Nature

This past summer we had a very unique and wonderful experience. Amy Whitney, of The Inspirational, Transformational Network came to see us. Amy has a blog that features people that are forging their own paths through life. If you need hit of "feeling good" this is the place to go. You can find people from all walks of life that have followed their hearts and dreams. It is an honour to be included in this group of people.

Not only did she want to see what we were doing on our small piece of the earth, but she wanted to film us as well. Frankly, it was frightening. We now have whole different perspective for those who regularly stand in front of a camera.

Amy was patient with us. We told our story to her and she captured it all on film. Of course it is a fairly long story. Amy patiently whittled it down to a wonderful short film. Even Beauty got into the story!

Thanks Amy, it has helped see ourselves through a different lens!

Click here to check it out: The Inspirational, Transformational Network Channel

Plum, pear, and apple guild ready for the winter.

Tis the time to think about the coming winter season. Time to gather up the garden edges and tuck them into the earth for a good long winter's nap. It is a reflective time of year. A breath of both relief and sorrow at the end of the growing season escapes the earth. Next a great inhale for the winter ready, preparing to exhale all the stored winter energy next year.

But we are already planning for next year.

Linden and apple guild almost ready for next year's plantings.

The slow and constant march to expand out forest gardens is a never ending quest. Every autumn our neighbours bring over their leaves, away from their land and out of sight. Of course we welcome this influx of biomass and nutrition. Great piles of plant material wait under our trees. Waiting to be spread across the landscape in curvy shapes and beside pathways. Spread inches thick to protect the soil and the animals that hide in the litter all winter.

We don't know what these leaves hide. Conventional wisdom says we should not pile "strange" leaves on our land as they may harbour diseases. I suppose that is a valid reason to haul them off to the municipal compost, have them turned into compost, and then bring it home again. But we would rather bypass that whole cycle and the energy used to do it. We would rather compost in place. If there is a disease or insect hiding in the leaf litter, we feel it is our job to make the ecosystem healthier so it can resist the attacker instead of trying to get rid of the attacker. The healthier the ecosystem, the less likely the attacker is to have an impact on it.

Sunflower heads ready to help feed the birds in winter and provide winter shelter for other critters.

So we let nature even herself out and become balanced. Less work and chemical free. It will take a while, but it does seem to happen. We are even beginning to see anecdotal evidence of that in our gardens.

We are grateful for the leaves from our trees, and for the leaves of our neighbours. It helps lay a great deep bed don for the next year. By the time spring rolls around often the soil critters have done a great job at breaking down the leaf layer. Of course the grass doesn't do very well, but that's the point, less grass to cut for the coming year.

Our gardens get similar treatment to the leaves. We don't do much once everything is harvested. All the leftover vegetation gives homes, and hovels for a variety of insects and critters over the winter. Dead plant heads are a wonderful food for so many of the winter birds too. the chickadees and juncos are already beginning to harvest the goldenrod, echinacea, and sunflower heads. Some will be good, some critters will be bad, but they will all end up as food somewhere along the natural cycle circle.

Pandora sphinx moth caterpillar in Norval.

A couple of weeks ago I ate crickets... and they were really good! Yup, Crickets, and a gall wasp larvae. Cool huh? I did this all at the Art of Mentoring Program in Norval, Ontario.

The Art of Mentoring (A.O.M.) is a multi-year program created by naturalist, tracker, and educator Jon Young. Now John Young isn't your average survivalist. His pedigree is excellent. He was trained by tom Brown Jr. from the age of about 10 years old.

Jon Young valued the method of teaching that Tom Brown showed him. So he began to create a nature education program based on traditional teaching method.

One of the programs to come out of this is called The Art of Mentoring. It is a way to help people deepen their connection to nature through community, experience, and being out in nature. In many ways it seems just like having fun...and it is. People came from far and wide to take part. All the way from the US and from out west.

Mud tree meditation painting done while at camp.

Each year you go onto a new program. This year I was part of the Core Routines group. All of us were back for the second time so knew each other. We were to be out on the land for the week. No all the time, we checked in occasionally.

Now I don't want to give too much away. But I can say that it was a life changing experience. Remember the wonder of being outside exploring when you were a kid? That's the feeling you come home with. the world is a different place. At least that's how I felt and I am always outside doing stuff.

What is more exciting is the change that happens within. Nature therapy definitely works! What is even more exciting is that the age of people at the A.O.M. ranges form 5 months old to 80 years old. It is great to have such a diverse group of people to learn from. We are all teachers and we are all mentors; one of the core ideas of A.O.M.

Now I get to ruminate on all the experiences I had and what they mean to me. It made me a better person:)