February 23, 2024

The Art of Living Naturally

As a young girl my grandmother would tell me stories of her life as a child growing up in rural northern Colorado…the first years of the last century when things were still wild. I fell in love with that wild then and pursued my return to it with every breath, dreaming of riding horses on the prairies and in the mountains – while growing up in southern California in the ‘60’s.

In High School my life focused on being an active and diligent student in Future Farmers of America – my most direct access to this way of life. Biology and animal science studies while considering veterinary school at Cal Poly in SLO town, California, was the follow-up while growing a small garden in the small yard of our rental house and all the while exploring as much of the countryside as was possible. As a biology student I was always collecting critter specimens off the roads, curing skins, tanning hides and boiling skulls, collecting feathers – nothing went to waste.

Realizing that veterinary school was not my jam I ended up leaving with a young man with ideals and dreams much the same as mine…we ended up in Humboldt County in the late ‘70’s on a very large property where becoming one with the land was The Way, the ONLY way. Organic gardening and raising as much of our own food as was possible, while also immersed into the world of plant medicine…as was the way of the day in that area.

I became adept at medicinal plants and making my own medicines for our growing family of children and critters. Knowing how to treat wounds with herbs was my study as our growing herd of horses and dogs, goats and sheep always provided me with plenty of opportunity to practice. My children rarely went to the doctor, I made all of our cough syrups, cough drops, teas and tinctures for health and well-being. I was enrolled in the school of hands-on practice, the learn by doing and living.

As I walked through our garden of herbs, I would ask the plants what was appropriate for each particular condition…I learned to listen to their message. As we foraged in the wilds, I observed what the natural world showed me and had to teach me about plant companionship and symbiotic living. I was hooked!!! My studies and practice evolved as our family grew. Our larder was full of home grown and preserved food and medicines, herbal spice blends, vinegars of all sorts, and a medicine chest ready for pretty much anything – including emergency supplies for mending and stitching wounds. We had two milk cows and made our own butter and yogurt. Living organically kept our health in excellent balance…living in peace and harmony with the land, respecting the balance of living together holistically. We drank spring water directly from the earth – the best water ever!

When we moved to South Dakota it was a new learning curve with managing the seasons – a whole new game. Organic was yet a new word there at the time, so we became way showers in that realm. Again, we lived on a large ranch and had a one-acre organic garden, three greenhouses and other outside protected growing areas. We raised all of the critters – chickens, ducks, turkeys, sheep, goats for meat and milk, rabbits, horses, cows – and with that came three huge compost piles! Black gold. This was the magic potion for some of the most delicious food our area had ever tasted.

This was a climate that required intense strategies and methods to pull off because of the intensely cold winters and short growing season – however, we pulled it off and had plenty of curious future friends that were all in on learning the secrets and offering their help so they, too, would learn and take home the goods. This life was labor intensive as our heat was firewood and our huge greenhouse was heated in the late winter to start seeds for planting in the spring. An extremely harsh climate offered plenty of farming disasters and failures and yet the successes were ALWAYS worth it. Our gardens and entire place were a vision to behold!

I sold my wares at the local cooperative and could not keep up. I gave classes in making salves and tinctures. We raised our children understanding the full spectrum of organic gardening and living one with the land. Ceremony and sweat lodge were an integral part of life, we had ultimate respect for and appreciated every bit of it. It is a foundation in their lives that has shown up to sustain them and what they appreciate as adults in this crazy technical world we live in now.

We were not appreciated in the eyes of the Old West Good ‘Ole Boys ‘hood (in the Black Hills) and it became a legal battle that lasted for years as we experienced the injustice in our “justice” system – a shocking revelation at the time. Culminating in the loss of our land as a result of the 2008 financial crash (with a mortgage from too many legal fees) aka Pluto’s entrance into Capricorn, we took our few remaining belongings and moved to Costa Rica. A new element for growing organic – the jungle. Wow! We found a simple house to rent in the jungle and immediately set up our garden and began supplying the neighbors and locals with our home-grown vegies. This practice was just getting a solid hold in the local scenario and soon we had a local farmer’s market where I sold my salves and tinctures, and again began to teach a few classes. Growing food and herbs in the jungle was a new game! Wow, from a six-month growing season to year-round with bugs and mold – big shifts, yet comprehensively essential to the education.

It was during the time of our legal challenges that I immersed myself in astrology – trying to understand what the cosmos and planets had to say about all of the stuff going on in our lives. Learning the intricate and intelligent cycles of our planets and how we are drops in the cosmic ocean taught me another level of understanding for living in oneness with the natural world. WOW!!! Pursuing this educational adventure has led me into some very serious understanding of evolutionary astrology and now becoming proficient in Diamond Astrology – each providing insight and amazing maps into the mechanics of being a human on planet E. I now not only sell herbal remedies but offer astrological readings.

To add just one more (of many) facet into living naturally, I now live in Hawaii after almost ten years of Costa Rica – not a drastic shift, gracias a Dios. My life includes the amazing world of the ocean and her gifts – and the world of mycology. My education will never be complete, and I relish my ongoing diversity of classes! I collect sea shells – this is contemplative and habitual – try NOT to collect them! And driftwood, and assorted stones. This all becomes art from the heart and the gifts of island life, which I also offer here. The mycology part just showed up (yeah, right) but captured my heart as it fits so well in my plant medicine offerings and ceremonies. Blending herbs and the fungi to assist in mental health during these times is working some amazing miracles, I must say, and I am honored to be a part of this growing realm. Since coming to Hawaii cannabis and hemp have become legal and it is incorporated into all of my healing products, I bring understanding and application of it from way back in my Humboldt life.

My Journey of living naturally has spanned many realms and cultures and environments. Here now I offer to you some of what I have perfected over time and encourage everyone to explore their own relationship to their environment, wherever and however that is for you. My life has been extraordinary and so rewarding! It was a mission…you can create your own mission of understanding what it means to practice the art of living naturally by observing your Self, habits, feelings, and your way of operating in whatever realm you are in. It is always available! Taking time out to go outside and talk to the stars at night, have conversations with the critters, watch how the wonders of the insects interact with your flower garden, grow some of your own herbs and vegies - even if only in a bucket on your porch or containers in the kitchen! Walk barefoot on the grass and put your toes in the water – even if it is simply a garden hose! Relish the way it makes you feel, the peace and harmony of being One with the Mother. Healing.

The magic of living naturally…even in a world that appears to be anything but - it IS possible, give it a go! With many blessings…AHO