In 1998, we left behind the city life and moved onto an overgrown property in the Chahalem Valley of Newberg, Oregon. The blackberries, left alone for years, had climbed 30 feet or more into the trees hiding a beautiful year round creek and a promise of land to be uncovered and explored. With my then two year old daughter in tow, we explored and became familiar with the trees, the shrubs, the wildflowers and the birds that would become intregal to the fabric of our story.
This is a story of restoration. Of parallels. Of life. Because, brokenness happens in all realms. This property was broken, neglected, striped of everything that was of value and then some. The wildlife had been killed and left to die in what we now call our yard and birds were scarce. My favorite story to tell is of going fishing and not being able to find one worm, not one! That's how striped this land was.
So, starting with the heart of the property, our home, we began to rebuild, repair and restore what we felt this place would look like, alive. We created a space for family, friends and our animal companions to feel safe, loved and respected; nothing fancy or pretentious, just a safe place. A cabin in the woods, a warm wood stove in the center of the home, a kitchen space open for everyone to see and smell the food being prepared, a nourished place to grow and thrive.
And, then it grew outward. A barn, chickens, geese, horses, a cow and then goats. Compost, the byproduct of farm animals became the foundation of our gardens with vegetables, flowers and herbs. With the goats, we began clearing the 30 foot high blackberries and eradicating the poison oak which grew everywhere. We began to see a beautiful landscape emerge; the creek became visible, trails began meandering through the newly cleared forest and as time went by, new wildflowers began growing in cleared meadow spaces. Man made dumpsites were cleaned up, shell casings and skeets from target shooting were picked up and discarded, plastic and anything that hadn't decomposed was meticulously picked up and removed from the beauty of our land. Once again, our land became home to a plethora of wildlife, the birds began to sing and our gardens teemed with worms. Restoration.
And, what I didn't know then, was that while I was tending and caring for our land, I was also tending and caring for myself and the brokenness in my own life story. Simultaneously, tearing down the thorns, I began naming and clearing away the garbage that I'd hidden away as "over" and began creating new words for a song my heart wanted to sing. And I manifested the words: creative, artistic, lover of nature, shepherd, nurturer, gardener, and steward of this land I live on and love. Parallels.
Nearly twenty years later, this is still the song of my heart. My children are grown and are marking out their own paths, my husband is nearing retirement and I, well, I keep adding more words to my song. I love tending my goats, walking the beautiful trails we've created and being in sync with the seasons that nourish my soul and the plants that feed and heal my body. Living close to nature creates in me a desire to honor and respect her through my choices. Those choices are growing my own organic, life giving food; creating clean skincare products; using plant medicine for healing and sharing my love of nature's abundance. These choices brings me great joy. Life :)