Before a Transition Pasadena steering meeting this past Fall, I came outside looking for one of my cats just in time to see him playing with something he seemed very interested in. Unfortunately, it was a hummingbird.
I was 
at a client’s home recently in Sherman Oaks, California. They told me about the gopher who had been eating the roots of their plants and creating little sink holes all over their yard. During our site visit, I noted the telltale signs of a landscape out of balance. I knew it would be my job to teach them how to fix their gopher problem by re-balancing their landscape. While we talked, the gopher responsible came out of a hole at the base of an umbrella plant. He looked directly at us while proceeding to remove three umbrella plant stalks and carry them backwards into his hole. I pointed this out to my client, and we laughed at his audacity.
Being that I’m a student of inter-species communication and believe that animals are sentient, I spoke to the wide-eyed little performance artist. I said, “I know you need to survive here just as much as the people who live in that house there, and so don’t worry, I’m going to include you in a solution that works for everyone here.”
Two months later, my client reported,
I became a vegan in 2010 because I made the connection between loving the Earth, myself, and other animals. It was easy, and I feel great. Here are the reasons why I made the switch.
Implement the step-by-step process for creating your own food forest (without the worry that you’ll make expensive mistakes) so that you can achieve food independence and inspire your community toward sustainability.
