My spiritual teacher Norma T. ( I write about my time with her in Farming Soul) once told me that it is easiest to develop spiritual tools to access multidimensional consciousness when we have direct contact with nature. I instinctively knew this to be true, familiar with the state of mind that comes when I… Read more »
Category: General
Life’s Issues … and a Writing Retreat
Night at Castlekeep
Life’s issues have their way of meeting us everywhere, even a writing retreat! We six women meet once a month in this place outside of time. Castlekeep, as we have come to call it, is a large, usually unoccupied house surrounded by blackberry brambles and jonquils who’ve lost memory of flower beds. The ranch house was… Read more »
Stand Up For the Earth!
Stand Up For the Earth! Donald and I work on sign boards today. We are joining other citizen groups to alert the town and county as to the importance of preserving our watersheds and our Ag Preserve. Degrade them with more tree cutting and clearing and event centers in the middle of pristine forests, and… Read more »
Making Barrel Compost
Making Barrel Compost In December Jesse and I made barrel compost and buried it in the hollow of an ancient oak that fell last May. We “stirred” eggshells and basalt dust into Biodynamic cow manure that Jesse got from his friend Seth (we do not have cows on our ranch) for a full hour, and… Read more »
On Ecological Sustainability: Judith Parrish, Plant Ecologist
My first interview on ecological sustainability is with my sister Judy Damery Parrish, Chair of the Biology Department at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. She is a passionate teacher who loves the earth with fierceness, reflected in here. What is your background and how did you come to ecology? I grew up on a farm and spent many… Read more »
Fallow and Storms
Fallow and Storms Winter fallow, grey day. Clouds press down, a storm predicted this afternoon, tonight, all day tomorrow. Promises of great quantities. Ramon rushes the rain, pruning vines. He will finish today, four weeks of pruning, no need this month to worry about keeping vine cuts dry. (We spray BD 501 when there is… Read more »
Russian River: All Rivers
The Russian River is a great, lazy serpent in the summer. Her lovely green body curves through redwoods and vineyards, through open meadows and old tourist resorts, on her way to Jenner and the Pacific. I raised my sons well into their elementary years on that river. We learned her many moods: her rushing insistence in the… Read more »
Climate Change and Protecting Valley Oaks
January 31: Valley oak leaves catch dawn's light.
Climate Change and Protecting Valley Oaks We mark the seasonal data in a small notebook that I keep on an altar table in our home: first milkmaid of the year, first Valley oak leaves, the day the upper pond fills, first shooting star wildflower, first blue-eyed grass—and so on. First milkmaid: January 5, 2005; January… Read more »
In Search of a Land Ethic: The Grand Coalition
On Tuesday afternoon, January 20, 2015, The Grand Coalition of Napa County met. Fifty of us sat around a square assemblage of tables representing ten citizen groups who have been addressing land use issues in Napa County over these last years. Some have formed non-profits which hired experts and attorneys to address some of the developing problems… Read more »
Crystallization Time: January 15-February 15
Crystallization Time: January 15-February 15 We have entered the crystallization period, January 15 to February 15, that time the fallowness of the earth allows most receptivity to the cosmic forces. It is also a time I use intention to be receptive to forces within myself as well as spiritual forces without. In our fast moving… Read more »
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