Taking a step like this does require being aware of the natural ebbs and flows of Mother Earth. I am fortunate to land here when there was still snow on the ground. The timing is beautiful as I can then make plans for spring and it is easy to get back into the swing of the seasons. My challenge involved figuring out how and where to make a garden. I decided to put my garden on both sides of the path that runs between the house and the medicine wheel. I also took the leaves and peat moss that I collected while working on the house and medicine wheel and dumped it on the cleared spot for the garden. I instantly had about four inches of material for my garden. I needed trees for the house and sunlight for the garden, so I cleared trees south of the garden to let the sunshine in. Those trees will be a part of my house.
The laborious work brought out some more healing for me and reminded me of when we were pounding tires in 2007 & 2008. When we work our bodies, they can no longer hold onto all the “stuff” we bury. I noticed that when I first started training in the martial arts as well. I remember sitting in class, weeping uncontrollably as the emotions come flooding out of me. It took months to work all of that out so that I could make room for the actual training. For me, the last month has been the same. Working on my site brought out a lot of emotions and I worked hard to process them.
While my garden plot starts to develop, I am starting to feel good about the process. The strawberries are doing well and I’ve now planted tobacco, potatoes (200 hills), onions and a single tomato plant. I still have plans to put much more in, but I need to expand it to fit more in. But it does show that people can grow gardens. We may have to do gorilla gardening for a while, but it can be done.
Work with the tribe continues to grow. We are now discussing building a greenhouse based on the one that we built years ago. However, there will be some changes to accommodate the learning process we went through. Root cellar, incinerator and smoke house are also on the list of things to build this summer. I am noticing that we are doing in a single season, what took us 10+ years to do. I’m confident that these projects will help everyone as I have lots of experience with them already.
I have also continued working on my relationships with everyone here, but especially with Tammy. She has held space for me to heal for years, but in the last month it has been particularly important. Our ability to share openly is critical and recently I had another healing journey which helped solidify our relationship. It is not one of romance, but rather brother and sister working together with respect, honour, peace and freedom. Many of my needs are being met now, which has developed a space of peace, tranquility and freedom. I am finding that my healing is progressing very quickly as a result.
My need for companionship, touch and intimacy is still not being met, but I can confidently say that many of my other needs are. If I was doing this all by myself, it would have been ten fold more difficult. Being as sick as I was, I suspect I would not have made it. This journey from being a feudal serf, through hyper individualism to then settle down within the healthy constructs of a tribe is a daunting but extremely rewarding journey. I can confidently say that I am WELL on my way to good health; physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually!
We are also exploring the idea of welcoming people to this land to learn and heal. Through apprenticeship, healing retreats and other programs, this tribe can help and be of service to those who want to learn and embrace these ideals. We are working hard to restore the spirit of our ancient white tribes from Europe while we honour the spirit of the treaties signed years ago with our brothers and sisters ancestors. That spirit is about living off the land, being stewards of the land, protecting the land, being one with the land and ensuring ALL life prosper. We are having discussions about building our own lodge too. Powerful medicine unfolding when we start asking our ancestors to help us remember the old songs and ceremonies. But we must also build new ceremonies as the decolonization process is new. Very few people have gone through the decolonization process, so we now build ceremonies and protocols to help with the healing and reconciliation journey that is required.
As the world is only now starting to acknowledge the genocide associated with the Residential Schools, this tribe continues to dive deeper into the spiritual journey, power and authority of ancient custom and usage. It is this foundation upon which I will continue to work to free the land from the demesne of the crown. To me, planting the garden, creating the medicine wheel and starting the house is a critical aspect of this work. Spirit asked me to do this in a certain order, so that is what I did. I now realize how important the medicine wheel and garden is as I continue my efforts to free the land and my people from the grips of feudalism and colonization.
I am also grateful that the website is now live and active. I will be working on a list of materials that I will need. I pray it helps people who want to support the work that we are doing here. Some are materials that I need, some are things the tribe is looking for. All I ask is that people check in with me so that we don’t end up with duplicates.
Mean while, the snake spirit came to visit me at my garden. The spirit of the snake represents healing, transformations and connection to primal, life force energy. Then a bear walked right in front of my door last night. The spirit of the bear also represents healing, which I find is not a coincidence at all. But it also represents strong grounding forces, strength, confidence and leadership against adversaries. I will try to talk to the bear the next time he visits. This is the second visit he has paid me in the last few weeks. I will ask for friendship and connection so that I can explore what a relationship with the bear would look like as an equal among the trees and northern boreal forest.
Meanwhile, we prepare for the solar eclipse on the 10th as the tribe goes into special ceremony. Here, the eclipse hits 90% of totality at 5:46am, so we will be up early to connect with the powerful energy of the event. A pin hole camera and welders mask will help the kids take a look at what is going on in the sky above. Powerful medicine.
