Green Tribe of Belonging

 I was centering down, zooming into Quaker Meeting Sunday morning after a good night's sleep, when out of my window I saw a V of geese heading southeast across the sky. At once my heart lifted and I smiled as I took a deep breath. That sight rooted me in the world and blew away my scattered thoughts. There is something about a formation of geese high above, heading forward together, that catches my imagination. I am not an expert on birds, but it seems somewhat unique to have birds flying together in formation. In so many ways, it is inspiring. For one thing, they fly as a group. Being a person, I know that for us it is no easy thing to gather together and move in formation. It takes having one purpose, a united motivation. Geese flying in formation seem to be a gathered group of one mind. Yet the leader has a pivotal position, in front of the flock and guiding the way. We have leaders too. But an inspiring thing about goose leadership is that it changes all the time. One goose gui

  Weather Forecast Weather systems from the west come storming across our skies,  sometimes staying for days  carrying rain, turbulence, unrest. Light is dim and darkened, as we head for shelter. The gods of sky and earth are fighting, thunder and lightning crashing around us. Then there are the sunny days, a clearing after the storm, ground moist, plants thriving, air fresh and clean. We smile as sunlight warms our bodies, lights our path. Energy fills us with purpose as we get to work in our green world. The weather of mood can be much the same, a stormy time settling in for awhile bringing memories of anger, regret, impatience, and suddenly nothing seems quite right. Even if the sun is shining outside our internal landscape is dreary and sad, whipped up by some long ago storm whose impact never quite leaves. Yet just as suddenly our internal sky can clear, the clouds blown away by friends or events, things to remind us of our blessings, our treasures. Our hearts lift, our eyes smile

 One of the concepts of permaculture that I particularly value is the deep observation of a site. Before you plant or even plan, you get to know a particular landscape intimately. This comes before placing a garden, a building, an orchard, a playscape, or any other developed area. You use your many senses to take in the particulars of a place. How does the sun hit it? How does the wind come? Does rain gather in pools, run off, or sink in? Is there shade? What is already growing there? What is the slope of the land? The way to discover all these things is to be there, quietly taking it all in. Rather than sitting in your office at your computer, intellectually making a plan, you need to experience the site first hand, get comfortable, and turn off your thoughts. Be quiet. Begin to notice. Let your body pick up signals: wind on your skin, your ears catching sound, your nose noticing fragrances, your eyes looking for insects, undergrowth, birds, sky. Be part of the landscape for a bit and

Long life is valued in our culture, perhaps in all cultures. With baby boomers reaching their elder years, TV commercials are full of life-extending and health-improving products, so many of them that it can make you dizzy. It can also make you long for simpler days when you just lived a good life and then died when your body gave out. Today it’s more complicated. Extending life is a science and a business. As an older person myself, I am very aware of the various ways in which my own body has lost some of its resilience and now needs the various medications I take each morning. And I’m more aware of the various practices, drugs and foods that are probably something to incorporate in my life if I’m going to remain relatively healthy. Somehow however, this preoccupation with health-enriching products only makes us more aware of the opposite end of that spectrum: that we will all die someday and the older we are, the sooner it will be. Rather than accepting that truth, our aim is to avoi