Sending love to everyone… always.

and so i end up wanting to paint some of these crayon works-to further embed the place in my memory-and to go further in deep in my soul. its so difficult to capture that same energy. the loose and airyness gets muddled up with a fussy painter like me.

this time i was determined to follow thru without a care for perfect straight lines-even rules-and verbatim copying. i just wanted to capture the energy. the flow. so i chose acrylic instead of oil or watercolor -my fav mediums of choice.

i was going to do this as a color test for a larger oil painting but this acrylic work strikes me as done.

the vivid colors might feel like an assault on a larger canvas! and i am afraid i cannot match the movement in oils. so here i sit with it. and move onto another work until i can decide.

and over to collage poetry

I have always considered myself a representational artist-translating what I see with paint or mixed media collage. I did not use my imagination too often, mostly relying on my assumption that Ma Nature got it right. Who was I to improve?

After a lifetime, I find my taste in art changing and I seem to finally be veering off this path and into one of simplicity and symbol.

In my dreams and inner quiet-not using that over spoken word meditation-I am seeing symbols

They come in a flash of inspiration. Maybe I have always had these geometric visions but I never paid much heed. At this moment in time I am obsessed.

I am not on solid ground yet with this new work. they are going thru iterations. i plan to do a more perfect more planned version. but i have the feeling that these ARE the final works…a vision that keeps adapting changing and growing

-2—The Indigenous Ways—I went to a medicine walk put on by Geo Soctomah Neptune, Director of Indigenous Teaching and Learning at Cobscook Institute. He is a captivating storyteller and also an amazing teacher. We hiked into the woods in search of cedar and wintergreen. As we came upon a small patch of wintergreen, Geo announced that the patch was too small, and we did not want to deplete an area. Across the path we found a larger patch of the herb for harvesting and he instructed us that we should only what we needed. He pulled out a package of tobacco and recited a Passamaquoddy thank you to the plants. At each stop he performed this ritual and I understood how deeply the connection is between human and Earth. After harvest, he made up a delicious tea of both plants and we drank it for good health.

-3—The Tapping—The following week I gathered up everything I needed for tapping my birch trees. Hammer, milk jugs for collection, some twine and the taps. I wanted to do this with meaning and remembered what I had recently learned, so I stopped the process and ran to our local Smoke Shop and picked up a bag of tobacco. When it came time, I visited each of 16 birch trees and left a small portion of tobacco at the base of each tree. I said a Passamaquoddy thank you (woliwon) to each tree and thanked it for allowing me the opportunity to take some of its precious sap. Before long, I had all trees ceremoniously tapped and I was anxious to see what would happen.

-4—The trees delivered sap!— The next day, I went out early to see what dripped into my jugs. In varying amount, all 16 trees started to drip and deliver their sap for me. Some trees were heavy gushers, providing a half gallon and others just a mere quarter of a jug. I collected all the sap in a 5 gallon bucket and brought it into the house to strain before I set it on the stove to begin boiling. It takes a great quantity of sap to create the syrup and I was simmering it slowly all day long. In the evening I would go back to check on my trees, and sure enough they were filling up and providing. It continued day and night and I kept on adding it to my pot on the stove, waiting for the liquid to reduce enough to be considered syrup.

-5—The Drip—My kitchen got quite steamy. I closed off doors to the rest of the house and opened up the front and back door in order to let out the vapor. This worked for a few days, all the while I was adding more sap day and night. The 5th day I was standing over the stove checking on progress and I looked up. My wooden ceiling beams were dripping! In fact, the whole celing was wet and saturated with birch water! At this moment, I understood why people do syrup processing outdoors! I don’t have the equipment or area to move this operation out of the house, and the next morning I told my husband about it.

-6—End of Production—This was the end of making syrup. I had a quart and a half of precious boiled down birch syrup and I knew I had to stop or ruin our ceiling. What a lesson this was. I felt guilty. In my beginners’ excitement had over estimated what I needed. I had learned from Geo that you never take more than you need, and apparently I was done already, even though the trees could provide 2 weeks more of sap. It was a lesson I won’t forget next time.

-7—The Eagle—That day, the husband cut me 16 dowels of wood so I could plug my trees. I gathered up the hammer, the dowels and the tobacco and headed back out to the forest. As I got to the birch grove, i heard a loud ruckus in the woods. An eagle was screeching and screaming over and over quite loudly. I knew there was a nest behind my house and I had not ventured out to find it as of yet. But this eagle sounded distressed! The calls continued as I plugged up one birch after another, the entire time listening to this bird with intense interest. Was it hurt? Did it fall out of the nest? Could I help it? I had to do something. I put down my equipment and started off into the forest towards the sound of the squawking eagle.

-8—The Osprey—Edging into the woods I could see the nest atop a gigantic spruce, and as I approached it, 2 huge osprey surprised me and came flying out of the nest! I could see that this was the problem! Immediately afterwards an eagle flew out of the nest and circled over my head, made some gutteral noises and then it flew off. I was surprised by this event, and walked away smugly, thinking I saved this eagle from an attack. At first I was happy with myself as I went back to plugging holes. But worries quickly set in, as I wondered if this eagle had left young ones unattended in the nest because of my disturbance. I listened for awhile and it was quite silent in the woods now and I didn’t hear any babies crying out. Was this my business to interfere?

-9—Back to Normal—I felt uneasy about it all and wondered if I had scared the eagle off for good. I watched for awhile and I did not see it return. The next day, I did hear it again calling from the woods and felt a bit of relief. A few weeks have passed, and they are still nesting behind my house.

-10—Sap Glut—That last day of collecting sap the birches delivered more than any other day. I went home with a full 5 gallon bucket that i could not boil down. It would not be wasted. I decided I would drink the sap - a glass a day. It was an amazing thing… it was like my miracle elixir. Within 3 days I felt vitality, energy, happiness…. I had been in a bit of a slump and this drink seemed to bring me out of it. I looked up its composition and found it had a lot of minerals and electrolytes. I kept drinking for a month until a gallon was gone. I stashed the other gallons in the freezer for when I need it again, should I feel myself slipping into despair, wasting none of the precious drink.

-11—Lessons Learned—Between Geo, the Birch and the Eagle I learned so many lessons. If there are only a few plants, don’t take any. Only take what you need. Offer tobacco as a gift. Thank the trees/Earth for how they provide for us. Try not to interfere with nature. Use all of what you take, waste nothing. I Give Thanks for the lessons learned. I am so grateful.

The whole concept of going into the woods with just a pocketknife and coming back with a birch bark basket seemed like Alchemy to me, taking matter and turning it into gold. Producing something out of nothing! It was like magic. When I was younger I did not even consider the idea that these natural materials were of value. They were FREE! They were disposable. There was So Much of it! With wild abandon I collected whatever I could, as much as I could and did not think much of consequences. Some things didn’t get used in my haste and I wanted to have more than enough. The willow branches that would have become stronger plants, I knew they would regrow. The red osiers from the spring would soon bear leaves and become bushes. The birch on the ground was not being used by anyone. I could TAKE>as much as I wanted. And I wasted a lot. It didn’t matter… or so I thought.

As I grew in wisdom, how I bemoan my attitude of my youth! My civilized self was so uneducated. The willows needed to grow to keep the creek beds held the soils together so when spring floods came, the banks would hold. The red osiers were needed to provide shrubs for smaller birds to hide from bigger birds and provide shade on warming ground in the summer. The rotting birch log was home to oh so many creatures and fungi that would break down and make soil for new trees to grow. How did I not see this? How did I miss this concept? I was a consumer. I dominated. Isn’t that what humans do? We are the top of of the pile! And these plants, these twigs and logs, they were Free! I think differently now.

Ecology

I didn’t take into account ecology, that web of all things that work together to create the healthy whole. Each natural thing is a component making up my world-your world - our world- and my interruptions and harvesting was not taking this into consideration. It was about all about Me. And not about We.

I have since studied indigenous wisdom in books and in person with teachings from Passamaquoddy elders, the first nations people that were here long before I was. I have learned about reciprocity, relationship and only taking what I need. I have learned about giving instead of receiving. I am doing the work, but these ways are ingrained in our society and in me, and it isn’t easy to change a lifetime. These days I tred lightly, and I am more aware of what I should use, how much I should take, and what I shall give back….. I find myself reducing—- and even when I do, I still have more than I need.

Keeping our fragile world intact is more important than ever. Understanding we are stewards, not owners…teaching others how to cooperate and not to dominate…practicing mindfulness instead of selfishness… these ideas have become essential to who I am and how I operate. I do wish I had a better awareness in the rest of my life, but it’s never too late to learn and to change.

Sharing

I started a previous substack as a space to share my creative pursuits and I ended up deleting that stack. Here I have started over with the same title, but now I know it’s about more than just getting ego strokes for my artwork. It’s about sharing ideas and helping to establish a new way of operating. It’s about teaching through example. It’s about giving out wisdom instead of seeking attention or being seen. I will still share art and craft along the way, this is my life! But sharing ideas seems more important with every passing day.

My love affair with birch began in the ‘80s when rustic furniture was all the rage. Staring at pages in Country Living magazine, tearing out pictures of rustic accessories, and visiting the Rustic Furniture Fair at Blue Mountain Lake in the Adirondacks fueled my passion for all things natural, especially birch. How hard could it be to make some objects myself? I studied vintage literature by Frank Speck about the Algonquian culture and learned how to make birch bark baskets in a First Nations way. At that time, I was not aware of what cultural appropriation was and I happily learned how to make Makuk. I even did a birch bark native American birch bark basket demo in Otego, NY.

.In the area I lived in along the Susquehanna River, birch was not a common tree. I was culling bark from dead trees where I could find them, but eventually I really wanted to experience using “fresh” bark from a living tree. I contacted NYSDEC and asked them how I could do this. They put me in touch with a man who had bought a state wood lot outside of Coblleskill, an 1 1/2 away from where I lived. I ended up culling bark from many beautiful live trees before they were cut for firewood. What an experience! The bark was pliable, had beautiful inner bark color, and it worked very well for many projects.

I made little birch bark canoes, baskets and made my own patterns, as I became more aware of appropriation. Eventually I came up with a few patterns that I still use to this day. One style has a wooden bottom and I used the inner bark of basswood, willow and red osier dogwood to lace them together. I even tried dying the bark on the kitchen stove and used the colored pieces as appliqued designs.

When my supplies ran low I had to give this hobby up for a time. I knew I had to move further north in order to find more of the precious birch. I ended up taking a job a few hours away in Utica and this solved the problem for awhile. I started making bigger works, such as shelves and a few tables. I did pen and ink drawings on the bark to enhance the pieces and used colored pencil and paint. But even in the Mohawk Valley of NY birches were in short supply. The Adirondack mountains an hour from my home had plenty, but it’s against the law to take anything from the land. I had to respect this and my birch experience came to an end for several years.

During those early years, I was such a consumer - extracting birch where I could and using it freely. But I still did not want to kill the trees - this was important to me. I love these amazing silver trees and even though I already had learned that fresh bark was superior to dead bark, I could not bring myself to girdle trees that were alive. Also rustic furniture had gone out of vogue, the hunger for it waned and I gave up the hobby that took me years to master.

25 years later I find myself living in downeast Maine. Birch HEAVEN> birch bark is litter here and it’s everywhere. The land that I purchased has lots of birch and it woke up this love I have working with the bark. I made a new crop of baskets and accessories using bark from dead trees on my land. I have yet to find a good source for fresh bark from live trees, so my use is still limited. I have used the bark as a canvas and done a lot of paintings on it and this was a semi-profitable adventure. Maine has a lot of tourism and birch items are unique, especially how I make them since I am not copying anyone else’s style and using patterns I created so many years ago.

I still use red osier for added strength. I have also learned to use spruce root, as this is quite plentiful here. These natural products are sustainable and I try as best as I can not to disturb the ecology of the forest by taking more than I need. I have learned alot through this experience about reciprocity and caring for our natural resource, our forests, and the land.

I love the birch trees so much. They have taught me so many lessons and given me an outlet for my creativity. In my next essay, I will share my latest experience, tapping birch for sap and making syrup.