Why "Medicine of the Singing Earth"?

While I struggled with postpartum depression and raising a one year old, I also was trying to run a small, one acre, market garden with my sister. I agree, that sounds overwhelming and believe me, it was. I would literally find myself yelling at the kids or my husband or sister because I was being boiled from the inside by all the stress. I was hanging on by a thread. And that thread, that lifeline, was the fact that everyday I was outside in the sunshine with my hands in the soil.

Even in that very difficult time, being outside, I would witness something amazing that I had deep gratitude for- a hawk circling overhead, ladybug larvae, the cloud patterns in the sky, a funny looking vegetable, mycorrhizal fungi-and it would remind me of how blessed I was. I believe the plants, the land, the animals were calling out to me to come back to my true self. They were inspiring me to continue growing instead of remaining stagnant. To prune what no longer served and allow to blossom that which was deep within. (I mean look, even my metaphors are about the Earth.)

I am so grateful for this medicine that was shared with me. Something that I have come to call the Medicine of the Singing Earth. It has flowed through me and into tangible form through poems that I will be sharing here; through art, song, and dance. And it flows through the work that I ultimately choose to do, which is homeschooling (with some agrotourism and ecological restoration peppered in). It is available to all-that peaceful sound of the wind, the warmth of the sun, the kiss of raindrops on your face.

So my hope here is that the same medicine will flow from my words to you and through you, and inspire you to get outside with those plants and animals, in all kinds of weather to remember and reconnect.

Thanks for listening.

Me, my son Lincoln, my sister and her daughter prepping the beds for planting circa 2016