JourneySeeds

Fleece & Mandalas

Romney Fleece washed

Three bags full.  All for me!  I made these handmade cotton bags from leftover fabric.  Hemp finishes off the ties quite nicely. 



Fleece in the snow.


 Mandala created for a class that I am participating in.

There is alot going on. I have been busy with many things.  One of the things I'm involved in with now is an ongoing Mandala class.  I am loving creating mandalas!  The one above was done after a meditation focusing on the Center. 


seed mandala


Nature Mandala. The story of this tree is a bit sad.  Rand was working at a friends house over the last summer.  The town was trying to make  trees to take down due to power line issues, related to the hurricane that happened a year ago in our area.  So, Rand and our friend kept moving the line that was marking these trees for their demise.  It was put off for months.  The town didn't realize what was happening.  Until one day they did.  The tree came home to us.  This beautiful piece is part of the  magnificence of the cedar. 

Cardinal

Cardinal has been visiting as they always do throughout the year.  With the stark background of the white snows that have been piled high here, whenever they land, it is always breathtaking.  Shy cardinal with her/his showy feathers just did not want to be photographed this week. It took me days to catch them on camera, despite the fact that there are three pairs of them, at least, living here.

This was posted over the woodstove mantle during our People & Permaculture course for the duration.  I have always loved this quote. It was a guiding principle in our learning activist life. My imagination is swirling, humming, turning over, revisiting, holding it all....

Top Bar Beehive

Rand made this topbar beehive for me for Christmas.  It's made with upcycled wood. He followed a design and added his own modifications to it. It is sitting upon a chair and awaiting its own stand.



Sideview


Spacers

Spacer removed, inside view

Roof/top removed

We are also taking a natural beetending class over here with the Barefoot Beekeeper.  There is lots to learn.  We thought that since we started making mead that we should also give back to the bees by helping them grow healthier and more vibrant colonies. This is a bit of our effot towards that. 

Word of the Year

It's a new year Folks! Here's a picture of part of that year for me.  Folk Soul Wyld is stirring up some foot stomping Folk for you and for me.  Come along for a new journey that is soon to be happening over here.  Get Wyld with your Folk Soul! Happy New Year Loves!

A trip to England

It's been so long since I have been here with you. We went on a trip over the ocean...and now we are back again.  A dream is taking hold....

Song on the Winds...

This one is turning 25 this weekend. She is on her way again.  This time she's  off to a remote wilderness in Vermont to canoe in her birthday.  She's happiest out in the wilds. They will land at dark on the shore and canoe in...swooping in like owls in the night.  Maybe there'll be a banjo song on the winds.

I love this girl with all my heart and soul. She is my hearts delight.  A good friend and a beautiful daughter. She is the age that I was when I was pregnant with her.  That long ago girl filled with the anticipation of mothering.  She came in like a storm and has seized her entire life that way.  The necklace she is wearing is a woman surrounded by a wolf. She got to see the wolves this year in Yellowstone. To hear her tell of it...is like a whisper only meant for the stars. 

I want to tell you all about her today.  You know, that mama desire that always fills up when your kidlings are gone?  Instead...I'll just say to you...she is one of my wisest teachers this girl of mine. May your canoe into the dark be filled with the breath of the night...and the heart of your future.  I love you, dear daughter...

 

Poor Old Shine & Brown Bird

Poor Old Shine.  We went to The Mansfield on The Green Festival.  If you must know, we went because of the music.




Brown Bird was there as well.  They are a duo from RI. We saw them at Newport Folk Festival earlier in the summer.  Fine music.














A small puppet brigade from Uconns puppet program as well as community members.

Sacred Culture

I've been working on something.  This is a banner that descibes some of that.  Sacred Culture. It's a simple phrase but, big in what it means for me.  It's part of what I'm working to bring to light. For now it looks like this.  A colorful banner made from fabric from old outfits, upholstery remnants, batik that shows the trees and the sky...that's it.

He's been working on something. Another cob oven roof.  This one was quick, materials laying around and some metal roofing.  Remember those huge snows that crashed the last one in? What a winter! So, here's the new one...get 'er done! Hope you'll be able to come by soon for pizza or root vegetables baked double time in this oven made with birthday love.  The base was made many years ago by a young girl and her dad...hauling rocks up from the river and nearby woods. 

It's all a part of what we're offering up here.  Our version of Story love made manifest. 

Beaver

Beaver! I have been visiting with her for a week now.  She swims with her family gracefully by.  Curious attention has been paid to us humans.  She glides right up to us, near us...looking. Sometimes she has a stick in her mouth. Other times she's on her way to scope out the waterways.  She is beautiful! Beaver is one of the brilliant architects of the animal world.  I have become fascinated with her and her building ways. 

This year in SouLodge we travelled around the Medicine Wheel with Beaver.  One of the videos that Pixie shared with us was this Animal Planet video of Beaver working. So much work to do with Beaver around healing grief, trauma, observation, being awake. One of my favorite things that we worked with and continue to work with is this idea of Gathering.  This is a perfect season for gathering...your stores, your friends, your questions, your ideas, your harvests...what will I gather in my basket this season?

Beaver is showing me the way to Building.  I am in SouLstorm with a group of wise women travelling their journey and path and River toward creating anew in this world. Working with the Sacred Feminine to build new creations...for themselves, for their communities, for the world.  Each one of us different but, so committed to one another and the beauty that we want to share and be in the world. It isn't easy work.  There is alot that is required of us.  Creating visions, designing legacies, stepping forward as our best selves.  What does that look like?

It looks like a Marsh. A marsh rich and full...teaming with wildlife.  It's murky in there too...deep down, dirty, dark and so filled with humus. Everything is transforming...even when we can't see it.  Surprises fly by that take our breath away...and open up wonder that sits still all day upon our hearts. Some days it's so foggy and thick out there it's a wonder we can even see through to the other side.  But, then there are days when the marsh is filled with wonderful weavings of spider webs covering every tree and branch that the complexity of it just goes on...and on. Deep. Rich. Challenging. Transforming.

And so beaver lives here.  The teachings she shares give me so much to explore and ponder.  She shares her home with me...quietly and sometimes not so quietly...building. This season I'm like Beaver.  I'm gathering at the moment.  Exploring the depths and coming back up for air and to swim around and peek above the surface.  I'll gather...and slowly and sometimes not so patiently...I'll build.

The rainbow came that day...Truth.