Spiritual journeys in tending the living earth, permaculture, and nature-inspired arts
Here in the Laurel Highlands of Western PA, Beltane marks the start of “planting” season, where we move our indoor seeds out into the greenhouse to harden off, where many seeds like carrots and beans start to go into the …
When I lived in a walkable small town, what drew me every day was a line of beautiful blue spruce trees. Right around the corner from my house, they were on my daily walking commute to work. We used to …
One of the hallmarks of spring is the blooming of the vibrant and colorful dandelion. Emerging as soon as the coldest of the temperatures ease, the blooming of the dandelions affirm that the long, dark winter is indeed over and …
As I continue to explore some of the most important understory trees in the US East Coast and Midwest region, we turn our attention today to the amazing Spicebush (Lindera Benzoin). Historically, Spicebush was an incredibly important plant, medicine, and …
For three years, I have had my eye on our American hazel bushes here at the homestead. When we first moved to the property, much of the understory was damaged with the logging the previous owners did and it took …
There are actually two tree species that are known as both “hornbeam” and “Ironwood” along the US East Coast and into the midwest: The American Hop Hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) and the American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana). After doing a lot of …
I remember when I first spotted to Wild Grape patch from the dirt road. “Is that all wild grape?” I said to my friend in an excited voice. We pulled the car over, and sure enough, there were thousands of …
Plants are our medicine, our teachers, our friends, and help us connect deeply to spirit in a wide variety of ways including through spiritual work. Long before recorded history, our ancient ancestors used plants of all kinds. Ötzi, the ancient …
As we move into the dark half of the year and move closer to Samhain, the temperatures drop, the killing frosts come and the plants die back. The leaves grow brilliant and then fall. Brown and tan dominate the …
I don’t know about you, but 2020 has been a hell of a year. Usually, the Fall Equinox and the coming of the dark half of the year is a time for celebration, as Fall is my favorite season. But …
2020 has been challenging for nearly everyone in a multitude of ways. One of the things that we are faced with right now is grief: grief over lost friends and family who have passed, grief over a previous way of …
Today, we are taking a walk through the sacred gardens at the Druid’s Garden Homestead. There are so many lessons to learn with a simple walk in a beautiful garden. Today’s Lughnasadh garden walk reminds us of the power of …
” When the body is awake the soul is its servant, and is never her own mistress. … But when the body is at rest, the soul, being set in motion and awake … has cognizance of all things-sees what …
As we quickly approach Samhain, it is a useful practice to spend some time with rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and build her into your Samhain practices. In this post, we look into some of the magic and medicine of Rosemary, and …
As some of you may know from my posts on Facebook and Instagram, in early 2020, I’ll be releasing the Plant Spirit Oracle as my second self-published divination deck (if you want to support the project, see link in the …
When most people think of cherry trees, they think about plump, juicy, red or purple cherries from cultivated cherry trees. However, here in the USA, we have a variety of wild cherries that are an interwoven and rich part of …
As a druid, someone who connects to the local landscape spiritually, I’ve gotten my fair share questions about cultural appropriation and druidry’s relationship to indigenous practices, particularly traditions indigenous to the USA. The conversation may go something like this, “So …
Here on the East Coast of the USA, we are still in deep winter. Soon, the maples will be flowing. Soon, the winter snows will melt. Soon, spring will return. But until that time, the conifers, particularly offer strength and …
A herbal blessing oil is a simple magical tool that you can make that directly comes from the living earth. The herbal blessing oil can be used to bless tools, seed balls, trees, yourself, other people, or anything else you …
When I was growing up in the Allegheny Mountains of Western PA, and I was still a very small child, my father and I would seek out the sweet birch saplings. A good sapling was tall and lithe but bent …
Creating homemade smudge sticks with local ingredients is a wonderful activity to do this time of year. As the plants die back, you can harvest whatever you aren’t using for other purposes and create a number of beautiful smudges that …