I really love January. The bitter cold, the winds, the snow–there’s something so magical about being out in a snowstorm. Where most people lament for the sun and hot summer months, I welcome all of the cold, the wind, the …
January Garden Updates
Growth
Ethical Eating and Avoiding False Binaries – Going Localvore
The politics of food have been tenacious and challenging for as long as I can remember. I have friends/family who are vegan, vegetarian, and/or raw. In general, I find that many people who work with an ethics-based diet makes it …
Shifting Worldviews: Three Books to Read on Sustainability & Druidry
I think that druids, and those of similar earth-centered paths, need to get really serious about sustainability. For what good is a spiritual tradition without the physical action that accompanies it? How can we revere the land while we take …
Growing Amaranth for Food and Beauty
Amaranth is a wonderful plant to grow for a variety of purposes. First of all, many varieties of amaranth are absolutely beautiful. I grew Hopi Red Dye Amaranth this year, and as you can see from the photos, its stunning.The …
Reducing Your Impact on the Planet: Ten Tips to Get Started
As we quickly approach the most consumptive season of the year, I wanted to post about ways that you can reduce your overall impact on the planet. I think its critically important that we, as druids and other earth-centered spiritual …
Gardening into December: Hoop House Updates, Chickens, Composting, and More!
I wanted to post another update about the progress of the hoop houses and other gardening activities in mid-November in my Zone 6 climate in South East Michigan. As I wrote about in earlier blog posts, I have been experimenting …
Druidry and Citizen-Research: Arbor Day Hazelnuts and Project BudBurst
When I attended the East Coast Gathering, one of the talks that really stood out to me was John Michael Greer’s talk on “Reclaiming Science.” In the talk, he argued that science has become rather corrupt, and the funding for …
The Mystery of the Stumps and The Spiral Path: A Story of How I Became A Druid
Each of us has a story–a story of how we ended up doing what we do, believing what we believe, walking the path that we travel. These stories are often like richly woven tapestries, and I believe that there is …
Story of the Ancient Maple: From Loved Seedling to Forest Guardian
On this Samhuinn eve, I would like to share a story. This was a story that was given to me. Behind our sacred grove, about 50′ feet into the forest to the north west, is an ancient maple. She grows …
Oak Knowledge: Value of Bardic, Ovate, and Druid Knowledge
In the ancient Celtic world, the word “druid” meant “oak knowledge” or more broadly “deep knowledge” (Cunliffe, 1997). This likely referred to the wide variety of activities that druids participated in and the knowledge they held–the knowledge of the law, …
Chickens and Sustainability
Chickens as part of a sustainable system. Raising chickens has become an activity of growing importance within permaculture/sustainability movements. Most backyard chicken owners raise their birds for eggs, meat, companionship, manure, happiness, and natural pest control. Chickens can form one …
OBOD East Coast Gathering 2012 Review
“Breathe deeply and enter through your heart’s door Where Stag and Salmon leap; where Hawk soars o’er the tor Where Starry Bear journeys from dusk till dawn. Spiral the heavens! Time Untime lingers on.” –Barb Pott (Crescent Birch Grove, …
Seed Saving 101: Spinach & Lettuce Seed Saving
Before Monstanto, before Walmart, and before any modern hybrid seeds available in convenient packets, humans saved seeds from season to season. This brought us closer to our land, to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, and to our own …
Living With Rather than Against Nature
A central concept in Druidry is peace. At the beginning of each druidic ritual, we declare peace in the quarters. We a say a prayer for peace (which you can see in my painting I posted earlier this year). But …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …