Green Tribe of Belonging

 When I was a girl, I wanted to be a doctor. That was after I wanted to be an explorer in deepest Africa, and then a mail carrier bringing all those precious letters to people. There were so many professions to choose from! But by the time I got to high school, my dream of being a doctor was firmly established. And fortunately I grew up in a local culture where women were not excluded from important roles. I subscribed to Scientific American, read up on medical discoveries, and was really psyched about my future. Then I went to college. You would think that in college they would have encouraged even young women to follow their dreams. But time and again, my advisor discouraged me from pursuing that dream. He finally said that this kind of education would be wasted on me, for I would just get married and have children. And I was so deflated by that opinion that indeed I ultimately dropped out of college, got married, and had children. I doubt that my advisor's attitude would be as c

I wish I'd thought to post this on the blog before now (just one day before this event)! But I guess it's better now than not at all. If you're in the Iowa City area and are interested in coming to harvest medicinal herbs Saturday morning at 10, you're welcome to do so!   I remember last year when I did an herb-harvesting day, some folks were wishing that we could do that earlier in the season. Good idea! Some herbs, whose roots are the main part we use, are probably best harvested in the fall when the energy has gone back to the roots. But we use the above-ground parts of many medicinals, and now is a great time to harvest them. I'm proposing that if any of you are interested, this coming Saturday morning (6/29) at 10 would work for me to be out in the garden to help anyone find and harvest the following plants (see below). I'm including a little description with each plant, telling you what we've found that they're good for in human health. If you'

 When I was a kid on the farm, one of my little household jobs was to take the strainer full of scraps to the garbage pile out back by the burnpile. These were vegetable shavings and pieces from food prep as well as leftovers from the table. That was my first experience with a "compost pile." Later when I was an adult gardener, I began to understand how decomposing vegetation played an important role in fertilizing the earth's soil, and I made a more deliberate compost pile. Now, living at Prairie Hill Cohousing where my personal garden space is convenient to members for dumping grass clippings and pulled weeds, I have what is definitely the biggest compost pile of my life. I always knew there were processes taking place below the surface, and that if our pile heated up, it was a good sign that something important was happening. But now that I have done some research on composting, I am amazed that I have been such a total novice on this subject! Why did I never learn mor

 My next blog post was to be about compost, composting, the miraculous process that happens without us even noticing. But I still need to do some research, so I'll share a poem I wrote tonight instead. Sometimes at a end of a long day, I like to sit quietly and intentionally think about the good things. And this is what came out tonight. I recommend this evening process, just a few minutes to forget about all the things we have to do, the schedules and responsibilities and challenges. Let the things you love shine through.... Things I’m Thankful for A brisk breeze on a hot day. An exchanged glance with a chipmunk   peeking out from my garden box. The understanding and acceptance of a friend. The broad wings of a hawk    that sweep it high above the pasture. Enough water for me and my plants. The technology that allows me to   talk to someone far away. The resilience that lets us    grow wiser from hard times.  The love that always shone from my father’s eyes. A rain cloud just at t