30 Years and Still Growing

After a deep dive into Samhain here at RavenCroft Garden it seems a good time to share a bit of croft history. RavenCroft Garden was established in November 1991. My extended family moved to what has become the longest residence I've inhabited in my 70 years. We moved into our new home on Thanksgiving eve 1991. Much has changed since then, at the croft and in the world. The ideas of flexibility and resilience are wedded with stamina and endurance these days.

To this old farmhouse on a bit less than an acre, came apprentices eager to shape an abundant world. A world in which they felt sovereign and capable. Soon, lawns transformed into dynamic life-filled gardens. The walking seed apprentices began moving into the world, enacting changes wherever life took them. Just as it was supposed to happen.

The second decade, I worked full time as a garden manager for the HerbFarm Restaurant and Willows Lodge. My time in the highly visible public gardens and farm of these 2 establishments, was challenging, yet time well spent. The vast repertoire of garden and earth practice, I began to carrying through this experience gave me deep insights into how I could be more effective in my role as an herbalist and teacher of the generative practice of Integrated Earth Medicine. While my garden expertise expanded, RavenCroft took on a life of her own, settling into a more natural course of growth.

The 3rd decade, I returned to RavenCroft full time. In this decade, a reorientation and settled change brought new growth to the croft. Apprenticeships, weekend classes and curated herbwalks in the vast and varied ecosystems of the Northwest resumed. Having a practice and place to ground, I returned to my work of connecting people, plants, and the earth through a daily practice that sparks the ember of life at the croft and in the local bioregion.

After 30 years, many Walking Seeds have traveled into the world. The gardens continue to change with each turn of season. The herbal apprenticeship Healing From the Ground Up is now expanded into Health From the Ground Up. The idea of Integrated Earth Medicine continues deepening in me and others. Connections with local farms, restaurants and people in the valley is reassuring. While the world is in a state of disruption, it is simultaneously in a state of generative growth as are we. As some folks say, "We were made for these times".

Celebrating gardens, herbal medicine and traditional foods remains the heart and soul of practicing life-long learning at RavenCroft Garden. I look forward to seeing you down the road at RavenCroft Garden or online at HerbWiseWomen, the inter-generational online community for herb-ally curious women.

May abundant green blessings fall upon us as leaves blanket the earth in this turning season.