The Wilds of Wisconsin

After almost ten years of living in urban areas, I have found my way back to living among the wilds of Wisconsin. At the beginning of last autumn I relocated to the Dells area of Wisconsin. My son and I have been staying with mother, in a nice country home surrounded by wetlands and oak woods, with areas of pines as well.

For those of you who are not familiar with Wisconsin, our state is home to:
• 47 State Parks
• 13 State Forests
• 31 State Fishery Areas
• 5 State Fish Hatcheries
• 76 State Wildlife Areas
• 23 State Wildlife Management Areas
• 2 State Wildlife Refuges
• 5 State Fish Hatcheries
• 2 National Forests
• 1 National Wildlife Area
• 5 National Wildlife Refuges

We are truly blessed with so much beauty from nature and a whole 'lotta trees! We have quite a bit of lakes, wetland areas, rivers, streams and creeks, as well 1200 miles of our Ice Age Trail.
Where I am currently staying, I am centrally located, so that I am no more than 2 or 3 hours at the most to any given part of the state.

Now that winter is slowly winding down here, I will be searching out my own little nook in the woods, I have started to scope out small plots of land for sale already. My goal is to move onto my own place by the end of Autumn. It has been a long time coming.

I used to live among the trees outside of a very tiny town, Wild Rose. My son and I had to leave due to an abusive relationship with my partner. It was a hard thing to do, leaving the land that we had known so long, that we were tied to. Harder still, was assimilating to urban life within small and large cities over the years. I put my art aside for some of those years, while working as a single, homeschooling mom. Some of the places we lived allowed for very little gardening, and some allowed none at all. We kept our sanity by visiting parks, and hiking or visiting wild areas whenever opportunity arose, and finances allowed for the travel.

And so, here we are... after all, and feeling joyous and enthusiastic to the future.

So even now, over these past few months, I have been sustainably foraging for food and for art supplies. With the coming spring I will again be 'risting rune and ogham staves, quill pens and feather paint brushes and my newest project, creating my own earth pigments.

I  was gifted a wonderfully large mortar and pestle by a good friend and soul sister. I will be experimenting with various rocks found locally and crushing them finely to make the pigments.

Later, once I have my own land, I will be growing poke among a few other plants for creating natural dyes to be used in natural art projects. And, many more creative projects.

Nature touches our soul because we are part of it's wordless perfection. Born of the web of life, outer nature connects with our inner nature automatically making us feel more alive, energizing our spirits and clearing our minds. Yearning to think, feel and relate as nature's wisdom works it is often easier for people to contact underlying hidden beliefs through an art or nature experience than it is through analysis with their logical mind.

And so, I will also be offering in person workshops not only related to natural art, but also to our inherent connection with nature. My previously online course Sacred Self - Sacred Earth course will be soon be offered as live workshop, held within the natural areas in my local vicinity. These new workshops will offered to adults, teens, children and, will also include new women's circle courses as well!

As the growing and foraging seasons unfold you will start to see posts related to recipes, canning, and preserving, along with medicinal tinctures, salves, and herbal teas. It has been a long time since I had space for full bio diverse environmental gardening to my small family and the wildlife around us.

To keep updated as events unfold for me throughout the year you can sign up for my newsletter (sent periodically, or follow this blog for updates.

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