Something Old Something Sacred

Tales from the North Fruit Tree

2009-10-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

Apples and Pears are dropping anew from the trees in the backyard everyday now. The later in the season that it gets the better the apples are that fall. We rake and pick up the dropped apples and pears asap to avoid rotting and so to use as many apples and pears as we can. Juice, cider, hard cider perry, sauce, and dried fruits are sure to reward are efforts with the fruit trees. As a remedial approach to next years pest issues we are going to plant comfrey and some other beneficial plants at the base of the trees so to form guilds.

Vortex Blender - Gaiam

2009-09-27T11:30:00.001-07:00

Vortex Blender - Gaiam

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Vortex Blender - Gaiam

2009-09-27T11:27:00.001-07:00

Vortex Blender - Gaiam

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Wild Summer Hearts

2009-08-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

Aleta in a wildflower field and some wild strawberries and service berries that I forged for in Stanwood Forest on the Muskegon River.

2009-04-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

Aleta with her chelo in her 23rd Birthday Dress!

2009-04-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

Francis Avenue the final days of living in the city of Lansing! Here I am drinking some Hyssop Herb Ale with Aleta. We have brewed two versions of this beer.

Bramble Trout Brewery 2009

2009-04-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

Rose Hip IPA and an English Herb Ale brewing at the Francis Ave House. Aleta and I have brewed about 30 gallons and 7 different beers this year. We are going to keep on brewing. Hopefully one day we will open a brewery here in Michigan.

CAVM HERBAL HEALING

2009-04-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Complementary Alternative Veterinary Medicine is another approach to Veterinary Medicine. It complements conventional medicine and is an alternative. I am beginning a Canine Herbal Health Program with Medea because she has tested positive for Dirofloria immitis which is adult heart worms. I am going to heal her using herbal remedies and spiritual healing practices rather than treating her with conventional veterinary medical approaches. I have already begun to work with the AHVMA and a local conventional veterinarian. I am working on a report right now for this case. I am recieveing ridcule from some and support by others.

2009-04-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

Last season at the SOF~ Garlic scapes, tomatoes, eggplant, onions, summer squash, and pickling cukes.

2009-03-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Medea Miskwaa. She is the guide of my heart. .

Francis Street Bedroom Garden

2009-03-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Here at the Francis st. house in Lansing, MI I have a container garden in my bedroom! This picture is of a rose blooming in March 2009. Makwaa the dog is sleeping in the background on my bed.

The Future is in the Past

2009-01-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

The Eco Learning Center July 2008. There are some modest structures on site at the Eco Learning Center. Here is the view of three passive solar greenhouses. The wires above the greenhouses in the picture are from the wind tower.

Seed Democracy in 2009

2009-01-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

2009-01-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

Herbs and Seeds of Life

2009-01-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Herbs and seeds that I grew and collected in 2008. I grew 35 plus Family's of herbs and Flowers at various places in Lansing and Holt, MI. I foraged mainly in Lansing and Holt, but I would forage 24 hours a day. Once I began foraging I grew into a constant forager. Always noticing plants, and earthen materials around me. If I was to walk down a dirt road, I would see stones of many geologic forms. I would notice the oxeye daisy growing there in the thicket. Wild strawberries, staghorn sumac, foxtail, chicory, dandelion, plantain, amaranth. I would see communities of plants, rocks, water, wood, insects, and animals. Living with pure hearts. Nin Bindee.

Wines, Vines, and the Fruit that Bring Us Forth

2009-01-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a grape vineyard at the Eco Learning Center a place where natural balance and living sustainably are challenges that are welcomed and pursued. The Eco Learning Center is referred to by Ndibendaagwaz an Odawa word meaning "we belong to the Earth." The vineyard over looks Grand Traverse Bay in Leelanau where there are many other vineyards and farms. The region is ideal for many growing conditions and produces high quality fruits. Although the landscape is developing urban sprawl at an alarming rate. Farm land needs to be preserved here. Citizens need to take to the earth in gardening homesteads and engaging with neighbors in bioregional trade. The regions history and ability producing fine hand crafted goods are extensive. Keeping the traditions and knowledge of plants, animals, and peoples circulating is vitally important. Languages are being lost. Skills are fading. Handcrafted cheeses, wines, baked goods, grains, beers, wood products, fabrics, and cooking are rich in the Northern Michigan landscape. All we need do is listen. The trees will teach you as they learned from the wind in the air and the microbes in the soil. We must protect, cherish, and serve our landscape. We must find a natural balance.

SUMMER FAMRSTAND...ahhh the summer days live on.

2008-10-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Hunter Park Saturday in the Park

Tree of Life Ecological

Student Organic Farm Tomatoes!!!! All summer long....

2008-09-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

Eaters Guild and Tillers International

2008-07-02T03:47:00.000-07:00

My Family

2008-06-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Dads Garden in Belding summer 2008

2008-06-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

In this picture there is a Japanese Maple tree that is center right with a lantern on a stone left of it. The trees lining the hill are various dwarf fruiting trees. There are 14 trees total. Yucca grows under the fruit trees and can be seen in the upper left of the picture.

Fruit Ridge in Dads Edible Forest Garden.

2008-06-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of my Dad and Sandy's Garden. Their garden is certified wildlife habitat. There is a grape trellis on the right side of the picture. The trellis supports wonderful table grapes. Here there are about five dwarf fruit trees lining a small south facing slope. The trees are inter-planted cherry, plum, and pear.

Happy Hill Family Farm

2008-06-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

SOF

2008-06-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

SOF CSA

2008-06-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

SOF Flowers

2008-06-06T06:33:00.000-07:00

Tall Trees Earth Garden

2008-06-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

Tall Trees Earth Garden

2008-05-31T07:08:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the Makwaa infront of the garden about three weeks ago. After last weekend the landscape has transformed greatly by the intensive handscale work that Fay and I have charged into. My camera was not working , but I will get more pictures next time. The frost from a couple nights ago killed the early tomatoes that Fay had put out, but our cold season crops were fine.

2008-05-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

The Garden Desk

2008-05-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

At Tall Trees I sit at a desk in the garden. I believe desks belong in the garden or at least with nature. A desk is a place of study and contemplation. What better place to study and contemplate than nature. The Earth is our mother teacher, the master designer, our true being. We are endowed to the Earth with gracefulness. Our hearts and breath beat with the pulse of the river and are carried by the wind.

Gardens at Tall Trees

2008-05-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

Tall Trees Community Farm

2008-05-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

Foraging for wild plants at the farm is a beutiful way to eat. Working all day with soil, plants, and animals inspires me to relate to them for health and life energy. We share our relationships with moon, sun, stars, and earth. Passing our stories from one to another. Learning all the time that there is more to listen for. There is more to say. We are alive.

Dinner included the infamous garlic mustard, young dandelion greens, wild carrot root, burdock root, and a mix of very young shoots: dnadelion, plaintain, wintercress, miners lettuce, and various flowers of these plants too.

Foragers harvest

2008-05-05T06:50:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning I walked about for an hour or so and harvested some food in Lansing. It is always amazing to me that all of this food and these beautiful plants are not respected more... I harvested Garlic Mustard, Burdock Stems, Chives, Yarrow, Wintercress, and Lemon Balm.

Compost

2008-05-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

There are spirits that dwell in the compost and the soil. There are spirits that are calling out to you in the land. There is a great deal of respect that is owed to the soil. When we make compost, we are using a very powerful force that should be revered by all. Compost is not just a cheap easy way to fertilize our gardens and farms, rather it is a life force with tremendous value to the future of humans living on this earth with such high populations. Compost is a natural design that serves as a model of how human relationships with soil, plants, and animals can provide everything we need without compromising ecological principles.

Lambs Quarter or Forever Spinach as I like to call it.

2008-05-03T03:54:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been perfect for lambs quarter to germinate. I have found little sprouted batches of this spinach relative in my backyard garden at the Fairview house. Its perfect to eat when the plant is under a foot, but I pick the leaves all year long. The seed can be made into a flour/meal and the leaf can be used such as spinach. I even let some plants set seed in the garden for early spring sprouts like these here. Lambs quarter seed can stay viable for 50 plus years in the soil. I imagine the Michigan seed bank of Lambs Quarter is astounding in age and quantity. I know where I'm getting my next meal from....

Asparagus Guild

2008-05-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

The Asparagus guild is growing at the student Organic Farm's Edible Forest Garden. The asparagus has been prolific in its second season and I have been munching off of it for the past few weeks. The asparagus guild includes: asparagus, dandelion and rye grass.

In the edible forest garden a guild is like a ecosystem. In a guild plants have an relationship with other plants, insects, humans, soil, water, air, microorganisms, fungus, and bacteria. Guilds are planted to mimic the beneficial qualities that ecological diversity and symbiosis have in natural ecosystems. Some gardeners refer to this as companion planting. It is a practice that has been utilized for centuries and has long been forgotten in the monoculture of today's big agriculture industry.

wind

2008-04-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

The wind feels everything, the wind is my love, when I tell you that I love you I am speaking from my heart, which is carried by the wind.

In this life as a human I need beings that I can rely on, I need to be carried at times, and when others need to be carried I will in turn do so. We are not ment to burry our burdens within ourself, and we should not expect others to carry our burdens ethier. We must let go of our sufferings and hold on to love.

My breathe is the wind. My love is reflected in everything I do.

I need to be able to rely on you when I am weak, and if I can than I am strenghtened by this. When you are weak as we all become at times I will carry you through so that you may have time to rest. When you are rested and strong agian I will also be given strength by this action.

To care and nurture other beings is the essence of our meaning to be alive. I need this. I need love.

2008-03-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

Being in love is comfortable. Love is a natural state of being for humans. To not be in love is to suffer. Love understands and understanding is patient with love. To understand does not eliminate suffering rather illuminates love. It allows patience.

Society distract our true vision of love. Today's society turns love into a possession and a object to be controlled.

I will not control love. I will not force love to my space. I will see love. I will be with love. And I will be grateful...

biology of our realationship

2008-02-29T11:05:00.000-08:00

Being...Evolving...Growing...Understanding... I feel our biological chemistry is in harmony with each other. Human relationships with each other are a tremendously biological process. I often ponder how the structure of the brain is malleable, and how relationships with other humans contributes to the form and reformation of our brain structure. Behavior is influenced by the structure of the brain and the structure of the brain is formed by behavior.... How we behave in our daily lives and relationships with humans and all other beings is a amazing process to be pondered upon. I believe love is a primal drive in humans. We are inherently creatures of love. To behave in a manner that reflects this belief is a primary goal in my life.

2008-02-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

Anxiety

Anxious butterflies flourish in my stomach and the wind from which their wings echo becomes a deep sadness in the bottom of my heart.

The ocean in my heart stirs wind, water, and sun that rush out of endless motion.

There is a connection made.

The butterfly’s wings are still. I am at ease. If a butterfly lands on you, you are blessed. When the butterflies are still my stomach is as though a small srping feed pond where the bullfrog sings ocasional hyms.

2008-02-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

When I see someone for the first time and I feel love for that person, I wonder if this love that I feel is unconditional love. Was the love that I felt for that person based on a love that I felt for them before I ever met them, or is it based on the condition for which I see that person in? I think that my love for people I have not met is based on a past lifetime, and or a genuine love for all. If it is based on a past lifetime; than I have met that person in some form before. I feel unconditional love for all. Breathing is a testament to that statement, in the way that I believe that the universe lies within a single cell. Ecological and biological processes are infinite in space and time, as well as in energy. Cells are biological processes that are infinite in space, time, and energy.

State Capitol

2007-12-20T12:13:00.000-08:00

I have moved to Lansing MI to go to school at Michigan State University for Organic Farming.

2007-10-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

In thé window of thé small stairwell off the back of the house that leads to the land where the dogs can roam free, and every tormenting hour of being locked up in a cage is released, this is where I have grown green onions over the past two weeks, from Groundswell Community Farm. I simply take the root ends from my green onions, and I put them in a cup of water in the windowsill. I would recomend changing the water everyday, or they may begin to rot. The rooting green onion root is awfull!

2007-07-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

The garden I planted at Home is my attempt to mimic nature combining biointensive, permaculture, square foot, organic, and some biodynamic gardening practices. I have been drinking coffee, but I am now making infused water, with cucumber,mint, tomato, and lemon basil. I am trying to make diffrent flavors with those ingredients, all from my garden.

2007-07-28T05:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the garden at my house with Makwa the dog.

Forest Hills Fine Arts Center

2007-05-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

www.tomwoodruffdesigns.com

Yesterday I went to the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center to see my friend Tom Woodruff's art opening! He is a amazing artist that does stained glass, illustration, and paints. He was a resident artist at the High School I attended, Unity High in Lowell, MI back in 2002. I got the chance to work under him on art projects, and it changed my life. I am so grateful that he came into my life!

I bought a print called Ojibwa Village, and it was only Ten Dollars. Tom does a lot of Michigan History related art, and actually when I was in 3rd or 4th grade he came to my school up in Lakeveiw too. He taught us how to draw ships.

I went to the show with a dear friend of mine John. He is a teacher at Unity, and was a mentor to me growing up. I took cartooning class with him, and journalism. I am so fortunate to have met htese people, and to still have them influence my life.

It is getting cold outside and I am going to have to cover my pepper plants up with black plastic bags.