carpathian walnut potted up from garden, surrounded by strawberries, kale, endive and wood sorrel
Summer Greetings to You!
I ended up stepping back from my workshop activities and this website over the last year. The demands of a newer ministry, an unexpected house-move and wider life factors just invited to loosen my hold, and let most of this fallow a while.
I’ve tidied up this website, and look forward to offering some regular blog posts. For this month, You can go over to wild indigo guild’s website to read a recent sermon about the restorative desires of God. (you can also sign up for the wig newsletter.)
You can sign up for the workshop newsletter here, which will have news about classes, projects, and the possible seasonal workshop. For now, I’m discerning offering weekly times to pray the daily office, as well as some reading groups with my co-worker John and others.
More on that in July-but consider reading Pope Leo’s Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and joining some fall discussion groups about critical/transformative faith perspectives and practices regarding this technology and its related human and ecological fantasies, realities, and risks. Further out in 2026, I’m pondering hosting guided reading of the Cloud of Unknowing with discussion and practical accompaniment in December.
I remain available for spiritual direction, and as well as consultation with you church and community about community formation projects and programs that involve art, craft, building, cooking, nature. There are more prepared curricula of this nature out there now than when I first started in pastoral ministry and was working with people to create such materials and experiences. But I confess-I continue to prefer building ‘custom’ models with people, suited locally.
I’ve been sorting through my workshop, and have some small wood and fiber projects for July. Otherwise, I’m in my small community garden patch, growing vegetables for home and the Thurston county food bank.
And I’ve discovered anew the power of jays and squirrels to plant trees, especially nut bearing trees. Above is a carpathian/english/persian walnut (juglans regia) I found sprouting in my garden bed. It’s got me rather smitten now with walnuts and walnut growing, ha ha!
As summer progresses, may we go down into the garden to see if the trees are blossoming and bearing fruit.
