permaculture

[Rick Valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

I will miss Emilia!
I was a perma pen pal with her before we were emailing, and I saw and felt
her "feisty nature" from the start. Since once upon a time she was a merry
prankster, she told me she was coming to Oregon to see her old friend Ken
Kesey, and could I put a workshop together for her? I've a spotty record as
an organizer, but for hers everything clicked and we had a full house in
Portland. (this was the '95 tour that was mentioned)
I guess dogmatic individuals in Europe had developed her attitude about
biodynamics; when asked about the subject she channeled a hilarious bit of
cosmology, noted that Steiner was a contemporary of Freud, and roared "It's
all nothing but sex!"
Another time, asked about conifers, she said she never recommended planting
them, because they were planted in plantations so much that it wasn't an
ethical thing to plant them. A few hours later in my kitchen as we waited
for dinner to finish I brought out a bowl of pinones (please add a tilde to
the 1st "n") from Moab, Utah. At her first taste, her eyes opened wide, and
she asked if she could take some of the pine nuts home to plant, they were
the best she'd ever tasted! Feisty, yes, and vibrant. Strong opinions, but
she listened, too. She was a wonderful houseguest, and I was always hoping I
could put together a trip to Europe and visit her. We've lost a great
teacher.
-Rick