THE NEWEST JOURNAL ENTRIES ARE AT THE END--PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE MOST RECENT ENTRIES. ENJOY! AND PLEASE COMMENT ON THE "GUESTS" PAGE.    May 29, 2008. Kids love to garden. That's been my experience not only with my own children, who love to play in the dirt and collect and taste plants, but also with the students I teach at the Chilmark Elementary School. Children crave that connection with the plant world (whether they know it or not), especially since so many nine and ten year olds currently own Ipods and cell phones and generally use technology as their "escape" from the real world. Get a kid out in the woods and you have a joyful, curious learner; take a child out after giving him a little information, and you have someone who can put two and two together to not only enjoy the outdoors but understand his or her own environment. This understanding can lead to problem solving, which I recently learned when I taught a class on Environmental and Social Problem Solving to the Chilmark K-5 classes. Two years ago I created the Discovery Friday curriculum for the school, which is a multi-age learning program on Life Science. I integrate hands-on experiments with artwork, nature study, drama, literature, and folklore to teach the children about nature. The program has been very successful, and popular with the kids, and we culminated our year of study with a unit on Problem Solving. I think having gotten the kids out into the woods throughout the year gave them the background they needed to really think about answers and discuss their environmental habitat ideas with others. I gave them a variety of big issues and problems--real world problems that not even adults have figured out. I also provided them with a talking stick with the stipulation that the stick was to be appropriately and that it would help everyone concentrate on practicing their listening skills. The children heatedly discussed the problems given to them, reached consensus, and actually had some very amazing, clear-headed and potentially successful solutions.   My own children adore being in the woods and garden and they follow me on my herb walks and are always learning (and teaching) something new. At five, my son knew a variety of plants such as sassafrass, wood sorrel, cat briar, violets, mullein, and more, and would routinely pre-emt me in my herb walks to tell what I was about to say. I constantly find both my son and daughter with leaves of sour grass in their mouths, and they can readily explain why some plants can be eaten while others cannot. I believe being instructed in the safety as well as the fun of the wild world gives them the spiritual background they need to not only appreciate and respect our planet, but to protect it.

May 30, 2008. A number of our baby chicks were killed last night because I forgot to raise the ramp in the coop. Either a skunk or a raccoon killed them, I'm not sure which. I feel awful, but not as bad as our children; they were devastated. It is a constant question for me whether raising them to see the daily life and death struggles of a farm is a good thing (helps them understand how the world works, teaches them about predator/prey relationships, etc.) or if it is just too heartbreaking for them at the tender ages of six and eight. I approach life and death with them candidly, but with compassion, trying to teach them, in the Wise Woman Tradition, that life cannot happen without death, that death is another part of this cycle we are on, and that spirits and energy cannot ever disappear, only change form. It's a lot for a six year old to handle. The Goddess Tradition shares its wisdom in bits and pieces with children, carrying them in the arms and against the breast for the most part, setting them down on their own feet when circumstances are right for their hearts to learn. The Goddess (the mother, the aunt, an older sister) will always pick the child back up again--in fact I believe that as an adult I am still carried most of the time!-- but it's hard to remember that when you are faced with your own kids having to learn such life lessons as death, war, poverty, hunger, or malice. I suppose for all parents it is a question of how to lead your children in the right direction and eventually hope that they will stay on that path. May 31, 2008. The Island of Martha's Vineyard is getting crowded with tourists; I drove through Five Corners today and was amazed, first, at the beautiful roses and azaleas and rhododendron all bursting into bloom, and then I was amazed--and startled--at the amount of traffic. The Island Home and the other ferries must be packed coming and going from the Cape. It's always hard for me to slow down after driving off the ferry; you want to continue speeding around, just like you did on the highway coming down from Boston. But you get out of Vineyard Haven and into West Tisbury and the very air around you breathes to you to slow down, take it easy. As several signs by the road say, You're on Island time. Or as my dad used to say, picking up a beer in the kitchen of our rental condo, "You at the beach."   June 8, 2008 Near us is the Native Earth Teaching Farm, an old, old property originally built and planted by a whaling captain here on the island. Rebecca Gilbert maintains a century-old fenced in herb garden, which by happy coincidence she was too busy to keep this summer, and so I am using part of it. My family helped hoe a raised bed and plant seeds: I thought marigolds would be nice, as well as perpetual spinach and fennel, since there's already fennel there. We hoed, raked, planted, patted, watered, the whole works. I came back to check on things a week later and discovered tiny seedlings poking through with miniature serrated leaves: the marigolds! No sign of the spinach, and the fennel self-seeds, so I'm not sure if what is coming up is from my seeds or older stock. Another week, and the marigold seedlings are a bit taller, but dry; I water them and vague suspicions are growing in my belly about the true identity of these seedlings. The Guinnea hens got into the beds and wallowed indentions all over them; the seedlings seemed to be scattered all over, not just in the rows I planted. Hmmm. Another few days and I'm back with almost certain dread: I believe these three-inch high seedlings that I have tended, weeded around and cared for are actually Ragweed. It's not the first time I've goofed in the garden; I make my way to a garden supply store and purchase six-packs of marigolds, already blooming. In they go, after I thoroughly rake and weed the bed one final time; those little serrated leaves fooled me.

August 26, 2008 I attended the New England Women's Herbal Conference this weekend, which, as always, was wonderful. The weather was incredibly beautiful--not a drop of rain, warm sunny days and cool mornings and nights. There seemed to be fewer women attending this year, but those who were present were fully present and enjoyed every minute of it. I noticed a lot of local women who just showed up from the neighboring communities, which was good. There were also a great number of children and teenage girls, which is encouraging. I set up my booth this year for the first time and it was a balancing act of being present at the booth and doing sales, and being out and about to attend classes and herb walks. I managed it, though I wasn't able to stay up very late each night! I was exhausted and unfortunately missed a great performance by Leah and Chloe, to women sisters who performed music and (so I heard) a late night fire ceremony. They were fabulous musicians and singers as were those who performed in the Talent Show. This is a weekend I would recommend for any woman who is interested in connecting with other women, learning about plants, ready for fun and being in the wilderness of the New Hampshire mountains.

September 7, 2008 Keeping animals is never easy (and I'm not referring to my eight-year-old and six-year-old). I had to euthanize a chicken today because she had gotten very sick and could not even hold her head up. My husband and I have raised laying hens for ten years now but this was the first time I have ever killed one (my dear husband has always had the task before this). I sent the kids inside, even though this is a fact of life and might actually be a good lesson for them, but since I knew I could barely stomach it, I figured they might not be able to, either. I contemplated the best way to do it and even looked up in some of our poultry books for the most humane methods. To twist the head and break the neck? To hang it from its feet and slit the throat? In the end, I cut the neck with a hatchet. The hen was so sick it was much easier than I anticipated, and we got it buried quickly. All in all, it was not nearly as difficult as I was telling myself it was going to be. That's life on a farm; we don't have a real farm, per se, but just a few animals. We used to have goats. Now we have laying hens and lots of baby bantams. It makes me think of the reasons so many people go vegetarian or vegan: I did too, for a long time, mostly because of the awful way animals were treated in CAFOs and processing facilities. I don't mind eating meat (I don't care for it that much, though) but it's really the way people brainlessly go about things that bothered me in being a commercial-buying carnivore. I stopped eating meat until I was pregnant, and then I craved it, so I ate it. I still do (turkey, mostly), but I'm very aware of where the meat comes from and exactly what my role is in the food chain. I think everyone needs to determine their own eating habits, but to do so from a position of awareness and education makes sense.

September 7, 2008 Yesterday as I was set up at the West Tisbury Farmer's Market, a man approached my table holding something in his hand and smiling broadly. As he got closer, I saw it was an empty jar of my Rosemary's Blessing Salve. "Here she is!" he called to his wife, who came up with a camera. He turned to me. "This stuff is amazing! It works! It's all I use." His wife nodded. "He won't get anything else!" He picked up a larger jar of salve and held it up next to his completely empty one and smiled for his wife and the camera. "We're from Texas," he explained, "and I've waited until coming up here to the Vineyard for my next jar of salve. You're famous in Texas!" I got such a kick out of this family; they were friendly and fun and obviously were thrilled with my salve, which of course is the most I can ask. This kind of response makes it all worth it; to know that I've not only created a product that works but that I've also turned someone onto healing plants makes my time spent in the kitchen with hot oil seem worth it.

October 15, 2008 Well, the Farmer's Markets are over for the season. Whew! What a time! It was a wonderful summer, despite the economic swirls we find ourselves in now. I must admit, the West Tisbury Farmer's Market administrators have their hands full with work, and they do a good job of it. I've read somewhere that the WTFM is the biggest in the "Commonwealth" of Massachusetts, but I never believed it because there are only 20-some-odd vendors. But I think it must be among the BUSIEST, because it seems to have evolved into the primary social scene on a Saturday morning. You haven't been OUT until you've been to the market, and woe is you if you arrive after noon, because it shuts down promptly. I'll continue being out in the community, though, because I"m setting up at the Edgartown Food and Wine festival, as well as at the Thanksgiving Vineyard ARtistans festival. The island really slows down this time of year but rallies as Yule gets closer. There are a number of seasonal festivities both in the fall and the early winter, especially for families, which is what makes this island so appealing. Now's the time for our gardens to go to bed; if yours is like mine, it's long gone raggedy and to seed, out of shameless neglect. I haven't had time to manicure my garden (and I wouldnt' even if I had the time), and the tomato vines have long ago sent out their viney beings all over the place. The ground was littered with fallen cherry tomatoes, until we let our chickens in. Now it seems much cleaner, thanks to the little bantams scurrying under the bigger Rhode Island Reds. At least, now, it won't be such a messy chore to really get to work in there; the hens have done a fine job.   November 14, 2008 There are still signs of life and summer here on the vineyard, even though we are officially into fall (and even, according to earth calendars, the next year). Yesterday I saw a bright orange lily in full bloom, and there are a great many asters still blooming, even under the canopy of scarlet and orange Sassafrass and Red Oak leaves. Even the roses in my yard (petite little white things) are still blooming. The rhododendron beside our front door (a massive gnarled tree with a thick trunk and branches sturdy enough for my son's tree-house platform) is liberally sprinkled with next years blossoms, all tightly enclosed and pointing upward. It's garlic planting time and I'm trying to discover a place in or near the garden where I can plant a score of cloves where the chickens can't uproot them. We just got more hens from a farming neighbor (all the same, Rhode Island Reds) so now we have in the neighborhood of 15 laying hens and 13 bantams, all of whom thing they are pets and deserve to come into the house to hang out. The bantams are as sweet as can be and even our auracauna, who used to be quite skittish, now allows us to pet her. This new season--the month after Samhain and the beginning of the new year--is such a lovely time for me. I enjoy the quiet and the settling down, the getting ready for all the new year has to offer, and the falling of the leaves to cover up what's past--they're really just waiting for a good strong wind to uncover it all again. The cycles are strong and the leaves are actually quite heavy. The trees have unburdened themselves and the kids like to frolic in piles of leaves unknowing that the trees have let them go with a great silent ceremony that we weren't privy to. I encourage all my students to let go of your burdens with a silent ceremony of your own--to frolic in the vestiges of what was past just long enough so that you have said goodbye, and then to rake them up, compost them, and allow them and all your ideas to settle in for a long beautiful creative inspiring thought-provoking pregnant affirming revitalizing winter.   December 15, 2008 Time to say goodbye to a stellar year! This year has been one of great learning and exploration, especially for herbalists. I've met so many women and men who are embarking on the journey of herbal healing, or of gardening, or simply learning about a few plants. This is the greatest relationship one can cultivate with the natural world, in my opinion: inviting our sister plants and trees into our lives promotes a lasting kinship with the world around us. I've had the pleasure of interviewing a number of herbalists from around the world, and I am awestruck by their passion, gentle natures, dedication and sisterhood. Thank you!   February 8, 2009 I was fortunate enough to ring in the New Year, in a manner of speaking, by traveling to Oahu. I am working on a project in which I'm interviewing women from around the world who work with plants, and I was honored to interview several healers (both Hawaiian and Chinese) and kahuna who are among the most interesting, kind, compassionate, wise and gentle-spoken I've ever met. The island was gorgeous, my hosts were generous and helpful, and the people were laid-back, easy-going and low-key. It was a wonderful week and I know that these women (and men) are going to help make my project a wonderful success--which means that I will be able to share their words with many many others and help inspire a younger generation of women to build their relationship with our wonderful plants. March 9, 2010 Has it really been a year since I"ve written in this journal? Time flies when you're having fun. What a year it's been! A whopping successful year for Vineyard Herbs; a lot of fun, growth and amazement for my children; a new school vegetable and flower garden; and I've completed writing four spec screenplays and have finished Global Herbal: Wise Women of the World & Their Healing Plants. Whew! I tend to get, as many of us do, bogged down in the day to day, noticing from a distance that spring is arriving. But thankfully my friend and talented gardener Laurisa Rich got me off my duff this morning to go for a walk on a several-hundred-acre property in Chilmark, overlooking the ponds and the Atlantic Ocean. What a walk! The air was fresh and warm (in the 50s!), sunny, clear. We could see for miles and miles, especially from the highest peaks where Native Wampanoags used to hold ceremonies and even communicate across distances with smoke signals. It was spectacular. And all the buds breaking forth: the tiniest green and red buds are poking out on cat brier, blackberries, cherries, and she showed me the most secluded and enchanting beetlebung (tupelo) grove. The old gnarly blueberry shrubs are a handsome bronze and are the perfect counterpart to the clear blue of the sky. I think a lot of us need that kick in the pants to get out IN nature and explore IN the woods, not just look at them from the windows of the car. Get out there and walk around, pick up some sticks, overturn a rock or two. It's breathtaking. June 21, 2010 ** Summer Solstice ** Today we celebrate the longest day of the year, the peak of the Sun and the growing of the light. From here on out, the days get shorter and the Oak King surrenders to the Holly King. The old myths are wonderful and fascinating ways to explore the realm of Mother Nature and our place within it. We've celebrated the Mother and the fertile woman all spring; today is the day to celebrate the Father, the Green Man, the paternal. The bright light; the hot sun. And it is gorgeous here on the Vineyard today: the high will be in the lower 80s and the sun is shining. I get to chaperone my son's kayacking trip and explore the sparkling waters of Sengekontacket Pond and Felix Neck. It's also a fabulous day to harvest wild and cultivated plants, especially lemon balm, St. John's Wort, Red Clover, and all the creamy elderberry blossoms. Enjoy!

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