May 3, 2010

Dear Friends,

We planted our peas two days before it snowed four inches but thanks to the remay on top of them they complained only a wee bit, mostly because a few more days later and it was in the 80’s. Those of us living in the northeast know that it is tricky this time of year to take the chance of planting when really anything can happen. I’m happy to report the peas are up and growing rapidly as I sit here writing. The asparagus grew six inches in one day – no joke. We also have had the great good fortune to have an abundant Morel mushroom year so far. Mark and I have had the pleasure of roaming our mountainside finding Morels everywhere we go. We have gathered so many that we are now drying them. What a delight to harvest delectable wild food right outside your back door!

We are excited to be offering a one day Greenbreath class on May 15th as a way for you to get started with your entire garden, herb and near green neighbors for this growing season learning how to have clear and deep communication. Visit our website for details of this class www.partnereartheducationcenter.com. Last month our newsletter focused on Green breath. Let us know if you would like us to send you April’s newsletter.

We are still excepting students for the Plant Spirit Healing Apprenticeship as the start of the course has been delayed for a month due to the volcanic eruption and my delayed return home from teaching in England. Call now for an interview 802-293-5996.

We are excited to announce that June will be the month of unveiling our new updated and renovated website. It is quite beautiful, very user friendly and we are looking forward to hearing your comments about it. Part of what we want to bring you is links to others doing good work in the world and especially to those doing Plant Spirit Healing in some capacity or another whether it be with animals, landscapes, gardens, people or through writing, creative or performing arts and creation of sanctuaries or sacred space. Just to whet your appetite here are few folks to check out: Tammi Sweet and Kris Miller teach a fantastic herbal apprenticeship in the Finger Lakes region of New York check them out at www.heart-stone.com. Dori Midnight, a recent transplant from San Francisco now living in western Massachusetts doing work with children and adults in plant spirit healing, herbs, nutrition, cooking, spiritual counseling and more. Visit her at www.dorilandia.com. Susan Draffan in Ojai, California does amazing work with animals(I had the wonderful good fortune of her asking the mice to move out of a cabin she and I were staying in and they DID) and people with plant spirit healing and other forms of vibrational healing. Her website alone is a learning experience. Visit her at www.shiningspirits.com. We mentioned Denise Holden’s newsletter previously but here is an easy link to her newsletter “For the Love of Plants and Healing” http://tinyurl.com/34ld7rl. Check out business and organizational coach, Tracy Jones in the Bay area of California at www.tracyleejones.com. All of these and more will be listed on the Links page of our new and improved website coming to you in June.

Silver Linings
by Pam Montgomery

Recently I was in Ireland and England for my own personal retreat, learning and visiting while also teaching a couple classes. While there the most phenomenal event occurred in the form of a volcanic eruption that spewed enormous amounts of ash into the atmosphere. I had just finished a Greenbreath class in Cornwall, England and had gone to Glastonbury where my heart sang in the Sanctuary Gardens of the Chalice Well. In Glastonbury I met with world famous geomancer and old time Vermont friend, Sig Lonegren and his lovely wife, Karin. We chatted away excitedly about communicating with plants and sacred sites and creating sanctuaries through the matrix of plants, people and healing energies of the landscape. Visit them at www.geomancy.org and www.sunnybankglastonbury.co.uk.
I was so enthralled by the magic of Glastonbury that I was not totally aware of what was happening in the world or the atmosphere. At first my thought was, “Oh dear, one more in the long line of increasing natural disasters that are happening across the globe” until the winds began to carry the ash across Europe. Suddenly, I became one of the thousands of people unable to get home because airplanes weren’t flying through the ash. I found myself in a very strange state of panic with the realization that I couldn’t get home and the even greater fear of not knowing when I would be going home.

After a twenty four hour period of almost constant contact with Mark through Skype (I blessed my computer and praised it daily as it was my only source of communication with Mark) I knew that I needed to be with people who love me in a place I could settle and feel safe in. We decided I needed to go back to Ireland instead of stay in London where I was to fly out of. In order to get to Ireland I had to take buses, trains and an all night ferry. I was told to stand at the bus corner and catch the red bus. Do you know how many red buses there are in London going to many different locations? I stood at the bus stop and called on my “tower of strength” ally, White Pine. “I need help here I really can’t do this alone.” Suddenly an angel appeared in the form of an English business man of Indian ancestry. He asked me where I was going and I said Ireland. He proceeded to tell me this bus, that train, then another train get off here, go there and then the ferry. I was almost in tears when he said. “I’ll take you to the train.” I looked at him and heard the words of my mother, “Don’t ever go off with a stranger.” I checked in my heart and it went “Ping”. I got on the bus with him and off we went. He safely delivered me to the train after the bus ride and helped me buy the right ticket to the ferry. He walked to the platform with me and then said, “Goodbye and good luck.” “Wait”, I said, “what is your name?” “Hans” he replied and I said, “my name is Pam.” He turned and was gone. I got on the train and sat in a daze wondering who he really was. After three trains and an all night ferry across the Irish Sea I arrived in Ireland at 6:15am to find my friend Steve waiting for me on the dock (after a three hour drive from his house) saying “Can I take your bags, mate?” I fell into his arms in a heap with the most gratitude I have experienced in a long time. I have always felt at home in Ireland and in this moment it was so good to be home. The following four days turned out to be some of the best in my life having luxurious time in Carole’s gardens, walks in the labyrinth and deep heart-felt conversations with my plant soul sister, Carole. We realized our incredible connection with each other that is unique to anyone else we know. Our bonding during those four days will last the rest of our lives. I couldn’t ask for a greater blessing.

Yes, my life was inconvenienced, plans had to change, classes got canceled and I could have had a miserable four delayed days but instead an angel took me to the land of my heart and I shared deeply with another soul who is now a dear friend for life. There are silver linings everywhere if we only would open ourselves to them.