On this page the following entries were made in the “November, 2009” time-frame.
Archive for “November, 2009”
“3. Name five native edible plants in your region and their season(s) that they are available.”
You would have a tough time being a vegetarian in my neck of the woods, if you depended only on wild plants. Most of the tribes subsisted on meat, supplemented by plant foods for variety. Here are five of the native plants used for food in the Helena area. (Although Montana huckleberries are famous, I didn’t choose them because they are in more moist areas of Montana).
1. Late May-June: BITTERROOT (Lewisia rediviva)
The season of gathering roots and berries started with the Bitterroot, which is also Montana’s state flower. The Montana Salish (Flathead) called May the Bitterroot Moon. Bitterroot was western… Read more »
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Rhiannon in the Enchanted Fort
The last leaves hung yellow and brown and ragged on the trees, so it was easy to keep the white boar in sight as he ran through them. And so to follow him to the clearing and watch him run into a courtyard of a place that was not there before. Then Pryderi followed the boar into the courtyard but he did not return. When Rhiannon heard this she went herself after her son into the enchanted place. And it received her and enclosed her within itself and could be seen no more.
This candle is lit as a vigil…
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The Trapped Moon
LONG ago, in my grandmother’s time, the Carland was all in bogs, great pools of black water, and creeping trickles of green water, and squishy mools which squirted when you stepped on them. Well, granny used to say how long before her time the Moon herself was once dead and buried in the marshes, and as she used to tell me, I’ll tell you all about it.
The Moon up yonder shone and shone, just as she does now, and when she shone she lighted up the bog-pools, so that one could walk about almost as safe as in the day.…
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“2. What sort of soil is predominant in this place? What “soil series” is it?”
This was a tougher question for me than the water question, because the Helena area is quite diverse in its soils and geological history…And to be honest, soils is an area of which I am pretty ignorant, other than the real basic stuff. So I took this as a real opportunity to learn something new about my home valley.
The best online resource for a general view of the soils in the valley and surrounding mountains was at http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov/Manuscripts/MT631/0/HelenaNF.pdf
Below is a screen shot of the map of the soils of the Helena National Forest, which includes the forested hills and mountains… Read more »
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Mishka- ONE Tree
In dedication to my Happy Tree and its teachings; RIP.
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Nature in cities
This week I was lucky enough to catch a screening of a new one-hour documentary called The Nature of Cities, made by local Boulder filmmaker Chuck Davis along with urban planning professor Timothy Beatley of the University of Virginia.
The film spotlights oases of nature in urban areas around the world, including San Diego, Amsterdam, and Stockholm. There are vertical gardens in some cities, like this work by Patrick Blanc in France (thanks to How It Grows for posting the slideshow):
The film follows children exploring some of San Diego’s many canyons, cataloging the native plants and insects in these crevices that until recently… Read more »
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Sting’s New Album, “If On a Winter’s Night”
I saw Sting’s concert for his “If On a Winter’s Night” on PBS the other night. It was fantastic and magical. It blends the Christian sacredness of Christmas and the Pagan death and still eerieness of the Winter season. Winter is the time of story and the time of ghosts.
And he had the song “Soul Cake” in it, much like my dream of “Grieve Cakes.” This merging of Pagan and Christian is where I have always found myself. As the Blackfeet say according to my friend PrairieMary, you can never have too many religions.
Check out this review: http://www.rockom.net/articles/2009/10/27/review-stings-if-on-a-winters-night/
Sample all the… Read more »
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Bulletin: Animism @ Ning
I am glad to announce the opening of a new animism community on Ning through the efforts of Corwen ap Broch who has done a wonderful job in organizing and designing a Ning community. The community provides chat, blogs, forums, file uploads and more, and is focused on animism in a broad sense such as [...]
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“1. Trace the water that you drink from precipitation to tap.”
Ok, so the challenge I mentioned yesterday starts today. Question #1 is “Trace the water that you drink from precipitation to tap.” On this side of the Continental Divide, our watersheds, including the valley’s Ten Mile Creek and Prickly Pear Creek, flow into the greater Missouri River watershed. This is one reason why we in Helena are not part of the Cascadia bioregion, as Cascadia is described by the Columbia River watershed. Helena is part of the Missouri River system.
The Missouri River has great meaning for me because I was raised here in the headwaters region of the Missouri, and… Read more »
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Animism @ Ning
I am glad to announce the opening of a new animism community on Ning through the efforts of Corwen ap Broch who has done a wonderful job in organizing and designing a Ning community. The community provides chat, blogs, forums, file uploads and more, and is focused on animism in a broad sense such as is described by Graham Harvey and others. Please check it out and sing up and join the discussions!
Animism @ Ning
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