I Loved Her First - Brown Family Band Cover

Wendy, the girls and I recorded this for Big Little Sister Inverted Turtle and Matches who were married on top of Mt. Katahdin.


Enjoy!

Maple Sugaring - Legend

Those of you who have been following along this MooseBoots journal know that I like to tell stories.  Someday, I hope to be good at it.  A few years ago, at one of the nature classes we attended, we were told an Algonquin legend.  This is not my story, it is not from my heritage, yet I feel compelled to tell it.  For those whose ancestors have handed this down, thank you for sharing it with me through those you have taught.  In the hopes of honor the traditions who passed this story down through untold generations, I tell this story from my memory, in spite of the fact that I could probably Google it and copy it word for word.  Here goes ...

Long ago, when the animals could speak and we, the people, could understand, there lived a Great Chief, Glooscap.  Glooscap loved the people and cared for them greatly.  He protected them from the many Giants that roamed the earth.  He taught them the correct ways to live with the earth, to honor the gifts that she gave.

In this time, maple trees did not give maple sap.  Maple syrup flowed through the trees.  When the people were hungry, they simply tapped the trees and ate their fill of the delicious syrup that nature had provided.  It came to pass, however, that the people became complacent.  Instead of honor the gift, they simply tapped the trees and lay down under them guzzling the sweet liquid.  And so, they became fat and lazy.

One day, Glooscap returned from a hunting trip and saw the people lying about under the spouts on the trees.  With his great wisdom and understanding, he knew the danger to the people, even if they did not see it themselves.  He also knew that the land needed the people to help support it.

Glooscap called the people to him and taught them that they must not act in this manner.  He explained that the earth needed their labor to support its growth and well-being.  He also explained that they needed to work and move to keep their bodies healthy.  After which, he departed for another hunt.

A week later, Glooscap returned to find the people lying under the maple trees again.  This time, he could not contain his anger at the people for their laziness and carelessness.  He went to his wigwam, took his largest birch bark basket to the edge of the nearby stream, and filled it with water.  He carried the water back to the maples and poured the water into the trees, diluting the syrup into sap.

Knowing that the people still needed this food, he explained to them that the syrup still flowed in the trees, but that it was watered down.  In order to gather it, the people would need to collect the sap and boil it to remove the extra water.  He knew that to do so, they would need to collect fire wood, make baskets, and such.

And so, to this day, we still gather the sweet sap during the spring flow and boil it into the syrup.

May your days grow longer, may your homes be warmer, and may you find all that you need to be healthy and happy.

Heart Wrenching News

My heart sank at hearing the news.  I was completely devastated.  I had worked so hard to develop of loving, nurturing relationship.  Outwardly, I simply smiled and offered that it must have been a huge weight off of her shoulders.

Wendy and I have spent a lot of time together, roaming the woods, visiting the fields, writing our book.  We have shared our lives, growing, learning, seeking wisdom.  We have seen incredible sights.  We watch in wonder witnessing natural beauty spring forth from the newly thawed soil, sprouts claw to the sky, leaves unfurl to gather the warm loving sunshine, buds burst forth into vibrantly colored flowers, flowers fade to desiccated pods holding the promise of life.  The truth is that we had come to love the land and her inhabitants, with whom we gratefully worked and played. 

Things change ... it is a fact of life.  Wendy told me a few days ago that she felt a change coming.  Quite unexpectedly, the tension broke loose ... serendipitous happenings.  And, I am left to piece it all together like a large jigsaw puzzle, with a photo of the night sky framing a sliver of a waning moon.

"I sold the development last Friday ... finally."  As I said, my heart hit the floor.  "I know it has been really hard for you.  It must be a huge weight off of your shoulders."  Selfishly, I thought of all of the things Wendy and I had done to support this amazing place, the things we had experienced and learned.  This is our favorite place to forage, to hunt, to re-connect with the Earth.  It is our school, our cafeteria, our church, and our home.  And now, or soon (within a few years), this blessed sanctuary will be reduced from 25 acres of wilderness surrounded by a sea of subdivision to piecemeal 1/2 acres parcels of tamed (tortured), suburban humanity (likely complete with McMansions for the pretentious "owners" to look dissatisfied at our efforts to homestead our little piece of heaven).

"We have to move", I told Wendy as soon as we were out of ear-shot.  This comes on the same day that I was contacted by a company wooing me to accept a position that I turned down in June, and by a former co-worker who recognizes my worth and wishes to coax me to relocated an hour northeast along the coast.  It also comes as difficult times have hit the dance school my daughters attend ... not that the school has been terribly financially sound for a few years now.  Change seems to be brewing.  It is all just a question of how long do we have to react before the choice is no longer ours.

Tonight, I mourn to the land.  I mourn for our society that places so little value in anything other than that which brings value in the form of money.  I mourn for the raccoons, the opossum, the fishers, the squirrels, the deer, the hawks, the great blue herons, the geese, the turkeys, the chipmunks, the fox, the stinging nettles, the Japanese knotweed, the oaks and maples, the hemlock and pines, the blueberries, the bunchberries, the wintergreen, the partridge berries, and all of the other Beings I have yet to meet ... that they will lose their homes to be displaced by people who wish only to live on the land and not with the land.

Of course, change happens.  And while I mourn, I rejoice the moments we have shared with Nature, the Universe, and this wonderful place.  I cherish the time we have been given and the remaining time we may have.  I hold to the knowledge that every journey holds turns and twists, unexpected events that push us to realize our full potential as healers, teachers, lovers, and friends.

Thank you to the spirits of this place, that we have come to love so dearly.  Thank you to the Elementals who have helped us along our journey to grow and reclaim a piece of the heritage that we have lost through the generations that have gone before.  Thank you for the divine spark within each of us that pauses to watch as the lone hawk darts to avoid the protective mother birds, striving to give each of their young a chance to experience life on this remarkably beautiful Earth.

May you find peace in this life, and all of those to follow.

Trail Camera Games

I'll admit ... as an engineer, I like technology.  It may seem very strange given my bent toward a simpler life using native skills.  In my defense, I started out very much a part of the dominant culture.  As I've said previously, I excel in this capacity, but feel drawn down my much more satisfying MooseBoots path.  Still, technology has its place ... and I am allowed to slip back every now and then.

A year or so, I had saved enough Cabela's points to purchase a game camera.  Of course, being sensitive to the environment (and not wanting to have to deal with batteries), I also purchased the solar panel charger.  I did not install batteries at all.  Life was busy and I really did not know how to use the camera, so I set it up in the yard to play with.  Needless to say, it never made it into the woods last year ... my job was too busy ... heck I only made it into the woods to hunt three times in Maine's three month long expanded archery season.  It sat in the house all Winter, Spring, and Summer, until ....

One of the house animals decided to start using the carpet to relieve itself.  The house tends to smell bad enough when we are brooding chicks and we really didn't need the added clean up or odor.  The camera, forgotten next to my desk, sat dormant.  Then, I remember and staggered out to position it in the offending NON-URINAL area.  Let's take a peak at the first three shots from that night.

 Well, it looks like we have a curious pup.  Yes, I see that the camera date and time have not been set.

He's thinking ... is there food here?!  Or, is this thing on?

Busted!  That sure looks like a beagle to me!  Where is that rotten dog?!

After retraining the beagle, I thought it would be fun to see what we could catch in the front yard.  We have caught, in addition to my amazingly beautiful wife and girls posing for the camera, squirrels, chipmunks, mourning doves, crows, dogs (not just ours), cats (again, not just ours), and (sniffing around and eating our offered pickled egg) ...

Of course, every good camera location needs some bait.  I, having a bent toward simplicity, stuck a sharpened stick into the ground and then smeared it with peanut butter.  This is one of my favorite pictures to date.

Ah ... Wendy ... there is more peanut butter in the cabinet.

Ah ... squirrel ... that is not a pogo stick.

During the course of my life, and my recent shamanic training, I have come to understand that a positive attitude is vital for health and happiness.  I seem to be moving toward some sort of healing work and I believe that laughter is the best medicine.  I hope I have helped you to heal in some small way.  If so, my MooseBoots journey has proven, again, to be beneficial for me and you, too.  I hope to be able to help you heal, through laughter, or otherwise, in the future.  I am also looking forward to learning new healing techniques in my upcoming graduate shamanic training or through storytelling (still working on it).

Thank you for sharing this path with me.  Feel free to leave a comment.

Who Knew? We All Feel The Connection!

Something unexpected happened this week … something amazing.


I was in the front yard, wanting to be outside and carve a spoon, perhaps even boil a possum skull that I’ve had laying around for over a year now. I asked Little Fire Faery if she would like to start a fire, which she did. It was just the two of us … Wendy was working, Precious was watching a movie, and Big Little Sister had a friend over and they were contentedly emailing each other across the 1 foot span.

Just as the flames sprung to life from the fire pit, Big Little Sister and friend came outside quickly. They put the computers down and voluntarily walked outside to play be near the fire. Then, a short time later, Precious came out to be with us. Little Fire Faery sat, in half lotus position, near the fire to meditate. Unfortunately, Wendy had work that needed to get done although I am sure she would have preferred to join us.

What called these girls out into Nature? Was it the primal urge to gather near the fire? Did the spirit of the fire beckon them to come and embrace its comfort and warmth?

 
Regardless of the cause, I felt a stab of disappointment with myself. If I had been more actively working on my storytelling, I would have been able to tell a story near the fire. I could have extended the fleeting joy that we shared. We could have entertained, and educated, ourselves, and each other, the way it has been done for time immemorial. Perhaps, it was an opportunity lost. Or, perhaps it was simply a gentle reminder of the importance of pursuing personal growth. I say, it was a nice way to end another day on this MooseBoots path.

Ravens Vs. Crows

I stumbled upon a web site, eNature.com, a while ago, when I was looking for some plant identification stuff.  I also found they have a lot of good information about animals.  By entering you zip code, you can get specific listings about the plants and animals in your area.  Check out the site. Leave a comment here, at MooseBoots, and let me know what you think - maybe you know of similar sites specializing in certain topics.  I would appreciate the link.

Regardless, I signed up for their mailing list.  I just received the latest mailing and thought I would share this article, because I mentioned Ravens a few posts ago. 

 
Raven, if you did not know, is a trickster like Coyote in many traditions.  Here are a couple of stories I found to demonstrate this point. 

Have I mentioned that I want to learn to tell stories?  I am convinced that storytelling will be important for my growth and subsequent sharing of this wisdom, especially healing stories.  I would enjoy any stories you might have and wish to post here to share.  And so, my journey continues.