Tag Archives: nature

The Ojai Foundation

Last week in California, my partner and I visited The Ojai Foundation and found a great source of inspiration for the type of service we eventually hope to provide.  Most notably, the Foundation combines lessons about sustainable living with experiences that foster the development of the human spirit.

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California Beauty & a Reflection on Place

There’s been a delay in posting as I was enjoying myself in California last week. I have several posts envisioned, but for today, I will be simple and focus on some of the beautiful wild things I saw that I am not used to seeing in my native land.

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Happy Summer Solstice!

Welcome to the longest day of the year!

Everything is blooming, life abounds, green and sun rule the Earth (in the Northern hemisphere, anyway!).  Do you feel it in your own life, too?

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Beet Recipe & June Brings…(Part 2)

It might just be my increasing appreciation for beets, but I was talking out loud (to myself) and making grumblings of gustatory appreciation while eating this very simple meal.

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Message to Earth

Earth,

I’m not sure when and where my love affair with you began, but your winds wrapped around me tightly and I was taken forever, always called to feel my body on your mosses and keep alert to your messages.

At this time in your history, as I walk amongst people that no longer hear your voice, feel your spirit, and understand you as a mother, I am filled with sorrow. Earth, I try to live as an example, but I feel I am failing. People are much more interested in glowing screens than flowing streams, and in making money than making life.

My heart aches and my head drops as I see people disrespect you by throwing plastic into your veins, to choke and kill your lifelines and your creatures; as people continually rip off your skin in misguided attempts to feed our species and create our shelters. Every day, I see people carelessly walk upon your body. They ignore your beauty and bounty.

I have come up with countless reasons to argue for you. I’ve tried to explain how protecting you will make us healthier and happier; why it will save us money; how it is essential to our well being and our future. But mostly, I just wish they could see you the way that I do. They would never need another reason to step more lightly upon you for they would see something so inexplicably divine that they would drop to their knees. They would realize that everything we do to the Earth we are doing to ourselves.

Earth, we are killing you and so we are killing ourselves. However, you will find a way to regenerate and go on. I’m not so sure about my kind. We’re a grain of rice in the oceans of your time, and we’ve forgotten how to live with you. Help us to learn before it is too late.

Love,
Me

Spring Foraging

Outside of this strange world that we call the internet, I don’t know many people who would say that an ideal day is one spent in the woods learning about wild edible foods. But for me, a day spent meandering through the woods is in itself the indication of a day well spent, and to combine that with learning about and connecting with plants comes close to absolute perfection. Maybe other people just haven’t yet tried…

Behold the knowledge

Disclaimer: I have not tried eating all of the plants shown below and I am not suggesting that you do so without adequate preparation! My method generally goes something like this:

1) Find a plant and ID it in my field guide or learn about a plant and aim to find it and identify it.

2) Identify it on at least a few other ocassions.

3) Read about the plant and possible dangerous look-alikes.

4) Try a small amount to make sure it agrees with my body.

5) Eat more.

Let’s begin…

The dried corms (Wikipedia: a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ) of jack-in-the pulpits can be sliced and eaten like potato chips!

Jack in the pulpit

Japanese knotwood can be eaten like asparagus…and I encourage this one due to its invasive nature!

Japanese knotwood

Coltsfoot can be candied and I’m still looking to find a patch big enough so that I can infuse the flowers into honey as a cough remedy!

Coltsfoot

Chopped toothwort root can be substituted for horseradish.

Toothwort

I also hit a ramp jackpot! They were everywhere!

Ramp overload!

Dinner!

Wandering around this way also leads to other beautiful finds like Squirrel corn (I don’t have any idea about its edibility, don’t try!)…

Squirrel corn. Hehe - such a funny name.

And you also might come across extremely cozy patches of moss at the edge of a ravine.  This is my version of ultimate renewal and peace. I once read that some Native Americans believe that excess energy accumulates in places like this (i.e., cliffs, edges). I think they are right – it feels so wonderful! Why don’t I do this every day?

I’m happy to provide more information to anyone who’s interested!

Go be in nature! Give in to your animal instincts and go foraging!

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Wandering on the Last Day of March: Impermanence & Wild Ramps

Yesterday, a hike through one of my favorite places to be in nature revealed several gifts.

First, was a reminder of impermanence. Everything is always changing and it is best not to become attached to any objects, people, or situations.  Strive to find happiness in each moment.

Everything will return to the Earth in time.

Second was a gift of free nourishment!  We found wild ramps (Allium tricoccum), a perennial wild onion.

Patch of ramps

When you get closer, you can tell they’re ramps by the slight reddish-purple color where they meet the ground. And when you pull them, you’ll know they’re ramps by their characteristically onion smell.

Reddish-purple: yup, ramps!

I harvested several.  It’s important that we’re not greedy when wild harvesting things so that we (and other creatures who depend on them) will have these foods in the future. Always leave many more plants than were harvested (some suggest harvesting every 4th ramp).  Another idea is to just pull the ramp up from where it meets the ground — you’ll still get some of the onion, but the bulb will be left to grow again.  Or even consider being regenerative with the onions and if you take some bulbs, use a few to start a new patch elsewhere.

Ramps for me; ramps for free

Ramps have sulfur compounds that are detoxifying for your body — try some today!

Also, did anyone else participate in this year’s Earth Hour?

It’s a fun way to show support for the Earth, be reminded of how much we depend on electricity, and to unplug for awhile! The camera-flash makes it look bright, but we had fun with candles as our only light for over an hour.  I’d like to do this more often!

Candlelight night!

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Happy Ostara! Celebrate Spring!

Regardless of what you like to call it, today is the Spring Equinox in the Northern hemisphere and we have again returned to a time where day and night are equal.  This time, daylight will win and we will continue to experience more light until the summer solstice returns.

Following the wheel of the year and the turn of the seasons is one of the best ways to connect with nature and to feel a greater sense of being a part of the all that is.  I find it especially whimsical and meaningful to think of my ancestors and other nature-based cultures of the past who would have felt this day on an extremely intimate level.  This balance between night and day means that winter is officially over and that soon food will be plentiful again — this is literally a time to be thankful that life can continue on. I think we still feel a part of this as we open our windows, spend more time outdoors noticing flowers, and feel a sense of renewed energy in our lives. The return of the Spring season still represents a time of renewal, rebirth, and fertility.

Luckily, even the idea of taking time to celebrate a day like Ostara isn’t all that foreign to most of us — the concept of rebirth and fertility as symbolized by eggs and rabbits appears in other holidays around this time of year (hello, Easter!).

Whether you celebrate it now, or in a few weeks at Easter, take a few moments to think of how and why these holidays began and how intimately humans have always depended on the Earth for our survival.

Usually, Ostara is a time where I’m just starting to feel like Spring might come again. This year has been a little different and Spring is in full force.  Here are some Spring-things that I’ve noticed over the past few days…

The magnolia tree is back! I feel like I should just spend all of my time underneath this tree appreciating it while it’s in bloom. It comes and goes so quickly!

Magnolia tree 2012

Adding Spring “weeds” to my salads!

Purple dead nettle and dandelion

Blooming flowers in the yard…

Windows open and Spring cleaning!

How are you celebrating Spring?

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