Late Fall and the Intelligence of the Seasons

“I realize there’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting things go.” ~ Jeffrey McDaniel Besides the warming scents and deep green presence of evergreens in most temperate forests, the woodland trees are beginning to shed this year’s leaf growth to the forest floor.  This leaf cover not only builds … Continue reading

The Strengths of Sensitivity

Meditation, yoga, and long walks in the forest have all been great tools for me to sensitize myself. Growing up in a culture where TVs are left on, where people interrupt each other when speaking, where sirens and construction are the norm, and where store-bought music is always being played…it’s been a long road to … Continue reading

Seasonal Soiree Past Menus

Starting in January 2013, Lindsay Wilson and Marion Sansing began a tasty collaboration in Starkville, MS.  Lindsay was inspired by the Full Moon Feasts that Jessica Prentice used to organize in the Berkeley, CA.  After getting to know Marion (a traditional foods explorer extraordinaire), they combined forces and started to generate creative nourishment like never … Continue reading

Cashew-Hempseed Pudding

I remember the first time I laid eyes on this wild-looking tree.  I was in Costa Rica walking down a sleepy road and found these bizarre fruits hanging about.  I saw the shape of the nut at the base of the fruit and knew what it was almost instantly. Cashew.  Inside that bean-shaped shell, underneath … Continue reading

Moroccan Apricot Chutney

The tomatoes are just now beginning to taper off here in Mississippi.  However, if you canned some cooked tomatoes, this recipe will still taste vital and fresh.  Store-bought canned tomatoes will work as well. A few months ago, my friend and I held another one of our Seasonal Soirees at the MS Modern Homesteading Center.  … Continue reading

the Creative: language lost?

the Creative: language lost? by Lindsay Kolasa a dream inside the womb. a seed, a spark. a coil deep inside the shell. yesterday’s breaths echo in chambers as the tail of an exhale slips into deep quietude reappearing in the swell of the inhale, sending out filaments of fairy tales from my gently parted lips. … Continue reading

Who do you trust?

I must say that I am madly in love with plants.  They have taken over my life and…to be honest…my apartment.  Herbs are drying in various nooks and extractions are littered about my bedroom and kitchen. I don’t mind.  I’ve been kissed by the plant divas and they tend to keep you enamored as long … Continue reading

Celtic Poet-seers

Along with the Druids, the island and continental Celts also had a class of people called Poet-seers.  These poet-seers had similar training as the Druids but more focused on reciting oral histories and shape-shifting poems. Their role was important in sculpting and preserving the Celtic cosmology.  Much of their poetic language was deeply embedded in … Continue reading