I’ve merged some earlier footage with new footage in this video. So get ready to sink into wild nature, herd wrestling and kisses, and an important message from trees that fall in the forest.
If you like the t-shirts and hoodies you saw at the beginning of the video (cotton and organic cotton), we have them with or without words and in a wide selection of colors, check them out!
p.s. Just make sure you wash in cold water and hang dry to keep the printing in good shape. My son put my organic cotton hoodie in the washer/dryer and the image is half gone now!
Jini Patel Thompson is a natural health writer and Lazer Tapping instructor. She began riding at age 2 in Kenya, and got her first horse at age 8 in Alberta, and so continues a life-long journey and love affair with these amazing creatures.
Hello Jini,
Beautiful, beautiful tree and it’s ability to birth new life; I just love it! The way we humans tidy up is incredibly stupid. I dislike lawns, although each blade of grass is another plant in a vast community of plants; I’d rather, though, have a field of different plant life in ‘my yard’. (as if I own it; no, I don’t, I learn from it though). In this yard there is a peach tree, it was my favorite. It grew for 3 years, spreading its branches in a lovely bowl shape allowing wind to sweep through it’s branches; but last year, it simply stopped growing and died. I was going to remove it but I noticed that woodpecker and chick-a-dee kept visiting and were feasting on the bugs living under the bark. Now, peach tree stands leafless in the yard nourishing others. Had I not been paying attention, I would have, in my human way, removed this food source from the land. Yes, we are stupid about raking. My neighbor has this enormous gizmo that is a big vacuum cleaner and I hear him sucking up all of maples leaves….how sad to deprive maple of the nutrition it has made to sustain itself and all the other plants in the yard. Maple has dug deep into the earth to bring up many nutrients that are not accessible in the top soil. It is the same with dandelion. She also has a tap root and when she takes up residence, it means the soil needs her to bring nutrients to the surface. Her leaves have so much to offer us in the spring. Leave her alone and in a few years she will have done her job and she will move on to another place where she is needed.
I find that it is hard to notice how egocentric I am. Often I am shaken awake by circumstances outside my circle. It is such human nature to look out with our eyes and believe we are the center of the universe rather than see with the heart and realize we are a part of the universe. How happier I am when I notice, when I am open to what is happening around me — outside of myself as a part of this place, called my life. I wonder sometimes how much I miss because I am interior. Happily I do notice and then open and out.
I am ‘feeling’ better this morning. Much is happening around me in close relationships that I have to let go of. I’m constantly confronted with the actions and thoughts from my children that just shock me in not so good ways. I am reminded of my own journey at that age and need to be unconditional loving. It is a heavy order but I’m getting better at it.
Love you all,
Claudia
Well I’ll tell you something encouraging – we had 3 super tall, dead Cottonwoods at the back of our house that were very close to our garage/workshop. So they needed to be cut down, BUT, the tree cutter we hired already knew about the importance of leaving as much behind as possible, to provide a home for other creatures! I was so happy that this is becoming more common knowledge π He cut them to just lower than our garage roof – so the garage also shelters them from wind, which also reduces the chance of them being blown over.
When we bought the ranch in August, I was immediately thrilled to see how MUCH mullein was EVERYWHERE! The ranch had been massively overgrazed by cows and the soil compacted, but there’s mullein with it’s strong deep taproot to the rescue! It was also the year of the worst forest fires BC has ever seen (in addition to covid) – and what is mullein good for? Respiratory health!
But it’s true that our default setting is egocentric for sure! Same with our dominance default with animals, or children. It’s a continual discipline and many times I mess up. More love and compassion for me! And carrying on, getting better, bit by bit.
I also encourage you to look at the need for setting calm, strong, healthy boundaries with your children… perhaps you’re already doing this. But it just popped for me – I think it’s another thing most women are not skilled/trained in. Hence why the horses spend SO MUCH time teaching it to us! I’ll be so interested to hear what you think of the new workshop with the herd (coming in the new year!) on exactly this topic. xox
Lovely footage! The tree message is so important. Here in California we are so fire conscious that we to tend to clean up way to much! I know it creates harmful impact!
Curious why the ribbons were on the sides of the creek trail? Is that you or the developers that are going to destroy the land? βπΌππ΄
Could you water/dampen things instead of clearing? OR clear to a compost pile (only 1 spot to water!) then spread back out. As you already know, the bigger issue in CA is a negative feedback loop – poor soil (and lack of trees) are at the crux of that loop, e.g. The Biggest Little Farm:
“While other farms lose a high percentage of their rain, top soil (and nutrients) in run-off to the ocean, Apricot Lane Farms held onto much of it; 24 inches of rain this winter replenished their aquifer at the rate of 27,154 gallons of water per inch per acre, sequestering nearly 140 million gallons of water.”
HOWEVER, as this video shows, even the most desertified area can be turned around using permaculture principles:
The Story of Al Baydha: A Regenerative Agriculture in the Saudi Desert
https://youtu.be/T39QHprz-x8
And yes, the ribbons are the surveyor’s markers. So sad.