Despite the Northwestern like weather the past couple of days, the girls couldn’t resist getting out the whale pool (donated graciously by Grandpa Gus and Grandma Jane, Thank You). When you live where there’s very little above ground water sources, you have to start creating it yourself.  And oddly enough, the weather hasn’t been that scorching, so it makes for a temperate relief source. But,who cares about all the jargin! Let’s see the pictures of the girls playing pool in the backyard.

who cares if the ground tarp is an old down comforter anyway.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but the desert is a place of extremes. It’s kind of bi-polar lately. It tends to swing on a pendulum trying to find its right balance of weather patterns. Maybe that’s why it attracts the type people it does. But, also for us “slightly homesteaders” it means bliss for the gardens!! The grounds are soaked, the wind has ceased and instead of just trying to survive, the plants are thriving!! Now this pictures are from a couple of days ago and indeed are already twice their size and blooming more flowers. Yeah. We are looking forward to a harvest of melons, squashes, green beans, herbs, carrots, eggplant, tomatoes, lettuces, onion, turnips, beets, cucumbers before we put seeds in for a fall crop. The spinach is flourishing and hanging in there. It will bolt to quick in hot weather, so we are lucking out.

We’ve already been using the basil almost daily

The chammomile is blooming like crazy and has many more buds open than even this photo

I am in love with this ……. Burgundy Amaranth. This is the first year I’ve tried it. It’s a grain that I will harvest for flour or you can cook it like rice and popcorn. It is beautiful and as we speak is already two feet tall. It will get to 6-8ft. by harvest.

Our goal is to produce enough to be able to blanch and can some of the yummies for the off season. I’m also considering doing a small cold frame greenhouse for the winter greens. hmmm such aspirations and in the desert of all places.

Upon our return from the peaceful, quite, serene setting of the mountains, we jumped right back into the hot, loud, crowded, dry atmosphere of the city. But, we didn’t mind, afterall, my brother Matt and my nephew Jacob were in town for the weekend. Matt was racing motorcycles out at Sandia Motorsport Park. We all headed out to the track for a weekend of speed, frozen lemonade, and family. It was great to support Matt as he took on mainly local riders who knew the track like the back of their hands and to watch Matt as he fought hard for a second and two third place trophies! Was he psyched? I think so

Patrick stepped up as Matt’s only totally available and reliable pit crew member, and a special thanks to Andres who came over after his races to help out on the bikes.

The girls begged for rides on Jacob’s little Honda and they got a taste of what’s it’s like to ride in the open winds on something that has a motor and not 4 legs.

The girls were hooked and our now quite eager to add chores to their list in order to start saving for a motocycle of their own! Imagine that. When not riding, or eating ice cream, these two paired up with Jacob to make an inseperable threesome for the entire weekend!

Towards the end of the second day of racing, one of the deserts’ most amazing phenomenon, the monsoon, swept through the race track and reminded us of our miniscule size. As 8 of us desparately hung onto Matt’s pit tent to keep it from being swept up and taking us with them like Dorothy and Toto in Kansas, the rain unleashed, the ground blew away and everyone around the park began to seek refuge.

But, as with any summer desert storm, just wait around a few minutes and your back to sunny blue skies. So, off to Dad’s we headed for swimming, burgers, and a sleepover! What a great weekend. Miss you Matt and Jake-y. We’ll come see you soon.

Not long ago we were experiencing a heat wave here. Temperatures soared to the high 90’s, the winds were howling and you could literally watch the land blow away. Sometimes, here in Edgewood, you can really get a sense of what it must have been like during the days of the dustbowl. But, luckily for us, we are surrounded near and far by mountain ranges that actually grow green stuff and spit out bubbly cool and warm waters. So, while Patrick had a few days off between the end of classes and the beginning of clinicals, we loaded up and headed to the Jemez, one of my most favorite places in New Mexico. Mountains of Ponderosa forests, red clay cliffs, hot springs, waterfalls, and ancient people’s history.

We spent three amazing days swimming in the falls

cooking over an open fire

Riley and Dingo slept in the tent, Abby crashed on the front seat of the truck and Patrick and I slept the most plush we have ever slept on a camping trip in the back of the truck on an air matress snuggled under my huge celtic unicorn tapestry )(which Patrick was quite reluctant to put up).

We hiked a 4-mile round trip journey all for a wildflower surrounded hot springs as one day’s destination.

The hot springs are so relaxing and theraputic and after being nibbled on by tiny minnows, avoiding the most gigantic orange spider we’ve ever seen and respecting the space of a small garder snake as it swam through the shallow temperate water….a nap is a must, or rather the only option.

on our last morning, we headed back to the falls and watched as the warm breeze made every single reflection of the sun on the crystal clear water spread out like fairy dust and minature boats of leaves lazily floated around what might have been the sea. What a magical place to re-wild oneself.  The girls ran barefoot in skirts, searching for bugs, picking wildflowers, spinning in open meadows, catching minnows in bowls made of their hands the entire time. Now, back in civilization, we’re grateful for our memories.

And Dingo’s still got it, that guy will fetch and fetch and go and go and go, as long as there is a stick and a hike involved,oh and a plush sleeping pad in the tent with his name on it.

Well, it came and went, but we’re pretty sure Patrick had a great Father’s Day! With an almost full moon upon us, we took the opportunity to sleep the night before, outdoors! Riley and Dingo took the tent,

while Patrick and I braved it on the deck.

Abby wasn’t sure she had the nerve, so she slept in her comfy bed. Probably not a bad choice considering we didn’t
exactly get the best night’s sleep due to barking dogs, rooting horses, and random noises. But, it was great to be under that great big starry sky nonetheless. We started the day with homemade cinnamon coffee cake (yep from scratch), then we headed to the mountains for a picnic dinner. Not to bad all in a day’s work (for mom) and rest (for dad)

Hope all you Father’s had a GREAT Day.

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Well, Riley has officially been on summer break for a month now! We are truly loving having her home everyday. She is so full of life and spirit, and I feel so grateful to get to spend this time with her. I really missed her during the school year. She and Abby start their day with the morning ritual of letting the chickens out to free range. They follow them and pet them and are just taken with them for at least 2 hours. They then hang out in their clubhouse made out of stacked hay bales, run around barefoot and squeal with either fear, delight, or disgust at every new bug that finds their way into their paths. When it becomes too hot to be outside, they move inside after devouring dripping popsicles and we get creative in the kitchen with snacks and homemade sprite. Imagine my delight when Riley discovered she LOVES my hand made dolmas
(stuffed grape leaves).

The girl has at least one daily, like a vitamin.

She has taken up T-ball for the summer and loves the athletic aspect as well as playing around with some of the girls from her Kindergarten class

Their team is the honey bees, how sweet is that?

But she and Abby can’t turn down a ride on their favorite sorrel mare, Tamers given the opportunity, even in gail force winds!

And, what would summer be without your BFF coming over to play all day and sleepover and dress up like princesses?

Not summer, I’d say. Just like, it wouldn’t be summer without making mud soup and mud pie every evening as the sun goes down!

When I began my current Medicine Woman Tradition lesson “A Sense of Place”, I had so much hesitation and resistance. I kept thinking “ Sense of Place?” I really don’t like where I’m currently living, how can I really dig into this and feel good about it. But, ever since my recent retreat to Anima, I’ve begun to actually live this lesson before even trying to dive into any of the question and answer sections.

I think the most profound insight I’ve had is finally understanding and feeling what gurus, teachers and writings have always tried to convey to me “ It’s not all about WHERE you live, but HOW you live where you are.” I’m paraphrasing here. But, truly my ideal location is not Edgewood, but I am here for a duration of time and for the first time in my while being here, I’m living through acts of spirit, love, connection, wildness, nurturing, kindness, and gratitude. All the things I thought I needed an ideal location to provide for me. So, what do I mean exactly?

Anima is a sacred special place. How I spent my time there, how I treated myself, and the lessons that I learned were so powerful. I felt, it was like a vacation, a trip away from home reality, something that I escape to. But, ever since I’ve returned home, I’ve continued the small acts of sacredness that I had at Anima and I’ve integrated them into my home here. Just because I’m not in the Canyon, doesn’t mean I can’t live wildly, creatively, lovingly, and nourishingly here. I finally felt Anima running through me, in this place that I have despised for the past several years.

Since returning home from the Canyon I make a concerted effort to nourish my body with similar things I had there. I make pesto weekly, 3-layer conrnbread, dolmas, homemade breads. I gather wild rose petals from my front wild rose bushes and I dry them and jar them for my heart’s desire later.

I’m hanging laundry out to dry. I answer the inner call to day-dream, meditate, journal, and read when it beckons. I strengthen my body with YOGA at dawn. My family and I frequent the Sandia Mountains we love so much and immerse ourselves in the quiet, peaceful, aliveness of the place. We gather small beautiful items, like Riley’s flower seed pod here

and dried yucca flower stems from our yard and find special places in our house for them, creating sacred spaces

I lovingly tend to my garden and landscaping that I’ve put in this year every single morning and evening. Watching, waiting for those tiny little sprouts to emerge so I can admire their strength and energy, and life force that allows them to push through my hard clay like soil. I sit among my flowering salvias in the front yard and beckon the butterflies, bees, and birds. I actually saw a dragonfly in my front yard this morning as I clipped prairie sage for smudge bundles.

Come, on for real, a dragonfly in my high desert plains acre. That just seems so unreal, but truly so magical. And an inspiration, for my intention this spring has been to make our home here just that – magical – for All our Relations. The two-legged, four-leggedgs, plant spirits, winged ones, you name it.

A good friend wrote me recently and she commented that “it sounds like New Mexico has lost its magic for you?” Which for awhile I believe this statement was true. But, I returned to New Mexico because I LOVE the spirit here, and I needed to be infused with it again. I needed to live it again. It just seems I had some hard physical and emotional lessons when I first returned, and I was blind and shut-off to the magic this place had been trying to deliver. I know we most likely won’t be in Edgewood when Patrick is finished with school, but today I finally reached a place of loving acceptance for where I am for the time being. This place has offered me the solitude and lack of distraction, the vulnerability, the nakedness, the strength and endurance and the push I’ve needed to finally begin to walk my path in the Medicine Woman Tradition. And for that I am grateful for and LOVE this little piece of land in Edgewood New Mexico

As I explore this Medicine Woman path, I become acutely aware of how all encompassing the term “medicine” is. I know some of you may be conjuring up images in your mind of me in some buckskin dress with my face painted, incense blowing everywhere, waving a feather around as I dance to a drum beat. But, truly I’m discovering there are simple aspects and acts that one who walks in the Medicine Woman Tradition incorporates into their daily rituals that don’t require the vision above. Becoming and living the life of a medicine woman, means, to me, living completely in this moment. Expressing my whole self through every act, consciously, pointedly, truthfully, and fully. In the past, things like being responsible for cooking the meals and feeding my family was one more task, chore, burden that had been bestowed upon me with womanhood, motherhood and marriage. It was truly not a highlight of my day for a long time. But, living presently and intentionally includes, lovingly nourishing my family. And as I walk this path, the more I enjoy this now blessed task. I find joy in coming up with new ways to feed my loved ones with foods that help heal them, give them strength, and surprise them. I keep this intent present when I’m preparing the foods and giving thanks for their nourishment. And for me, I get to be CREATIVE!!! I’ve begun to express my ideas and myself, not only through some art form, but life itself is becoming an art form. So, I play with color, textures, flavors and presentation. Whole, natural foods are the best, because they instinctively take on these properties! So, go ahead, play a little. Make smile-y faces on your pizza or toast. Build mountains out of your oatmeal or mashed potatoes (remember the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind…). A shift in perspective is happening for me, and the life force (yes similar to that of a Jedi Knight) is flowing freely through me…..and isn’t that what living is all about anyway… Being whole-ly human. Try it, you just might like it!

This stuff is truly medicine. During my recent visit to Anima in the Gila, I was blessed with Loba’s phenomenal wild foods and cooking. One of the mainstays to almost any meal I ate there, or as a flavorful boost to new sauces was this Pesto. I don’t know how often I’ll mention it, but Loba is an amazing healer with food. See, look how happy I am!

That’s me and Loba on the morning of my departure. But, the night before, when I anxiously awaited Loba’s arrival to my lodge with dinner, I reminded myself to not walk away without transcribing some of her secrets behind the cherished meals. I begged for the Pesto, brined lemons, 3-layer cornbread, and skillet bread recipes. The first thing I did upon returning home was make a batch of this yummy, nourishing green stuff. I used walnuts and spinach, but as Loba states in the recipe included in this post here, any wild green leafy edible thing will do. It’s all up to what you have around you locally, or in your garden. So, go crazy, GO GREEN, GO PESTO. This will truly get you excited about the possibilities of using wild foods, and wildly nourishing your body!

I use pesto on this skillet bread (the recipe was posted in my lodge at Anima) topped with cheese and greens. Yum. The bread is pretty dense, and I vary it up with millet, or dried herbs, but you know there’s not a bunch of preservative crap going into your body with this! It’s wholesome goodness, baby.

Anima Skillet Bread:

2 Cups Warm Water

1 tsp. yeast

2Tbs. sugar

stir together

Add 2 Cups Flour (your choice…rye, unbleached white, spelt, sprouted wheat etc… I use spelt )

1Tbs. salt

2 more Cups flour (add something different than the first!)

Cover with plate and let sit in a warm place 1-2 hours.

When done put in pantry.