“By acknowledging our dependence on dear Earth, and by connecting into gratitude for her amazing gifts, we will naturally move in the direction of living more lightly on her.” – Satya Robyn, “A Fourth Refuge: Namo Bhumyai”

This past Saturday, I spent the whole day at my friends’ farm property, known as the Organic Compound, near Faribault, MN – a place that always brings me great warmth, nourishment, joy, and connection in returning to. Each visit not only reconnects me to people I love, but to the land, as we spend time in intentional relationship to, learning from, and tending to it.

This most recent visit was for their hazelnut harvest weekend, an amazing community gathering, where numerous hands pick from the 20,000 trees they planted around a decade ago, between sharing food, music, art, adventure, and conversation. It has been about twelve years since my first visit to their farm, but this time was a close friend’s first season. After just a few minutes of beginning to harvest, he commented on just how right it felt to be there harvesting. This is just one example of what Francis Weller refers to as primary satisfactions, or “the ways humans have been nourished over the last 50,000 years on the planet. Things like sitting by a fire, eating meals together, making music or art, collecting food, dancing together, rituals, rites of passage, gazing at a starry sky, grieving together…” (quote from https://embodimentmatters.com/3771/)

I often consider how facing the turbulent, challenging times we are in has highlighted for many just how essential these moments are, when we immerse ourselves in what truly sustains us. It brings my heart right back to this humble way of praying, of being, of loving. May we all sense the authenticity, timelessness, and depth of what it means to connect in this way. Allow our understanding of how vulnerable we all are help us to find common ground. Keep reminding us of what matters most.