Land Trust

I broke ground at a new circle garden much larger than my own. This Heritage Garden was created by the local Grange. There are few members in this Grange and most are elderly. (I remember attending Grange events on country roads with my parents. My mom wrote a cookbook for the Grange.) I enjoy weeding and looked forward to time alone on this open piece of land near my house. The first day I was there one of the Grange men stopped by and asked about rototilling. I said that I preferred weeding by hand. He seemed to want to do this work in a hurry and he had the attitude that it was a chore. I’m sure he’s burned out after trying to maintain this site for years. I told him that I wanted to do a little each day and that I enjoyed the work. Yesterday two crew members from the nursery on the East edge of the property stopped by. They had instructions from the property and nursery owner to weed the garden. I felt some ownership and wasn’t too happy to have them interrupting my solitary communion. One of the men asked me about using a weed whacker. I showed him that pulling the weeds out by hand gets the roots. What a waste of time NOT getting to the roots! As I left they told me that next time I was there it would be all cleared. I’m proposing at the Grange meeting that we have a Harvest Celebration at this garden. I’d like to honor a couple of elderly members who have contributed so much to our community via the Grange. Ideally if volunteers “adopted” sections of the garden circle we could maintain it with a quarterly work party. And at the work parties we could celebrate the four directions. More ideas….. The Grange has their way of doing ritual, however. But they might let me offer something new with my drum.

Due to rainy weather I took my grandson to the movies for his fifth birthday. At the theatre we considered which movie to see. He was quiet as we talked about the choices. He chose Shorts about a wishing rainbow rock. After the movie I heard him say that the Disney movie GI Force was an action movie and that he and his dad would go see that. I realized then that he chose Shorts for me! He knows I don’t like loud noise and violence. That was my gift from him!

The Native Entrepenurial Training is focused on for-profit businesses. I am welcome to attend the orientation. I’ll continue to ask questions as to how Circle of Life ~ Mapping One’s Story can contribute to “my” Native Community. Perhaps there’s a grant. Here’s another garden I’ve been working for 8+ months now: employment. I notice a new groove in this process. One that rides the waves instead of making waves. It’s based on trust. I’m always learning this in new ways at new levels.