I live in a home in the redwoods.
Mushrooms blossom
after each rain.
But today is not a
mushroom day.
The ocean is calling,
its salty fog whispers twining around my wrists, my ankle, my mind.
Ahh. Heartbeat of my
soul, the breathing of waves in and out.
Sometimes things die.
Sometimes we help
them die.
We think it’s just a
straw.
If a million of us
think that, a million straws settle in the belly of the ocean.
One day, we might be
thirsty
and find nothing to
suck up our straws.
The part of kelp that
anchors it to the ocean floor is called a holdfast.
Let us hold fast to
the earth. If we forget our holdfasts,
we might drift in an
ocean of straws
forever.
The ocean makes me
feel expansive, infinite, philosophical.
Stinging nettle
patches, up the road from the ocean, make me feel hungry!
Stinging nettle is one of the most nutritious plants native to North America.
Full of minerals and
vitamins, its stinging barbs release
neurotoxins that act
like
Icy-Hot
on stiff muscles and
arthritic joints.
It’s also very tasty!
(Like spinach on
steroids.)
Blanch, boil, or dry
the leaves.
Make nettle tea,
which can also be used as a conditioning hair rinse.
Blanched leaves
blended with
olive oil
pine nuts
garlic
and parmesan
make an incredible, wild-harvested pesto!
“Hope means to keep
on living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness.”
- Henri M. Nouwen
Keep humming, keep
harvesting, keep running to hug the ocean.
Her arms are open.
The redwoods keep breathing.
The earth waits to
embrace you.