On the top of a hill in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Floyd, VA sits a sanctuary devoted to bringing and allowing bees to function and exist as their nature intended. Gardens grace the land with seven types of hives placed in a circle in the midst of plants that support their needs. Though mist and a gentle rain surrounded the day work continued and I was grateful to be of some help at the Spikenard Farm and Bee Sanctuary.
I had the wonderful opportunity to visit this farm and bee sanctuary recently. Lending a hand where needed I met Gunther and Vivien Hauk, author and the founders of the sanctuary. I also met Jane, Summer and Rick sanctuary staff members. Together we planted an annual garden bed working side by side sowing seeds such as flax, poppy, zinnia, and sunflowers to name a few. Together we lightly hoed to tamp the seeds into the turned earth. It is said that “many hands make light work”. It’s true. We had this area seeded and hoed in no time working cooperatively. Teaching, learning, helping got the job done in a pleasurable way. I couldn’t help but wonder what songs my Native American ancestors would sing while getting the job done!
The intentions of supporting and sharing the healing of the bees and supporting the land were part of my purpose in going. After weeding in the vegetable gardens we broke bread, shared stories. Then Gunther and I walked the property edges. He showed me future plans for expansion all in keeping with the concepts of biodynamic farming and beekeeping.
Before I left we checked on a recent swarm. Beautiful combs were formed on the hive slats. I was in awe of the gentleness and caring he and his
staff showed. Vital, intense, committed to giving to the whole is the dynamic of a hive. It was a pleasure and a privilege to visit this lovely and well cared for ground.
I have mentioned the plight of our honeybees in previous articles and discussed the concept of relationships in some measure. Biodynamic farming builds and enriches the soil. Biodynamic beekeeping cooperates with the natural order of the Hive, maintaining the integrity and health of these beautiful creatures. We can co-create with the resources beneath our feet and share these resources supporting the dynamic of respectful partnership.
Also, Gunther and his wife are Waldorf School trained teachers. The Biodynamic way of farming comes from Rudolph Steiner as does this education model. For more information on Rudolph Steiner’s model for teaching and Biodynamic farming methods and philosophy visit the highlighted link.
Spikenard Farm relies on the support and donations of you and I. I ask all of you dear family and friends to consider donating to this worthwhile model.
“Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary
445 Floyd Highway North
Floyd, VA 24091
540-745-2153 For donations in stock please email us atinfo@spikenardfarm.org
All donations are fully tax deductible.
We thank you in advance for your investment in the future of the earth and our life with the bees.”
Gratitude surrounds us this month, doesn’t it? We in the USA have created a day of Thanksgiving and regardless of how the story is told we spend a day together where many of us hold hands and give thanks. I was fortunate to have been with family and friends this holiday. It felt warm and lovely to break bread with them. I hope you have used Thanksgiving to give thanks too. No matter what is in our lives on any given day, we are here and we are participants in life. For that I am grateful.
I decided to share with you my thoughts and feelings about three incredibly remarkable, mystical women that have truly inspired me along the way; some you may know and some you may not. Since I am an avid reader and love to teach, these women are successful authors and teachers. They have been the stars in my sky especially when clouds got in the way of clear viewing. I am excited to talk about them and hopefully inspire you to pick up something different and amazing for your winter reading and for your holiday gift list.
Jean Houston, at 81 years old and proud of her age, is a lover of life, genius, storyteller, philosopher, mentor, and world renown speaker and teacher. She has mentored me through her books to question the bigger picture. Her sense of humor reminds me to lighten up and think BIG. Her book, TheWizard of US, enchants us with the retelling of the Wizard of Oz from a symbolic point of view. In A Mythic Life, she recounts her “dreamland” upbringing in Hollywood and intersperses her worldview and philosophy. I admire that she has been called by many all over the world, heads of state, governments, including our own to bring her love, guidance, and possibilities of co-creating, finding solutions to the critical problems we face today. She brings style, grace, depth all with an eager heart. Thank you, Jean.
Caroline Myss: Wow. She is like the North Star, a guide for a soul traveler. She too has authored many books and teaches all over the world. For example, Sacred Contracts, makes the world of archetypes understandable. As you may know, the world of dreams has been a passion of mine for decades. I appreciate her in-depth understanding of how our archetypes guide us. For me this work is invaluable. More than her books I admire the teacher she is who reveals the person she is. I have gotten online webinars from her website and I am continually impressed at her depth and her clarity. There is no other word I can think of that describes her dissemination of complex philosophical understandings and her depth of the world’s history other than awesome! Her willingness to serve and be of service comes through and reminds me again and again that I/we came here to help create a great world, not mediocre, not one we settle for, but a GREAT world. We have that potential and possibility. It starts with you and me.
I continue to read most of her work. She has a blog, go to her site to sign up. I look forward to her blogs and her insights. I hope you will consider this amazing lady and explore her work. Thank you, Caroline.
Marianne Williamson, another woman facing self and working to create a new world, the new earth. She too has been on the inner journey. Years ago, I came across an article on the qualities of a true leader from The Institute of Noetic Sciences. This organization is dedicated to asking questions and then exploring answers in science, spirituality, and nature. What can we do to improve this earth, where we are born where we play, create, explore and discover our potential. A true leader, they said, is one who goes on the inner journey and honestly knows oneself. Marianne is one such woman. Her books explore relationships, forgiveness, and love that use her understanding from the Course in Miraclesas her springboard. Today she is daring to state our political process doesn’t work. How can we change it? What do we want from and can give to our political process that enhances our commitment to serve each other and not the bottom line? Remarkable.
Three women living extraordinary lives because they have listened to the call of their souls, the Holy Spirit, the Divinity that dwells within them, that dwells in all of us. Their gifts have blessed my garden and I look forward to walking new paths. Their collective clarion call to us is to wake up to our authentic self, be grateful for the old story, let it go and pick up the mantle as co-creators. The new is unknown. Remember we have each other.
With gratitude and appreciation for these special ladies in my life, I thank you. Namaste. Judith
My Native American elder friend, Grandmother Kitty, Nakota Sioux, who has passed, would often remind us to do everything with ‘an attitude of gratitude’. Being grateful for every aspect of our lives ‘in the moment’ shifts something deep within. Is it easy? Sometimes yes and sometimes not. We have to redirect that which bothers us for just a moment and when we do, our breath becomes our ally.
I woke up today realizing how the sun is traveling the morning sky differently from just one month ago. A kingfisher clicked across the backyard while other birds quietly sang their morning song. I usually begin my day with a warm glass of water with lemon juice. I felt grateful for the clean water I am able to easily drink. And that took one minute, maybe a few breaths of awareness.
Cultivating a mindful practice takes some diligent effort. Yet feeling grateful for something, our car, our job, our family, for being able to get up and walk where we choose and everything in between gives us an easy starting point. So here are 3 easy reminders:
Choose to be grateful for this moment.
Pick one area: grateful for the drink in hand, the food on your plate, your family. You get the picture.
Focus on your breath, taking one inhalation breathing in gratitude for self and exhaling gratitude from your heart for others.
My podcast guest this week. Deb Sodergren, practitioner, teacher and author and owner of Up Vibrations, encourages her clients and all of us to breath deeply and
be grateful. So stop right now and take a deep breath with me. Savor this one moment and breath again with the mindfulness of feeling grateful.
One of my favorite teachers, Caroline Myss, reminds us that every thought, word, and deed carries our name into infinity….pretty amazing! Today I would like to end with gratitude. A reminder for me and a reminder for you….may the gratitude we feel for our precious life and all we share sail up to the moon and reach beyond the stars and bless all.
Remember, please comment and share. You are appreciated
We have many problems facing us today and our future. Many of us are tired, angry even with the lack of legislative action protecting water, food, air, and soil. It seems we take two steps forward and now we seem to be taking three steps back. Yet, much innovation abounds, often at the grassroots level. We are making a difference. Yes, more needs to be done. Can we grow stronger more fulfilling communities without gangs, violence, with sustainable food, water, soil, and air resources?
My podcast series, Holistic Nature of Us seeks to be a voice, adding a contribution to our global community following my soul path. Yet how many of us are taught about Soul? We hear Soul referenced in specific work, as a common metaphor but what inner work are we doing to move from intense consumerism which is ego based to one that is ecologically based? Bill Plotkin defines soul as: “a thing’s ultimate place in the world”
My work with dreams, archetypes, the shadow from Carl Jung’s framework has helped me dig deeper into understanding my soul’s path and destiny in ways I could not have imagined. The podcast series was born, following my inner guidance and passion, I enjoy interviewing, I do a lot of public speaking and so I combined two loves into one venue. I have to tell you I am enjoying the process immensely.
My podcast guest this week, Rebecca Wildbear, river and soul guide works with Bill Plotkin’s Soulcraft program. Bill founded Animas Valley Institute based in Colorado. He reminds me that the post-industrial world is collapsing. What can we contribute to the reinvention of a more healthy culture? He feels we are basically stuck in early adolescence. We need to help each other, get back to more soul-based, mystical work, honoring the natural world once. While this will take time, generations even, we, as part of this masterful world have our own unique contribution to offer. What’s yours? I offer this video to give you an overview of his timely perspective.
For me, this is exciting work. I have been a dreamer all my life and can only tell you how much I have grown doing the deep inner work. I have been privileged to partake in ceremony, deep rituals that have given profound meaning to what I do, who I strive to be, and what fosters my contributions.
What does soul mean to you? What inspired you about Bill’s message?
Have you discovered what makes you sing? get up and go to work from gratitude and joy? Dance with family and friends? What gift do you feel you are bringing to your community? What do you think about Bill’s SoulCraft message?
I enjoy your comments, your stories. Please share. Thanks.
This blog continues to focus on soil and our relationship to the earth beneath our feet. I would like to share a quote from Michael J. Roads, from his book, Conscious Gardening, with you. A conscious relationship with the soil reaches us on a deeper level. Soil components react with our brain chemicals and create a feeling of peace. I hope that as your gardening begins you reflect a moment or two on the amazing world that exists in dirt. Soil, dirt, is the seat of all our fertility on the planet. Each of us can make a difference with the choices we make. Organic fertilizers, organic mulches, organic insect sprays fill the pages of our cyber worlds and are only a click way.
“Care for the soil with conscious attention. Be aware and conscious of the soil as a living medium. The soil is alive, and it is your responsibility as a conscious gardener to support and value that life. It is estimated that the weight of life in the soil far outweighs the weight of all humans, animals and creatures that live on the soil. That is a sobering thought. It is up to us, as conscious Beings, to support this natural balance, in however small a measure, by the care and intelligence of our actions in the garden.”
(P.80.) Conscious Gardening by Michael J. Roads.
Can we walk more softly upon this earth, this soil, this dirt beneath our feet? I hope so. Remember we are caretakers here honoring our commitment to co-create with nature and all her aspects. Stewardship is a responsibility and a privilege.
Take a moment and walk barefoot if you can today. Touching the earth this way keeps us grounded and connected. Like the tiny Hummingbird, we can be conscious gardeners simply by “doing the best we can.”
Today I decided to take a random look at our founder’s diligence with gardens and homesteading. There is much to be gleaned from their wisdom and struggle to craft this country from a set of ideals and passion that we seem to have lost. I highly recommend Caroline Myss’s unique look at our Founders vision and I hope we can reclaim an inspired sense of our identity this independence holiday.
The founding Fathers and Mothers of our Country were amazing people, crafting a nation that stood for freedom. My sense of this country’s history , value and worth was renewed when I listened to Caroline Myss’, The Sacred Contracts of America. I wondered about some of the founders garden passions and philosophy. The following are simply random facts I thought would be interesting this holiday.
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, for example, gives one a sense of his passion for gardening. For example, he grew several varieties of peas and had contests:
“The English or Garden pea is usually described as Jefferson’s favorite vegetable because of the frequency of plantings in the Monticello kitchen garden, the amount of garden space devoted to it (three entire “squares”), and the character-revealing playfulness of his much-discussed pea contests: according to family accounts, every spring Jefferson competed with local gentleman gardeners to bring the first pea to the table; the winner then hosting a community dinner that included a feast on the winning dish of peas. Among the nineteen pea varieties Jefferson documented sowing were Early Frame, which was planted annually from 1809 until 1824; Hotspur, named for its quick, frantic growth; Marrowfat, a starchier and later variety; and Blue Prussian, which Jefferson obtained from Bernard McMahon.Twinleaf offers Prince Albert, indistinguishable from Early Frame and introduced into America in the 1840s.”
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were scholars of classic thought, advocates of freedom and education. Both were farmers and exchanged gardening information.
“The personal friendship of Madison and Jefferson was built on other interests as well. They shared a love of the Virginia countryside; the fertile lands of the Piedmont offered both men the opportunities to study and discuss practical and financial questions of gardening, agriculture and forestry. Both kept careful records of local temperatures and rainfall while they exchanged seeds and farming tips. “
Ben Franklin’s Poor Richards Almanac, featured much wisdom. However Ben, the inventor, was always curious about nature and health. The following quote shows he too was an environmentalist, recognizing the interdependence of life and how limited we are at times in understanding the purpose of each species on this planet.
“In New England they once thought blackbirds useless, and mischievous to the corn. They made efforts to destroy them. The consequence was, the blackbirds were diminished; but a kind of worm, which devoured their grass, and which the blackbirds used to feed on, increased prodigiously; then, finding their loss in grass much greater than their saving in corn, they wished again for their blackbirds. “
— Benjamin Franklin
Letter to Richard Jackson, 5 May 1753. In Albert Henry Smyth, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin (1905), Vol. 3, 135.
Abigail Adams was left at home for many years to manage their farm and family while her husband traveled to England and France. She introduced a crude vaccination to her family to spare them from small pox. She was successful. At home she was resourceful, resilient and outspoken. She is one of many women who contributed to the formation of our country through dedicated effort, self education and diligence.
These men and women were close to the land. They made detailed observations of soil, climate and problems. This connection seems an invaluable reminder today that they were more than just political visionaries but also stewards of the land. Role models of long ago, can inspire us today.
Today I wonder what our founders would have to say? Any comments?
Enjoy.
Judith
Judith Dreyer, MS, BSN, Writer, Speaker, Holistic Health Consultant and Workshop Presenter, Master Gardener.
Judith Dreyer, MS, BSN, Writer, Speaker, and Workshop Presenter, Master Gardener.
this work is invaluable. More than her books I admire the teacher she is who reveals the person she is. I have gotten online webinars from her website and I am continually impressed at her depth and her clarity. There is no other word I can think of that describes her dissemination of complex philosophical understandings and her depth of the world’s history other than awesome! Her willingness to serve and be of service comes through and reminds me again and again that I/we came here to help create a great world, not mediocre, not one we settle for, but a GREAT world. We have that potential and possibility. It starts with you and me.
ame across an article on the qualities of a true leader from 
What does soul mean to you? What inspired you about Bill’s message?
about nature and health. The following quote shows he too was an environmentalist, recognizing the interdependence of life and how limited we are at times in understanding the purpose of each species on this planet.
