Stewardship
Blessings from the Other Side to Heal the Land
Partnering with Divine Elder
When you are in the woods and fields, “Why would you change anything, without first asking for permission?” An elder indigenous woman spoke these words to my friend, Megan, in a dream. I carry them with me as I garden. I ask a plant what placement is best. “Is the shade of this oak too much? Do you want this full sun away from trees?” I turn over a rock. Did I cover the place to protect what lives under the rock? This is what asking permission means to me.
The woods surround my garden, so I think of each plant’s place. If the plant is beautiful but doesn’t support diverse pollinators, then maybe it does not belong. I have rejected the large calla lilies. I include plantings of deer weed, Acmispon glaber, for a deer snack as they browse through our landscaping. I plant them in between salvias and California poppies.
I’ve asked myself how I can care for the native plants on our property and how did native people care for the land. I’ve been reading about how indigenous California people managed the plants that they used. It is a thick book called, Tending the Wild, by Kat Anderson. She is a scholar who filled a third of the book with references, notes, and an index. The book goes into detail from countless interviews the author did with native people.
Native people paid great attention to detail to ensure their foods, weaving materials, and other needed plants were well-grown. For example, families had favorite acorn gathering trees that they burned underneath annually. These are not intense fires. The dry grass in October or November burns quickly, and then rains come and renew the perennial grass without the insects that damage the acorns.
I think about the details in the book, but my plants are different. I don’t have the skills to weave a watertight basket that can be used to cook acorn mush using hot stones as local tribe women did. I put foods like beans, potatoes, onions, and squash — sometimes from the garde — on a stove or in an oven in metal cookware. As a woman, I imagine I have similar concerns — good food and a beautiful home with the needed tools for the things our family members do.
I imagine that the vast knowledge of tending the land is mostly lost, and my knowledge is inferior. I imagine that I would need to gain insight into how wildlands can be managed. I read books about people who lived here long ago. I learned about how plants like yampah are grown for their edible roots, but I didn’t know how that knowledge applies to the plants that I grow.
The yampah has sprouted now on a warm day near the full moon in February. I grow it for its adaptability to thrive in our dry summer with its thick roots that store moisture and for its flower umbels that favor the butterflies and small pollinators. I don’t know if it tastes good, but I love the lacy flowers that hover above the grasses and salvias of my landscaping.
In wondering if I am living correctly in this beautiful wildland, I began to know this elder indigenous woman who spoke in my friend’s dream. Megan first told me about this elder as part of a dream when a young indigenous boy showed her a meadow and told her it was sacred. When Megan saw the meadow below our new home, she said that it was the meadow in her dream. The meadow feels sacred to me. I get that sense when I walk in it.
Some things go beyond time and place. I channel, and the elder from Megan’s dream spoke to us. We were asked to call her Divine Elder. This week after walking into the woods to pick greens for flower bouquets that we give to the people that get free food at the nearby food pantry, Divine Elder spoke. We had just made over 100 bouquets with daffodils, dried bracken fern, coffee berry greens, and bay greens. I wondered if I had cut these bushes properly. She said, “Beauty was in our homes also. The flowers were played with by children. Petals were laid in our sleeping places for good dreams. This is forgotten now. Seeing this unites us. Finding flowers is welcome. Picking with respect and appreciation matters. We find your methods considerate. Seek to continue as a woman who loves beauty. We did also.”
This connection warmed my heart. I had been afraid of doing a disservice to the land, but when working from my heart, all is well.
I did try to cut the coffee berry from the center of the bush only. That is what I do when pruning fruit trees to allow more light into the center of the tree. With the coyote bush, I was not so precise, because the coyote bush likes a good cutting back and will sprout from any place that is cut. I have studied and practiced pruning fruit trees since I was young. My father had an apple orchard. I have grown and pruned fruit trees around our home all of my adult life. I feel that I can trust the knowledge of plant care that I have gained and keep observing for new knowledge.
Things have changed on this land, but respect and appreciation still lead to correct actions. Respect and appreciation for all aspects require clear observations. This happens when I walk through the garden in the morning. This is when I see if there is anything urgent that needs doing and notice details that inform my plans. Some things don’t change. I study and prepare my mind to understand the needs of the plants both in the wild and in the garden. That combined with observation and shared resonances brings new insights into working with nature around me.
I suspect that unseen resonances with angels and beings who want to help us are all around and in us. Perhaps a new idea or something we dream about comes originally from someone who loves us. The person who loves us may be alive or dead. Love connects us. The expression ‘“sleep on it’” refers to the problem-solving insight that often comes as we awaken.
I walked on the trail in the wildlands that borders our homes to collect greenery for flower bouquets. It’s winter, so I didn’t know what our bouquet-making group would have. I thought at least I could find a variety of foliage. I thought about the correct way to prune and not take too much from one plant. I wished that my actions would fit the land. Then I felt Divine Elder walked with me. I trimmed branch tips off of the bright green coyote bushes, and I cut a few branches from the stately coffee berry bush. I felt accepted by the land. This resonance was a great comfort.
The helpful ideas that came from Divine Elder through dreams and channeling are not unusual. All of us have connections. I think we start with preparations of respect and appreciation. The foundation for this is an open heart ready for the wonder of caring resonances. We can foster Earth healing together. We already are as our caring mingles and resonates to amplify and widen. I see a walk in nature as preparation.
While walking, the myriad of sensations speak to us in the outdoors and our hearts open with appreciation. With time, many of you will find resonances and connections that speak to you. Together we become better Earth stewards.
