Today I started listening to “Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred” by Victoria Loorz. I don’t know if it’s the narrator, and if it will be different when I buy the book on the kindle, but i’m very skeptical. I was raised in a very religious family, and being myself was not something I could do.
The book, maybe unintentionally, feels very preachy, and very One God based. I can see the connection to nature, and I do hope that it gets to where I’m not feeling a little, I hate to say it but, triggered almost, sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t say I “practice” any faith, but I enjoy studying paganism and wicca, and try to incorporate some of those ideals into my life. Let me tell you, that side of my family doesn’t talk to me much.

I’m 1 hour into an 8 hour audible read, but I have a feeling it’s going to take me a lot longer than that. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll finish by week 1 of winter and have something new to share for my presentation

Self Eval Time

I checked all the boxes. I did read a book that wasn’t listed, but I got the meat birds harvested (Except one, I’ll comment on that in a minute!), and I did accomplish my winter gardening goals (mostly). I guess I can’t say I checked all the boxes, because I didn’t manage to post weekly.

I took the top off the meat bird enclosure while I was processing. I didn’t even count as I was doing it apparently. I just got them all done and bagged and into the freezer. I had 8 in the freezer, I thought. Turns out I’d counted one from last time! I was walking down the driveway and there’s just this white chicken pecking around in the pasture. She’s happy, so I’ll leave her alone unless she seems to get to a point where she can’t be comfortable anymore.

This quarter was a lot of reflection and figuring out how to do better next year, followed by burnout, a serious mental health crisis, then not thinking I could do this anymore, and followed again by a renewed sense of worth and realizing that I sure can, and I will do it for ME, not for anyone else. I think that honestly had a lot to do with “Rooted” and how much it has impacted me.

I’m so excited for next years CSA, and for getting everything happy and healthy again. I fertilized with sheep, chickens, and geese. I’ll do a soil test this spring and see what else is needed. I’m done tilling, and I’m going to do my best to go back to the sustainable practices I was working towards before I lost my hold on my garden.

I’m sad this ILC is over. I loved the faculty I got to work with, and I will miss working through issues and writing about them to hopefully help others in the future with it.