, 365 days a year. If you want to see the Food Forest in action, check us out during one of our scheduled events or work parties.”
(Source: Beacon Food Forest)

NATIONAL & BEYOND

LISTEN (18 MINS): Into The Woods, From Chestnut Genetics To Tiny Forests
“American chestnut trees once towered over the landscape, dominating forests in parts of the eastern United States. But in the late 1800s, a fungal blight virtually wiped them out across the country. Chestnut restoration scientist Jared Westbrook tells Host Ira Flatow how new genetic work could speed up efforts to breed fungal resistance into hybrid chestnuts and create a heartier chestnut population.
Then, author Hanna Lewis introduces Ira to the concept of miniforests, self-sustaining native forest ecosystems on a tiny footprint, like an empty lot or a schoolyard. The planting method, developed by botanist Akira Miyawaki, can help ‘rewild’ small parcels of land by jump-starting forest development.”
(Source: Science Friday, Feb 27)
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Twelve Women Carrying the Flame for Climate Action Despite the Headwinds
The 12 women in this year’s Trailblazing Women in Climate list, which Reuters Events publishes to celebrate ‌International Women’s Day, remain resolutely positive despite the headwinds.
(Source: Reuters, March 5)
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LISTEN (93 MINS): Keeper of the Cactus:
Tim Doherty on Tending Land, Healing Trauma, and the Finca of Dreams
“Join hosts Dani and Hamid as they welcome Tim Doherty, founder of Finca Lola, author, musician, and creator of the Structured Ritual Architecture framework, for a rich and wide-ranging conversation about the long road to Huachuma. Tim shares his journey from a traumatic accident at the quarries of Quincy as a teenager, through the Boston punk scene, law school, Key West restaurants, and eventually a deliberate relocation to the Costa Tropical of Andalucía, Spain, where he is now putting down roots, planting grandfathers, and learning to read land the way he once read rooms. The conversation weaves through the nature of ceremony and what it means to honor lineage without imitating it, the distinct vibration of the Huachuma community, the Chavín culture and the diversity of ceremonial traditions, and why this medicine, for Tim, is the first thing in his life that hasn’t tried to take from him. Tim also shares a glimpse into his novel The Saint of Light and Water, a near-future story of an Irish sailor, a Peruvian curandero, and a cactus that may just save what’s left of humanity. This is an episode about what happens when a nervous system finally finds a home.”
(Source: Huachuma Foundation, Feb 26)
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Sustainable Trade in Wild Plants Benefits People and Planet 
“We need more ‘biodiversity-smart’ policies and interventions related to conservation and sustainable use of wild plants, in recognition of their value for healthy ecosystems, lives and livelihoods. Developing sustainable, legal and equitable supply chains that benefit both communities and nature is essential.”
(Source: Mongabay, March 2)
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The Dignity Index
“The Dignity Community is a growing network of people putting the principles of The Dignity Index® into practice in their own circles: schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and online spaces. Members share ideas, exchange resources, and highlight real stories of dignity in action.”
(Source: The Dignity Index)
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Is There a Human Right to Truth?
“It’s not just that people need information to make political decisions; people need robust access to knowledge, which is different from information, in order to live their lives.” –Joan Donovan
(Source: Harvard Kennedy School, June 2022)
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Eight Exemplary Projects that Showcase Sustainable Design
“To inspire your entries to Dezeen Awards, we have rounded-up some of our favourite sustainable architecture and interiors projects from previous shortlisted submissions.

For every entry, we ask if your project is useful and considerate to both people and planet and how it shows respect and consideration for users and the environment.”
(Source: Dezeen, March 3)
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LISTEN (44 MINS): Regenerative Economics with Jonathan Dawson and Morag Gamble
“Jonathan is the author of Gaia Education’s UNITAR endorsed Sustainable Economics Curriculum which is drawn from the best practice within ecovillages globally – a curriculum adopted by UNESCO, and Schumacher Briefing 12  Ecovillages: New Frontiers for Sustainability, by Green Books.”
(Source: Permacuture Education Institute, May 2021)
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Take care, friends!
P.S. A quick final reminder:
Democracy by itself is not an adequate answer to authoritarianism.
Russia is technically a democracy.
Democratic institutions are supported by Human Rights and vice versa.
Human RIghts were codified on the global stage in response to the
chaos sewn by authoritarianism.
The Russian government despises human rights.
Kind of seems like many Americans do, too.
We’ve been through this before.
Let us act like we’ve learned something.

XO,

Maria