Fall Rains?

In "normal years", sometime around Mid-September the rains return in our part of the world. for the last twenty plus years, we ave divided the year up into four parts and the changes between Spring planting, the summer break, fall planting and freeze up have remained relatively static. Mid may was the start of Spring planting season. July fourth was about the end. July, August and part of September was routinely far too dry to risk putting trees out. Even with near constant watering, the tiny trees would just wilt under the long hot days of summer. This year, the Maple sap ran in January, catching most people completely unaware. We should have been planting even before most people had put away their winter coats! The trend of years past seems to have been shattered along with the illusion that there are questions about the science behind global climate change.

This year, we are finding that our best laid plans are unable to keep pace with the rate or quality of change that we are seeing, so perhaps we are into fall planting season already. Mid August around here would typically be a really bad time to plant trees, but Mother Earth has different plans for us. This season, we are well into planting again, having distributed over one-hundred pounds of tree seeds across land that would normally be dry as a bone. As hard as it was to begin fall planting a full moon early, the weather has been cooperative and Lord and Lady both know that we need more trees, so with luck, the windows odf opportunity for planting may be opening up.

The main nursery that we work with didn't even start shipping trees out until more than a moon into the Spring planting window. As soon as the ice, which we had little of this past winter goes out, and the ground dries to the point of being workable, which in our neck of the woods was Mid-February, tree planting can begin in earnest. This year, the hot dry summer came early and we stopped planting by mid-June. We are currently gathering tree seeds for distribution around our area and now that it is both cooler and wetter than usual, we will be taking full advantage of the early start to fall planting season. Our tree planting has been focused on the East River Valley this year simply because it is a more focused attempt to qualitatively change conditions in the river system that has the worst water quality in our area. Agricultural runoff, soil and clay subsoil are leaving this watershed at a rapid rate and choking the Fox River that receives the sediment load and toxic chemicals of nearly the entire eastern half of Brown County.

As always, we continue to ask for donations that will help us to plant more trees faster, recover more acres and provide habitat as well as more stable micro-climatic conditions for the future. Give as much as you can, every dollar helps. If you are going to be in our area, please let us know ahead of time and what your interests are. We will develop a personalized ECO-Tour that is fun, relaxing and educational. If you want to learn more about who we are, what we do and how we make these changes possible, contact us directly or leave a comment, we will get back with you about how you can bring the spirit of our work to your own area. for now, I've got to go, there are seeds to collect and plant, trees to plant, and native flowers that will help hold the soil that have to get out while the weather is cooperating.

Blessed Be and may all your days be filled with love and abundance.
 

Resort/Summer Camp Update

Our ECO-Tours are taking two divergent paths. On the one hand, there is the digital realm within which we seek to reach outward, bringing you opportunities to confront the issues that we see as relevant to creating a more sustainable world, wherever you may be. This is in fact moving along at a fairly good rate. I realized long ago that to move our bodies across the surface of the planet in search of inner peace is a bit like changing a tire before it goes flat. What we seek is most often beyond the realm of time and space, but the distractions that we face daily makes this a bit hard to understand. We all have to face toxic situations, environmental factors and attitudes wherever we are, but we are not always aware of just what is bringing disharmony to our situations, so getting distance, physical or otherwise from our situations can often be a way to gain perspective and more resolve to undertake positive change.

The other part of our effort is to create a healing place, an actual physical location that those who wish to immerse themselves in a living system of healing can come. There are certain challenges that face us in each and every environment on the planet and when the burdens imposed by your place seem untenable, getting away from "it all" (or most of it) can lead to clarity, steel our resolve, make us more acutely aware of things than either need to change, or that need to be changed within our selves so that we can become healthier and more able to continue to grow in spite of our difficult position. This healing place will be open to all, sustainably developed and provide opportunities for learning, growth and retreat-like conditions where we can work with individuals and groups to foster their unique path to healing.

I have been traveling around a bit, making connections with other healers. speaking to individuals and groups about sustainability and explaining the dream of a spot like this fort a while. What is interesting is that we began ECO-Tours as a way to heal the planet and the healing that we have spurred has brought us right back to seeing the healing effects on our selves and our participants as well. Unity, rather than division has come more clearly into focus. Cooperation amongst our participants has led to changing the micro-climate on the ground in discreet locations to be sure, but the changes in our hearts and minds has led to positive changes as well. I have "spoken" at length here about ways in which we have made the places we plant better, but the changes we have helped spur within our participants should not be ignored. We want to expand our efforts to many more individuals and having a specific place that is open and available for teaching/learning, growth & healing, as well as fun and games can be a valuable tool that can be used by our guests and campers alike to realize the necessity of co-operation, their own strengths and weaknesses and help them to grasp the depth of our reliance on our intact planet.

As many of you know, there is no magic bullet that can kill the beast that is at war with the Earth. There is no single therapy that can heal the wounds that we suffer at the hands of the greedy, ignorant or misguided. The camp/resort that we envision will be a place for many healing modalities can come together under one figurative roof, enhancing the effectiveness of each by having them work together in synergistic ways. To this end, we offer ourselves. We will gladly continue to be agents of positive change that we see blossoming all around us. We will continue to spread the word about our healing retreat center. Under the umbrella that we are in the process of creating, we will offer adventure, a site for pilgrimage, a school of sustainability and center for the healing arts. There will be art, science, theater and dance, music and crafts that are integrated into our lives rather than considered separate from it. If you know of someone who would be interested in participating in such a program or supporting such a development, by all means turn them on to this site. Have them contact our director, Tony C. Saladino through facebook or by e-mail at: tnsalaino42@hotmail.com
If you would like to donate to us directly, you can use our Paypal account that is the same as the e-mail.

All great voyages start with a first step. May this be yours! Blessed Be and Namaste'