Spiritual journeys in tending the living earth, permaculture, and nature-inspired arts
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 …
Composting is a very easy way to integrate natural processes and nutrients into your garden, flower beds, and life. While various statistics exist, most commonly, I’ve seen statistics that suggest that up to 50% of what we throw away in …
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, …
A great deal of discussion exists within the sustainability/transition movement concerning the loss of “old” and sustainable skills and the importance of reskilling to help preserve the future and live comfortably in it. The concept of reskilling is a simple …
In Michigan, last spring (2012) was one of the warmest on record. By early April, I had beautiful spinach and lettuce crops; the crops were bolting by mid-May. The warm weather took its serious toll on our fruit crops—most berry …
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 …
In today’s blog post, I’m going to review John Michael Greer’s newest book, Not the Future We Ordered: Peak Oil, Psychology, and the Myth of Progress. To review this book, I am going to start with an extended personal example …
Recently, our druid grove brought John Michael Greer to Michigan, where he did a book signing and gave a talk on the fall of industrial civilization. If you are interested in either druidry or sustainability, John Michael’s works (on druidry, …
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 …
When we think about the practices that various groups and cultures did on a yearly cycle, agricultural holidays are some of the most prominent. The modern Wheel of the Year in the Druid tradition seeks to re-establish a set of …
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 …
In my quest for sustainable items for ritual and mundane purposes, I want to share something that I learned at the Strawbale Studio‘s recent workshop on natural, earth-friendly gifts: cob / earthen candle holders, paperweights, and other useful cob objects. …
As I become more spiritually and ecologically aware, I have a growing discomfort in interacting with consumerist America. Its something that has been gnawing at me for many years, but it was only in the last few that I’ve been …
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 …
I’ve written on this blog before about land healing, specifically in relation to healing the land here at my property that we purchased 2 and a half years ago. Yesterday, my grove celebrated Imbolc, and as part of that we …
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, …
I wanted to spend some time in my blog describing a journey I took last summer to see “the source” of a river. My work with the OBOD Druid grade initiated this journey, and it lead me to important insights …
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 …
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 …