One of my great dreams is to plant a food forest. Gifts for those who search, blessings for those in need, hidden for a time to come? Yes. This dream is not a Here dream, but what might I do to bloom where I have been planted? I live in SoCal, in one of the…
Category: Nature
Sacred vs. Desecrated
Wendell Berry said, “There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” I’m working through this, and my thoughts wash back and forth… as they should. Spending time with someone’s statement, masticating it, that’s how you come to be wise. I would be a fool to discount his statement off-hand, and…
Animate Universe
I was re-reading “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Kimmerer and came upon this quote: “In Potawatomi 101, rocks are animate, as are mountains and water and fire and places. Beings are imbued with spirit…” In the book, Dr. Kimmerer discusses the tug of war between her scientific self and her Native spiritual self, and the knowing related to each.
My Christian self should not have this dichotomy. Am I not told that the very rocks would cry out, and that the world aches for the day of the Lord’s return? Are not rocks cut with human tools unfit for use on God’s altars? Nowhere am I told that the animate universe is inanimate.
Becoming Indigenous
How could we become indigenous? I don’t mean that we can, or should, replace the indigenous people who are already living here.
I’d want to build in abundance. I’d want to steward the land so it could feed many people, and wouldn’t take back-breaking labor to maintain the food. Not everyone will farm or make baskets, we’re going to want doctors and engineers and fire-fighters. I wouldn’t want to make my homestead perfect at the cost of my neighbor’s – because in five generations, we’ll likely have some g’g’g’kids in common.
Emerging from the Chrysalis
Emerging from the chrysalis, the butterfly is weak, her wings wet. In the struggle to exit the chrysalis, the wings are strengthened, but she must still sit and fan them, slowly drying them and expanding them to their full potential. She knows herself to be transformed, but yet is not ready to fly. It comes…
Cycle of Seasons
Cycles of seasons compose our lives. Each season has its cycle, its beginning, its end. Each group of seasons is composed of seasons of rest, of productivity, of beauty, of silence. This cycle of seasons is there for all to observe, but we ignore what is before us to pursue what “should be”. In the…
Living Systems Require Stewards, not Masters
Living things require stewards, not masters. Why? Because living things cannot be mastered wholly – and attempts that are semi-successful ruin their objects. It is time that we gave up the idea that we can be in complete control of that which lives. Land, animals, societies and ourselves – we are far too complex to…
Back to the Land
I grew up in the era of back to the land, and there was never a home that we rented when I was a child that didn’t end up with a greenhouse, extra tree (or three), and a garden space. As an adult, I stumbled upon the concepts of permaculture and regenerative agriculture and was…
Hotel California
To love the land is to know the land. I was born here. Second generation Southern Californian. I have the salt, the surf, and the sage in my soul. This land has been badly damaged by the overpopulation and buildup that has come with its perfect weather. Southern California is not built to support the…