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News from Reevis Mountain School
July 2010
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A Division of the PAAK Foundation, an Arizona 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Peter Bigfoot, Founder and Director / Patricia Busnack, Office Manager and Editor
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 As I write, the sky is silver and we expect rain! What a difference from last summer, when the garden was parched and we were pumping irrigation water out of the creek at night, because the creek was dry during the day. This summer we are blessed in multitudinous ways - the abundance of rain, the lack of bugs, the fruit harvest relatively undamaged by birds and insects ... and best of all the presence of our stupendous intern, Annie. Her helpfulness and reliability are making it possible for Peter and Patricia to accomplish all sorts of additional work this summer - and even take a vacation!
Alaska and the pink salmon run beckoned, and Peter and Patricia heeded the call. They spent a week up north among the bears and eagles, fishing and filleting, and returned with over 150 pounds of salmon to fill our freezer. Meanwhile, our friend Lee Ann joined Annie for the week, and Jeremy visited to pitch in - many, many thanks to Lee Ann and Jeremy for their indispensable assistance.
We are doubly blessed now to have the assistance of two Annies! Just last week
we welcomed Annie Madeline, who grew up on a dairy farm in Kentucky and teaches yoga. We are happy to have her here and look forward to her becoming part of the family.
After returning from Alaska, Peter finally tackled a project that had been on his list for about eight years - building a new table for our grain grinder, and replacing the old drive motor. The old motor is the one that Bigfoot was starting when its pull cord came off and struck him in the eye. That motor is in the scrap heap now! Peter has constructed a gorgeous table that will last hundreds of years, with a heavy steel frame and a two-inch-thick top made of black oak. And the new motor is a snap to start.
Peter's eye continues to heal gradually. Until recently, he had a tilted image from the injured eye that created a kind of double exposure in his vision. That has straightened up now, so there is just one image, and he is able to drive at night again. The floaters, too, are nearly cleared up. It seems this injury will be a slow one to heal, but we are happy with his continuing progress.
In her department, Patricia has been working away at revamping Reevis's website. The new site went live earlier this month, with more content (including excerpts from Peter's books) and lots more pictures! There's even a sing-along with Bigfoot - in case you have missed his renditions of "Oh Be Joyful."
Patricia and Peter have also completed the revision of Bigfoot's Natural Remedies for Bites and Stings, which has been out of print for the past year. The new edition includes Peter's latest remedies and a section on poison ivy. It is a softcover book with a full-color cover and an ISBN - all of which we hope will help get the information out to many more people. The book will be sent to the printer early next week, and we expect to have copies available by the end of August.
Among the delights of July has been watching the corn grow - miraculous how it seems to shoot up overnight! You might recall the photos from the past two newsletters. Below is a picture of Patricia standing directly in front of the corn patch, dwarfed by the stalks that must be over ten feet tall.
Also growing rapidly are our baby Thanksgiving turkeys and the chicks that we hatched in an incubator. Some of the poults have developed knee joint problems, something to get figured out and remedied ... and scorpions killed five when they were very small. Our chicken flock was halved during the winter and summer - feeding, we believe, a bobcat, a mountain lion, and foxes - continuing our tradition of well-fed wildlife. So we are now building up the flock again. We have ten chicks in the nursery pen, and three dozen more eggs nestled in the incubator, due to hatch in mid-August.
Another new addition to the family is a gray tabby cat named Mouser. Max Cat has befriended her and is doing his best to mentor her in hunting and fighting. She is a cutie, with a little orange patch on the top of her head, and we expect great things from her in the field of mousing.
In case you have been wondering about Lucky Duck, he is a mellow presence around the farm. He no longer enjoys being picked up (they have to grow up, don't they?), but he eyes us with a little smile that says he's glad to be a Reevis duck.
Sweet as life is, we do have some challenges - mainly the condition of the road. Neither the propane delivery truck nor our dump truck can make it up the road now, which means we are short on garden manure and on gas for the kitchen stove and water heater. The rains we have been enjoying recently are helping to gradually firm up the sand in the lower washes, so this situation may improve soon. Meanwhile, these lacks help us to appreciate everything we do have.
For more
information (and pictures!) about the farm, Peter Bigfoot's herbal remedies, and classes and events, please visit www.reevismountain.org.
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Reevis Raising Funds for a Solar Pump
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reevis Mountain School
has long desired to purchase a solar-powered water pump, to replace
the gas-powered motor we currently use to pump irrigation water from Campaign
Creek into our storage tank. To that end, we are holding a fund-raiser through
October 31.
Picture 60 five-gallon cans, filled with gasoline, lined up in a
row ...
this is the amount we use every year to fuel the gas
motor water pump.
And imagine - amid the otherwise serene wilderness environment
at Reevis - the noise of the motor running six hours a
day.
Now picture zero cans,
the amount of gasoline that a new solar pump would use.
Installation
of a solar pump is consistent with Reevis's principles of self-reliance and
sustainability, will enhance the living environment at Reevis, and will save us
the daily chore of operating and maintaining the gas pump. This solar pump has
been in our plans for years, and now, with sustainability becoming more
critical every day, we would like to accelerate this goal.
We have obtained a cost estimate from Sun Pumps of Safford, AZ, as
follows:
Submersible
pump (40-SQF-5): $1,900
Rack for 4 collector panels: $457
Pump
controller: $325
Solar
module (170 watt Sharp): $2,120
Interconnect
(64 inch MC-4): $28
Five-year
warranty: $250
Total: $5,080
Installation will take place as soon as we purchase the equipment. We estimate the solar pump will pay for itself,
solely in terms of gasoline cost, in 5.6 years.
We are full of gratitude to all of the friends who have supported
Reevis in the past and continue to do so, through financial donations, Country
Store purchases, physical work, and brain-work. For the solar pump fund, we
welcome donations of any amount - although we ask that you donate only if it is convenient and a joy for you to do so.
Every donor will receive a letter of acknowledgment and progress
updates, and the names of donors of $99 or more will be engraved on a permanent
copper plaque to be mounted on the pump foundation. During the fund-raiser all donations received will go into the pump fund, and we will be allocating 10% of Country Store sales to the fund. If amounts are collected in
excess of what is needed for the solar pump, they will be put toward materials
for the renovation of our 25-year-old greenhouse.
If you would like to donate, you can mail a check payable to RMS to
our new address,
7448 S. J-B Ranch Rd., Roosevelt, AZ 85545, or use our website's Donate button.
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Nature Retreat at Reevis Mountain School, October 8-10, $178
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Enjoy two full days and nights in RMS's magical wilderness sanctuary - a
place of inspiration and peace, a space to experience inner tranquility.
Includes lodging in a cabin or yurpee (as available); a one-hour herb walk,
one-hour natural healing session, and meditation lessons with Peter Bigfoot;
healthful and hearty organic meals from our garden; informal nutritional
counseling; and ample time for relaxation or hiking in nature's beauty. Shuttle
picks you up at 4 p.m. Friday and returns to Roosevelt on Sunday at 4 p.m. Please see details and registration info below.
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Herbal Pharmacology, at RMS, October 15-17, $178
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter Bigfoot has been making herbal remedies for over 25 years. In this
class he teaches how to gather, dry, process, and store herbs; methods of
preparation (tea, decoction, fomentation, poultice, salve, tincture, and more),
and the properties of medicinal and culinary herbs. Two days. Please see class details and registration info below.
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Celebrate Thanksgiving at Reevis, November 25, $40
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You're invited to join us for Thanksgiving dinner and a day in RMS's
magical wilderness sanctuary. We'll serve turkey raised here, side dishes from
our organic garden, homemade whole-grain bread, and fresh pies. Relax in our
beautiful valley or hike through the surrounding mountains, then gather for the
meal at 2 p.m. Overnight option for camping ($10), cabin ($35), or yurpy ($20)
includes breakfast. Complimentary shuttle from Roosevelt (leaves 10 a.m.). Please see details and registration info below.
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How to Buy Reevis Produce
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Throughout the growing season, our garden, orchard, and chickens will produce a cornucopia of fruit - including apricots, peaches, plums, grapes, figs, quince, pears, pomegranates, and persimmons - a variety of veggies, and multicolored fertile eggs from pastured chickens. We'll also have pastured turkeys for the holidays, and occasionally we have Muscovy ducks.
We visit Roosevelt, Globe/Miami, and the Phoenix metro area on an irregular schedule, so the best way to buy our produce is to be on our email list. We'll email you the day before our trips to let you know what we have and the prices - then you can let us know what you'd like to have, and we'll harvest it just for you. To get on the list, just email Patricia and let her know your location and a phone number where you can be reached during the day.
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What We're Growing, Harvesting, and Eating
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  We'd like to share with you what's going on in the garden, the orchard, and the kitchen - the vegetables we're planting, the bounty (fruit, veggies, livestock, and herbs!) we're harvesting, and how we turn our harvest into nourishing, delicious meals.
What We're Growing
Pictured here is our grinding corn, which we planted from seeds saved last year. We expect to harvest between two and three hundred pounds, come September. In the garden now we also have carrots, beets, summer squash, melons, zucchini, cucumbers, sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot), okra, beans, basil, and chard - along with lettuce, which took a long time to get going this year. With Lee Ann's help - she is a master gardener - we finally got a crop started this month. We would have kale, too, if it weren't for the harlequin bugs. They have moved in and are eating most of the brassica family plants.
What We're Harvesting
We've just harvested our first watermelon of the summer - the giant that is pictured at the top of the newsletter - at least fifty pounds! When we opened it up, it had a wide green rind and obviously would have liked to get a lot bigger! It was delicious anyway. We have begun to harvest cucumbers, with the lemon cukes coming a little behind the green ones. By the middle of August we will probably be harvesting over a hundred pounds of cucumbers each week! In the orchard, we harvested apricots and figs this month, along with some plums. The Mariposa plums - big green and lavender ones with deep red flesh - are not ripe yet. We are also still waiting for peaches - very late this year - which are ripening slowly thanks to the cool weather. What We're EatingEvery meal at RMS is built around greens, whole grains, and meat or eggs. With the abundance of cucumbers, we have been making brined pickles - a healthy, cooling, and tasty snack. Sour PicklesYou will need a large jar, crock, or food-grade bucket and a plate that will fit inside ... or a large edible leaf, such as a cabbage leaf. Dissolve 3/8 cup sea salt in two quarts of water. Place in the bottom of the container a few tablespoons of dill seeds or leaves, a few peppercorns, two or three peeled heads of garlic, and a handful of grape, oak, cherry, or horseradish leaves (to provide tannins that will keep the pickles crunchy). Rinse the cucumbers and place in the container. Pour the brine over the cucumbers, and place the plate or cabbage leaf over the cucumbers, so that the plate or leaf is covered by the brine. Weight it down with a stone. This keeps the cucumbers below the surface of the water and away from any mold that may develop. Cover the container with a cloth and put it in a cool place. After a few days, taste a pickle. The smaller ones will be ready before the larger ones. Eat them as they become ready. These pickles will be fairly salty. If you prefer less salt, you can experiment with using less, but the pickles may ferment too quickly in a weaker brine. We find that in the summer heat the pickles ferment quickly and then need to be transferred to the refrigerator before they become over-sour and fall apart. This recipe is adapted from Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation. Please visit our website for lots more farm recipes! |
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Pick Your Own Produce Emails
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 Would you like to come pick your own fruit at Reevis this summer? Not only will you have some of the most luscious, juicy, vital fruit you could find anywhere ... but you'll enjoy an outing at Reevis (where it's about twelve degrees cooler than the Phoenix valley), and a snack lunch, if you request a day or two in advance.
If you would like to be kept informed of what fruit is available, please send an email to Patricia and ask to be put on the Pick Your Own list. Through the season we will have five kinds of apricots, nine varieties of peaches, figs, blackberries,
plums, pears, quince, jujubes, grapes, olives, pomegranates, and
persimmons.
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| Wilderness Retreats at RMS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RMS is a sanctuary free of most modern-day distractions and pollutants (including television and cell phones!), a place to reconnect with Earth and Spirit while enjoying the school's organic/whole foods cuisine and wilderness surroundings. Yurpees and cabins are available for overnight, weekend, or longer retreats, for individuals, couples, or groups. Please email us for information. |
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Planning to attend a class or event?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Classes held at Reevis Mountain School include: meals (arrival night meal is a potluck party - bring a healthful, natural dish to share!), class supplies, hot showers, and campsite. Camping is free, or stay in a yurpee ($10 per night) or cabin (single $25 per night, double $50 per night) - availability permitting. Yurpees and cabins have beds and pillows; bring your own sheets and blankets or sleeping bag.
Complimentary shuttle service from Roosevelt, 10 miles one way - or caravan in your own 4X4. Shuttle pickup is at 4 p.m., first day of class (please note exceptions listed in class descriptions), at M&S Marine, Hwy. 188, Roosevelt (between milepost 233 and 234).
Early Registration: 10% discount if you register with full payment 30 days prior to class date.
To Register: 3 ways: visit our website and register online; or mail your name, phone number, postal and email addresses and full payment or a 50% deposit to the address below; or email us with this information and mail a check or request Paypal instructions. Indicate whether you will need shuttle service from Roosevelt and/or wish to rent a yurpee or cabin instead of camping. Balance due prior to class.
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How to Purchase RMS Remedies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter
Bigfoot's herbal tinctures and salves are available to order by email
(orders@reevismountain.org), phone (928) 467-2675, on our website (click on Country Store), by mail (7448 S. J-B Ranch Rd., Roosevelt, AZ 85545), or at retailers in Phoenix (Healthy Habit, 6029 N. 7th St., and Total Body Awakening Legacy (602-774-0160), Scottsdale (The Natural Medicinary at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, 8010 E. MacDowell Rd.), Mesa (Preparing Wisely, 144 S. Mesa Dr.), Tempe (SWIHA's
bookstore, 1100 E. Apache Blvd.), Flagstaff (New Frontiers Market and
Village Healing Center), Sedona (New Frontiers Market), Cottonwood (Mt. Hope Foods), Camp Verde (Healthy Thymes), and Globe (Back to Basics, corner of Broad and Cedar).
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Quick Links...
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We Welcome Donations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RMS is a division of the PAAK Foundation, an Arizona 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization; donations may be tax deductible. Currently our highest priority to is replace our gasoline creek pump with a solar pump, and any assistance toward that goal will be greatly appreciated. Cash donations are always welcomed with deep gratitude and will be put toward the pump fund, ongoing expenses, or the costs of housing and feeding our interns, who pay for their stay here in work rather than money.
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"Life, entity, is purposeful happiness. The illusions of creating that happiness are called purposeful destinies. I will tell you: Your greatest purpose is to live. To live! Living, entity, allows all happiness to occur ... and all sadness, whatever your discretion be. Your greatest purpose is to live, to express the entity that you are, the embodiment of life." - Ramtha
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