Richness
|By Steven Martyn| This time of year, as September’s shadow lengthens, I always feel a bittersweet edge in my heart. There is a richness like no other time of year, but you know it’s not going to last. In the equation of this mad northern existence where we basically have six months of winter, this…
Herbal Vinegar
|By Steven Martyn| Every year at the summers peak Megan and I do a round of collecting medicinal and culinary herbs to make our yearly vinegar. This year because of the cooler nights and ample rain the summer’s peak feels like it just happened in the last couple weeks. When collecting I literally move around the…
At our core we are all healers
|By Steven Martyn| The first time I remember using my intuition to heal with herbs was thirty-three years ago when I was about 17. We were at my family cottage in Muskoka and my mum had a severe sore throat. I went out for a walk and found myself sitting on a stone ridge in…
Killaloe Herbal Project
|By Steven Martyn| A couple years ago a friend, Diana Macauley and myself both had a strong impulse to bring the healing power of herbs to the people of our community. We had many grand ideas, some which may still come to pass, like an apothecary, a clinic, gardens and a school of herbal medicine.…
Willow Basket Making
|By Steven Martyn| It’s early March and coming into the cane harvesting season. Megan and I have been prayerfully coppicing the same Willow trees for a few years, but I seldom seem to have the time to actually use the canes for their intended use—furniture and baskets. But this year I promised the trees…
Winter is the Time for Dreaming
| By Steven Martyn | An ancient adage says that “winter is the time for dreaming” and every year I rediscover this truth with surprise. I think the dreams come in winter because the isolation, slowness and austerity of winter, relative to the crowded, busy fecundity of other seasons, creates the time and space for…
35 years of seeding earth wisdom
