June 9: Free Offer on Snakes: A Novel

June 9: Free Offer on Snakes: A Novel In a week I will have pdf copies of newly soon-to-be republished Snakes (Leaping Goat Press, June 2014) and I am looking for people to read and then, if you like it, review the novel for Amazon (if you don’t, e-mail me instead!) Click on the link below, and… Read more »

Storytelling and Farming

Publication Date: June 15 Leaping Goat Press     Farming and storytelling go together. Is it the quiet that allows the imagination to stretch, feeling into all that is possible, or might be, or was? I walked too late this morning. The sun was out and the temperature had already reached 80º, snake time. I… Read more »

Farmer as Quintessential

Tools of the Trade     It isn’t how we think it should go: by cutting back, we strengthen the core. Pruning is painful! It means relinquishing possibilities in order to direct attention and vitality in a considered way. The focus, hopefully, is for the good of the whole, whether that be the whole of… Read more »

Discipline in Farming

Beginning visit with Valley Oak     The method is simple: suspend rational thought, forget what you think you know about what you are seeing, lay down the mantle of ownership. Simply be. With your hand— or in your mind’s eye— draw the plant. Get every detail: the way the leaf curls inward on the… Read more »

My Green May Be Your Red: Remembering How to See

Subtle energies are often captured by digital cameras. My Green May Be Your Red: Remembering How to See Many years ago when we were first learning Biodynamics we worked with a consultant who I’ve called B.B. in my recollection of that time (Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation. Soon to be republished by Leaping Goat… Read more »

Re-membering Ourselves into the Cycle of the Whole

Re-membering Ourselves into the Cycle of the Whole Each year there is only one time this picture can happen: this (December) time of year, this (late morning) time of day. Each year  I am taken aback when I see the shadow tree sprouting again from the pot. It slows me down! For a few moments balance… Read more »

Another Ancestor Mentor: Mrs. Ebbs

Another Ancestor Mentor: Mrs. Ebbs When I was in seventh and eighth grade I had an English teacher, Mrs. Ebbs, who taught me how to write. Mrs. Ebbs was a plump and stout woman who smoked on her breaks and had one of those raucous personalities that everyone is drawn to, particularly we kids. She… Read more »

Demeter’s Grief: Reflections on Our Evolution

No wonder she was tempted! Demeter’s Grief: Reflections on Our Evolution Yes, she was a great Goddess, that Medium of a tone of consciousness, and boy, was she pissed! Her daughter Persephone had been abducted by Pluto into Hades and the Underworld. In her fury, Demeter stopped everything from growing until she got Persephone back…. Read more »

More “Incidents” As Told by William Edward Peabody

More “Incidents” As Told by William Edward Peabody My great grandfather William Edward Peabody was born in Stonington, IL in 1846. His father William Starr Peabody was one of the colony’s main founders.  The following is excerpts from his remembrances about Old Stonington Colony around experiences that became stories told over and over, stories they… Read more »

Glyphosate and Monsanto

Blogspot There are many David and Goliath stories these days, stories it seems we love to hear. Perhaps we are comforted to think our actions count, that we can really do something. Even the Dali Lama gets into it with the famous quote, If you think you are too small to make a difference, try… Read more »