A metaphor for mindful living can be found through the understanding and application of the principles of the garden. The more you spend time in a garden, the more you’ll understand the power of this metaphor (and I suggest that …
Growth
Ode to the Dandelion
I remember a sunny day not too long ago in early May when I was visiting my parents in western Pennsylvania. Everywhere we drove, dandelions were growing, their beautiful, bright yellow heads serenading the sun. After one of the coldest …
Tar Sands Oil Pipelines Update – Restoration Planning at Strawbale Studio
The question of how to respond to events beyond our control, the broader events and decisions that continue shape the world, is an important one. So much destructive and exploitative human activity is taking place (fracking, mountain top mining, tar …
Natural Crafting Harvesting, Basket Weaving, and Blooms
Spring has finally arrived in South-East Michigan! Although from a distance the landscape still appears to be barren… …this is not really the case! A closer look will reveal a bounty of new growth–the earliest spring flowers. If you …
Ode to the Apple: Making Applesauce
In a recent blog post, I talked about the apple as a sacred tree in that it provides us with bountiful, amazing cider. In this post, I’m going to walk through the art of making and canning applesauce. The applesauce …
Sacred Tree Profile: Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) – Magic, Mythology, and Medicinal Qualities
“MAPLE SUGAR” – Chippewa Song “Maple sugar is the only thing that satisfies me” This is the third in my series of posts about magical trees native to the Americas. In this series of posts, I explore the lore of …
Seed Starting and Garden Planning: Reasons to Start Seed, Seed Research, and Seed Starting Setups
Its that time of year that if you haven’t already started your seeds, and you live in say, a zone 5 or 6 climate, you really need to start thinking about starting them! This blog post will talk about what …
Ode to the Apple: Harvest, Pressing, and Fermenting Apple Cider
I’ve been meaning to write a series of posts on the apple tree for quite a while, and here in the depths of winter, I have finally found time to do so! And while my timing is off-season, I think …
Ecological Footprints and the Road Ahead
One of the more simple ways to measure your overall impact on the planet is to use a carbon footprint calculation. There are a number calculators out there; I like the Center For Sustainable Economy’s “Ecological Footprint” calculator/. Your ecological …
Sustainability as Sacred Action
The common bond that unites druids, and other earth-centered spiritual paths, is a deep respect and reverence for the living earth. We celebrate the turning wheel of the seasons, we revere the plants, and we speak to the forest spirits. …
Sacred Tree Profile: Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis) – Magic, Mythology, and Qualities
This is the second in my series of posts about magical trees native to the Americas. In this series of posts, I explore the lore of sacred trees, and describe their magical and mundane uses, edible qualities, and medicinal qualities. …
Introduction to Permaculture: Terminology and The Ethical Triad
Sustainability means “the capacity to endure.” I use the concept of sustainability broadly in introducing the work that I’m doing as part of my Druidic path—people understand that term, what it means, and are immediately able to have some idea …
Sowing the Seeds of the Future: Spiritual Insights on Seed Starting and Growth
There is so much magic in a tiny seed. Dormant, still, silent, the seed speaks of unimaginable potential. The seed is the first—and last—step in the cycle of most plant life; they complete the circle of life. Seeds can lay …
Four Sacred Trees Brew (Druidic, Magical Tree Tea with Hickory, Pine, Birch, and Maple)
There is nothing like an earthy, warm, sweet cup of tea on a cold winter’s night. This recipe is a magical blend, one of the most sacred drinks I have ever enjoyed. This recipe is derived from an Algonquin recipe …
Tree Profile: Hickory’s Magical, Medicinal, and Herbal Qualities
I am going to do a series of posts on trees–I started a second 3rd degree Adept project for the AODA, and its on expanding the traditional Ogham to include plants native to the Mid-west/mid-Atlantic region. This project will also …
Samhuinn Magical Crafting – Making a Magical Herbal Hawthorn Tincture
Samhuinn is the final holiday that is connected to harvests in the Druidic Wheel of the Year, and this is a time of apples, pumpkins, hawthorn berries (haws), nannyberries, rose hips, and rowan berries. I always like to do some …
Cover Crops in the Fall Garden: Winter Rye and Red Clover
One of the practices that has been central to my work in my annual (vegetable) garden is the cover crop. In nature, we very rarely see bare soil–the ground is always green and lush most times of the year (and …
Wild Food Profile: Dryad’s Saddle Mushroom
Dryad’s Saddle, also known as Polyporus squamosus, is a delightful mushroom that you can find the spring and fall cool weather. I first learned about this mushroom earlier this spring, and I must say, I gorged myself on it quite …
As Within, So Without: Blight and the Magical Garden
There is an old magical adage, first written by Hermes Trismegistus, that goes “As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul…” I’ve spent a long time in trying to understand this statement, see it …
Embracing the Sacred and Understanding the Druidic Garden: Growing and Preserving Your Own Food
When I was a child, I used to read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. In her books, Laura spends a lot of time talking about food preservation–slaughtering the pig, making maple sugar, making “head cheese”, sowing crops, cutting hay for …
Garden Trellising – Bedframes, Sticks, and other Repurposed Items!
This year in my garden, I focused on growing “up” rather than “out” and spent a lot of time finding and using trellises. Last winter, I purchased and read a book called “Vertical Gardening” by Derek Fell; after reading it, …