Silent Season at Windhorse

 

Although the forest offers a full schedule of edgy delight in all seasons, early spring is the gentlest time. Full throated brooks and birds regale the ears and wake up even the sleepiest mind. The warm sun on the fallen pine needles releases a feast for the nose. The feel of soft mosses under your back, as you gaze at the sky though tree tops, is almost too sensuous.

 

It is the “Silent Season” at Windhorse, a time when no activity happens in the forest except wandering, observing and contemplating. It is the time when many animals are hatching eggs and giving birth. In observing the Silent Season, we offer our restraint, curiosity and respect which are important aspects of generous leadership. This does not need to remain a secret; there are ways you can enjoy this too.

Is Nothing Missing the tap root?

Why is there so much

striving and straining,

conniving and scheming,

hurrying and worrying,

hoarding and hiding?

 

Does it result from the belief that

there is not enough to go around,

that we have to get our share before it’s all gone?

 

If we had confidence in the

truth of nothing missing,

what would our lives be like?

 

What if we had enough friendship,

enough time and money,

enough experience,

enough health and wealth,

enough intelligence,

enough gentleness and fearlessness,

enough relaxation?

 

What would that feel like?

Is generosity born of having enough?

Is generosity the currency of a peaceful society?

 

 

 

 

Comments from a visitor to Windhorse

The Windhorse experience

by Martin Peacocke

 

8 days at Wind horse just doesn’t seem enough. On my drive in from the main road you could feel the peacefulness and spiritual place you are coming to.

I arrived really late and the staff accommodated my really late arrival leading me through the snow to my cabin in the woods. I started a fire in the wood stove and waited for the cabin to heat up. It was great! There is just something magical about a wood fire as you watch the flames grow and the smell of  wood burning. The cabin was terrific with solid wood walls and ceiling. Everything in the cabin had been prepared and layed out ready for my journey to peacefulness. On the wall overlooking the lake were many windows and the beautiful surroundings wrapped themselves around me. I loved everything about the cabin even the outhouse nearby which I took pictures of. 

 

Wind horse is such a spiritual place that I could not settle for the first hour as I was feeling the love and kindness that permeates the farm. The meditation center is incredible and I was so fortunate to have Jim do a meditation with me (interrupting his own meditation time). Jim is is a very wise, sharp, tuned in person and really wants to make a difference in all our lives.

 

For all of us who are on this journey of understanding I would highly recommend spending some time at Windhorse Farm. It will be a wonderful experience!

 

Thanks to all the staff at Windhorse Farm!

Martin Peacocke

 

Merve Wilkinson: grandfather of ecoforestry

This is Jim again, even though the by line says Marguerite — I can’t figure out how to change that. If you can, please let me know.

Merve Wilkinson died recently, after living fully for almost 100 years. Merve lived in the forest, Wildwood, near Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. He was a faithful steward of that land and a shining example for many foresters and environmental activists. Never afraid of inconveniencing himself, he was arrested with his wife, Anne, while protesting clearcut logging in Clayoquot Sound on the island’s west coast. At his trial, he received the stiffest sentence because, as the Judge said, “You are gloriously unrepentent.” Because of, or in spite of, this, Merve was awarded the Order of Canada for his contributions to forestry and forest conservation.

Merve and Anne came to Windhorse in 1994 and 1996 to teach the principles and practices of good forestry. On his second trip, Bob Bongard made an excellent film, which was shown as a 2-part TV series. We will get it converted into a DVD format so it can be available again to more people.

Merve was a great friend and supporter of Windhorse Farm, and his pithy teachings have become part of the forest lineage here. I learned much from him and several forest interns, here for the courses he taught, have branched out into their own work, affecting great benefit. In addition, many students, interns and apprentices at Windhorse, who never met Merve, are now benefitting from his teachings that have taken root in this land and in the Windhorse curriculum.

With tremendous gratitude to Merve for sharing his understanding, experience, insight, friendship and humour, Jim

Windhorse Winter

It is a warm sunny day in January at Windhorse Farm. Unusual — as is most weather in Nova Scotia.

 

Also unusual is the opportunity for me to post on the blog — it is a first for me. I inherited this Roots and Branches blog thing from my daughter, Marguerite.

 

I always thought it was a good idea so I’m delighted to jump in over my head. I’ve been reflecting on the roots of Windhorse Farm, which can be traced upstream into many different watersheds. There is the 12,000 year-old stream coming through the land and culture of the Mi’kMaq and the course through the Wentzell family, beginning with Wilhelm’s arrival in Lunenburg in 1751 and continuing on to Wentzell Lake in 1840 and then transmitted to us (Jim and Margaret Drescher) in 1990. There is flow from the Drescher and Sullivan families and a very rich river from Shambhala. Spaciously accommodating all of these sources is the fertile land of Windhorse in the magical place called Nova Scotia.

 

And what about the branches? Hundreds of friends, students, interns, apprentices, and employees have come here since 1990 to live for a while, drink from the streams, grow from the roots and give back tremendous richness. Windhorse Farm has gone deeper, spread further, and become more fertile due to the spread of its branches. Margaret and I are continually inspired by the lives being led, and the work being done, by people we got to know when they lived at Windhorse.

 

Roots and Branches is a celebration of where we have come from, how we’re spreading out and, most of all, the beauty of this moment in this place.

 

I will keep posting here and I hope that leaves and needles from the branches will also fall into this great composting pile. That is a heart-felt wish and a humble invitation

Fresh Snow

So here we are in 2012 and it has been soooo long since I posted. Quite honestly this blog has its challenges… The stories are out there, I hear them all the time… but when it comes to getting them posted… hmmm.

So it is time for a new leaf, or a new layer of snow or whatever other seasonal imagery you might come up with. My father, Jim Drescher, is going to try his hand at blogging. I told you it was a new layer! I am so thrilled that he is going to be posting reflections, musings, poems…

I am sure I will be back for guest posts and other updates, but for now I hand you off to one of my favorite farmer poets…

Good luck Dad!

Marguerite

Noel McLellan

It seemed like a perfect time to post about Noel. He a friend, family and teacher at Windhorse Farm. In his frequent visits to WHF, he has made cob walls for the inside of the Pavillion, led meditation in Juniper lodge , made cider with his classes from the Shambhala School and chased laughing children though gardens and forests. He has recentlty been made an Acharaya, or senior teacher, in the Shambhala Community and will continue to teach on Culture and Leaderhip, Shambhala Traditions and Meditation.

I liked him so much I married him!

Here are some of Noel’s thoughts about Windhorse Farm,

“For me, Windhorse Farm represents a connection to “place” in the deepest sense.  There are some spots on the earth where one feels like more than a visitor.  One develops a feeling of one’s body being made up of the place.  This is quite literal, if you’re eating food grown there and your babies are born there.  But also one’s being is somehow knit into the place on an energetic level that you can’t really describe. At the same time it’s not quite homey– it’s really a farm, so after the vacation feeling wears off there’s this rugged, elemental, hardworking quality that brings you down to earth.  It’s a healing and uplifting place to be, and it speaks for itself.”

Windhorse Circle

So there is no way to talk about the Windhorse Farm community without talking about Circle. Circle practice has come to Windhorse in full form this summer and the community has been gathering together to greet new friends, discuss challenges, celebrate vivid moments and say goodbye to Windhorse wanderers. There is a beautiful new spot at the farm to host these conversations. The Garden Stop has been redesigned and rebuilt after the last one wore out. Leland and Orion worked diligently on this project with others over the last few weeks. A circle of wooden seats have been added as well as a beautiful gong. This is a beautiful place to gather and create a circle right in the center of the garden. Its many gates invokes a sweet sense of invitation from every direction. Although there are many spaces at Windhorse to have conversation, I think this might be my new favorite!

Fennel Quinoa with Mint

Hmmmmm… Is that a member of the Windhorse Farm community? Here I go blogging outside of the box. This was too yummy not to share. Hope you like it!

We ate this delish dish with BBQ-ed salmon, fresh green salad and crusty bread. What a summer feast. When I asked “Is it too many different herbs?” The reply was “Not possible in July!” So here is the recipe.

We had 8 people and this was more that enough… but yummy the next day for lunch too.

Fennel Quinoa with Fresh Mint

4 cups cooked quinoa

2 fennel bulbs chopped with greens

4 garlic scapes chopped

3 green onions chopped

3 sprigs fresh mint

coarse ground salt and pepper

your favorite olive oil

Heat oil and saute scapes in salt and pepper until they turn bright green, add fennel and onion and saute until tender but not soft, the crunch is crucial! Add veg to fluffed quinoa with mint and fennel greens. Add olive oil and lemon or lime for a little more kick.

Here are a few more pics of our summer feast!

Orion Kobayashi

Even the trees find joy,

in the melancholy of rain clouds.

The trees dance,

the leaves sing,

their chorus,

rolling up the hill.

The forest sighs in celebration.

It knows that life is dripping down,

filling the cracks between rocks,

saturating the space under,

fallen leaves with jubilation.

You are the water that seeps

into everything,

trickling into my thoughts.

Each memory a sip,

deep, sweet,

Savoring each detail.

I hold them to remember you,

for I miss you.

Each word you write is,

an excitement alive as the forest with rain.