Spiritual journeys in tending the living earth, permaculture, and nature-inspired arts
In a post I wrote about over a year ago, I told the story of the “mystery of the stumps” where I described my relationship to the forest where I grew up, the forest to which I belong. I told …
In my post a few weeks ago about what I called the “Garden Resistance Movement” (where people are converting their yards to gardens, etc.), I alluded to the fact that I was now on the front lines of this particular …
Black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) are one of my very favorite foods. This year we have a bumper crop–everywhere I go, the black raspberries seem to be growing! I have been harvesting at several spots, including in my own yard. Black …
I started the Druid’s Garden blog a little over three years ago. I started this blog specifically as a way to document my journey while completing my Ancient Order of Druids in America’s 3rd degree program, which was a self-designed …
I’ve been studying mushrooms for a while now, but this is the first year I’ve had the opportunity to harvest and eat fresh mushrooms that I’ve picked myself! Honestly, there are few things better in this world than a fresh Chicken …
What’s the value of a tree? What’s the value of a forest? I’ve explored these themes before, but I want to come back to this in light of some new research put out by the Pacific Northwest Research Station, and …
I wanted to spend a bit of time on my garden updates–its been a while since I showed progress. So here’s what’s happening at the Druid’s Garden (zone 6a, South-East Michigan, USA). Photos were taken about 4 days ago. Chickens …
In America and many other industrialized nations, one feature dominates the landscape, especially in the suburban areas of the great cities–the green, pristine, velvety lawn. The lawn is so ubiquitous in American culture that a huge industry of chemicals, tools, …
I’ve decided to learn how to make wine from the dandelions in my yard! Why? When John Michael Greer was here a month ago, he suggested various kinds of reskilling to help us transition to post industrialism. One of his …
I’m going to be doing a series of posts on wild foods, especially those that I’ve been gathering for a long time. Why wild foods? Wild foods are just that–they grow without cultivation, are delicious, and allow you to experience …
The garden is a sacred sanctuary. The calming nature of the plants; the patterns of light, water, and growth; and the tranquility the garden provides are unmatched. This world we live in is so busy, so full of concrete and …
I think community and community building should be a critically important part of any sustainability efforts. When I first became interested in sustainability and permaculture, I checked a bunch of books out of the library and set to reading and …
I was excited to attend another workshop at Strawbale Studio, this one on Mushroom Cultivation lead by my good friend Paul. I’ve blogged about starting mushroom beds before–this post will cover mushroom log inoculation, which is one of the things …
My friend and fellow Druid John Beckett blogged about the importance of integration a few months ago. I wanted to add to his discussion and elaborate on some of the comments I posted to him. In a nutshell, his post …
For our grove’s spring equnox / Alban Eiler celebration, we also had a Druidry workshop that focused on introducing some of our grove members to the wheel of the year. I thought the workshop went quite well, and the information …
This time of year, something magical happens to the maple trees. When the temperatures drop below freezing at night and then goes above freezing during the day, the maple sap runs. In South-East Michigan, this usually occurs in late February …
This month, I’ll have been walking a forest/druidic path for seven years. This experience includes founding a druid grove, being active in two druid orders, attending multiple druid and larger neo-pagan gatherings, mentoring others, and so forth. And based on …
Black Birch (Betula lenta) is one of my all-time favorite trees. In the forest where I grew up, I we had thousands of black birch trees. Any time there was a thicket (or if someone would cut a part of …
We have entered a new age, what scientists are calling the “Anthropocene,” otherwise termed the “Human Epoch” by geologists. This means, for the first time in history, rather than having meteorological activity, substantial volcanic activity, or other natural phenomena which …
Last weekend, I was honored to be invited to a friend’s orchard for an old-fashioned Wassail ceremony (you can read more about my friend’s orcharding and sustainability work on his blog, The Fruit Nut). Wassail (or Old English waes hael, …
In the early 1930’s, two men, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, posited that language was so powerful it had the ability to alter people’s reality just based on its vocabulary, structure, morphology and syntax. This theory later became known as …