It doesn’t matter how many decades I’ve been doing it.
Every single year, when I plant vegetable seeds
the size of a pin head into soil
I am mesmerized and astonished when they sprout.

Some are tenderly nursed along indoors
establishing some roots before they are set in the garden-
exposed, then, to elements
that both hinder […]

An orchard full of questions

In grasping for answers
–when we hold too tight–
we squeeze the juice right out of the question.

In search of definitive, black and white certainty
we unwittingly plot a rigid path that narrows with each step.
It’s hard not to dig in, once we’ve begun.
To press on, unyielding in our […]

Mud and Muted Miracles

I’ll be honest.
April is not my favorite month.
The snow is either gone
or too crunchy or punchy to play with.
The ground is still frozen
so garden prep can’t really happen.

It’s a time of in between
known here in the northland
as Mud Season.
Some years are more dramatic than others
but we experience […]

What does it mean to pray?

What does it mean to pray?
Gathered together or on our own?
For some, it’s a direct line to a creator.
For others, it’s more of a universe thing,
tapping into a connection, say, with the natural world and ‘sending’ it.
For still others, it’s about focused energy and light—
beaming […]

A Winter Walk

Ah, Winter, you often maligned
sometimes scowled at beauty of a season.

I get it. If people are only shoveling
or driving upon slippery roads,
some of your shine can wear off pretty quickly.

Dear reader,
if you are someone lacking either the gear or the gumption
to go outside in subzero temps,
allow me to elaborate […]

There is a pause now
this quiet Solstice time
before light slowly lengthens.

The temptation?
To count the days.
To hold our breath
until daylight stretches into evening
and early morning forces back the darkness.

What a relief it will be
these light-starved eyes
to see again
no longer fumbling in darkness.

Still,
somewhere deep inside
past resistance and reason
you know this darkness, too, […]