This is the last post (for a while) in my series on wildtending. In the last month, we’ve explored the philosophy of wildtending as a sacred action, explored the refugia garden principle, I shared my own refugia garden preparation and …
Gardening & Homesteading
The Druid’s Garden Refugia Project – Site Preparation & Garden Map
In my last two posts, I shared the philosophy of wildtending–the idea that we can nurture and regenerate the lands around us as a spiritual practice. In this post, I wanted to share the start of a new garden–a refugia …
Wildtending: Refugia and the Seed Arc Garden
Over the course of the last six months, I’ve been discussing in various ways philosophies and insights about helping to directly and physically heal our lands as a spiritual practice, weaving in principles of druidry, permaculture, organic farming, herbalism, and …
Wildtending, Earth Healing, and Gathering and Sowing the Seeds
Calling all land regenerators, earth walkers, and friends of the weeds! You can help heal our lands, today, with the resources you have and the love you have to give. What if, instead of doing less harm or less bad, …
Sacred Gardening through the Three Druid Elements – Designing Sacred Spaces and Planting Rituals
A number of people have asked me for ceremonies and activities that help facilitate sacred work on the land in various ways. Why would we want such ceremonies? Quite simply, we can get the most effect by combining actions out …
Backyard Healing Salve Recipe with Plantain, Chickweed, and Ground Ivy
One of the great things about fall is that so many of our spring ephemeral plants, those who dominate the springtime, come back to us again before the snows set in. This is the case this year with chickweed, one …
Lawn Regeneration: Return to Nature’s Harvest Permaculture Farm
As I’ve mentioned on this blog many times before–the spaces where we live and work each day are prime places to begin the regenerative work and rebuild our relationship sacred connection with nature. For many, the land nearest to us …
The Silence of the Hive
What you quickly learn as a beekeeper is that the sound of the hive matters. When you first get into a hive, if the hive is in good health and has all of its needs met, the hive is generally …
Review of the 2015 Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, PA
Last weekend, I attended the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, PA for the first time. I’ve been wanting to go for years, but I was always too far away until my recent relocation. I wanted to share with …
The Wheel of the Year: Sustainable and Spiritual Activities for the Fall Equinox
Note: This post is directed at those who live in the northern hemisphere; for my readers in the southern hemisphere, you can see my post on the Spring Equinox for activities appropriate to you! As the days shorten and we …
Soil Regeneration & Lawn Reclamation: Creating a Sheet Mulch Bed from Seedy Garden Weeds
As I’ve discussed recently on this blog, one way of rebuilding and deepening our relationship with the land is through the intentional act of regeneration. This regeneration work, in many cases, starts with the soil. The soil is the web …
Permaculture in Action – Five Year Regeneration Model Site (My 3 Acre Homestead)
Last week, I shared some inspiring words about permaculture design, and how it can give us a path forward and an active, regenerative response to the many challenges we face. I wanted to take some time this week to share …
The Wisdom of the Elder: Recipes for Infused Elderflower Honey, Elderflower Cordial, and Elder-Lemon Tea
Elderflowers (flowers from the Sambucus nigra plant) are in bloom right around the Summer Solstice (at least where I live), and this is a perfect time to create delightful healing recipes. One of these recipes uses raw honey (from my hives, …
Sacred Lessons from the Bees, Honey Flows, and Honey Harvesting
I’ve been making the transition to Pennsylvania and to my new life here (I spoke of this transition in an earlier blog post). Sorry for the delay in a regular weekly post–I’m back on track now, and have many wonderful …
Building Sacred Relationships with Food: Seasonal Food Rituals, Agricultural Blessings, Prayers, and Honoring Our Food
Modern culture prevents many of us from engaging in a critical part of our human heritage—developing a sacred relationship with food. I’ve talked about developing such a sacred relationship with food on this blog before with regards to growing it …
Wild Food Recipes: Maple Candied Violets and Honeyed Violets
Once again, the beautiful, purple-blue sweet violets are dotting the landscape. Where I live, they are in full bloom and will remain that way for the next few weeks. Last year I shared a traditional candied violet recipe with egg …
Converting Lawns to Gardens: Nature’s Harvest Permaculture Urban Farm
Over the years, I’ve done quite a bit of coverage about lawn issues, as I really do believe that the lawn can be one of the primary sites of transformation and change for ordinary Americans and others in the Western …
Other Sites: The Hotel Belmar Garden (Organic, Biointensive, Incredible)
Once in a while, you encounter something that is truly extraordinary. Something created by a unity of human effort and ingenuity and natural processes that is a sacred and inspirational place. I want to share one of those places with …
A Guide to Farmer’s Markets: Avoiding Fraudulent Farmers, Building Relationships, and How to Buy from the Best
A trip to the local farmer’s market has become one of my very favorite activities. Here you can sample a variety of locally-produced, high-quality goods, meet interesting people, and come home with bags and bags of fresh veggies, meat, eggs, …
The Wheel of the Year and Sustainable Action: The Spring Equinox
The spring equinox is upon us! This is a wonderful time to begin to engage in Sacred Actions and explore sustainable activities for the spring equinox. This post suggests activities for sustainable and spiritual actions that are appropriate for this …
Other Sites: Costa Rica as a Model Sustainable Living and Permaculture Design in Action
In February 2015, I took a 12-day trip to Costa Rica (my first real vacation!) Part of the reason I decided on Costa Rica was that this culture is well-known for emphasizing sustainability in a way that is well beyond …