A Crunchy Life - April 2024 Newsletter
Think of this as a letter from a friend with a deeper look into this month's post. I share more thoughts and resources for tapping into a simple, intentional life filled with Earth-based practices.
Hello friends!
The April post is up and it is all about how the catastrophe on how the Francis Scot Key Bridge led to me reflecting on the place the Bridge played in my life and how I came to love this planet so much and all of life on it. I retraced my journey from elementary to post-college through the influence of four women and one college professor.
I discovered that all of the seeds that had been planted as a small child, all of the women that inspired me, and the college professor who could see me in a way I did not even see myself yet, all came together in one pivotal moment.
That moment changed everything. My journey in the world changed. My way of looking at myself, the water, and the marsh was forever changed. All around me I could see connections amongst the web of life on this amazing planet.
Most importantly, my love for this planet and all of life on it would ensure that even if I lost my wildness for a number of years, (see: An Invitation from the Wild), I would find my way back to it, and hopefully bring some others along with me.
Here’s a deeper look into how I am using my hand, head, and heart this month.
Here’s how I'm using my hand, head, and heart this month to reconnect to myself, my journey on this amazing planet, and the ways of thinking, moving, and being that come from deep and intimate connections to the web of life, especially during this emerging season of growth and abundance.
Hand: Earth Day
In this month’s post I shared that there are two portions to our Earth Day activities this year. First, we will read the old Norse stories from the Poetic Edda. Not only are the old Norse stories enjoyable they are filled with connections to the creation of the world, the destruction of the world, and ways to interact with the world. It’s a starting place for an Earth Day discussion before embarking on service.
Then, service activities on behalf of the Earth and all of the more than human inhabitants. As I mentioned in the post, we have one section of the garden that is slightly lower in elevation than the rest and so all of the water collects there. It hasn’t always been that way. A neighbor made some decisions that impacted our garden so I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach this new reality in our garden.
Last spring I decided that I would embrace this area and return native plants to it in the manner it desired. No earth moving. We are planting with the contours and leaving as much of the grass base as possible undisturbed when we plant so we can see if it creates a community of wild plants amongst the newly planted native species.
On this Earth Day, we will commence this spring’s work on this section of the garden. Getting my hands in the dirt is the best way I can think of connecting with Mother Earth on Earth Day. Here is how we will be focusing on plantings and habitat improvement for our friends — the bunnies, squirrels, birds, insects — to ensure that they can thrive when passing through our garden.
Here are our tasks:
Last spring we added these native plants:
Sweet Bay Magnolia
Pussywillow
Turtlehead
Cardinal Flower
Soft Rush
Joe Pye Weed
Spicebush
Having a giant puppy took a toll on some of the plantings from last spring so we will be evaluating whether they need to be replaced. We will also be adding in additional Soft Rush, Joe Pye Weed, and Summer Sweet.
Helping our insect friends.
Insects have a hard time in most yards. It’s bad enough that they are the creatures of horror stories, campfire tales, and fears but they are also suffering from habitat loss thanks to the use of pesticides, non-native species, artificial lighting, and climate changes. The thing is, we need them. They are the basis for the entire web of life.
As E. O. Wilson, Harvard biologist, ecologist, and entymologist, said:
“If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”
To help support our insect friends:
We let dead plant material sit in our garden throughout winter. We are the ones who have leaves in our garden beds even though everyone else on the street has raked them up.
We collect rocks and pile them up along our back fence. We try to create as many nooks and crannies for them as possible.
Next to our rock pile is a pile of twigs, logs, and leaves.
A couple of years ago we purchased a bug hotel. This Earth Day we are going to try our hand at making our own.
Still not convinced it is important to help insects thrive? Check out these articles:
A great resource is We Are the Ark by Mary Reynolds. Mary Reynolds is a reformed internationally acclaimed landscape designer. In this book she lays out how to turn a garden or yard into an ARK — Acts of Restorative Kindness — and thereby restore our native ecosystems and our relationship with them. She can be found on Instagram at @wildmarymary and letsbuildanark, and on the web at WeAretheArk.
I miss the days when the kids were little and we would play games outside on Earth Day. The games always contained a message for Earth Day but were also fun and had them moving around.
With large numbers of their friends we’d play Oh Deer! (a Project Wild game about carrying capacity) or Invasive Species Tag (a tag game about the ease which invasive species spread). When it is just the 3 or 4 of us it would be a Nature Scavenger Hunt, Found Materials Art Sculpture, or a game that emphasized the importance of working together.
Here’s a game from the past that we enjoyed: The Human Spring.
The purpose of this game is to keep both persons upright. It’s a great opportunity to discuss what it takes to work together as humans and what it takes to support our planet and all of the more than humans living here with us. Just be sure to play on a soft surface.
Process:
Stand facing another person, about an arm’s distance away.
Spread your feet apart at shoulder width.
Lean towards each other, keeping your bodies as rigid as possible.
Catch each other’s palms and spring back to a standing position.
Take a short step back and try again.
Keep stepping back until you reach a point where your human spring is in danger of know longer springing.
Head: Books
This month’s post discussed my reading of Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles. This short book was filled with so many gems. I found myself reflecting upon my experiences as a kid and teen in nature, in school, on athletic teams as I read how nature intertwined in their lives. Each of these women is an inspiration and a reminder of the need for wild spaces to build inner resiliency and acceptance for all. When I finished the book I found myself wanting to know more about them, so that’s what I’m doing this month.
I will spend the remainder of the month reading more about some of these remarkable women and their experiences. I am particularly fascinated by the basketball team and the role basketball played in the ability of the players to explore life beyond the rigid walls of their boarding school.
Here are two other women who have inspired me and whose books are always just a reach away:
Ann LaBastille - Woodswoman: Living Alone in the Adirondack Wilderness; Woodswoman II: Beyond Black Bear Lake ; Woodswoman III: Book Three of the Woodswoman's Adventures
Tasha Tudor - The Private World of Tasha Tudor; Tasha Tudor's Garden; all of her beautiful children’s books including A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays; Around the Year; Corgiville Fair.
Heart: Getting Outside
As I mentioned in this month’s post, just the act of being out in the wild is my heart practice this month. I’ll be exploring new trails and scouting new places to swim off-shore this summer. May be even some day trips to the ocean.
How was the total solar eclipse for you?
Eclipses are a great time to focus on transformation, see what’s showing up and what feels important right now, and what can be relinquished. I think of it this way: during the total solar eclipse there is period of darkness and then the reemergence of light; therefore, there is introspection and release, followed by new insight.
We were not in totality but that did not diminish the solar eclipse experience. We were in 89% so it was more like dusk than darkness. The temperature dropped very quickly. It was incredible.
Our oldest kid’s college was in totality and she shared that it was like a party. People were outside, together, watching in awe as darkness came and stayed for about 4 minutes. It is no wonder our ancestors had mystical beliefs centered around the eclipse. Even with our scientific knowledge about the process, we still came together in awe of this spectacular sight and the power we associate with it.
After I came back inside I meditated and then took a ritual bath.
Here was my process:
A white candle was set on the windowsill near my bath. White represents cleansing. I wrote an intention as to what I am releasing on a small piece of paper and folded it three times. I lit my candle and set fire to the piece of paper. The candle burned while I took a hot bath using a homemade bath salt blend. After the candle burns out I buried the residue by the Juniper tree in my garden. Then I wrote in my journal for a long while.
Curious about the bath salt blend? Here is the recipe:
3 cups Sea salt
1/2 cup Pine (Pinus spp.) needles, chopped
1/2 cup Juniper (Juniperus spp.) berries, crushed
1/4 cup Violet (Viola spp.)
6 drops Cedarwood (Juniperus virginiana) essential oil
6 drops Fir (Abies sibirica) essential oil
a splash of New Moon water collected during the last new moon
Add about 3/4 cup of the salt blend to the bath water.
Final thought for this month:
The Earth is a Living Thing
is a black shambling bear ruffling its wild back and tossing mountains into the sea is a black hawk circling the burying ground circling the bones picked clean and discarded is a fish black blind in the belly of water is a diamond blind in the black belly of coal is a black and living thing is a favorite child of the universe feel her rolling her hand in its kinky hair feel her brushing it clean -by Lucille Clifton (1936-2010), The Book of Light, page 34. I met Lucille Clifton in April 1996. I returned to my tiny liberal arts college on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay to hear her read from her newly released book, The Book of Light. The message she wrote in my copy of The Book of Light was simply "Joy!" It was the most powerful message she could offer to me. This tiny volume is a powerful social commentary -- bigotry, intolerance, religion, and mythology are all confronted and probed down to their essence. Yet, there33 is joy in the every day and the natural world. Her unceasing belief in the connection amongst everything leads the reader to inspiration. Love, Karen