Our mystical Christmas celebration was another beautiful gathering. For those who weren't able to make it, we missed you! The North stone decorated for Christmas as we go around the wheel of the year / stone clock reflecting the big sky clock of our planisphere. The North stone Yew on one side of the center stone and a bare oak branch on the other. The cross ...
Hi everyone! Today I am sharing a recipe for a soothing bath soak that I shared with folks at one of my recent meetups. There are many truly healing benefits to taking a hot bath, which we discussed at our last meetup for the Water element. These seemingly little things can actually be quite powerful. Healing Bath Soak Brennah Cavanaugh Photography LLC Add to your bath: ...
The Swan Creek at Crossing Hedgerows Sanctuary 💧 How does the fact that you are a water being relate to your health and well being? What are some things you can do to support the function of water in your body? 💧Learn also how water is related to your emotions and the importance of embodiment practices in connecting to love. 💧Gather a magical berry found at the sanctuary to take home to use for ...
After the beautiful winter wonderland we had last week, everything melted all at once. So we’re once again left with lots and lots o’ water! 💦 It’s not as bad as the last flood though and I was able to get out for a nice slosh about this morning. Being snow melt, it feels much more cleansing this time, almost as if it is washing away the muck of the previous flood. I end at the bank ...
Walking around the stone circle, I show a close-up of the beautiful stones in the water. https://youtube.com/shorts/mEDFIsbfTVg
Moving forward with EGLEs requirements, yesterday we had a wetland specialist come out to do a survey, which will be part of what we will be submitting for the permit process. We are doing our best throughout this process to show EGLE that our intent is for land regeneration, as well as for giving opportunities for the public to experience and learn from the restored land. (EGLE is the State of Michigan's department of Environment, Great Lakes, ...
Hi Everyone, Last night we had the biggest flood event we've had here to date. Most of the land is flooded, including our chicken coops, hoop house, sheds, and some of our garage. But thankfully NOT our house or basement. We spent a good part of the day getting our chickens situated as best we could, by adding tables into the coops (with their food and water on them), for them to stand on, along with their ...
A new native plant that has appeared at the Sanctuary this year is the Blue Flag Iris. It grows in wet areas, often along the edges of water. So unsurprisingly it has begun growing along the edge of the creek bed, not far from the beautiful buttonbush, another amazing plant which I will highlight in a later post.Blue Flag Iris provides nectar for native pollinators, and is also forage for muskrats. It likewise attracts hummingbirds, which we already ...
I thought you all might like to see a picture of how wet it gets in the spring around here. This was as close as I could get to the creek yesterday. Some of the recent days previous to yesterday, I couldn't even get within sight of the creek. But did you know that there are some native plants and animals that require a habitat of regular flooding in order to survive? We have identified ...
Time to grab your rubber boots! This time of year there is typically a lot of flooding at the Sanctuary. The water can recede fairly quickly, but it's good to be aware that there can be days that if you visit, you will need some really good waterproof footwear. (This morning heading out to the hoophouse.)(This afternoon - you can see the May Pole at the back right.)(Another view from this afternoon - and in case you are ...
On Monday I had the opportunity to speak at a public meeting of County Drain Commissioners for Wayne, Monroe, and Washtenaw counties regarding the clearing of the North Branch of the Swan Creek. This is the creek which runs through the Sanctuary land, eventually emptying into Lake Erie. The creek runs through these three counties, and the commissioners were asking for public comment from the land owners whose properties would be affected by a proposal to clear ...
https://youtube.com/shorts/Q5i-7VtLsro?feature=share A couple of our members donated their leftover pumpkins to us for the chickens this past week. As you can see in the video, the chickens appreciated it very much... to the point that some were not wanting to share! So I ended up bringing in another pumpkin for them, as there were plenty to go around! Each chicken area got some pumpkins, and they were all very happy indeed. Pumpkin seeds are a ...
I found these photos of Comma Butterflies that Brennah took last year on April 2nd. She told me that they are some of the first butterflies to emerge in the spring. We will certainly be keeping an eye out for these beauties again this year. According to Wikipedia, "The eastern comma may be spotted in woods near rivers, ponds, marshes, swamps, and other water sources." Thank you once again for your support of this magical place for our ...