CATALYST Magazine September 2020

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CCATTALYST CA R E S O U R C E S F O R C R E AT I V E L I V I N G

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The

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4 September 2020

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ON THE COVER

CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

hil Lewis channels a deep connection to natural wonder—awesome wildlife, epic mountains, and vast landscapes—into vibrant art and inspired goods. As a visual artist, Phil digitally

Owl Eyes, by Phil Lewis

transforms humble pencil drawings into vividly realized visions of rich color, extreme detail, and flowing movement. He started by selling these kaleidoscopic renderings of animals and

scenery at live events, and saw how by applying his signature style, he could also turn ordinary festival-going essentials into useable art objects— and fans loved them. This made him realize he could rethink all sorts of everyday items as functional art pieces that spark joy and connect us to nature wherever we are. Now, he’s expanded the possibilities even further with advanced materials and techniques that allow Phil to apply luminous designs to innovative mediums, so we can share in the collective vibration that connects to the universe and each other in new ways. “Throughout my life, I’ve always felt a special connection to nature. Being outside inspires me to create art detailing the world around me. Living in Colorado fuels this inspiration for me daily, and the landscapes that surround me appear frequently in my art. Lately I’ve been developing a style of artwork that combines pen drawings and digital design. While I

have always appreciated the raw nature of pen and ink, I’m also intrigued by the endless possibilities of the digital canvas. By combining the two, I aim to create images that feel both organic, and state of the art, at the same time. You’ve likely seen my work throughout the Mountain West (as a previous CATAYST cover artist) as well as a number of music festivals and jam band shows, including but not limited to Electric Forest, Wakarusa, High Sierra Music Festival, Phases of the Moon, String Cheese Incident, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, EOTO, etc. I’m grateful for the ability to create this art, and through it, I hope to bring as much positive energy into the world as possible.” ◆ Catalyst’s art director became inspired by Phil’s work after meeting him at the Telluride Blue Grass Festival in 2012. This is Phil’s 3rd CATALYST cover. Shop a gorgeous array of artwares at phillewisart.com IG & FB: @phillewisart Watch Phil’s thoughts on Finding Flow: https://vimeo.com/188874082

How to get the most from this online issue of CATALYST

S

ince the print version of CATALYST is no more (at least for the duration of the pandemic), you’re probably reading this right now through the ISSUU platform, quite possibly from the reader embedded in our home page! Thank you, by the way: By reading the magazine in this flip-through format, you’re seeing the ads from the local advertisers that help keep us to continue publishing. The ISSUU reading platform has some cool features that you may not know about. For example, the website links in the stories and ads here

are clickable—they should open a new tab or window for you, so click away without worrying about losing your place! Also, the entire magazine is keyword searchable. Take a look at the lower right-hand side of the reading window, and you’ll see a small magnifying glass icon with an ‘A’ in it. Click this, and you’ll be able to search the whole issue for whatever you’d like. Sharing is easy, too! By clicking the ‘Share’ button in the top right-hand corner of the screen, you can not only share this issue of CATALYST, but you can share a direct link to the page that

you’re currently reading! Click the ‘Copy’ button to get the link to paste elsewhere. Or you can click one of the icons to share to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or your email. You can also download the entire issue as a PDF (it’s around 150MB), but not from the reader embedded into the homepage of our site. To download, go to www.issuu.com/catalystmagazine. Click on the issue you want to download, and then click the ‘Download’ button from the black bar along the bottom of the reading window. —Pax Rasmussen, Executive Director, Common Good Press/CATALYST


CATALYST RESOURCES FOR CREATIVE LIVING COMMON GOOD PRESS, 501C3

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMON GOOD PRESS Pax Rasmussen PUBLISHER & EDITOR Greta Belanger deJong ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER John deJong ART DIRECTOR Polly Plummer Mottonen ASSISTANT EDITOR Katherine Pioli COMMUNITY OUTREACH DIRECTOR Sophie Silverstone PRODUCTION Polly Plummer Mottonen, John deJong, Rocky Lindgren PHOTOGRAPHY & ART Polly Mottonen, John deJong, Sophie Silverstone, Emma Ryder BOOKKEEPING Carolynn Bottino CONTRIBUTORS

Charlotte Bell, Amy Brunvand, Nicole DeVaney, Jim French,Dennis Hinkamp, Valerie Litchfield, James Loomis, Mary McIntyre, Ashley Miller, Grace Olscamp, Diane Olson, Jerry Rapier, Emily Spacek, Alice Toler, Suzanne Wagner

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kuer60thanniversary.org


All Month in September SEPTEMBER 5, 10 AM - 2 PM: Live Painting Exhibition and Art & Craft Market SEPTEMBER 6, NOON- 4 PM: Hard-N-Paint Street Basketball + Lowrider Custom Car Culture Exhibit SEPTEMBER 18, 5 - 10 PM: Night Art Market and Skate Deck Challenge Voting ALL SEPTEMBER: Artist Retrospective Exhibition - 10th Annual Skate Deck Challenge


8 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

ENVIRONEWS

September 2020

BY AMY BRUNVAND

Something to celebrate!

Great American Outdoors Act Becomes Law

T

he Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), signed into law on August 4, is something big to celebrate! This landmark legislation achieves two major conservation goals: it provides badly needed funds to tackle a burgeoning National Parks maintenance backlog, and it guarantees $900 million per year for the Land and Water

Conservation Fund (LWCF), used to purchase new public lands for recreation and conservation. Even though national park visitation keeps on increasing, congressional allocations have not kept pace. The Park Service currently has nearly $12 billion in deferred maintenance on roads, parking lots, buildings, utility systems and other facilities.

Citizen groups have been lobbying hard for this bill, but despite strong bi-partisan support in Congress, Ben McAdams (D-UT-4) was the sole member of the Utah delegation to vote yes.


Utah’s “Mighty Five” parks alone have an estimated $207 million in maintenance needs, and that’s not even counting other parks and monuments like Dinosaur, Golden Spike, Hovenweep, Natural Bridges or Timpanogos Cave. LWCF funds can be used to purchase open space, but they also come in handy to resolve public

lands access conflicts. For instance, in 2019 LWCF provided funds to keep the Zion Narrows trail open to the public where it crossed private property. Citizen groups nationwide have been lobbying hard for this bill, but despite strong bi-partisan support in Congress, Ben McAdams (D-UT-4) was the sole member of the Utah

delegation to vote yes. Rob Bishop (R-UT-1) not only voted no on GAOA, he tried to eliminate LWCF altogether. As chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, Bishop allowed LWCF to sunset for the disingenuous reason that “growing maintenance backlogs and existing management barriers at BLM and across all federal management agencies must be addressed before we even consider giving the federal government more land.” (Never mind that Congress has just demonstrated how to fix those problems). Ironically, Bishop’s attack on LWCF may have ultimately helped to save it by raising public awareness. In his signing statement, President Trump ignored his administration’s history of “downsizing” national monuments and took credit for other people’s work. Bizarrely, Trump cited his 2017 destruction of Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument as a conservation victory, declaring, “When you add all of this to what we did in Utah, if you remember that —that was a year and a half ago —but we did Bears Ears National Monument. When you add all of this to Bears Ears, I would say— and it got my attention when Steve and a whole group came up to my office. When you —actually, both of you came up with a group, and you said this would be bigger than Theodore Roosevelt.” Fact-check: Trump did not create Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument; President Obama did. Trump’s Presidential Proclamation actually reduced the size of Bears Ears by 85%. ◆ NPS Intermountain Region Infrastructure Fact Sheet: https://bit.ly/34fSMkf


10 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

Foxes in the hen house (so to speak)

300+ groups call to remove acting BLM director W.P. Pendley’s nomination for permanent post

M

ENVIRONEWS

September 2020

ore than 300 citizen groups signed a strongly worded letter telling the U.S. Senate that they have a “moral duty” to reject president Trump’s nomination of William “Perry” Pendley to head the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The letter documents Pendley’s inflammatory rhetoric opposing social justice and diversity, as well as his,“radical anti-conservation positions, a deeply held belief antithetical to the agency’s mission that public lands should be privatized, virtually unprecedented conflicts of interest and ethical issues, a history of supporting anti-government extremists, and a track record of dismantling the very agency he is tasked with managing.” Pendley has been the acting director of BLM since July, 2019. Last month, Trump withdrew Pendley’s nomination in order to avoid a hearing, but failed to remove Pendley from his position as acting director of BLM.

BY AMY BRUNVAND

New Wilderness Area signs go up in San Rafael Swell

T

he Utah BLM has been working hard to put up signs for 17 new Wilderness Areas in the San Rafael Swell designated by the John D. Dingell Act of 2019. The actual management of these areas won’t change much since they were alBig Wild Horse Mesa ready Wilderness Study Areas. However, adding them officially to the National Wilderness Preservation System assures that they will continue to be preserved in a natural condition for the future. The new Wilderness areas are Big Wild Horse Mesa, Cold Wash, Devil’s Canyon, Eagle Canyon, Horse Valley, Little Ocean Draw, Little Wild Horse Canyon, Lower Last Chance, Mexican Mountain, Middle Wild Horse Mesa, Muddy Creek, Red’s Canyon, San Rafael Reef and Sid’s Mountain.

BLM Utah Dingell Act Designations blm.gov/about/laws-and-regulations/dingellact/utah

Little Ocean Draw


What is the worldview of a people who mumble no thanks or prayers, who take what they want from the land, and pay it back with arsenic?

— Joe Sacco, Paying the Land (2020: Henry Holt and Co.)

Trophy hunter to head Utah BLM

B

LM acting director William Perry Pendley (see left) announced in July that Greg Sheehan has been appointed Utah state director for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Sheehan has deep ties to groups that promote trophy hunting and privatization of wildlife. During his tenure as Utah Division of Wildlife Resources director from 2012 to 2017, Sheehan allowed anticonservation gun-sports groups to gain undue influence over Utah’s wildlife management. He opposed the reintroduction of wolves to Utah and oversaw a highly unscientific cougar management plan that the Humane Society criticized for allowing “free-for-all killing sprees on Utah’s rare cougar populations.” Sheehan is a member of Safari Club International, a group of wealthy trophy hunters that, according to a recent investigation by Humane Society International,

promotes recreational killing of endangered species. As President Trump’s deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sheehan tried to reverse a ban on importing elephant trophies. Steve Bloch, legal director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance says, “Sheehan’s resumé is littered with the kind of parochial influence that makes him particularly un-

suited to manage public lands. He has a history of making decisions at the behest of state and local governments, as well as high-dollar hunting groups and energy interests that promote the heavyhanded destruction of public lands and wildlife.” BLM manages 23 million acres of public lands in Utah, representing about 42% of the state.

He opposed the reintroduction of wolves to Utah and oversaw a highly unscientific cougar management plan that the Humane Society criticized for allowing “free-for-all killing sprees on Utah’s rare cougar populations.”


12 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

ENVIRONEWS

September 2020

BY AMY BRUNVAND

BLM Utah has elected not to include Grand or San Juan counties in September’s oil and gas lease sale.

More good news: BLM withdraws Moab area leases The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has removed controversial parcels near Arches and Canyonland National Parks from a massive Utah BLM oil and gas lease sale scheduled for September. Thanks to intense public pressure, BLM withdrew all parcels from the Moab Field Office, reducing the sale from 77 to 23 parcels. A letter from Congressman Alan Lowenthal (D-47-CA), chair of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, points out that in previous Grand County lease

sales, “all of the leases that sold at these sales went for the minimum bid, which earned the State of Utah less than $9,000 in revenue.”

Wilderness or bike trail? Bicycles are not allowed in designated Wilderness areas, so a few segments of the Bonneville Shoreline trail are off-limits to bikes, hemmed in by private property on one side and wilderness on the other. In July, Representative Curtis (R-UT-3) and Senator Romney (R-UT) introduced the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Enhancement Act, which would slice 326.27 acres out of the Mount

Olympus Wilderness Area for a multi-use trail corridor, adding back about the same area of designated wilderness in a Mill Creek Canyon property formerly owned by the Boy Scouts of America. The group Save Our Canyons has concerns about the deal since the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) that influenced the plan seems to be doing an end-run around both regional trail planning and the Mountain Accord planning process for the Wasatch Mountains. They say the Mill Creek property does not have the same quality or value as the Mount Olympus Wilderness Area, and the trail segments that cross wilderness are steep single-track that are inappropriate for a multi-use trail.


cantly since 2015, which is good news. By way of improvement, the audit also says that DAQ needs better record keeping; it questions the effectiveness of a program to help low-income households convert from wood-burning heat; and it encourages DAQ to increase inspections of oil and gas wells in the Uinta Basin.

Trailhead or development? Utah Open Lands is working towards a September 10 deadline to purchase 27 acres of open space at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. The land could become a regional trailhead for the Bonneville

Performance Audit of the Division of Air Quality olag.utah.gov/olag-doc/2020-05_RPT.pdf

New recycling facility in SLC

Photo courtesy of BLM

DAQ gets “good” grade on state legislative audit A legislative audit of the Utah Division of Air Quality (DAQ) found that the agency is generally performing well. The budget for clean air programs and research has increased signifi-

Salt Lake City has a fancy new recycling plant to sort the contents of your blue bin. Waste Management, the city’s recycling vendor, recently opened a $17 million Materials Recovery Facility for single-stream waste with the capacity to process more than 280 tons of recyclables per day. (See “What Covid means for the Three R’s,” this issue.) Using screens, optical sorters and magnets, the plant separates materials to reduce contamination so that they actually get recycled instead of being sent to the landfill. Salt Lake City currently recycles or composts 42% of the waste collected from residents. What can I put in my curbside containers? slc.gov/sustainability/wastemanagement/curbside/recycling-can/

Shoreline Trail or it could become an upscale housing development, depending on whether the $3 million purchase price can be raised in time. A challenge grant from AHE/CI Trust doubles donations made before the deadline. Cottonwood Heights Project, Utah Open Lands: utahopenlands.org/cottonwood-heights-bonneville-shore

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CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

BOOK REVIEW

Resmaa Menakem’s book is about practice, not just concepts BY CARL RABKE My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathways to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem (2017: Central Recovery Press)

ΩWhen Menakem was a young boy, his grandmother would often ask him to rub her sore hands. One day, he asked why her hands were so different from his, why her fingers were so thick. She replied that she began picking cotton on a sharecroppers farm when she was four years old. She had to reach through the sharp thorns to get the cotton, and each day she would return home with bloodients and witied, scratched nesses of viohands, until her lence, and in the fingers grew so generations that thick with calluses follow. From the that she could pick torturous practhe cotton without tices of medieval bleeding. My Europe to the G r a n d m o t h e r ’s genocide of NaHands illuminates tive Americans, the many ways from the slave that our bodies trade to our curcarry with them rent police system, the wounding the effects of past trauma—carried and the healing are found in the in the bodies of the inflicters, recip- body.

Resmaa Menakem is a therapist with decades of experience in private practice in Minneapolis, specializing in trauma, body-centered psychotherapy and violence prevention. He has appeared on Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. Menakem has studied with psychologist David Schnarch (Passionate Marriage) and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score). He also trained at Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.

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CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

Continued:

Menakem draws on the research showing how epigenetic trauma is passed down though generations and impacts genetic expression far beyond the actual traumatic events.

BOOK REVIEW

children and grandchildren—is to metabolize our pain and heal our trauma,” he writes. “When we heal and make more room for growth in our nervous systems, we have a better chance of spreading our emotional health to our descendants, via healthy DNA expression. In contrast, when we don’t address our trauma, we may pass it on to future generations, along with some of our fear, constriction, and dirty pain.” My Grandmother’s Hands is a beautiful, difficult, potent, and necessary between what he calls “clean pain” and “dirty pain,” clean pain being the book to read. To take in, viscerally, pain and discomfort that is neces- bodily, the legacy of genocide, slavsary in any kind of genuine healing ery and violence that has not been work. Clean pain is the pain that healed and continues to express itmends and leads toward growth. self is hard work. Yet this book offers Dirty pain is the pain of avoidance, an opportunity for the clean pain of of denial, of repeating the harmful healing that this country desperpatterns with no learning or healing. ately needs. “We will not end white-body su“A key factor in the perpetuation of white-body supremacy is many premacy—or any other form of My Grandmother’s people’s refusal to experience clean human evil—by trying to tear it to around the myth of race. In- pieces. Instead, we can offer people Hands offers a vision and pain stead, usually out of fear, they better ways to belong, and better an extensive toolkit of choose the dirty pain of silence and things to belong to. Instead of beand, invariably, prolong longing to a race, we can belong to a culture. Each of us can also build practices for how we can avoidance the pain,” he writes. This is a book about practice, not our own capacity for genuine beheal as individuals and just concepts. Throughout the book longing.” ◆ Carl Rabke is an embodiment teacher, and as a culture. there are invitations to notice what Feldenkrais and Structural Integration Practiis happening in your body as you tioner living in Salt Lake City. He and his wife, culture. Menakem draws on the re- read certain passages. There are also Erin host the Embodiment Matters Podcast. search showing how epigenetic many guided practices to help the www.embodimentmatters.com trauma is passed down though gen- readers grow more aware of what is erations and impacts genetic ex- happening in their bodies, as well as pression far beyond the actual skills for learning how to settle the traumatic events. As a trauma ther- body. As Menakem often says in inapist, Menakem also offers an exten- terviews “You gotta get your reps in.” sive toolkit of practices for healing The somatic practices he offers are that trauma and learning how to essential skills that can be learned self-regulate our nervous systems over time, with repetition. and bodies. “All of this suggests that one of the Menakem often refers to a distinc- best things each of us can do—not tion he shares with therapy clients only for ourselves, but also for our My Grandmother’s Hands weaves together the threads of racism, generational trauma, police brutality, embodiment, and a vision of how we can heal as individuals and as a culture. A central theme throughout the book is that we will not heal racism, or what he refers to as “white body supremacy” until we recognize and learn to heal the way we hold the generational trauma of racism in our bodies. Menakem looks at the unique ways that racialized trauma is held and expressed in white bodies, black bodies and police bodies, and offers specific chapters and practices for mending the hearts and bodies of each of these groups. In many ways, this book is a primer on trauma, and how unresolved trauma deeply limits our capacities as human beings and as a


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18 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

My summer of screech owls

NATURE

The things we see when there’s time to sit still

Naming Society is out there to suggest they officially change the name to Chuckling owls. This summer, with lockdowns, quarantines and assaults on democracy, they have come with such regularity, they are like my backyard family. I spotted the first pair early one evening on the power wires near the back of the house. They watched me and I watched them as

They watched me and I watched them as I cooed to them in a sing-song voice, “Hell-lo baby owls. Hel-lo.” I cooed to them in a sing-song voice, “Hell-lo baby owls. Hel-lo.” A few nights later, feeling pandemic and political fatigue, I could make them out on the iron pergola at the end of the sidewalk by the ivy-covered wooden fence. I saw one, then another on a dead branch of the linden tree, then four more. Some swooped down, one right in front of me to land on a bar holding the wooden swing. It was like that owl had come to say, “It’s okay. Don’t

T

he owls came to me this summer. I think it’s because of Covid—whether they have always come and I only noticed them because I’ve been home so much or because, as some friends of a more mystical bent suggest, they have chosen me to bring good tidings. I’ve heard the screech owls during previous summers as they called to

BY MARY DICKSON each other from my catalpa tree, the next door neighbor’s roof, and the hawthorn tree down the street. Their unmistakable call is nothing like screeching. It’s more like chuckling. Perhaps I should track down the people at whatever Avian Bird


rock and left it in my mailbox. Another left a children’s book, The Curious Little Owl, on my porch. Another sent cards from tarot decks attesting to the magical powers of owls. I’ll take the magic for 500, Alex. Maybe the owls did choose me. Maybe I was an Owl Whisperer, as one friend suggested. It can’t be that they like the rodent population hiding under my deck. No, they

chose me. They were my gift during Covid, a magical, magnificent, lifeaffirming distraction. My feathered friends started appearing during the day. One tucked into the crook of the rainspout while my boyfriend, Steven, and I watched it from the front porch. The day my bees swarmed and left me (what is it they were trying to tell me, I wonder), I walked down the steps into the

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despair. We’re here to bring you comfort and joy.” They chuckled and called to each other from their backyard perches, while I stood in awe and listened to their chorus. When I walked to the back door to go inside, I spotted two of them on the wires by the house. A shimmering blue dragonfly bumped into the window like it was trying to come inside with me. There was something magical about that night. Aren’t dragonflies supposed to be good luck, too? I posted pictures of my little feathered visitors. Messages poured in. They’re there to give you comfort. They’re better entertainment than Netflix. They bring good luck. They’re watching over you. They’re a gift. They’ll bring you clarity. They’re protecting you. They’re good omens. They bring hope and joy. They’ve come to take your mind off the Horribles. Are you accepting visitors? Can we have dirty martinis at a watch party? I’d be willing to be pecked and scratched to high heaven to pet one. One friend painted an owl on a

Maybe the owls did choose me. Maybe I was an Owl Whisperer, as one friend suggested. It can’t be that they like the rodent population hiding under my deck. No, they chose me. They were my gift during Covid, a magical, magnificent, life-affirming distraction.


20 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

backyard and saw what looked like a little stuffed toy sitting on top of my empty beehive. It was a sweet little screech owl. Maybe it was telling me not to worry about the bees. I’d get new bees. (I did). Watching the owls became a passtime for me and my sixyear-old niece, Sophia, who lives at my house part time. We go out to the linden trees to look for them. Sophia often spots them first, their grey feathers blending in perfectly with branches and limbs. The littlest owl hides in the ivy on the side fence, another fledgling on a branch in the corner of the ivy. One on the pergola. Two on a linden branch above them—all in broad daylight. They don’t move. They just watch us as we sing, “Hello, baby owls. Hel-lo.” Don’t owls sleep in the day and hunt at night? These owls are lounging in the middle of the day, peacefully watching us, closing one eye, then the other before dozing off. Sophia and I started scouring the ground looking for their feathers, which we make into earrings. When my Steven was tested for Covid and had to quarantine while waiting for results, four owls showed up in the lindens. Two were moving their heads in circles, either dancing for me or ready to peck my eyes out. One larger owl higher up in the tree was moving

NATURE its beak, like it was trying to talk. Or was it issuing a warning? I decided it was trying to tell me something. I called Steven. “You’re going to be fine,” I reassured him. ‘I’m sure your test will come back negative. That’s what the owl was trying to tell me. Don’t worry.” The next day his test came back negative. Chalk up another one for the owls. They show up so often now that I can tell them apart. I’ve given them names. Brenda Sue for the little one who likes to sit in the ivy

They’ve started coming so close that I’m waiting for them to nest in my hair. but ventures onto the top of the table umbrella on the deck and onto the tubing that sprays a mist to keep us cool. Metcalf, in honor of Jeff Metcalf who passed away this summer, the wise owl who sits hidden in the leaves of the linden, watching over everyone below. Basil for the skittish one who landed on the antique birdcage and quickly flew away when I got too close. The Bobbsey Twins, for the two grey owls who sit next to each other and move their heads in circles at dusk. Yoda, for the smaller one who is more white than the others and bears an uncanny resemblance to the Star Wars charac-

ter. And Angelica, for the one who likes to sit on the granite angel and on the plaster angel that tops my Altar of Broken Dreams—where I put shards of colorful plates, cups and saucers I’ve broken. When one friend inquired how I knew Brenda Sue was female, I told her it was simple. She wore lipstick. I have no idea if the owls are male or female. How do you tell the sex of an owl? They just get the names I give them. Every morning, I scan the ivy and lindens for my little owl friends. One day when I couldn’t find them I worried they had abandoned me, but they had just moved to the pear tree, closer to the deck. One night over dinner, Steven and I watched them in the pear tree. When we went inside as the sun was setting, I watched from the window as they swooped onto the deck. I hurried out to sing my “Hello” to Brenda Sue and her friend on the tubing. To Basil atop the bird cage, head cocked, perhaps contemplating cage life. To Metcalf above him on a wooden beam. To Yoda on the other side of the lattice, sitting on the handles of an old bicycle half hidden in the lace vine, perhaps fantasizing about learning to ride that thing. I know it sounds crazy, but I think they wanted to have a little fun with me that night. Basil swooped low through the sunflowers that form an arch over the sidewalk. I followed him. He perched on the pergola, looked at me then swooped to the ivy. Angelica swooped to the top of the granite angel, then crowned the angel on my Altar of Broken Dreams, before


heading to the pear tree. And sweet little Brenda Sue? She wasn’t leaving her perch closer to the house. If one of them lands on my head, it will be her. At least, I think it’s a her. They’ve started coming so close that I’m waiting for them to nest in my hair. I bought them a house this week, cleared the ivy on a section of the wooden fence and secured their new cedar home with deck screws. Hopefully, they’ll move in. I’d like them to stay. These days, we need all the magic we can get—even if, truth be told, they are here for the mice. ◆

Activist and writer Mary Dickson worked in public television for years before taking early retirement to write and enjoy life. When she’s not hosting Contact, which she continues to do, she tends to her bees, communes with the owls, and tries to avoid Covid.


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September 2020

CAN YOU RECYCLE THAT?

Surfing the new wave of waste

Masks, medical waste, carry-out dining and internet shopping: Here’s the scoop on the current recycling scene in Salt Lake City.

BY DAVID JOHNSTON

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vention against and treatment of coronavirus is undeniable. Still, a surge of medical waste is a disposal headache. Further, the necessity for the resurgence in other single-use items such as plastic bags, to-go containers, cups and cutlery continues to be hotly debated. This wave of plastic would not be as big a deal if waste and recycling systems were equipped to handle them. But in many places, they simply are not. Both the plastics industry and environmentalists have Big Plastic: taking advantage come out swinging, demonizing the other side. Where or saving the day? reusables have been assigned a ‘risky’ status by plastic This new wave of waste has elicited arguments over corporations, environmentalists have shamed Big Plashealth and safety, both in personal health terms as well tic for pushing their products as a means of interrupting as questions of sustainability. The usefulness of single- anti-plastic policy. Active and developing plastic bag use masks, gloves and other plastic products in the pre- and other single-use bans have been placed on hold he recent massive influx of single-use disposable waste, often plastic—masks, gloves and hand sanitizer bottles in addition to quantities of single-use medical supplies—has literally transformed the world. In recent weeks, Covid litter in public spaces has increased, at home and abroad, with more people flocking outdoors after months in confinement.


with groceries, restaurants and other retailers embracing disposable packaging since their reopening following initial Covid closures. Many groceries stopped permitting reusable bags (though many now allow you to pack your own bags); few restaurants, cafes and coffee shops allow customers to use reusable cups or takeout containers. Some container redemption programs for bottles and cans, programs that have been staples of various states’ sustainability goals for years, were shrunk or suspended back in March. In states such as California, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Oregon, where plastic bag bans were already in full effect, such policies have been temporarily lifted, allowing for an influx of plastic. The theories supporting the rise in single-use disposables and the suspension of various sustainability efforts seem simple: Minimizing contact between people by minimizing contact between material items might just limit the spread of this virus and possibly save lives. An item that goes straight from the vendor to the consumer to the trash, such as a plastic bag or paper coffee cup, should be safer from a personal and community health perspective. A reusable bag or cup that goes back and forth from the consumer’s home multiple times between washing might act as a vector. Sanitation is key.

What does science say? Studies of Covid-19’s persistence on various surfaces is still limited, even months into this crisis. Early studies have considered the virus’s lifespan on metals, wood,

The spread of Covid through material surfaces is significantly less likely than through personto-person touch or through the air via coughs, sneezes, laughter and singing. plastic and glass. On some plastics, for instance, the virus can persist up to three days if not sanitized. This compares to four days on wood (like decking) and a matter of hours on stainless steel and copper. (One microbiologist recently pointed out in The Lancet that early tests were conducted with viral loads that far surpass real-world situations.) As for your cotton or fabric bags? Studies are still limited on such surfaces. That said, no evidence yet exists that suggests reusable bags are a considerable means of spreading the disease. In general, the spread of coronavirus through material surfaces is significantly less likely than through person-to-person touch or through the air via coughs, sneezes, singing and laughter. So why all the back-and-forth between single-use supporters and reuse enthusiasts if the science is still shaky? My theory: Argumentative types love a science vacuum.

I have no qualms with shops and retailers who elect to require disposables. Although the jury may still be out on just how likely reusables are to spread the virus, to expect businesses to trust people in their cleanliness habits is probably expecting too much. These businesses have a commitment to protecting their own employees, and if our sustainability habits are to be set aside while the health of these employees is prioritized, maybe that is okay. Meanwhile, I hope this new wave of plastic is not forever, and I will continue doing what I can to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Paper waste also on the rise Plastics are not the only waste category to see a striking rise since COVID-19 hit the US. With many stores shuttered in the early months, and many families still electing to stay home and forgo the exposure risks of shopping in public, mail-order shopping has seen a massive boom. With more online retail comes more related waste— cardboard boxes, padded plastic bags and envelopes of all shapes and sizes. Thankfully, cardboard and paper remain, as always, a valuable recyclable.

The local scene: a clear shift As permits coordinator for Salt Lake City’s Waste & Recycling Division, I have witnessed a few notable changes in the waste and recycling scene up close. As was corroborated in a Salt Lake Tribune article in May,

Continued on next page


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September 2020

our team witnessed a clear shift in where garbage and recycling were coming from. Residential garbage and recycling volume was on the rise, with a clear increase in corrugated cardboard boxes and other packaging aligning with a burst in online retail. Multifamily properties have seen their own spike in garbage and recycling generation. Businesses have seen less and less, particularly during those early months of COVID-19. And with almost all city events indefinitely postponed or canceled, the only event-related waste and recycling has been that coming off our Downtown Farmers Market, Liberty Park Market and, recently, the Tuesday Market. More recently, we have begun to see life slowly return to the way it was pre-coronavirus as businesses re-open with new safety plans in place. We already have and surely will continue to see this reflected in waste and recycling, as residents and their waste return to these once-abandoned places. Of course, all these baby steps toward a new normal will be taken with a sense of trepidation, as we remain alert for new surges in the virus.

What’s a zero waste warrior to do? In short, do not fret over what you

CAN YOU RECYCLE THAT? cannot do; instead, focus on what you can do! Assuming your grocery is letting you bring in reusable bags, be ready to pack up groceries (and perhaps use self-checkout) yourself.

One more time for the people in the back: Masks and gloves are not recyclable anywhere in Utah! Just because your favorite restaurant may not let you use your personal containers for to-go orders doesn’t mean you can’t refuse a bag altogether or, at the least, refuse the plasticware and extra napkin if you’re just bringing it back home to

eat. (Tell them “no utensils’ and that you’ll be bringing your own bag when you call in your order.) Disposable masks, gloves and other personal health care items are trash—not recyclable. Place them in the waste bin (green in Salt Lake City), not the (blue) recycling bin. Opt for sturdy materials you can wash and wear again. Plastic bags, which are not recyclable in curbside bins in Salt Lake, at least have alternative recycling options through the bins offered in groceries and supermarkets. When hand-washing isn’t an option, go for the bottle of sanitizer, not the individually wrapped wipes, wherever possible. One more time for the people in the back: Masks and gloves are not recyclable in the Salt Lake area, nor anywhere else in Utah! If you have made the switch to online retail in your social-distancing efforts, be sure you reduce, reuse and recycle wherever you can. Clean and dry cardboard is a highly sought-after recyclable material, but be sure to remove block Styrofoam, packing peanuts and other packaging materials as these are typically not acceptable in curbside recycling. That said, most groceries will accept those plastic airbags and other stretchy plastic films in their dropoff plastic bag recycling containers. (Check with customer service at your store to verify.) If you are receiving shipments in


envelopes, take a closer look: Pure paper envelopes are recyclable in your curbside bin, but those yellow envelopes with bubble wrap on the inside are, unfortunately, not. Purely plastic padded envelopes—the sort Amazon now loves—can usually be recycled with your grocery bags in the store receptacle. The better option, as usual, is reuse, and envelopes are super easy to reuse. Perhaps most important of all: Trust in recycling and be sure you are recycling right. Salt Lake City is now home to a new-and-improved waste management material recovery facility (MRF, pronounced “merf,” for short) that will allow for better sorting and cleaner recyclables. (See EnviroNews, this issue.) That said, we will always depend on our residents to keep contamination out of the recycling bin. If you need a refresher, check out SLCgreen’s website for recycling guides and other great information. ◆ David Johnston is the permits coordinator for Salt Lake City’s Waste & Recycling Division. He is also on the board of the Utah Recycling Alliance, helping with education and outreach efforts.

Virtual Recycling Q&A September 24, 4 pm

Have questions? Join David and the Utah Recycling Alliance for a conversation later this month. Learn more and sign up on URA’s Facebook page.


28 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

September 2020

Where are we now? In light of recent events, the topic of environmental justice is finally gaining traction. Here’s where we’re at in Salt Lake City. BY DANIEL MENDOZA

This, the first of three articles on environmental justice in Salt Lake City, focuses on the the way things are right now. In upcoming issues we’ll discuss how we got to this point and what we can do to mitigate current issues.

E

nvironmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, income or national origin with respect to developing, implementing and enforcing environmental

laws, regulations and policies, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This means there should be no differences in terms of environmental exposure across populations—i.e. the air that wealthier people

Figure 1 – Sound pollution map of Salt Lake City showing noise hotspots along large highways and near industrial facilities.


Figure 2 – Sociodemographic maps of large emitters of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which are precursors to ozone.

breathe should be the same as the air less wealthy people breathe; noise pollution should be the same across all neighborhoods regardless of race, and so on. We all know that is not the case. Poor neighborhoods suffer the

most environmental degradation. Take noise pollution. Airports, large highways and industrial facilities tend to be fairly noisy and may sometimes operate at all hours (as can be seen in Figure 1). Since property values near these noise pol-

luters are lower than around quiet areas, lower income (which generally means higher minority) populations live in these locations. Historically, water pollution is also an important environmental justice topic, with wealthier areas putting

Continued on next page Figure 3 Traffic counts for zip codes in Salt Lake County showing the variability associated with per capita income and percent of white population.


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September 2020

forth resources and efforts to maintain cleaner streams, rivers and beaches. And light pollution is increasingly being studied as a factor in public health and quality of life. However, the most apparent difference between wealthier and less wealthy neighborhoods regarding environmental justice issues is air quality. Just drive to the mountains in winter and you’ll see the thick layer of pollution at the bottom of the Salt Lake Valley. While communities in the Upper Avenues, Emigration Canyon and Suncrest, to name a few, are above the inversion layer, communities in the western part of Salt Lake County have a grey pollu-

Figure 4 – COVID-19 positive cases in Salt Lake County showing the variability associated with per capita income and percent of white population.

tion cloud hanging over them. Geography has an important role to play, since pollution settles in the lower parts of the valley. But that is also where the largest emitters— factories, large highways—are generally located. These are also where

Continued:

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

lower-income and higher-minority neighborhoods can be found, as shown in Figure 2. Dr. Robert Bullard, a sociologist often referred to as the “Father of Environmental Justice,” has written extensively on this topic. He’s found that the best determinant of air quality at the zip code level is the

The best determinant of air quality at the zip code level is the percent of minority population, says Bullard.

percent of minority population. These findings have spurred research on exposure to variable levels of air quality, the effect on children’s health and even the impacts from climate change. We already know that elevated levels of air pollution negatively impact human health. In the 1990s, Dr. Arden Pope from Brigham Young University studied the correlation between air quality and Geneva

Steel Mill’s intermittent closings. Recently, many studies are using more detailed air pollution measurements to learn about the impact of air quality on pulmonary outcomes, cardiovascular events, school absences and even suicide. These outcomes have been more acutely visible during COVID-19. The pandemic is showing us stark differences across sociodemographic groups. A recent study found that the partial economic shutdowns and social distancing measures impacted communities in different ways. Workers in higher-income zip codes were able to work from home (or choose to not go to work) and reduce their exposure to COVID-19,

as shown by lower traffic counts in Figure 3. Income and percent of white population were strong determinants in COVID-19 positive cases; the nearly 10-fold difference can be seen in Figure 4. These stark differences underscore the ripple effects of environmental justice on public health. ◆ Daniel Mendoza is a Visiting Assistant Professor in City and Metropolitan Planning and a Research Assistant Professor in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah.


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32 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

GARDEN LIKE A BOSS

Plant more vegetables now! Master the wild ride of erratic weather for a perpetual yield in the garden BY JAMES LOOMIS

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s the tomatoes give way to endless bowls of salad greens and carrots growing sweeter as the nights grow cooler, the boss level gardener always has enough to share. Simple in theory. Yet for those of us in the Mountain West, these seasons can be a wild ride. In fact, they are often so sporadic that without a

September in Utah can see 90-degree daytime highs—too hot for our tender cool weather seedlings. Protect them with 30% shade cloth.


Plants that are fed too much nitrogen become magnets for pests like aphids, who prefer a high nitrogen environment. calendar it’s often nearly impossible to pinpoint exactly what season we’re experiencing. Fall in the Salt Lake Valley is usually a “just right” situation sandwiched between a “Lard-a-mercy, it’s still this hot?!” and “Wait, what?! It’s winter already?” Which, of course, is then followed by a long period of “just right.” This wild ride can make pulling off a successful fall garden challenging. However, sweet success can be yours with a few strategic boss moves. Each of these techniques builds upon the other, so if you’re harvest that you can succession new to gardening, set yourself up plant them, meaning you repeatfor success by starting at level 1. edly direct seed more each week, guaranteeing you repeated harBoss move #1. vests. Many of these are “cut and Short and sweet come again” crops, meaning they Many fall crops have a short life will regrow for multiple harvests. One thing to keep in mind when cycle, often described as DTM or “days to maturity.” This is the num- considering the DTM of a certain ber of days it takes from the time crop is that as the days grow shorter, you plant the seed in the ground the plant has less opportunity to until your crop is ready to harvest. gather sunlight energy. This means Crops such as lettuce, radishes, that it takes longer than the stated spinach and countless Asian greens DTM. For crops planted in Septemcan mature in less than 40 days. The ber, add another 20%, and for crops shorter the DTM, the easier the crop, planted in October, add another as in the more likely you are to har- 30%. This is important because once vest it before winter sets in. In fact, the light falls below 10 hours per these crops are so quick to grow and

day, most plants will cease to grow. This is often referred to as the “Period of Persephone,” named from a story in Greek mythology. For us in the Salt Lake Valley in 2020, this is November 12. This is the hard cutoff date for growing a plant to maturity, and in fact one should aim several weeks ahead of this.

Boss move #2. Snack attack, not feeding frenzy Since our “just right” window is often so short in the fall, we need to make sure our lil’ plant friends have all the nutrient resources they need to grow quickly.

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September 2020

This is a marathon and not a sprint, so don’t overdo it. Plants that are fed too much nitrogen become magnets for pests like aphids, who prefer a high nitrogen environment. If I am planting transplants I will “water them in” with a dilute solution (half strength) of fish hydrolysate or fish emulsion, plus kelp. If I am starting from seed, I will make this first application when the plants have their first true leaves. I will continue to feed lightly with this half-strength solution on a weekly basis, then stop once the plants near maturity. It’s a good idea to not apply this solution to any edible part of the plant within a couple of weeks of eating them. Using this technique for carrots or beets will yield lush foliage but very little root. However, beet and carrot greens are full of nutrition, so you decide!

Boss move #3. Get ready for the heavies and run for cover Ready to play how the players play? Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are the unicorns of the fall garden: We hear of these magical beings, yet they never seem to actually materialize. Let’s face it, a bosslevel garden should yield more than leaves and salads. But getting these elusive crops to reach full maturity before the Period of Persephone sets in is beseeched by challenges. The first problem is these crops

Continued:

GARDEN LIKE A BOSS

Come October, you’ll need to install greenhouse film (no cheap plastic sheeting!) over your hoops to create a low tunnel. have a long DTM. As I detailed in the July issue of this column, these crops must get started in mid- to late July in order to have enough time to set their full heads before the days are too short. So, you’ve either done this successfully (high five!) or you’ll need to purchase starts. Once you have them, they’re ready to get planted out as early as possible in September, but…. It’s too hot. September in Utah can see many days with a hostile sun still beating down 90-degree daytime highs, which is simply much too hot for our tender cool weather seedlings. If we’re going to pull this off, we’ll need to protect them, which means shade cloth. I use 30% shade cloth attached to standard

low tunnel hoops to create a cooler microclimate below, which helps keep the plants a bit cooler. If your shade cloth goes all the way to the ground, then this will also keep out the small whites (false “cabbage moths”), which is a next-level boss maneuver. Once the weather moves into the 70s and low 80s reliably, you can remove the shade cloth, but don’t lose the hoops. Come October, you’ll need to install greenhouse plastic over your hoops to create a low tunnel. The cool weather fall crops can survive light frosts—that’s not the reason for the plastic. The goal is to consistently raise the overall average temperature that the crops experience, the result of which is a much faster growth rate. Be sure to ventilate the low tunnels on hot days so as not to overheat the cool weather-loving plants inside. When building low tunnels, only ever use greenhouse film, never cheap plastic sheeting from the big box store. Cheap plastic sheeting will phytodegrade quickly, making a mess and also making you less of a classy human being for purchasing one more giant piece of singleuse plastic. Greenhouse film catches and diffuses light, resulting in even plant growth. Take care of it and it will last a decade or more in this application. ◆ James Loomis is a full-time urban farmer, educator and keeper of the Old Cherry Orachard (aka OchO), a permaculture farm. He lives in Salt Lake City.



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FEATURE

Utah’s mycophile nexus Meet the mushroom people

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here’s a word for it in the Potawatomi language: puhpowee, the force that causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight. We’re lucky to have fungi— a whole kingdom of organisms ready to help us spring a trapdoor out

BY ALICE TOLER of the ecological corner we’ve painted ourselves into, if only we can be still enough long enough to understand their immense strength

.

It’s difficult to believe, but soft-bodied mushrooms have enough power to break asphalt as they grow questing for the sky. Fungi have been around for 1.5 billion years and have shaped the evolution of every other creature on the planet in some way great or small, but our human relationship with them has sometimes been fraught. Our cultures can be broadly characterized as “mycophilic”—mushroom-loving, or “mycophobic”— mushroomfearing. In the United States we’ve historically been pretty fearful of mushrooms, but things are changing and the rate of change accelerating as advocates like Paul Stamets, Peter McCoy and Merlin Sheldrake garner more attention. Puhpowee— what are the mushrooms helping us humans push up out of the soil?

Adom Wong mushrooms


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y personal fascination with mushrooms has some deep roots (or mycelia, if you want to use the term for fungal root structure). When I was four, I was so badly frightened by a Clathrus ruber (basket stinkhorn) growing in our tropical back yard that I cried out for my mother to come and destroy it. Years later I felt guilty about this. But still, years after that, I felt much better when I learned that by Clathrus ruber “killing”the fruiting body, (basket stinkhorn) my mother had only helped the fungus spread its spores more effectively. I was told, like most other children in the West, to never eat mushrooms that I might Soft-bodied mushrooms have enough power to break asphalt find growing, since they might kill me. With all these mushrooms on my Mushrooms were safe I felt much mind, I wanted to meet more peoon pizza, or maybe in like me with a passion for things better when I ple salad, and edible ones fungal. never looked like anything learned that by Mushroom people, I discovered, other than little white buttons. are networked a bit like mushrooms “killing”the fruiting body, I’d heard of gourmet and medicithemselves. I could have internal mushrooms but gave them the my mother had only helped viewed dozens, since each one I suspicious side-eye until a few years talked to had friends they were exthe fungus spread its spores cited to point me toward. In the inago when my sister-in-law gave me a grow-your-own oyster mushroom more effectively. terests of brevity, I kept it to five. kit for Christmas. I was doubtful that Among them, they represent three anything would happen here in our year, when I saw Louie Schwartz- diverse areas of activity in the fungal dry desert climate, but put the kit in berg’s excellent documentary Fan- renaissance: growing edible gourthe shower stall and lo! mushrooms tastic Fungi and was so inspired by a met mushrooms, growing and appeared. They were delicious! CGI rendering of an underground sourcing medicinal mushrooms, I followed online tutorials and mycelial network that I decided to and advocacy for psychedelic mushtried my hand at growing other va- build a real-life one out of recycled room therapy. rieties of oyster mushrooms (elm, materials for the Urban Arts AlWhatever the approach, all would golden and pink), as well lion’s mane liance’s Dreamscapes immersive art agree: Mushrooms get into your and reishi. experience at the Gateway in down- soul. Fast forward to November of last town Salt Lake.


36 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

Katie Lawson: The Educator

September 2020

Continued:

UTAH’S MYCOPHILE NEXUS

“I’ve seen the conversation really expanding in the last three years or so. I stick with four species of oysters in my workshops: pink oyster, king www.fungalfocusutah.com oyster, blue oyster, and elm oyster. Blue and elm are the most reliable; ne good thing about the blue is a cool weather variety, and pandemic is that when we elm is a hot weather one.” saw grocery stores The allure and the frustrarunning out of food, people tion of growing mushrooms, got motivated to learn how she says, are two sides of the to grow stuff!”Katie is here to same coin. help people learn how, par“They’re so mysterious. You ticularly when it comes to can set them up, with everymushrooms. thing perfect, and they still The New Jersey native with don’t do their thing, and then a BS in political science and a they can surprise you. I’ve certificate in labor studies says had blue oysters fruit in Aushe’s always been involved gust when they have absolutely no business fruiting, The allure and the and had king oyster kits, prepared exactly the same, fruit frustration of growing wildly for one customer and mushrooms, she says, do nothing for another. It’s like mushrooms have their are two sides of the personalities and don’t like to same coin. be pigeonholed. “If you look at the way they operate in a forest, they seem with economic, social, politito have this type of intellical and environmental issues. gence, and they know what Through Worldwide Opportuneeds to be done to balance Mushrooms—but more broadly fungi— nities on Organic Farms, she the ecosystem. If we cultivate have been crafting life on Earth for millennia. farmed in Oregon, Georgia them they’re sort of, like, ‘no, I They redefine what it means to be powerful. and Maine before moving to do it on my terms!’” Utah. Her mycological passion Mushroom people also do was ignited in 2016 while attending Katie acknowledges that a lot of things on their own terms. “I have a lecture at the Salt Lake City Library people find mycology inaccessible. this idea that people who underby Peter McCoy, who was touring with his masterwork Radical Mycol- She focuses on making people suc- stand fungi interact differently ogy: A Treatise on Seeing and Working cessful with their projcts so that with the world, because fungi inthey get excited about what they’ve teract in ways that are more netWith Fungi learned and want to continue. She worked. It’s a mutual aid type of She dove in with a passion, atdistributes mushrooms and grow thinking, and it’s cool to see that tending Mycologos School of Mycology, funded by a microgrant kits via her CSA and teaches people play out in my personal life. from Slow Food Utah. Now Katie how to create their own kits to grow. There’s a lot of support and exEven before the pandemic, she change; a little tribe is building runs her own small CSA and gives says, interest had been building. around mycology.”

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workshops and classes on mushroom cultivation, identification and fungal ecology. She has worked with Alta Community Enrichment, The Green Urban Lunch Box, Wasatch Community Gardens and the University of Utah Lifelong Learning.


BOOK REVIEW The mind of a mushroom

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. Merlin Sheldrake: 2020 (Penguin Random House.

entific rigor with companionable musing, presenting the history of his field along with a lucid overview of what's going on in it right now. A fascinating and fathomable section on lichens, for example,

he fungi around us are so often hidden and easily go unnoticed, but Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake's masterpiece of a pop-natural-history tome helps us get into what you might call the mind of the mushroom. From following intrepid biologists into the field, examining the complex communications and relationships between fungi and plants and animals, and considering what actually constitutes intelligence and individuality, this book delivers consistent, thought-provoking delight. Sheldrake, the son of famed parapsychological researcher Rupert Sheldrake, is an accomplished professional mycologist who blends sci-

illuminates an ecological corner that we never knew we could find so engrossing!

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From Peter McCoy to Paul Stamets to Terence McKenna (whom Sheldrake hung out with when he was a child), the mycological movers and shakers make their appearance, but Sheldrake doesn't neglect the lesserknown players either. At the end of the book we're left with this quest i o n : Between the fungi and us, who's actually steering the global ecology? If we're really able to step outside the collective ego of the animal kingdom, the answer appears yet to be determined. When the author received his advanced copy of the book he seeded it to grow these mushrooms... which he of course ate. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-for-july-19-20201.5647948/inside-the-strange-and-world-changing-ki ngdom-of-fungi-1.5648084

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September 2020

Gabriela D’Elia The Myco-Astrologer www.moon-mushrooms.com

G

abriela D’Elia has been developing one of the most unique and compellingly interesting practices around mushrooms that I’ve yet encountered, blending the study of fungi with astrological readings and posting videos and podcasts about her work. Originally from Utah, she moved to Seattle for university and was immediately captivated by the fungal world there. “Within the first few days I was noticing all these colorful mushrooms around, maybe six or seven different species fruiting in one spot.”Taken aback by them—their smell, color, texture—she started doing research, and eventually chose to focus on mycology in her Environmental Studies program at Seattle University, emmersing herself in the mushroom community. “I joined the Puget Sound Mycology Society and taught a handful of my own classes and did guided walks and some small-scale

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UTAH’S MYCOPHILE NEXUS

cultivation.”Eventually she moved back to Utah —a much more challenging climate for mushroom cultivation. “It’s a totally different game here. You really have to listen to your surroundings, what resources you have access to, and find the way that works best for you. “The practice of cultivation has been mysterious for so long, and so

“We humans enjoy believing we are separate from the natural world. Any way that we can sit in stillness and observe the natural cycles around us can only be beneficial.” tucked away in expensive school courses. I think it’s important to encourage a strong DIY practice. Mushrooms and humans both have so much potential to help each other.” Gabriela grows a few gourmet species, and some medicinals. She is experimenting with using glass jars. Traditional kit grows usually employ

single-use plastic bags What she does with her mushrooms is beyond the expected. She makes small-batch handcrafted tinctures—myco-astrological tinctures, she calls them, letting them steep for at least four weeks. As a practicing astrologer, she says she also brings in whatever moon cycles or solstices are going on, charging the tinctures with planetary essences and their associated healing properties. “While looking at the associations on a birth chart that refer to body health and psychic and emotional tendencies, it just came to me that there are mushrooms that can be beneficial for these things—that this chart is speaking the personality of a mushroom that can be embodied. So I’ll give people a mushroom species to meditate on, to help them access that.” Is there a parallel between human collaboration and the symbiotic behavior of some fungi? “Absolutely,”she replies. “Far too often we humans enjoy believing we are separate from the natural world around us. Any way that we can sit in stillness and observe the

I love mushrooms because they invite us to imagine the connectivity of life and to question what we think we know.


Kevin Parks The Advocate

“We are trying to accumulate studies and testimonials to help educate people, to help them understand that these mushrooms are not www.mindutah.org a party drug,”he says. “They have alround 2017, Texas transplant ready been studied a lot, and we’re Kevin Parks became inter- hopeful to persuade Utah that psiloested in medicinal mush- cybin is worthy of clinical and therroom extracts—reishi, chaga and so apeutic use.” MIND Utah was formed after this on. He began taking them and expast January’s Intermountain Psyperienced a noticeable positive chedelics Symposium and difference. partners with Utah’s “I wanted to explore SCPTR, the Sympomushrooms more sium’s parent body, after that. They’re and the nationally so mysterious, based MAPS, the and there aren’t Multidisciplinary many people Association for who know a lot Psychedelic Studabout them.” ies. He got into “These mushgrowing mushrooms are an earth rooms as a hobby, demedicine that has been veloping a method for around forever,”he says. making “mushroom jerky”which he sold Mushrooms are mysterious, es- “Their efficacy has been proven by at the Salt Lake Farm- oteric, a challenge to undermany different cliners Market. When stand and grow; and they're COVID hit, he quit more animal than plant, creat- ical practitioners, especially internacultivating. ing a unique bond between us. tionally, and I beWhile his hobby is lieve it’s just a on a back burner, his matter of time before people underrespect for and fascination with stand and accept this treatment. mushrooms continues. He has become active in the Mountain Insti- Everyone knows someone who has tute for Neuroscience Discipline a condition that could be helped by (MIND Utah), an advocacy group for this therapy.” Just like the bulk of a fungus clinical psilocybin therapy. A number of FDA-approved stud- grows underground as mycelium, ies on psilocybin, the active compo- MIND Utah and other groups are nent in “magic”mushrooms, are working steadily, quietly, and coopcurrently under way, regarding its eratively to lay the groundwork for potential to heal a variety of mental these treatments. “We’re not trying ailments from depression to PTSD. to be our own little entity—we’re in Interest has been rising in Utah as collaboration, just making progress a bit at a time.” well as the rest of the nation.

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40 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

Adam Wong The Gourmet Grower igmushrooms.com

A

dam is the main supplier of gourmet mushrooms to restaurants and farmers markets along the Wasatch Front. The Layton native studied business at the University of Utah. When he was 22 he opened a hemp retail store in Sugar House, which he ran from 2011 to 2015. He presently operates a 4,000-square-ft. warehouse grow space in Ogden. Chase and Kyle England, who ran a mushroom-growing company called the Biocentric Brothers, paved the way for Adam, he says. The brothers taught classes and sold at farmers markets, but they couldn’t get their production big enough for wholesale and restau-

Continued:

UTAH’S MYCOPHILE NEXUS

rants. “When they closed down, I pivoted from my [hemp] business and dove right in. Adam intended to start small and focus on oyster mushrooms. But after talking with a few consultants he became convinced a bigger market was there. “So I pulled the

Adam also brokers wildharvested and cultivated mushrooms from Europe, Minnesota and the Pacific Northwest. trigger, got a big warehouse and equipped it. It was a trial by fire to figure it out as I went!”he recalls. Adam has since become wildly successful, expanding from a few different species of oyster mushrooms to include lion’s mane, chest-

I love the versatility of mushrooms and everything we can learn from them.

nut, pioppino, king trumpet, wood ear, maitake, beech, and reishi (a medicinal). He is presently looking to expand his operation again, potentially purchasing some land and getting out of the urban setting. Adam also brokers wild-harvested and cultivated mushrooms from all over, bringing in truffles from Europe; seasonal lobster mushrooms, chanterelles and chicken of the woods from Minnesota; and a great variety of other wild mushrooms from the Pacific Northwest. “People are slowly opening their eyes to the importance of the fungi kingdom, not just as health foods but from a medical standpoint,”he says. “I think we’re starting to realize all the capabilities that fungi have. People want healthier food, they want to be more environmentally conscious, and mushrooms play into a lot of those roles. There’s an awakening here.”


Jme Bonfiglio The Medicinals Entrepreneur

www.wholesunwellness.com

J

me (pronounced “Jamie”) got her start working for Paul Stamets’ brand of medicinal mushroom supplements, Host Defense, but has used that springboard to vault into her own medicinal mushroom business, WholeSun Wellness. She is also the host and organizer of what would have been Utah’s first Fungi Festival—awaiting a safe rescheduling date after having been postponed due to the unforeseen circumstances of this summer. Jme is a veritable mycological dynamo, advocating for the boundless utility of mushrooms. A Salt Lake native, she started her education in aviation and taught welding at a high school for a while before going back to school for mycology. “My grandma was into natural remedies and worked with native tribes locally and out of state, but I didn’t know what a supplement was until I walked into a health food store.” Jme now sources organic medicinal mushrooms from all over the globe. “We source from two organic farms in China, and also from Scotland, Thailand, Canada and Japan. We work exclusively with small independent farmers, with no middle man involvement—I went there myself to make these relationships.” It soon occurred to her that she could better expand her business by setting up farms in the United States. She is involved in building a

Mushrooms are the life of our ecosystem and the healers of our planet. “I love mushrooms and I want to keep them how nature grows them,”she says. “There’s no reason for them to be on grain, so at our farms we’re growing them on their native substrates [usually different types of wood].” She says she is also gearing up to provide legal psilocybin for the upcoming FDA trials. “We’ve been “We have a really good working with legislation in Oregon chance of getting one of the and Colorado for November,”she licenses to grow [legal psilo- says. “We have a really good chance of getting one of the licenses to cybin for the FDA trials], grow, since we are already in a mushroom world and not, for examsince we are already in a ple, a cannabis company jumping mushroom world and not, in. We know what we’re doing.” Reid Robison and Parth Gandhi, for example, a cannabis organizers of the Intermountain company jumping in. We Psychedelics Symposium, are among those slated to speak at know what we’re doing.” Jme’s Utah Fungi Festival as soon as the pandemic allows it to be schedWhat makes WholeSun Wellness uled. She promises nationally wellproducts special? Jme says her known mycologists, “though the supplements are made from the point is to showcase our Utah locals. fruiting bodies of the mush- There are a lot of [growers and rooms, unlike other brands that teachers] here who don’t get the are made from the mycelial roots credit they deserve.” grown on grain.

Utah facility in south-central Utah which, she says, will produce over a million pounds of biomass a year once it is up and running. “Our goal is to eventually be 100% USA grown and 100% sustainable in use,”she says, “and our backup will be the international connections.”


42 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

Continued:

UTAH’S MYCOPHILE NEXUS

So you want to grow mushrooms!

G

Then inoculate it rowing mushwith either spores rooms can be (mushroom "seeds") or pretty intimia bit of existing mushdating. Plants seem room culture (sort of much more logical, and equivalent to taking a more friendly—they cutting from a plant), make seeds you can and give it time for the actually see (most of fungal roots the time) and grow in (mycelium) to grow all expected ways with through it and colonize leaves and branches. it thoroughly. You can Fungi, on the other buy syringes of liquid hand, are covert and culture and spores mysterious. Their from many different spores are microscopic. online shops. They spread underAdom Wong mushrooms Once this is done, ground, invisibly and Since it's so dry you need to convince silently, then suddenly the fungus to fruit, i.e. manifest overnight, and we generally to make actual mushsometimes in unexdon't have a big rooms. pected places. How do Different species you grow a mushmold count, we have different requireroom? It's perhaps not can often get away ments. Some need as hard as you think. light, some need There are four basic with being less rig- more more fresh air exsteps to mushroom growing: Sterilization, orous about steril- change, some prefer more humidity and so inoculation, colonizaity, but you have to forth. tion, and fruiting, and The best "tek”for you literally hundreds of be prepared to is the one you figure different techniques or laugh off your out for yourself. Here in "teks”that deal with Utah, since it's so dry these in different ways. failures. and we generally don't The easiest way is to buy a pre-colonized kit. That takes have a big mold count, we can often care of the first three steps for get away with being less rigorous you—and that's an awesome way about sterility, but you have to be to get into growing! However, if you prepared to laugh off your failures want to dig in further, here’s a and make friends with the notorious teal-colored Trichoderma mold that rough outline: First, pick a medium to grow your is the bane of every mushroom mushrooms on (a "substrate") and grower. Here are some resources I found do some kind of sterilization procehelpful: dure on it.

Supplies (spores, kits): Back To The Roots Field and Forest North Spore The Cultured Mushroom The Mycelium Emporium SporeWorks

* A note about psychedelic mushrooms: The sale of psychedelic species spores for microscopy purposes only is legal in all states except for Georgia, Idaho and California, hense their availability. It is still, however, a federal offense to actually grow the mushrooms.

Useful books:

Radical Mycology. Peter McCoy Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. Paul Stamets:

Useful forums:

www.reddit.com/r/MushroomGrowers www.reddit.com/r/unclebens/ www.shroomery.org https://mycotopia.net

Useful webpages with affiliated YouTube channels: North Spore FreshCap Mushrooms Mossy Creek Mushrooms

Inspiration:

The Mushroom Hunters (short animated film of poem by Neil Gaiman) Robin Wall Kimmerer on "Puhpowee” Louie Schwartzberg’s Fantastic Fungi trailer


S

o, why do we love mushrooms so much? At least those of us who have gotten over our cultural mycophobia? Every mycophile has their own answer, as different as one mushroom species from the next (that is to say, some extremely similar, some radically divergent). To answer that question for myself: I love mushrooms because they're so multifarious, and if a kingdom of life could be said to have a personality, they seem to have a sense of humor. They're jokers, and like a good joke they run underground until they get a chance to pop up like an unexpected punch line. They keep you off kilter, and make you think a little more deeply, just like good comedy. "Can I eat this? Is it food or poison?”Or, as in the case of my four-year-old self confronted with a basket stinkhorn, "Is this an alien come to invade the Earth and turn us all into goo?!" There's a certain bravery mixed with caution you must have when you approach the fungal kingdom. Plants are the straight men, and mushrooms are the tricksters. Puhpowee shoves a shaggy mane mushroom through your asphalt driveway and even though you're vexed, you have to laugh and marvel at the same time. So maybe that's it—they say laughter is the best medicine. People who love mushrooms love their capacity to heal, their utility as food and medicine for both body and mind, and the subtle way they encourage us to network ourselves together. If we let them, these alien-seeming lifeforms can help us get over our own alienation. ◆

Alice Bain Toler has been writing for CATALYST since 2008, covering a wide variety of subjects. She is also a visual artist: tolerarts.com/alice/


32

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46 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET September 2020

YOGA

A DIY meditation retreat Previously hidden treasures can emerge

This year’s retreat is home among family treasures. Watercolor by the author’s mother

L

ike so many traditions, the 18day meditation retreat I attend each year at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was not to be in 2020. The retreat has become a touchstone for my partner and me. It’s a time to take a holiday from our daily routines and remember what’s truly important. I was not surprised by the cancellation, but I was disappointed. Then my partner had an idea. Why don’t

we do our own retreat at home? Why not? We decided to do an 11-day silent meditation retreat, using my living room as the meditation space. We moved some furniture, set up our meditation cushions and picked our “greatest hits” of meditation instructions and dharma talks from past retreats to listen to morning and evening. Here are some of the things I learned:

• I had no trouble keeping the schedule—eight sitting meditations alternating with seven walking meditations each day. I felt no compulsion to “cheat.” • Just one day of meditation makes a difference. On the second day of our retreat, I took my usual brisk walk through my neighborhood. Even after one day of solid practice, the familiar landscape of my daily


route seemed more vivid—even magical. My daily walk showed me just how much had shifted for me in a single day. • I really enjoy cooking, but I also really appreciate when others carry that load. The meal prep was fine. What was challenging was the planning—figuring out what to do when, which meditations I’d have to miss or cut short, etc. This made me appreciate the joy of walking into a dining hall and enjoying a delicious, healthy meal that I didn’t have to plan. Still, incorporating meal prep into a meditation retreat was an invitation to practice mindful living. • Running errands was fun. I knew at the outset that I’d have to make a trip to the grocery store. My fridge just isn’t big enough to hold 11

The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. — Marcel Proust

practicing walking meditation indoors, I stopped to look mindfully at one of her paintings. My mother passed in 2009. Nonetheless, a feeling of profound connection arose that inspired me to look deeply at her other paintings. I took in every patient and skilled brushstroke, and became awash in her depth, wisdom, gentle humor and integrity. These paintings are my days worth of food. Then I ended mother’s essence. As long as I’m in up having to make two other trips their presence, I am also in hers. because of garden “emergencies.” The uncharacteristic patience I felt We don’t need to go away to exon these excursions pointed out to perience the peace of a meditame how much equanimity had ac- tion retreat. In theory I knew this, crued over the days of practice. of course. But I’m grateful to have • One experience could only have had the opportunity to find out for happened at home. My mother myself. ◆ was a nationally recognized water- Charlotte Bell has been practicing yoga since 1982. She is the author of several yoga-related books includcolorist. Her paintings line the walls ing, most recently, Hip Healthy Asana, and founder of of my home. One day, while I was Mindful Yoga Collective. CharlotteBellYoga.com/

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September 2020

CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

49

COMMUNIT Y Resource Directory

Psychotherapy and Personal Growth • Bodywork • Movement • Sport Intuitive Sciences • Spiritual Practice • Abode • Psychic Arts • Health ABODE AUTOMOTIVE

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COMMUNITY

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Open Hand Bodywork DA

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YOGA THERAPY

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46 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

SLIGHTLY OFF CENTER

Stephen King’s Groundhog Day

M

BY DENNIS HINKAMP

We’re all doing our best, but many are finding out resilience is a finite resource. I say this as someone whose life has been impacted much less than most. You can only hang in there for so long until you lose your grip. What doesn’t kill you does not necessarily make you stronger. Nationally, we are losing our grip in both small and large frightening ways. Read the news and decide for yourself. What have I learned? We need name tags more than ever. I’ve always been bad with names, but I’ve had to ask longtime acquaintances who Technically it is September, they were because of the masks and but it feels more like the because I haven’t seen some of them for six months. If not for reflec134th of March. tive surfaces, I probably would not recognize myself after six months. date that most of my travel plans I’ve had two people say they only got either got canceled or seemed recognized me by my legs. That seems a little creepy but, hey, any too scary to actualize. I’ve never been much of a globe- compliment in a pandemic. I’ve learned I should carry a small trotter, but I do like driving trips. This Monday was the first time I note pad when I go shopping. What have been as far as Salt Lake City in with me wearing a mask and trying six months. I miss long meandering to verbally leap through the Plexitrips and listening to audio books. glas border walls separating me Now I rarely get far enough to fin- from the cashier, I have to shout. If ish a podcast. It looks like the V- you must yell to get your order shaped recovery has turned into a across, this only increases the WWW-shaped recovery with more amount of stuff your mask cannot ups, downs and false summits on contain. And BTW “masks” and “face the graphs that determine our lives coverings” are the same thing; why split hairs? to come. aybe if we could start over and rebrand 2020 as the Corvid Pandademic it would seem cuter and tolerable. Who wouldn’t like to be overwhelmed with frolicking magpies and pandas? As a bonus, the world’s complexities really would be black and white. The joke I wrote back in January was that the 2020 would be the year of clear vision; 20/20, get it? Wow, was I wrong. Technically it is September, but it feels more like the 134th of March. March 15 was the first of many pushed-back goal posts of if we are “really careful, we can go back to normal.” It was the

I also learned there are things not to say for the foreseeable future: “Is it over yet? Let’s plan something for three weeks from now. What’s the worst that could happen?” What’s the new term— “doom scrolling?” Yeah, now there is a coin shortage and banks are asking us to do our patriotic duty and bring in Piggy Banks. I can get behind that. Mysterious seeds from China started showing up in the mail a few weeks ago. If you are a science fiction writer, this looks like is a winning plot line for either a Jack and the Bean Stalk or Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake. At least it has stopped some of the conversations about giant murder hornets buzzing into the country. If you are a woman, posting a black and white photo of yourself on social media can draw praise or scorn, depending on your state of mind. I didn’t know this even was a thing, I had to look it up. People are just angry all the time about everything and looking for other things to be angry about; including me, a little. It’s a good time to keep social, mental and physical distancing. Like wearing a mask, I drink mainly for the safety of others. Be well. ◆ Dennis Hinkamp recalls an old, but timely lyric: “Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do, because there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues.”


COMMUNITY

R E S O U R C E DIREC TORY

53

MOVEMENT & MEDITATION PSYCHOTHERAPY &

LEGAL ASSISTANCE

Schumann Law, Penniann J. Schumann, J.D., LL.M

Continued from page 49

3/20 DA

801.631.7811. Whether you are planning for your own future protection and management, or you are planning for your family, friends, or charitable causes, Penniann Schumann can assist you with creating and implementing a plan to meet those goals. www.EstatePlanningForUtah.com

Laura Pennock, LPP Family Law3/21 801.726.5447. Need assistance with your family law matter, but cant’ afford an attorney? A Licensed Paralegal Practioner (LPP) may be just what you are looking for. Expert advice and personal service at a rate you can afford. Mention this ad for $10.00 off of you rinitial consultation.. www.laura.pennlegal@gmail.com

YOGA INSTRUCTORS

Mindful Yoga: Charlotte Bell DA 1/20

801.355.2617. E-RYT-500 & Iyengar certified. Cultivate strength, vitality, serenity, wisdom and grace. Combining clear, well-informed instruction with ample quiet time, these classes encourage students to discover their own yoga. Classes include meditation, pranayama (breath awareness) and yoga nidra (yogic sleep) as well as physical practice of asana. Public & private classes, workshops in a supportive, non-competitive environment since 1986. www.CharlotteBellYoga.com

HYPNOSIS

Morgan Lulu Hypnosis 9/21

602.696-3539. 1500 Kearns Blvd, Suite AG20, Empowering mind training to activate limitless living with hypnosis! Morgan Lulu is a Level 2 QHHT Practitioner, Past Life Regression specialist, completed the Clinical Hypnotherapy Program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, and ACHE member #119-064. Client-centered individual and group hypnosis sessions, remote or in-office. luluhypnosis@gmail.com. www.MorganLulu.com

Rise Up Hypnosis 4/20

PSYCHIC ARTS & INTUITIVE SCIENCES

MEDIA

KRCL 90.9FM DA 801.363.1818, 1971 N Temple, SLC. www.KRCL.org

REAL ESTATE

ASTROLOGY

801.898.3011 Serving: buyers and sellers of agricultural and rural farm properties within Utah. Complete real estate services to guide you throughout the process and nuances of agricultural and rural lands. Consulting: water rights/shares, perc. tests, soil quality, conservation easments, hemp regualtions and urban home. www.hartcreighton@gmail.com

212.222.3232. Ralfee Finn. Catalyst’s astrology columnist for 20 years! Visit her website, www.AquariumAge.com, ralfee@aquariumage.com

Creighton Hart3/20

PERSONAL GROWTH

Transformational Astrology FOG

PSYCHIC/TAROT READINGS Suzanne Wagner DA

707.354.1019. An inspirational speaker and healer, she also teaches Numerology, Palmistry, Tarot and Channeling. www.SuzWagner.com

808.755.5224. SLC. Jennifer Van Gorp, QHHT. Past life hypnosis that is truly empowering. Allows the client to realize that they hold the key to every lock they've carried with them and provides the clarity to unlock it. One-on-one and group sessions available. riseuphypnosis@gmail.com www.riseuphypnosis.com

THERAPY/COUNSELING

Cynthia Kimberlin-Flanders, LPC 10/20

801.231.5916. 1399 S. 700 E., Ste. 15, SLC. Feeling out of sorts? Tell your story in a safe, non-judgmental environment. Over 21 years specializing in recovery from covert narcissistic abuse, depression, anxiety, life-transitions, anger management, relationships and “middle-aged crazy.” Most insurances, sliding scale and medication management re-

Ann Larsen

Residential Design Experienced, reasonable, references CONSULTATION AND DESIGN OF Remodeling • Additions • New Homes Decks and outdoor Structures Specializing in historically sensitive design solutions and adding charm to the ordinary houseworks4@yahoo.com

Ann Larsen • 604-3721


COMMUNITY ferrals. If you've been waiting to talk to someone, wait no more.

R E S O U R C E DIREC TORY

Moab. Taking phone appointments. sproskauer@comcast.net

SHAMANIC PRACTICE

Healing Pathways Therapy Center 3/21

435.248.2089. 4465 S. 900 E. Ste 150, Millcreek & 1881 N. 1120 W. Provo. Integrated counseling and neurofeedback services for anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship, life adjustment issues. Focusing on clients’ innate capacity to heal and resolve past and current obstacles rather than just cope. Modalities include EMDR, Neurofeedback, EFT, Mindfulness, and Feminist/Multicultural. Info@PathwaysUtah.com www.HealingPathwaysTherapy.com

Mountain Lotus Counseling4/20

801.524.0560. Theresa Holleran, LCSW & Sean Patrick McPeak, CSW. Learn yourself. Transform. Depth psychotherapy and transformational services for individuals, relation-ships, groups and communities. www.MountainLotusCounseling.com

Natalie Herndon, PhD, CMHC 7/20

801.657.3330. 9071 S 1300 W, Suite 100, West Jordan. 15+ years experience specializing in Jungian, Analytical, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Are you seeking to more deeply understand yourself, your relationships, and why you struggle with certain thoughts and feelings? Call today for an appointment and let's begin. www.HopeCanHelp.net NatalieHerndon@HopeCanHelp.net

Stephen Proskauer, MD, Integrative Psychiatry

4/20 801.631.8426. 76 S. Main St., #6, Moab. Seasoned psychiatrist, Zen priest and shamanic healer. Sees kids, teens, adults, couples and families, integrating psychotherapy and meditation with judicious use of medication to relieve emotional pain and problem behavior. Specializes in treating identity crises, and bipolar disorders. Sees patients in person in Provo and

Sarah Sifers, Ph.D., LCSW 10/20

801.531.8051. ssifers514@aol.com. Shamanic Counseling. Shamanic Healing, Minister of the Circle of the Sacred Earth. Mentoring for people called to the Shaman’s Path. Explore health or mental health issues using the ways of the shaman. Sarah’s extensive training includes shamanic extraction healing, soul retrieval healing, psychopomp work for death and dying, shamanic counseling and shamanic divination. Sarah has studied with Celtic, Brazilian, Tuvan, Mongolian, Tibetan and Nepali Shamans.

RETAIL

exquisite array of crystals and minerals, jewelry, drums, sage and sweet grass, angels, fairies, greeting cards and meditation tools. Come in and let us help you create your sanctuary. www.Turiyas.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Dave’s Health & Nutrition 7/21

SLC: 801.268.3000, 880 E 3900 S & W Jordan: 801.446.0499, 1817 W 9000 S. We focus on health & holistic living through education, empowerment and highquality products. With supplements, homeopathics, herbs, stones, books and beauty care products, we provide you with the options you need to reach your optimum health. Certified professionals also offer private consultations. www.DavesHealth.com

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

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APPAREL, GIFTS & TREASURES Blue Boutique 10/20DA

801.487.1807, 1383 S. 2100 E., SLC. Shopping Made Sexy since 1987. www.BlueBoutique.com

Dancing Cranes Imports DA8/20

801.486.1129, 673 E. Simpson Ave., SLC. Jewelry, clothing, incense, ethnic art, pottery, candles, chimes and much more! www.DancingCranesImports.com

Golden Braid Books DA 11/20

801.322.1162, 151 S. 500 E., SLC. A true sanctuary for conscious living in the city. Offerings include gifts and books to feed mind, body, spirit, soul and heart; luscious health care products to refresh and revive; and a Lifestyles department to lift the spirit. www.GoldenBraidBooks.com

Turiya’s Gifts8/20 DA

801.531.7823, 1569 S. 1100 E., SLC. M-F 11a7p, Sat 11a-6p, Sun 12-5p. Turiya’s is a metaphysical gift and crystal store. We have an

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ORGANIZATIONS

Utah Eckankar 9/20

801.542.8070. 8105 S 700 E, Sandy. Eckankar teaches you to be more aware of your own natural relationship with the Divine Spirit. Many have had spiritual experiences and want to learn more about them and how they can help us in our daily lives. All are welcome. www.eckankar-utah.org

INSTRUCTION

Two Arrows Zen Center 3/20DA

801.532.4975, ArtSpace, 230 S. 500 W., #155,

SLC. Two Arrows Zen is a center for Zen study and practice in Utah with two location: SLC & Torrey. The ArtSpace Zendo in SLC offers daily morning meditation and a morning service and evening sit on Thursday. TAZ also offers regular day-long intensives—Day of Zen—and telecourses. www.TwoArrowsZen.org

Please support the people who support Community Resource Directory SALES@CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET


Suzanne Wagner

PSYCHIC, AUTHOR, SPEAKER, TEACHER

30 YEARS PSYCHIC EXPERIENCE

Author of “Integral Tarot” and “Integral Numerology”

COLUMNIST FOR

Catalyst magazine since 1990

25 YEARS TEACHING: Tarot, Numerology, Palmistry & Channeling

CLASSES

All Classes $300 per person CHANNELING CLASS July 11-12 & Dec 12-13 TAROT CLASS Sept 12-13 NUMEROLOGY CLASS Oct 24-25

SUZANNE WILL BE IN UTAH FOR APPOINTMENTS: June 7-27 • Aug 21-Sept 15 Oct 17-Nov 10 • Dec 5-Dec 20

❂ Cost is $150 per hour New Client Discount $120 per hour 1/2 Hour $75

PSYCHIC PHONE CONSULTATIONS Call 707-354-1019 www.suzannewagner.com


56

URBAN ALMANAC

September 2020 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

A monthly compendium of random wisdom for the natural world and beyond by Diane Olson, Anna Zumwalt and Greta deJong

September 1 Sunrise 6:54 am, Sunset 7:59 pm. Av. high: 78 degrees; Av. low: 58. September 2 National Preparedness Month. Make an evacuation kit for your pets: leash, crate, health records, any meds, i.d./microchip documentation, photographs of you and your pet, water, food, dish, bags/litter box, blankets, toy. More on disaster prep: HTTPS://EXTENSION.USU.EDU/UEDEN/ September 3 Birthstone: Sapphire. Once believed to protect the wearer from snakes, imp r o p e r thoughts, cranki-

ness a n d stupidity. If only. September 4 Labor Day. Proposed in 1882 by Peter McGuire, president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. September 5 There’s still time for a quick fall garden: Beets, cabbage, kale, lettuce, radishes and spinach can all be planted now. And then you can ferment them! (See 9/16.) September 6 Full Harvest Moon 1:04am. Humans have never seen the dark side of the moon. Likewise, if anyone were on that region of the moon, they would never see Earth. September 7 Pick pears before they are ripe (you'll have to tug) and let

soften indoors. The taste and texture will be far better. September 8 On this date in 1974, a month after resigning the presidency in disgrace as a result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon was granted a full pardon. September 9 Fermenting for God: International Buy A Priest A Beer Day. According to The Catholic Gentleman, “Priests are people, too, and they enjoy socializing over good food and drink as much as anyone.” September 10 C o o l word of the month: Eucatastrophe, an event with a happy ending. September 11 Where were you and what were you doing the morning of September 11, 2001?


September 12 Pepper plants can live multiple years if you pot them up and bring them inside to a south-facing window. The CATALYST office has one that’s eight years old! September 13 To roast garlic, place entire heads on individual squares of foil, drizzle with olive oil, wrap up, and bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until soft. September 14 A raw, ripe apple is nearly a perfect food. Its acids, contained in and just below the skin, aid in the digestion of rich and fatty foods. Apples also contain antioxidants that boost immune function and hinder heart disease and some cancers. September 15 Pickled is not the same as fermented. Only ferm e n t e d foods have probiotic and enzymatic value. September 16 Fermentation Festival @ Pioneer Park, 9am-1pm. Sample, shop, listen to experts and learn how to make your own fermented

say astrologers. September 20 Serious about your hens? Sign up for Advanced Topics in Chicken Care, https://WASATCHGARDENS.ORG. The Dog’s Meow carries organic feed for chickens… and goats, too. September 21 Do you remember the 21st night of September? Love was

veggies and more. September 17 Ken Kesey, b. on this day in 1935. Author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and focus of Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. September 18 The crickets are getting louder. As days get shorter and nights cooler, mating becomes imperative: Adult crickets die when it freezes. The loud, monotonous sound you hear in the evening is the males singing to attract a mate. September 19 New Moon 11:30pm. This is a good time to set intentions, start a new project or make major decisions,

changing the minds of pretenders While chasing the clouds away…. Anyone alive in 1978 remembers this classic euphoria-inducing Earth, Wind and Fire soul jam: HTTPS://GENIUS.COM/EARTH-WIND-AND-FIRE-SEPTEMBER-LYRICS September 22 Autumnal Equinox, a day of balance between dark and l i g h t , warmth and cold—a good day to watch both sunrise and sunset, to honor the shift of seasons. September 23 Apocalypse. Or not. According to the Christian Bible, Revelation 12:1-2, an astronomical alignment on this date

Continued on next page


58 CATALYSTMAGAZINE.NET

September 2020

Continued:

URBAN ALMANAC

fall raptor migration: Head out to the Goshute or Wellsville Mountains to say au revoir to h u n dreds (possibly thousands) of eagles, hawks, falcons and vul-

will

cause a remarkable sky event (Wikipedia, “Revelation 1 2 Sign”). See for yourself. Check out a telescope from any of the Salt Lake County Library’s seven branches. September 24 Take a hike: Asters, dotted gayfeather, blue gentians and goldenrod are blooming in the foothills. September 25 This is the peak of the

tures. September 26 Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman, b. 1774. The trees Chapman planted produced cider apples, not eating apples. The real reason he was welcome everywhere? “He was bringing the gift of alcohol to the frontier. He was our American Dionysus,” says food writer Michael Pollan. September 27 Houseplants summering out-

side? Rinse them to remove any pests and bring inside before you turn the heat on so they have a chance to readjust. September 28 Penicillin is a product of fermentation. Alexander Fleming recorded his discovery of penicillin on this date in 1928. September 29 Done with gardening? Pull the spent stalks and compost or put in the brown bin. Then plant cover crops: winter rye, oats, hairy vetch or buckwheat, to feed and protect the soil until next spring. Purchase from Mountain Valley Seed Co. in SLC. S eptember 30 Av. high: 71 degrees; low: 47. Save up to 10% on heating costs by reversing the direction of your ceiling fans. A clockwise rotation at low speed pulls cool air up which pushes warm air down along the walls and back to the floor. ◆. ◆ Greta Belanger deJong is editor and founder of CATALYST. https://Gretchen@CatalystMagazine.net/

E A S T O F TO R R E Y • WAT E R I N T H E D E S E RT • E A S T O F TO R R E Y

W

Cathy Bagley

245 E. Main St., Torrey, Utah 84775 435-425-3200 office 435-691-5424 cell CATHY@BOULDERMOUNTAINREALTY.COM

ater in the desert! A rare, mature tree rimmed pond in Torrey with water running in and out of it complete with willows, currants and wild roses and more. Also, pasture, water rights and a cabin with city water and electricity. Oriented to the south, away from buildings and roads, it is an extremely pleasant spot filled with birds and wildlife. The pasture is rented so the property is taxed as greenbelt. A huge 19 acre piece of land with a cabin to enjoy the views. No CC&R's. East of Torrey. $350,000. WWW.BOULDERMOUNTAINREALTY.COM FOR PHOTOS & INFO


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METAPHORS FOR THE MONTH September 2020

to your true self. Notice those who try to diminish you and make you dependent on them. The Woman of Feathers counsels you to listen. Let the joy in your heart be the guide and inspiration to show you how the impossible is BY SUZANNE WAGNER possible. When you find that joy and connect it to the hearts and souls of war, conflict and dominance into Osho Zen Tarot: Ripeness, your spiritual family, then you bethe physical plane of existence. Integration, Sorrow The cards indicate that something come a force for change. Medicine Cards: Hawk, Crow, Wolf Some people use the energy to is ripe and ready to be born. Mayan Oracle: Realm Shift, Ahau frighten those of lesser strength. InWe are about to experience a shift Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Three of Disks, stead, use that energy to strengthen in consciousness, one that has preThree of Wands, Five of Wands viously never managed to take hold your joy. Remember that you are Aleister Crowley Deck: Failure, in this reality. But now, this energy here for the greater good, not just Dominion, Queen of Wands can finally catch fire and shine a very your own ego or beliefs. Healing Earth Tarot: Woman of When you stand up for goodness bright light beyond this dimension, Feathers, Seven of Rainbows, allowing us to see and move into a without being attached to how that Four of Shields goodness is supposed to be distribhigher conscious existence. Words of Truth: Addiction, But the Five of Wands indicates uted, then those who are hateful or Energy, Change that “the armies of the Emperor will afraid have no ability to pull on you. he astrology continues to es- wage war against the people.” Ten- Because you want goodness for calate and the drama refuses sions may escalate to violence as we them as well. You want everyone to have what is essential for a to let up. This month you move closer to the election. happy life. You The lesson this month is to healthy and continue to confront w a n t everyone to remember that you are only what you have cohave equal opcreated. por tunities. Everything is a You want reflection of youreveryone to self—the conshine their light scious self and the brightly in their own unconscious self. It is unique and special way. the unconscious self in the When you are not showing an act of becoming conscious that has as powerful pacity to ounce of favoritism, only then will created so much upset and turmoil. as your caForget about the perceived men- perceive, receive and use your abili- others see the clearest mirror they have ever seen. tal facts and look at the energy, the ties. Instead of seeing the projection of The cry of the Hawk is everywhere flow of that energy, and the manitheir greatest fears on others, they festations that such energy creates. this month. When the Hawk inside The energy flow shows the direc- of you is not in balance, it will emo- perhaps may begin to see that they tion things will take and the inten- tionally color everything to the are the ones most afraid, after all. Have a wonderful month. ◆ tion directing that energy. The point that nothing is clear. The ego manifestation of that energy is a re- wants to blind the eyes of Hawk so Suzanne’s Utah visits are still on hold but she sees clients on Zoom. Connect with her via sult of all the thoughts, shadows it cannot fly high for an overview. www.SuzanneWagner.com/ Notice what attempts to blind you and egos playing out their games of

Time to perceive, receive and use your abilities

T



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