Eating a locally-based, mostly plant diet is a key way of reducing your impact on our earth mother. Finding foods that are easy to grow, highly nutritious, easy to preserve, and harvestable for most of the year make eating sustainably …
Garden Updates – July 2012
Hello everyone! Its been a while since I posted actual updates from the garden. So here are some new photos! We have had very little rain in the last two months, so I’ve had to water a bit. The heat …
Papermaking, Part II: Papermaking from Plant Materials (Cattail Fibers)
In my last post, I detailed the steps for making handmade paper from recycled materials. In that post, I also detailed the basic steps of making paper, from blending to couching to pulling and pressing sheets. Recycled fibers are a …
Hand Papermaking, Part 1: Recycled Papermaking
This is a post on papermaking using recycled fibers. I also have two posts on natural papermaking with cattail heads (which works well) and cattail leaf (which needs some improvement). The commercial process of producing paper is an incredibly environmentally …
Awen and the Spark of Creativity: The Value of Creative People
A key principle in druidry is Awen, which means poetic/divine inspiration–the inspiration to bring forth creative efforts into the world. Many artists seek their inspiration in the natural world, through which Awen flows. It is Awen that gives us poetry, …
The Environmentally Conscious Consumer = Oxymoron
We live in a capitalist culture, and that capitalist, consumerist culture would have you believe that “buying green” products is an environmentally conscious practice. I was with a group of friends the other day, and we began talking about environmentalism …
Building Outdoor Sacred Spaces, Part 2: Stone Circles, Stone Spirals, and Permanent Outdoor Spaces
In permaculture gardening, one of the key principles is to mimic patterns found in nature in designing garden and outdoor spaces. I believe this principle is critical to creating outdoor sacred spaces–look around you, and when you are designing a …
Druid Garden on OBOD’s website!
Hi everyone–I just wanted to share with you that the Druid’s Garden has been showcased as the “blog of the month” on the OBOD’s website. I feel very honored by this recognition! Here’s a link to their page: http://www.druidry.org/druid-way/resources/druid-blogs/blog-month
Mushroom Gardens
If there is one thing that’s pretty difficult to find locally, I’ve found it to be mushrooms. Once when I was at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s market (which is about an hour and 15 min drive for me, so I …
Building Sacred Outdoor Spaces, Part 1: Stone Carin Building / Stone Balancing / Stone Stacking
I think its important that, as druids, we work to build sacred spaces within the landscape. Yes, many would say that all land is sacred, and I’ll not disagree. But at the same time, there’s quite a difference between a …
On Being Connected and the Toxicity of Technology
In today’s modern world, the idea of being connected is tied to technology and to ourselves rather than the living, breathing world around us. If you are “connected,” you have the latest smart phone or other 4G device, and you …
Tree Planting Ritual – Druid / OBOD Style
This is a simple tree-planting ritual that I wrote for our grove’s upcoming Beltane celebration this weekend. Our grove is only partially wooded currently–we will be planting about 15 new trees around the grove to help fill it in. …
Cycles of Life, Death, and Rebirth
Seven years ago, one of my closest friends, Alfred Struble, lost his 3-year battle with cancer, dying before he was even 30 years old. While I have long since accepted his passage from this world into the otherworld, I find …
Shelter and Growth: Hoop House Gardening
Throughout ancient sites in the UK, where Druidry originated, we find barrows, underground tunnels, and chambers hidden deep within the earth. These “protective places” are sites sheltered from the elements, the bitter cold and frigid winds, where people could find …
Music, Growing, and Land Healing
I wanted to take this time to blog a bit about plants, healing energies, music–yes–music. I use music a lot in my gardening and spiritual work. I play a number of flutes, including the panflute, wooden bamboo flutes, and various …
Seed Saving, Heirloom Seeds, and Sustainability
When I started patio gardening some years ago, I didn’t really know a lot about seeds. Like most Americans, I had simply gone to the store, bought a packet of seeds (or a group of plants already started from a …
Making Phosphate-Free Homemade Laundry Detergent and Dish Detergent
Since its still winter, and I’m making things rather than growing things, I wanted to share a laundry detergent recipe with you! Current laundry detergents are terrible for the environment. They contain a number of chemicals, including phosphates (which can …
The Druid’s Peace Prayer: Stag/Deer and Awen Painting
I wanted to share my first painting of the new year. When the winter months come, I find myself doing a lot more artwork while I wait till the spring is here again! I painted this piece (done in watercolors) …
Druidry and the Land
I’ve added a number of permanent pages on the blog–I hope you’ll check them out: About Druidry: An introduction to druidry, as I see it! I cover the basics of druidry as a spiritual and life path today as well …
Outdoor Root Cellar Barrel – Guide/Instructions for Creating a Small Root Cellar
Root Cellars: A Simple Storage Solution As a druid gardener, I want to grow my own produce and store it in an efficient manner, sans fossil fuels. Back in the day, before people had electricity and refrigerators, root cellars were …
Sheet Mulching / Lasagnia Gardening – Instructions and Experiences
Last year, I reported that I started my garden beds using a Sheet Mulching (aka Lasagnia Gardening) approach that I found in Gaia’s Garden and select places online, such as here, here and here. A year later, and I’d like …