Fate whispered to the warrior, “You cannot withstand the storm.” The Warrior whispered back, “I am the Storm”
Hey there, and welcome to a new season!
So, this winter I really had some work to do on myself. I consider myself an EMPATH in many ways, which basically is someone that feels WAY TOO MUCH. Now, I DO consider this a gift, but also a burden at times. I cannot be in the vicinity of another living being without feeling/taking in its energy, which in some ways makes me SO alive knowing that there is such positivity and vibrancy in many forms, but in other cases it makes me want to go bury myself in the dirt (I can detect negativity, darkness and bulls**t with amazing accuracy:) Processing all of these energies swirling around me constantly can be exhausting with my sensitivity levels, but I’m working on it (being a control freak is not helpful). Sometimes I wish I was just a blissfully ignorant human, unaware of consequences and totally fine! BUT……I’m not, so that’s that. Being in NATURE everyday, doing what I do for a living, this is the best thing I can do to help myself stay sane and to process everything that comes flying at me. Plants are living things, which means they are also filled with energy just like us, and surrounding myself with them, working with them everyday, makes me feel powerful, balanced and present. I am LASER focused on creating healthy landscapes that will build a kick ass energy force around us, because we’re going to need it (don’t need a high level of intuition to know). I mean, really, we’re just a BLIP in time. We are nothing, but we are everything, we are something. What we do in this life matters (we reap what we sow). I ask myself what can I do to contribute in a positive way, and the answer is that I’m already doing it. Every day I am doing my best to provide positive energy to this world and the people I interact with through plants and what they bring with them. I believe our energies carry on after our physical bodies have turned to dust (probably good compost), and what we do in this life carries over into the next. I mean, we are actually made up of STARDUST, which is pretty cool! Maybe there are no coincidences? NATURE connects everything. We are intrinsically tied to it, and that connection continues on and on, that I know:)
“The only way out is through”-Robert Frost
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What I worry about is the kids these days! (Gee, who do I sound like)
How are they going to give a damn about NATURE when they’re glued to their Zombie devices at all times of the day? How are they going to care for the natural world (which they need for their survival) if they don’t have a love for it? Scott and I were hiking after a recent snowfall, and we actually saw what, at first glance looked so cute, a little girl being pulled on her sled by her Dad, headed for a sledding hill. Unfortunately cute turned to horror when we noticed she was hunched over her iPad. WTF. So instead of enjoying the beauty that the freshly fallen snow had bestowed upon this vast nature preserve she was instead staring at a screen. That was frigging disturbing. I was so close to opening my big mouth before Scott tackled me:) Don’t even get me started on kids with their devices in restaurants, it makes me crazy! Scott gets irritated with me, he says to just ignore it (yeah ok), but how am I supposed to do that when I am looking at a little midget Zombie, hunched over with a flashing, loud, horrible cartoon or game that’s destroying their brains (and mine, my sensitivity levels on overload). I get it. We had 3 kids under the age of 5 out to restaurants every weekend, and it’s exhausting making sure you don’t stab them with the utensils. It’s easier to have them sitting there like, well, like they’re not there. Our kids were the first generation of Zombies, we are seeing in real time what these devices have done to their generation (and honestly to adults also), but our rule always was, and still is, if we see that phone while we are sitting in a restaurant, you will be cast out:) It’s enough already, engage with each other for a little while, time is passing away, we all have too much of that damn phone for hours every day! I am just really sick of seeing this, to see our children, our FUTURE, disengaged, unaware, and numb to their surroundings, But again, I’m trying REALLY hard to practice that I can only control certain things in this life (I really need to stop flaring my nostrils all day), and yelling at other parents is not going to be productive.
“I no longer listen to what people say, I just watch what they do, Behavior never lies”-Winston Churchill
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What I see in Nature I see in ourselves. There is always a balance going on, constant movement and change. All of Nature has both FEMININE and MASCULINE TRAITS, and both are essential for a healthy ecosystem. All of us, we possess both of these traits, REGARDLESS of our gender. Being out in Nature, you can see and feel these energies. Feminine traits can be CREATIVE, SENSUAL, FLOWING, BEAUTY, SENSITIVE, INTUITIVE, NURTURING, ADAPTABLE, PATIENT, MOON, DARK, WATER. Masculine traits can be LINEAR, PROTECTIVE, LOGICAL, CONFIDENT, DOMINANCE, STRENGTH, LOVE, STABILITY, SUN, LIGHT, FIRE. Mother Nature is the ultimate life-giving, nurturing feminine energy-supporting all beings with food, air, water and shelter, but there is also the powerful and destructive masculine energy, filled with the energy and heat of the sun, volcanoes and earthquakes. FEMININE energy in nature can be the beauty and receptivity of a flower blooming, the moon cycles, seasons, and tides, the soft curves of a riverbed, the gentle sway of grass in the wind, tree seeds floating down to fertile soil, abundant plant life, mother animals caring for their young. MASCULINE energy can be massive mountains with their imposing and stable presence, jagged cliffs, sturdy massive oaks and redwoods, a raging river, large predatory animals with their aggressive and dominant hunting behaviors. What's my point? Lol, sometimes I don’t have one or I forget, but I think that as a dominant, aggressive female who still likes to look pretty when she goes out, I think there is a misconception that females are the weaker sex (after an average of 24 hours of Natural childbirth with all three of my babies, lest anyone think we are weaker, I have pictures:) Using Nature as an example, we can relate to what surrounds us to what is inside of us. We’ve all been told from a young age that females are feminine and males are masculine (damn rules), but we are BOTH. If we can find that balance of each, that Yin/Yang, those opposing but complimentary forces, when we can express certain traits in different circumstances when needed, then I think that is pretty powerful. Scott is so much physically stronger than me he could take me out with just one of his bulbous fingers, but I can make him melt whenever I want:) Physical strength and Sensuality are both powerful traits, one is not weaker than the other, only different.
“I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong”-Leo Rosten
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Of course, there are plenty of examples of what's called IMMATURE Feminine and Masculine traits. I think of imbalances. Overly sentimental about deer control at the expense of the rest of the ecosystem. Being passive, doing nothing and relying on others to solve our environmental issues. Prioritizing economic growth over sustainability resulting in air, water, and soil pollution from fossil fuels. Short-sightedness that causes long term consequences resulting in extinction of wildlife/pollinators from habitat destruction and chemicals (Mother nature is trying to nurture but her children are being very very bad). Attention seeking, victimization, enabling, vindictiveness, and confusion (Feminine). Arrogance, abuse of power, cowardice, fear, and violence (Masculine).
“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed”-William Faulkner
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And that leads me to remind everyone to BUCKLE UP, because we have a real environmental S***show coming at ya!! The IMMATURE traits are in charge right now, so we all need to get those healthy feminine and masculine traits in shape!! The places that nurture us humans the most are about ready to get disintegrated (think public lands). Decades of environmental regulations that have been put in place for a REASON, all that clean air, water, and whatever else you can name to the list, will be dismantled or weakened by the greedy (already talked about how stupid humans were in our 2022 Blog, but there’s always plenty of material). It’s so overwhelming and hopeless to think about the scale of this, so what can we do locally, on our own properties to help?
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man’s greed”-Mahatma Gandhi
OBVIOUSLY plant as many native trees, shrubs and perennials as you can…and plant ALOT! It’s ok to have some non-natives that you must have, just so they are not invasive, but the majority of plantings should attract the local bees, butterflies, and birds. STOP spraying pesticides on every damn thing! We’re killing our pollinators. I’ll say it again, WE’RE KILLING OUR POLLINATORS! This is THE biggest reason we are losing them, and if we stopped right now, RIGHT NOW, the turnaround would be SIGNIFIGANT! Without insects, we are toast. Those mosquito and tick fogs, UGH, bye bye lightning bugs and every pollinator it comes into contact with. PLEASE let me help with alternatives for keeping the bad stuff at bay. LEAVE the leaves in the beds in the fall and the garden standing until the spring (bird food/shelter). You're taking out 90% of hibernating pollinators when you remove them. I need to start spring “cleaning” in March because it’s my business, but we leave the debris in the beds (then mulch on top of it when it’s time), cutting down perennials and either just leaving them where they lay, or relocating them on the property whenever possible to protect hibernating bees/pollinators if it hasn’t reached 50 degrees consistently for a week. REMEMBER, try to go outside everyday and BREATHE, LISTEN, AND FEEL (that goes for those zombies too). This has barely been working for me lately so obviously I still have a lot of work to do on myself…..
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I really look forward to seeing everyone this year! It will be good to connect:)
Peace
Kirsten and Scott
you are
allowed to be
a many-layered thing…
to have texture and shades,
to be kissed by the sunlight
and bitten by the moon
and to feel all the different ways
that you feel, all the raw and tender
mess of it all. To let all of that shadow
and sugar be in you and the pretty
and dirty and beautiful and wild
run though you and spill out of you
everywhere, all at once….
to just let yourself be a
soft and wild thing.
”She’s flowers and Fire”