Dear readers,
Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading, commenting and supporting Weeds, Wolves & Wild Women and my writing in the myriad ways you have throughout the year. It has been both beautiful and tumultuous, as most years and most efforts are. Your comments and emails keep me going here. I hope you and your loved ones are safe and supported.
I’m finishing 2023 having finished my next book and feeling more settled after an unsettling year. As I wrote and shared with you, my partner and I moved from place to place while becoming intimate with land we now steward. We will build our home there eventually, but since we want to build in collaboration with the ecosystem, we are learning from the land and taking our time. There is no house on Mount Owen and with Airbnb taking over, no long term rentals nearby either. Now, we are ‘settled’ in a beautiful house that is much further than we’d like to be. I wrote a piece back in ‘2022 about my conflicted feelings about ‘owning’ land that can never truly be owned.
Work shifted for me this year. For over a decade, I curated and facilitated nature-connection experiences that often included travel but like many, after Covid, I wasn’t sure how to approach work anymore. Sacred Warrior which had been my work-baby for over a decade also, in many ways, had become a platform I hid behind. Sacred Warrior highlighted wildlife organizations I partnered with and the teachers I collaborated with but now, as an author, I’ve had to put myself out there and am gradually getting more comfortable with it. Over the last two years, I’ve reimagined work and now, with Rewilding Through Writing programs, I have had the privilege of holding space for other writers who are looking to find, recover or strengthen their voice. I’m grateful to every one of you that has been part of it. You inspire me. Meanwhile, Sacred Warrior is in a cocoon phase and will soon emerge in a new form as Solidago Sanctuary.
It feels good to be more of a student of the land again; less of a teacher. I am taking time to learn. When we first began to steward Mount Owen, I had so many ideas about what I wanted to do, how and what I wanted to teach and offer there. But the land has humbled me. Even though the land is incredibly rugged and alive, it is also a sensitive ecosystem. With few trails, I know that I might dislodge moss or an at-risk plant like bloodroot or trillium that hasn’t been disturbed for years whenever I take a step. I want to get quiet again; to listen. I am learning and absorbing more while still speaking and writing on behalf of plants and misunderstood species who cannot speak for themselves.
There is much more to share, of course but I save that for future posts. For now, in case you missed them, below are a few of your favorite posts from this year along with a couple of my own favorites. I’m removing the Paywall today and tomorrow so you can read archived posts, watch plant videos and listen to a recorded meditation. I’d love to know what you appreciated most and would like to see and read more of in 2024. And in case you missed it, here is a post that offers end-of-year journaling prompts.
Wish you a beautiful transition into the New Year.
xo,
Vanessa