I’ve been reading more and more of my writer friends and colleagues’ work via substack, one of the many newsletter services out there these days. It seems easy to use and allows me to promote the work of other writers, so I took the plunge a few weeks ago. I’ll probably be writing there more … Continue reading Ordinary Collisions
It’s been really overcast and, honestly, kind of dreary and flat-looking outside lately. The cloud cover has been thick and the air heavy with spring humidity after two days of constant rain. Mid morning I needed a break from work, so I headed to one of my favorite trails. Despite the uninspiring weather conditions, it … Continue reading The Scent of Wildness
Childhood. That time of life that is full of growth, learning, questions and change. A time that plays a part in defining our view of the world and what we hold as important. A time of cultivation. A time that needs wildness. Most of my childhood was spent living just outside of a small college … Continue reading How to Cultivate a Wild Child
Does multitasking ever threaten to splice your attention into little bits? When the pull to do 15 things at once comes calling, I try to remember to do four simple things. When I can remember to do these four simple things, I can honestly say that I am present in my moments. That I taste … Continue reading Embrace Your Wild In Four Simple Steps
The lake ice was just barely holding on after a night of below freezing temperatures when I noticed my daughter, still in her PJs, transfixed on something out the back sliding door. I followed her gaze, and there they were– three slick brown creatures, slipping and sliding, jumping in and out of the water, scampering … Continue reading A Tale of Three Otters
One late autumn morning a few years ago, I woke up to the sun rising in the east into a pink haze of clouds over a lake of utter stillness. The air was colder than usual, which wasn’t saying much that year, after a fall of above average temperatures. But I could see my breath and … Continue reading Wild Air and Fading Starlight
inspired by Analog Sea There is an energy– it’s there in the ether on the ground running through the soil nestling deep in the bedrock settling with the sediment of lakes washing downstream via small tributaries into the massive veins of rivers that keep the earth alive. An energy untamed by technology refusing to be … Continue reading Don’t Let the Robots Get You Down
The cold, though not unexpected, is startling. It feels good to walk through fields that have provided nourishment of all sorts to beings of all kinds. Ice clings to stalks of bowing grass. Every step crunches in the stillness of freeze. Muted colors announce themselves in burnt umber, dark brown, and burgundy, reminding us that … Continue reading In the Shadow of an Old Barn
This is an excerpt from Woodland Manitou: To Be on Earth, available now wherever books are sold.
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Here we are once again. It’s fall in the Midwest, and the weather is changing. The leaves of the maple trees out back are at their peak of orange and yellow vibrancy, and the backyard seems to glow with a quality of light that is unique to this time of year. As I walk down the steps to the lake, leaves crunch under my feet and the air feels cooler than it has in months. We still haven’t had a hard freeze, which is unusual and perhaps yet another sign of a climate that is getting increasingly unpredictable. But regardless the mild weather, the earth is sloughing off her summer skin and slowing down in preparation for what is to come. Winter’s cloak of stillness will be here soon enough.
Though the seasons change every year, sometimes it’s easy to forget the lessons we can glean from this age old rhythm of the planet. Each season has its wisdom, and autumn is no exception. There are lessons to be learned if we let the earth teach. Continue reading “Lessons of Autumn”
A recent conversation I had with a colleague, after sharing the three books I’d just read, went something like this: “Why have you been reading so much about death?” I remember looking out over the St. Croix River as the sun went down, and saying something like, “Because I need to know it’s possible to … Continue reading Laying it Down
Heidi Barr | Author 